About this project
Hi, my name is Mike Cuenca and I'm a no-budget filmmaker. I currently produce, write, direct and edit a counter-culture influenced comedic web series titled OBLIVION. The show is shot without permits on the streets, with a small crew, no catering, no fancy deals, using mostly untrained actors. As raw as it gets. Everyone involved works incredibly hard on this show and I'm blessed to have such a great, talented group of individuals donating their time in front and behind the camera, making the nearly half-hour show a reality.
On November 22nd, right after one of our guerilla-style shoots, my brand new (still unpaid for) Mac Book Pro, entire Sony HD filmmaking gear, and external hard drive with every single footage we have shot for our show was stolen out of my car in a Los Feliz parking lot. This is about over $6,000 in equipment. Of course, negligence on my part...I turn away for about a half hour, and this happens.
I am not a rich person. I don't come from a wealthy background. I have never owned a credit card. I sold my entire, huge music collection that I had been rounding up since I was a kid, various music gear and random things to pay for the above materials. I work two practically full-time jobs just to be able to make ends meet and work on the web series in my rare spare time . My great friend Yvonne purchased the new Mac Book Pro on her credit card, with me paying her in monthly small increments, just so I could get some proper, faster editing done. Now I have to pay off something I no longer own, re-purchase a Mac Book and figure out later what to do about my pro Sony HD camera, mics, and stolen data.
The show already has a Kickstarter campaign to cover marketing costs, props, wardrobe, etc. This may have to be placed on a temporary hold since now we're back to square one. I am attempting to pay off the stolen laptop, purchase a new one, and begin compiling change to re-purchase all the filmmaking gear. I hope to utilize Kickstarter to literally kick start my goal.
Though, honestly, I have nothing to give. I just need help. Any donations are welcomed and extremely appreciated. When production commences on the show again, I will remember you and send you DVDs when the season is completed or when I'm in a place to be able to do that. Right now I just need assistance in getting it underway again. Thank you for your support!
To learn more about Kickstarter click on this link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/learn-more
Official Site for the Show:
http://obliviontheseries.com
IMDB Page:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2969858/
FAQ
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on January 2, 2010.
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I am pretty broke and have nothing to offer. But if the fundraising is successful I will treat everyone with drinks at a party to celebrate. Plus if we ever complete the first season of the show, a free DVD set of that season. Many, many, many thanks.
Project By
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Mike Cuenca is a self-taught underground filmmaker and musician.
Cuenca’s first feature-length film is Scenes from Oblivion, a youth-in-quarrel/semi-comic drama reflecting his Cuban-American upbringing and love of punk rock music. Scenes from Oblivion was made on a shoestring budget. He is also the creator of punks, mods and rockers web Series Oblivion which he co-writes, edits, produces, directs and acts in. He is also developing an “untitled black & white kitchen sink movie about sex and comic books” which he hopes to film within a span of 5 years to have the actors age in real-time.
As of 2011 Cuenca has taken a break from Oblivion to focus on a set of three loosely connected black and white movies, the first which is now in production under the title NON COMPOS MENTIS or: Jerry Powell & The Delusions of Grandeur. The second film titled The Death Loneliness will begin filming in November with the third, and currently untitled, to begin production in early January. The three movies are being shot by Los Angeles and New York based photographer Amberlie Bankoff.
Cuenca’s growing body of work addresses such themes as personal identity and freedom, absurdist philosophy, and punk ideology with a dose of slapstick. He cites his major influences as Woody Allen, Jim Jarmusch, the Marx Bros, and the French New Wave.
