Friends, family, backers, and fans:

Here we are, six weeks after your support sent us to LA to film our first music video. Turns out...we got a lot more than we bargained for.

Over the course of creating this video, you gave us an opportunity to hear from so many of our fans who reached out to us personally to tell us their stories. You gave us a chance to connect with and experience more deeply why we do what we do. We had no idea the kind of learning curve we’d go through in the process.

With your backing, we have been able to tell our story and that of so many kids who every day face challenges to who they are and who they want to be. Growing up, we had some pretty influential teachers and role models who supported our passion for music. This project has been our chance to follow in their footsteps and inspire kids just like us.

Was the experience more amazing than we ever thought it would be? Without a doubt. Did we send a positive message about being strong in the face of a challenge? You bet. Now, here it is: the finished product of our collaboration -- yours and ours.

http://youtu.be/OnzAWPlM470

Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts.

Zach, Ranaan, and Nick
Time for Three
www.tf3.com

Hey friends, Ranaan here. We've been spending a lot of time in the editing room these past couple weeks and I just wanted to share with you our excitement about this fascinating process of translating all the live action from our music video shoot in LA to a beautiful, incredibly emotional video on the screen.

Our director, Brian Lazzaro, has been working closely with his editing team to help us create something really special. Much like music is our language, Brian's is film. He can tell an entire story with the simple gestures he captures, the lighting he uses, the location he's uncovered. All together, the visual experience he creates is uniquely his in the same way our live performances are uniquely ours.

For us, it's been incredibly rewarding to find the parallels between our two worlds of creative expression and bear witness to how powerful the combination of both can be: we've seen the video evolve. It. Is. Awesome. The final cut is almost ready and we are dying to show it to you, our backers who made it all possible. We promise you that we will share it here first.

Until then, know that your rewards will soon be on the way! We're waiting on the printers to finish up the t-shirts in the next few days. We will have them in hand and mailed out early next week.

...and I'm going to guess that the next update you receive in your inbox will have the best reward of all.

With love,

Ranaan, Zach, and Nick

Hey friends, it's Nick, back at home in Indianapolis after the whirlwind of the video shoot in LA -- thank you again for making it happen for us! I've been collecting all the photos we took on the set of the video and picked out a few favorites I want to share with you. Check them out!

It is with some time to reflect that we've each realized how significant a milestone this project has been for us as a band and as friends. It seemed like almost overnight we had the opportunity to conceptualize our idea, build a crew to help us get it done, and, most importantly, hear from all of you who contributed to making it come to life.

Words cannot describe how grateful we are to you for being the support and encouragement that enabled us to reach our goal. In other words, you helped us meet the high expectations we set for ourselves. For anyone who's set and met a goal, sharing that sense of accomplishment with friends is priceless and everlasting. We can't thank you enough!

But our work doesn't end with the end of the shoot. In the same way you've been a part of our success, we aim to be a part of the success of kids everywhere by inspiring them to be strong and stick with it. We hope that not only our music video but our performances, our teaching, and our celebration of music will be an inspiration to them all.

P.S. We get to see the first cut of the video very soon. Stay tuned for a release date!

Hello friends! Greetings from Los Angeles! We're writing from the set of our very first music video, which would not have been possible without YOU - thank you! Shooting begins in just a few moments and will continue for the next two days at University High School in west LA.

We arrived here just a couple days ago and have since been preparing for the shoot. We spent most of yesterday consulting with our director, Brian Lazzaro, about the storyline as well as getting some styling tips from the pros!

We began this morning getting our lead to the set bright and early. We cast a very talented young violinist as our lead -- no actors here! Just the real deal. Mikhail Vayman is a first-year student at Cleveland Institute of Music and has a very promising career ahead of him. You can check him out doing his best Leonardo DiCaprio impression below.

Tonight, we're throwing a free impromptu performance under the stars at University High. We'll be capturing a few scenes for the video, so if you've ever wondered what it would be like to be an extra in a music video, come join us! Just send us a message via Kickstarter and we'll make sure to get you all the details. 

OK, stay tuned for backstage pictures as we shoot the video....

Yours,

Zach, Ranaan, and Nick

Hey guys, Ranaan here. As promised, keeping you updated with news about our project. But first, thank you to each and every one of you who has helped us make this happen. We reached our goal three days ahead of the deadline, which means that over just five days you guys pitched in $15,000. One word: WOW!

We have just hours to go before the Kickstarter campaign officially ends. We are still rounding up last-minute pledges because we plan to use every dollar raised above our goal to help distribute the video and reach that many more kids with our message. The more people that know about our project, the greater impact it will have.

The video shoot is now scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on August 31 and September 1. If any of our young fans in LA would like to be an extra on the video, let us know. We have a spot for you! This would be for a talent show scene, so bring your best standing-O!

The film crew has been hard at work scouting locations and have settled on a school in West LA that's versatile enough for many of our scenes (helping us keep a lean budget). Check out the pictures below. Just your average grade school, you say. But it's perfect to set the scene for our lead.

The three of us have been hard at work crafting the narrative with our steadfast director, Brian Lazzaro. It has been an incredibly emotional experience to put in writing what our lead must go through in order to stick with his passion. It was difficult for us remembering what it was like to be in our lead's shoes. Look out for some our personal experiences told through the story in the final cut of the video. 

Last but not least, we are unveiling the Tf3 t-shirt design created exclusively for supporters of our campaign. Take a look! We collaborated with our friend, artist Cristina Vasquez, to come up with something unique to this campaign that you won't find anywhere else. Be sure to wear it to our next concert so that we know you're part of our music video "crew."

It is incredibly exciting for us to see our project idea become a reality. We can't wait to share with you the final product. Stay tuned!