My son, Cameron, is working hard on his senior thesis film, Oculus, for his degree from Ithaca College in New York. In order to make the project happen, he’s doing what all film producers have to do for their projects: raise funding.
And that’s where YOU, my awesome readers, come in.
Here’s a note from the writer/director/producer/editor himself:
Hi Everyone,As many of you know, I’m currently in the middle of shooting my senior thesis film. It’s the capstone project for the cinema half of my major and will serve as the face of my film resume as I head off into the industry in the spring. My film is a short 10-15 minute long fiction film called Oculus that, if I had to place into a genre, I guess it would be suspense/thriller.
It follows a young man who’s plagued by haunting dreams as he sets off on a journey to combat his fears and things in his subconscious that hold him back in life. The script is heavily influenced by the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges, and it’s being shot in a style reminiscent of David Lynch’s films and a little of Stanley Kubrick. I am both the writer and director of the film, and also producing and editing it. I have a small crew to help me but essentially I am creating this work all on my own. After the film is complete, it’s being premiered at my school’s Cinema Thesis Screening, and then I will enter it in film festivals all over the country and hopefully internationally as well.
So this is where you come in. One of the biggest hurdles in filmmaking is securing capital to have a budget for a film. While movies in the real world have time to find investors and executive producers, we have to make a film for the class in the duration of one semester. We don’t get any help from the school outside of being able to borrow equipment to shoot.
Luckily the internet is a super helpful tool for filmmakers to get creative projects off the ground and find monetary support. I’ve created a campaign on the site called Kickstarter. Essentially what Kickstarter does is provide a platform for individuals to pitch their project, set a goal for how much they need to make the project successful and then offer rewards for backers in trade for their support. I’ve calculated that I need at least $1,500 from outside help to make Oculus a reality. This is actually a very small amount compared to other student films and short films in general, but I’m using a lot of my own equipment and keeping the budget very tight.
The big catch about Kickstarter is that it’s ‘all or nothing’. If I don’t reach my goal by the end of the campaign, I don’t get any of the money and it goes back into the pockets of my supporters. While this is risky, the upside is that it makes it more serious and also more fun. I’ve offered some pretty cool rewards for each level of pledging and no matter how much you give, you get a thank you in the credits of the film!
Please check out the page and help me out! Any amount you give helps turn Oculus from just and idea into a real film. Just to give you an idea, donating $40-$50 would help me get ONE film festival entree, which would be one better chance of my work getting noticed!
Thank you so much!
Kickstarter:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/377110020/oculusAlso, feel free to ‘Like’ Oculus on Facebook to get cool updates on how the film process is going!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oculus/285857354785974Sincerely,
Cameron
So, whattya say, folks? Can ya help out a budding filmmaker? You might one day be able to say you knew him and gave him a coupla bucks before he was cool. Think about that! ;^ )
