The Lake Effect
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What's It About?
Four childhood friends — Nate, Jess, Maria, and Greg — are home from college for the summer and venture to the old Michigan lake house for a weekend getaway. Tensions arise when Jess brings her new boyfriend Alex along for the trip. Nate was hoping it would be just like it was when they were kids, but everyone seems to be on different agendas. When the real reason Maria and Jess wanted to come up to the lake house is revealed, a shocking discovery in the lake leads to the unraveling of this once close-knit group of friends.
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What We Need & What You Get
Here is what your contributions will be going towards...
- We have a wonderful and talented crew that has graciously volunteered their time to work on this project for free. That being said, we would love to be able to provide meals for everyone so no one starves.
- We have made it so this budget is the bare minimum, meaning every dollar counts!
- Our perks are listed to the right of this. We want you to know your contribution goes a long way, and anyone who helps us out becomes a part of our team!
I Want to Hear More About the Film...
Okay, great! We want to tell you more!
Ever heard of an urban legend? You know, people make up a story, a myth, and that story just continues to spread and grow and change. The group of friends in our film uncover an "urban legend" and it's up to them whether or not they choose to believe it's real.
Even though the term "lake creature" sounds like a sea monster from a fairy tale, folk lore isn't really that antiquated. Back when it was called such, a folk tale would have been used to keep the kids away from dangerous waters. Today, we still use stories, just in different ways. Stories today are identities: Everyone wants a piece of the narrative, everyone wants to contribute, to claim it as their own. (It's like telling a story with a friend who was also there. No one can get a word in without being interrupted.) The reemergence of folk lore makes sense, especially with our new means of spreading it and owning it via social media. Someone sees something — or someone pretends they see something — they talk about it or put it online, rumors spread, other witnesses come forward, hypotheses emerge, skeptics and critics wag their fingers, diehard believers fight back, two sides are formed, and everything results from that friction becomes part of the story. This is The Folklore Effect : Hundreds of people revolving around one concept — for this purpose, let's say, a creature in a lake — either a) work to disprove the rumors and discover the "truth," or b) see past their cynicism and doubt to keep a story alive for the sake of its function as a story. Whether there is a "creature" or not may always remain a mystery, even irrelevant. It's all about the story. We want to tell you this story.
Risks & Challenges
We will be on a micro-budget for this feature. What does this mean? It means that every penny will be taken into account in the creation of this film. Because we don’t have a large budget, we won’t have the luxury of renting expensive film equipment and hiring a large amount of crew members. While some may consider this to be a hindrance, we believe that this style of filmmaking will be an experience that will help us learn how to achieve filmmaking in its finest form – creating a film that focuses on and supports a great story, as opposed to prioritizing the use of fancy cameras and equipment.
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After much research on the careers of some of our favorite independent filmmakers, we are confident that we know how to use our limitations to our advantage. We've strategically formed this script around resources that are readily available to us (i.e. lake house, beach, forest, etc.). We've studied films of similar caliber and budgets, and we are certain that we can overcome any challenges with our ability to quickly problem-solve — which we have proved numerous times on set of our past films.
The Team Behind The Lens
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Kendall Goldberg, Co-Writer/Director/Producer/Jess
Chicago native, short film director,
Kendall Goldberg, is making her feature debut with
The Lake Effect. She has two award-winning short films, one that have screened at the TCL Chinese Theater and another that was featured on Joseph Gordon Levitt's TV show, HitRECord. Her latest short film is currently in it's festival run. In that film she worked with Tony Award-winning dog trainer,
Bill Berloni, 12 dogs, and a cat. She is currently in pre-production for a short film, as well as a feature she co-write, starring
Jon Heder,
Jeremy Shada,
Anna Margaret Hollyman,
Steve Berg,
Jim O'Heir, and
Candi Milo — called
When Jeff Tried to Save the World.
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Greyson Sawyer, Producer/Nate
From Phoenix, AZ, Greyson is currently attending Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in pursuit of his BFA in Creative Producing and his BS in Business Administration. He has worked as a producer on dozens of short films and this will be his first feature as Producer; he also stars as Nate in the film. Greyson most recently produced the short film Bark Mitzvah, alongside Kendall and Tony Award-Winning dog trainer, Bill Berloni. He is also a part of the production team on the upcoming feature When Jeff Tried to Save the World.
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Julian Conner, Producer/Greg
Julian was introduced to film through the Academy of Integrated Humanities and New Media in San Francisco, CA. At age 16, he was awarded a Junior Emmy from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his documentary short, "Mother Goose." He has produced numerous short films, worked post-production at Relativity Media, and has collaborated with colleagues around the country on films highlighting disease awareness. This will also be his first time producing a feature. He is a part of the production team on the upcoming feature When Jeff Tried to Save the World.
Rachel has written award-winning short films, one that screened at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. She often collaborates with Kendall and they have several scripts in development. She currently studies Creative Writing and Theater at Valparaiso University. She also co-wrote the upcoming feature film, When Jeff Tried to Save the World. The Lake Effect will be her first feature that has gone into production.
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Sebastien Nuta, Director of Photography
Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, Sebastien Nuta grew up with a love for filmmaking. He has shot many short films, and is excited to DP his first feature, The Lake Effect. His most recent project is a music video he shot for Viet Rock, produced by Greyson Sawyer. Other recent projects include a child toy commercial (Capture the Flag Redux) and two web series (Two of the Many and Gettin' Lucky).