Trying my Indie Go-Go write up again...and failing

I tried to change it since the project is not what it was at the beginning of the semester. Now it's WAY too long, and maybe I should push for getting film for the next installment rather than trying to get people to help me recoup my expenses for the first time around. Regardless, I'll go ahead and post it here, as it is part of the pastiche of my film's journey:

Our Story

Michelle and I are undergraduate film studies majors at UNC Wilmington. The Holistic marks our third project together, a senior thesis film that mediates on the nature of death as seen through a Judea Christian frame of reference. While that description might seem overly complicated, it boils down to a simple set of questions that everyone must ask themselves at some point and yet we rarely bring up in conversation:

-What will happen to us when we die?

-What are the implications of an eternal soul?

-Where do we go? What distinctions can we make between heaven and hell?

The beginnings of this concept started with my dissastification of our first film, in which we served as underlings on a fledgling documentary about something neither Michelle or I held interest in: the public perceptions of tow truck drivers (riveting stuff, I know). Halfway through our short documentary Towed Away, I made myself a promise never to make another film I was not passionate about.

This lead me to question what I was passionate about, and I had to admit that religion always held a peculiar fascination to me. I was particularly interested in the abstract notion of religion: the ineffable quality of belief that escapes definition, a feeling of grace that lies beyond the dogma of the church. Having grown to appreciate Michelle as an artist and a close friend, I approached her with the idea of constructing an experimental documentary in which we would explore this concept. Thankfully, she agreed to follow me on this bizarre, year long film adventure, patiently waiting for our film to take shape from what I originally imagined to what it was meant to be.

Of course, the problem with deciding exactly what I wanted to express with religion was that I was only one person. And yet, we interviewed several different people from all walks of life, somehow imagining that their views could conveniently line up with mine. As you might imagine, the interviews did not happen according to my design. Instead, they organically took the form of a series of unique reflections on universal concerns about religion and our place in the world.

I had also meant to segment the film into three parts: Religion and Nostalgia, Religion and Everyday Life, and Religion and Death. However, once I began editing the film I realized that trying to incorporate everything I wanted to say into one short film left the message diluted and confused. Helped by Michelle's wise council, I decided to focus on the subject that interested me the most; namely, how our perceptions of an unknowable death and the equally poetic notion of religion coexist in harmony.

And so The Holistic was born.

The Impact

I believe this project is important because it addresses a subject that is integral to all our lives but that we seldom discuss in an open and honest way. In the film, we incorporate as many perspectives as possible, presenting them in a way that is free from bias and judgment, because regardless of individual belief we all face the same end. Consequently, The Holistic provides a voice for the very substance of our beliefs, showing that we have more in common with each other than we might have thought.

Additionally, and beyond the construction of our interviews (which takes up the first segment of our film), we have also included the following two segments: a poetic representation of the history of the dead and a brief diaristic segment in which I voice my own thoughts and concerns of death and religion. With the inclusion of these segments, we offer contrast between a highly personalized experience and a more universal depiction of the passage of time and life. Through these shifts in scope, the film creates a natural association between how an individual relates to death and how that intimate connection expresses one voice among many, providing us a comprehensive reflection that draws influence from religion, but which remains independent of any subset of religious belief.

This inclination led me to name the film The Holistic after a branch of philosophy called holism, which theorizes that “whole entities, as fundamental components of reality, have an existence other than as the mere sum of their parts.” In other words, entities like religion and death hold a presence beyond their apparent components and beyond our capacity of observation. In the same way, and contrary to popular belief, none of us die alone because our deaths lend themselves to a pastiche of human experience, a continued struggle to find meaning and beauty in every aspect of our lives. It is my humble intent to offer this film up as a poetic representation of that process. 

(What is the impact your campaign may have on others? What if your campaign doesn't happen, what are the consequences? Make it real for people.)

What We Need & What You Get

Perhaps it is counter-intuitive to set up a fundraiser account after the project has been created. However, the truth is that if we tried to express what our film was before its completion our request would have been disingenuous. We only knew what our film was truly about in the final moments of its creation, and we could not ask for help with funding without expressing exactly what we wanted the film to convey.

Consequently, Michelle and I have self-funded the project up until this point, depleting our tenuous bank account reserves in an effort to see the film through. With that said, we have created this indie go-go account to help our production and our lives in the following ways:

1. While our film has been completed, Michelle and I are now graduating and woefully in debt, and we face the intimidating prospect of paying film festival fees in order to assure that The Holistic finds an audience. We would also love to establish a website both for The Holistic and our future projects, but again this is a cost we find ourselves ill-equipped to cover. We seek help with these expenses if nothing else, though we remain optimistic in our search for further support.

Cost: ____

2. We put the cost of our 16mm and Super 8mm film on my credit card, originally planning to post a kickstarter or indie go-go account in order to try and recoup the expense, but we had a crises of conscious in terms of pretending the film had not already been purchased and that The Holistic had not already been made. However, we would hope to appeal to everyone's better nature in order to help us recover this expense so that we might stave off that part of our debt as recent graduates. We are not worrying about any odds and ends purchasing that our production entailed, those we gladly embrace as our own in-kind donations to the project. Instead, we ask only for help with the lingering expense of our film purchase, developing, and the digital transfer.

Cost: _____

3. Any funding that we receive beyond these specific markers will go directly to the creation of a sister film created from the same pool of interviews that we used for The Holistic, which will explore how we relate to religion through memory and nostalgia. Any benefits directly related to The Holistic (inclusion in credits, film stills), will also be applicable for our next film in the event that we receive enough funds for its creation.

Cost: ______

As for why we chose film for our project and what you can receive for your generous help, I leave you in the capable hands of my filmmaking partner:

It's sad but we are asking for this large hunk of cash mainly because the rapidly disappearing business of film processing has driven the cost of 16mm and Super8mm development to an unpleasant price. So why not just shoot digital? Because we love celluloid and we refuse to believe that the film medium is dying out! Jacob and I have spent several afternoons exploring the world around us and capturing its beauty through the viewfinder of a camera with real tangible film whirring inside of it and we are desperate to share the fruits of our labor with you. In return for your help...