Shorter, Faster, Louder

Hello, my name is John Yingling.  Long story short, I am taking my project, The World Underground, moving it to Indonesia, and taking it full-time.  Expanding the scope into monthly short films alongside feature films.  More writing. More audio recordings. More photos, and stories.  The goal is continuous output on a monthly basis.  I deeply miss doing short pieces, and I think it's a great new supplement.  I believe it will morph this project to what I've always dreamed it could be.  After a few years somewhat dormant (for me) in frigid Heilongjiang province, I'm swapping climates and cultures to once again entrench myself in noise on a full-time basis. 

What is The World Underground?

The World Underground is many things.  A feature-length documentary series.  An audio archive.  Storytelling.  Photos.  A connection page archiving different arts and culture scenes around the world.  It's been my life for give or take, the last decade.  It's constantly growing, and it's time to take it to a new level.  You can have a look here:  

http://www.theworldunderground.com

Essentially, it began 10 years ago in the basements and warehouses of Chicago, Illinois.  I began documenting underground culture on a mediocre point and shoot camera.  Chicago changed my life.  After 7 years, I moved to Missoula, Montana, where I continued this, and tested an idea.  Could I roll up to a random small town's music scene, stick my camera in people's faces, and have it be accepted?  The answer was yes.  In the back of my mind, an idea lingered.  Go to a foreign country, do what I do, and see what came of it.  That country was Mainland China.  I had no idea if it would be a terrible failure, or a stroke of genius.  In my opinion, it fell somewhere in the middle. 

After China, I went on to film a tour in Korea and Japan, with the China-based GUIGUISUISUI and Noise Arcade.  That was 2015, and will be Episode 2 of this project.  It was then I accepted a job offer in Northeast China, and landed in Indonesia for the first time.

It's a long story, and is best summarized in an interview here : https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/world-underground-series-john-yingling/

What are you going to do with my money?

A return to tireless documentation, story-telling, and output.  That's my goal. 

The goal will be to release short films at least  once per month, while I work on the feature length documentaries.  Write more.  Expand the scope from music, onward to arts and culture issues.  Indonesia is a vast and ultra-compelling area.  

In June, I will move to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and use it as an editing and launching pad.  Their art and music scene is an absolute gem itself, and I've wanted to move there since my first visit 4 years ago.

Essentially, the new leg of this project will begin the second I leave Northeast China, when I will follow a short tour with a Chengdu, Sichuan based band Hiperson, pictured above.  After I get settled in Yogyakarta, I will go back to America for the first time in 3 years, mail the perks for this fundraiser, kiss my parents, and then begin editing the first short film.  Bringing this project into the full-time realm, and visiting places like Borneo, Sabah, Taiwan, and fringe scenes along the way is going to expand the way I run this project, and should be endlessly exciting.

Your money will spread across everything touched, paying for translators, gig covers, supporting local scenes through fundraiser perks and beyond.

A rough schedule, so far : 

June : Follow Chengdu, China based HIPERSON on tour, starting in Chongqing.  Then head to Beijing and once again document the P.R.C.'s capital, while I await Hiperson to then head east to Shanghai and Hangzhou, and eventually, south to Shenzhen.  This is a perfect opportunity to revisit the Guangzhou arts scene, which I'm very fond of.

July : Re-align myself with Jakarta, Indonesia's ever-blooming art and culture scene.  I've been quietly making plans for some time.  After this, I will settle in Yogyakarta, which has a very broad, spectacular, and constantly shifting world of noise, art, and creativity.  Jogja will then become my editing base of operations.

August : Malaysia, Taiwan, and other parts of Southeast Asia I've always wanted to go document, but could never spend enough time in due to being tethered for one reason or another.

September - October : SECRETS!  Things are happening.  It's going to be exciting.

Final Cut of Episode 2 of The World Underground, which focuses on a tour through Korea and Japan with GUIGUISUISUI and Noise Arcade, is finished, and awaiting sound mastering.  I hope to release it in early summer.  It's been a long road, but we're at the finish line.

Episode 3 of The World Underground, will be called "南方" (South), and it will be about Beijing, China based P.K.14. Editing will begin shortly, and I'm very excited about this one.  It's my hope to have it finished much, much more quickly than previous releases, and I think if this fundraiser succeeds, I'll have all the means to do it.

The Impact

The impact of this project is well documented.  The website itself is a living, breathing, constantly morphing catalogue of everything I've done with my life in the last 10 years.  Backlogged in the blog, the audio archive, and the films.

I write short pieces on each place I go.  The majority have been published on Impose Magazine and can be read here : http://www.imposemagazine.com/profile/john-yingling

Risks & Challenges

I'll be realistic. This is a big ask.  For the first time in 10 years, I've scraped my way out of a hole of high-interest debt, and am now ready to tackle this project on a full-time basis.  My workhorse editing computer is making dreadful noises.  My main camera (Canon C100) has begun glitching out when in high temperatures.  I believe it's only a matter of time until something finally cracks, and I fear it will be sooner rather than later.

The website itself is somewhat expensive to run and maintain, costing around $75 monthly for all upkeep and services to make it work.  This adds up over the years.

Overall, the decision to take a leap as large as this is, in itself, a very big risk for me.  However, years ago, when I moved to China, I had a plan to do exactly this after I achieved some goals.  Those goals were achieved, and that time is now, so I must jump.

Budget breakdown

$3,000 : Production starting costs for the Hiperson tour, and beginnings in Indonesia beyond.  After settling in Yogyakarta and making the rounds in Java island, I hope for my next stops to be Borneo, Sabah, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Supposedly, Bali is a haven for noise music right now, so that will definitely be explored.

$2,000 : Maintenance and ongoing costs.  Paying translators.  Everything from batteries to the scarily inevitable editing system and camera maintenance.  The other shoe will drop on both of these soon, but I don't know when.

$2,000 : Fundraiser and perk fees.  I take the "perks" on these fundraisers very seriously, packing them with as much art, noise, and beauty picked up from the places I have been.  The average costs in the past has been about 20%, and I assume this one will be no different.  Platform fees are around 9% when said and done.  I have quietly been stock-piling things over the last 2 years for this fundraiser, and much of it resides in Indonesia at this very moment.

$1,000 : Ongoing scene support, gig covers, broken memory cards, ghetto-rigging equipment.  It all adds up very quickly.  I also hope to off-setting t-shirt printing costs from a local high quality printing company called Orchard Street Apparel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Okay!  I'm in.  What do I get in return?

This is my favorite part!  Having done 4 fundraisers in the past, I've quietly been accumulating some great stuff for this one.  

$5 : Thank You!

A sincere Thank You, social media gushing, a mention in the upcoming film's credits, as well as on a revamped website.

$15 : Postcard pack

A postcard pack from my hoarded collection picked up in China and Indonesia.  International orders must pay shipping.

$20 : Live and Field recording compilation

Live sets and field recordings from across Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and elsewhere.  Photographs.  Bits and pieces of digital goodness stuffed into a zip file and sent directly to you.

$25 : Sensitive Word Art Postcards 

A stack of 8 postcards of Tony Cheung's wickedly twisted designs.  Mail them to your friends mom and freak the norms.  Keep them for when he is on the cover of some huge magazine, and gloat about how you knew about him before it was cool.

$35 : The World Underground T-Shirt

A t-shirt designed by Tony Cheung of the Guangzhou, China based "Sensitive Word".  Tony has been a long-term supporter of this project since the beginning, and I am always so happy to be able to showcase his work.  He is the real deal, and you want this.  You need this.

$50 : Prints - Tony Cheung's "Sensitive Word"

2 posters and 5 postcards from the previously mentioned Tony Cheung.  Tony's art is RIDICULOUSLY GOOD. I first found it in Shenzhen's "Old Heaven" bookstore while on tour with P.K.14, and fell in love. This fellow should be famous, and it's amazing he's doing this in the PRC.  Support local Chinese artists!

$85 : RECORD PACK #5

Records, cassettes, and CD's from across the world, curated and packed with care directly to your doorstep.  I so deeply love doing these.  This will be the fifth installment, and in my opinion, they get better each time.  I've had a box of great stuff hiding in Indonesia for the past year waiting for this one.  Highly recommended.

$100 : Mystery Box!

A secret concoction of things I've been gathering over the last few years.  Art, culture, music, warmth, and love will be represented.  I'd absolutely consider this.

$275 : Tony Cheung's "Happy Orient" *SOLD*

EDIT : "Happy Orient" has been sold privately.  

$500 : Choose your own adventure (S.E. Asia)

Being wholly mobile on a full-time basis, my ability to cover wide swathes of topics and scenarios is about to burst wide open.  If you have something you want explored, a piece made on someone you love, or are a local business who wants something done, this is for you.  Having Yogyakarta as an editing and organizational base is going to free myself up quite a bit in terms of what can be done cheaply.

$1,500 : Tour documentary (open invitation)

If any bands wish to collectively throw down, I will create a 20 minute tour documentary of your trek.  Editing costs are included, international flights prices outside of South and East Asia are not. 

If you have any questions about this, please contact me.  Gofundme no longer takes certain payment methods, so if you need to arrange something, just give a shout.

Thanks for your time.  Godspeed, and be well.

- John Yingling

info@theworldunderground.com