Fool’s Day is a dark comedy about a 3rd grade class that pull an innocent, April Fool’s prank on their teacher that ends up accidentally killing her. They become so convinced they will all go to prison for this, that they decide to cover up the murder and hide the body before their DARE officer shows up for his weekly lesson. 

Fool’s Day is a short film that has been in the making for almost two years, with plans to submit it to the Sundance Film Festival. Ultimately we would like to make it into a feature film. The only problem is we are over budget and we can’t make the movie without your help! If you could please help us meet our fundraising goal the money will be put to good use, like feeding the cast and crew, providing transportation to & from the shooting location, housing and paying SAG fees for the actors.

Any amount of money you can donate to help make Fool’s Day a reality will be greatly appreciated and go to making a fun, smart film unlike anything you have ever seen before. Thank you for checking out our kick-starter page and I hope you decide to join the Fool’s day family and be apart of something special! Thank you, Thank you and Thank you! 

                 DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT 

In the words of my brother, (and co-writer) “Comedy is two things: something real treated preposterously or something preposterous treated realistically.” Fool’s Day is the latter, and to me that is what will make this film so special.

When you have a short that essentially starts with a class of 9 year olds, unintentionally blowing off a teacher’s head, the natural tendency would be to play to the absurdity, leaning on it like a crutch.  This would result in a story ripe with, and rooted in escapism.  To me, this is out of fashion, overdone and not as interesting. Rooting Fool’s Day entirely in verisimilitude is going to make this a film like no other and ultimately amplify the shock, suspense and comedy of the film to a whole new level.

Being the follow up to my award winning drama “All That Remains,” some people have questioned why I would want to make this my next film. Many people hear the premise and ask me “Is it animated?” and that question right there lets me know every time that this film needs to be made and it is going to be a game changer too. Steven Spielberg once said that he decides what films to make by asking himself if he would want to see it or not. And since the very inception of Fool’s Day I knew I wanted to see this film.  In fact everyone that hears the concept, whether they get it or think it’s a cartoon, they all say, “I want to see that film.”

But when it comes down to it, it’s a good story that I know I can tell in a unique and creative way. I have long wanted to make a film centered on kids and shot from their eye level.  I want to make the audience feel like they are children again, transport them back to the third grade for 15 minutes.  And although the film does have a lot of gore in it, it is not my intention to play to the horror element of the story, but rather focus on the comedy and tension the predicament divulges.

While the story is very edgy, the film will have a strong moral thesis; honesty.  Having worked for years as a summer camp counselor growing up, I’ve watched kids habitually lie to exonerate themselves from any potential trouble they might--or might not--be in.  I can’t help but feel that defense mechanism carries over with us to adulthood. This message is intrinsic to my allegorical comedy and what make it all the more different from films like it.  Or at least it would, if there were other films like Fool's Day.

Some Of Cody Blue Snider's Previous Work

          

           A NOTE FROM THE PRODUCERS

When I first read the screenplay for FOOL'S DAY I was shocked, entertained and excited. Overall, I was ecstatic to help bring this film to life. What I value most about being apart of this production is the immense passion every key player brings to the project. Cody is one of the most passionate Writer/Directors I have worked with and that fuel is enough to power this beast of a short film. It's unlike any film I've read or seen and I have the honor of making it a reality. Being a Producer is no easy task, it's a lot of hard work, involves plenty of patience and you must love every moment of it. Love the story, love the cast, love the crew. From that love a baby is born and this baby, FOOL'S DAY is in need of some serious parental support: YOU! This is your chance to become apart of the FOOL'S DAY family and help us meet our goal of raising enough money to feed our cast and crew, transport people to and from location, purchase wardrobe, props, special effects makeup, etc. Thank you in advance for helping us make our dreams come true. I promise you will fall in love with FOOL'S DAY as much as I did the moment I laid eyes on the script.
- Jennifer Joelle Kachler

About The Cinematographer Alexander Chinnici 

Note From DP: 

"Cody and I have been working together for sometime now. I'm very lucky that he brings me into the process very early on. Over a year ago he pitched 'Fool's Day' to me. Him and I have a very similar sense of humor so naturally, I loved it. Right away I couldn't help but think of a live action South Park. Sometimes when you read a script or hear an idea you have to work hard to discover the style. But the ideas instantly flowed on this one. Many of those ideas stand to this day. 

           

I am lucky to work for Upright Citizens Brigade and Broadway Video pretty often. I am confident that my sense of comedy is strong. It is a genre that is often shot in a simple way, that is definitely not the plan here. The whole point of cinematography is to increase the motivations and feelings that the directors vision put forth. I see it as my job to help make the audience laugh more. To increase the tension when Officer O'Donnell is moments away. If I've done my job right then those moments will work even better then on the page.

We have worked very hard on this project for over a year now. I consider it my baby just like Cody and Shane. It will be dream come true when we frame up that first shot of our leads ready to take on the task ahead."

DP BIO: Alex Chinnici is a New York born Cinematographer with a wide range of work experience; from films and documentaries to music videos, commercials and various forms of viral content. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Video, with a concentration in Cinematography. He has experience with formats and cameras such as 35mm, S16mm, Red, Alexa, Phantom, XD-Cam, SDHC, DVC-Pro, P2 and more. Refer to his resume for more information.

Alex has been fortunate enough to work with clients all over the United States and Europe, such as Volvo, Scion, Nike, Ralph Lauren, Spike TV, Mac Cosmetics, Broadway Video, RSM, Iskon Digital, Pearson Education, Hunter Public Relations, Red Octopus and The Upright Citizens Brigade.

During the summer of 2010 he traveled to Thailand for over a month. While there he taught English to children in need. He hopes to do more volunteer work in the years to come.      

           A Note From Co-Writer Shane Snider

It feels like just yesterday I was acting in one of Cody's earlier films; he was in 15 at the time, we were filming outside of a closed delicatessen and in the video I was stealing the nose, wallet, sandwich and family of some unlucky guy. After that improvised comedy bit, Cody and I wrote our first comedy sketch together based off of that idea. That sketch would be performed by my first and second sketch comedy group, and serve an important roll in my membership of both and my acceptance into the writing program at Marymount Manhattan College.
Little did either one of us appreciate at the time how influential that day of filming would be on the rest of our lives. From that moment forward, Cody would be a film maker and I would be a comedian and we both knew we would be working together again. I've spent the past seven years since then doing stand-up, sketch comedy, studying with the Upright Citizens Brigade, doing improvised comedy, writing plays, writing pilots, writing sketches and finally writing a short-film.
What started as a slightly intoxicated joke to the side ("Hey Cody… let's make a movie about some kids that pull a prank on their teacher and kill her.") is beginning it's slow bloom into the world. I don't know how the flower will look at the end but I can say regardless of that, Fool's Day may already be the proudest piece I've ever worked on. Cody and I have spent easily hundreds of hours over the past year and a half working on twenty pages. And today we're still tweaking any slight imperfections in the script. 
We've worked and tweaked and sanded away every inch of the script and what is left is Fool's Day. A script that I describe with it's tagline with pride. Any chance I get, I like to mention to people "Well it's about a class of third graders who pull an April Fool's Day prank on their teacher and they accidentally kill her. Now they need to dispose of the body before their DARE officer comes in to give them their weekly lesson." People almost always laugh when I tell them and I know you'll laugh when you see it.