Kickstarter

WHAT WE'RE DOING...

Caterwaul is a short film shooting in Massachusetts in April, 2011. The project is a culmination of my technical and aesthetic interests integrating live action dramatic narrative filmmaking and puppetry.

Caterwaul explores the desire to resurrect and preserve the loss of intimate relationships through routine, collection, and denial. It is inspired by recent familial losses and the manifestation of those who have passed through the things they leave behind. The story is based on observations of family and friends who have taken on caretaker roles over partners on the verge of passing, and the aftermath of their loss. Hattie’s return is the enigmatic realization of these losses, told through the iconic relationship of a fisherman and his lobster, partially inspired by The Old Man and the Sea.

CREATIVE TEAM...

writer/director: IAN SAMUELS http://www.vimeo.com/user118777/videos

producer: BRIAN HIGDON http://www.bugler-movie.com

director of photography: MONIKA LENCZEWSKA http://www.monikalenczewska.com/

production design: ERIN SMITH

puppet builder: DAVID MONZINGO http://www.sheepsclothingproductions.com

creature design: ASHLEY STODDARD http://stodspace.typepad.com/blog/

HOW WE'RE DOING IT...

This project has been in development for about a year. I continue to collaborate with artists from CalArts, New York and Los Angeles. I lived on Cape Cod for some time during the summer of 2010 to research the local lobstering industry and speak with working lobstermen. There, I visited harbors, beaches, bars and boats with them, and went lobstering. They shared stories, culture and the representation of their work they'd like shared on film. Soon after, I completed the first draft of the screenplay.

Since then, I’ve been developing the look of the film, the puppet build, the production details, assembling cast and crew, and arranging production details with producer Brian Higdon. I am currently living in Massachusetts for the last two months before production to prep locally.

With the support of Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program and donations from Kodak, this project will be shot on super 16mm color film to capture the ideal tone and texture of the film. The texture of super 16mm grain will aid the visual integration of puppetry within real world environments including a fisherman’s house, a marshy beach, and a lobstering boat at sea. Film will convey the production design’s nostalgic quality, as well as realize the latitude of grays in our color palette, particularly in the spectrum of Cape Cod’s foggy ocean and skies.

Our crew is assembling in Los Angeles and New York, prepping for the shoot at the end of April. This is my third collaboration with Monika Lenczewska, a Los Angeles based DP and graduate of AFI. Casting has begun on the east and west coast. David Monzingo, of the Stan Winston Company and Sheeps Clothing, is building two rod and hand puppets for the production under designs developed by myself and concept artist Ashley Stoddard.

WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR…

I need support to make this film; any contribution is helpful and sincerely appreciated. I’ve developed a tight budget to cover film costs (stock, processing, telecine, digitizing), props, sets, wardrobe, puppetry fabrication, location fees, permits, and more. There are many people donating time and talent for this labor of love but we still have plenty of costs to cover. Be a part of a never-been-told but should-be-told haunted lobster / old fisherman intimate relationship film!!!

PHOTOS FROM PREVIOUS WORK...

The Eyes and the Ice (2011)



Nancy and the Dapper Toad (2010)



Myrna the Monster Goes to the Movies (2010)



Two of a Kind (2009)