Welcome!

To the promotional, attempted funding of "TO AN EXTENT",  an NYU thesis film by yours truly, yes, Daniel Jaffe. 

WHAT EVEN IS IT?

Well, no doubt a film. But furthermore, one that I hold very dear. The story is about brothers:

and brothers fighting. During the night, three brothers are forced to retell the fights of that day to their Mother, each offering quite different perspectives. Through each brother's account, seen in flashbacks, the actuality of the event is revealed -- sort of. 

The film follows Benny Weiss: the scrawny, good boy, middle brother on the day of his 20th birthday. Throughout the piece, we see Benny try to do "right" as he feuds with his older, intensely violent brother Miles. Loyalties run a muck and we see that Benny might just have a bit of evil too. It's in his blood. Sounds pretty heavy, no? 

WHY?

For plenty reasons, but first of all, there's a large personal motivation to the piece. The stories that inspired the work are all my father's (the little one above) and have been told to me seemingly forever times. And rightly so. They stories are not just minor k'vetches but actually, pretty harrowing accounts of a violent, manipulative brother: the oldest one (the Miles), a massive, neckless hunk of guy, who absolutely terrorized the middle brother (our Benny) and pushed the family apart. In a recent talk about the project, my father said to me that "of all the crap and terrible times I went through growing up, I'm glad at least you can make something good out of it." Thus, without a doubt, that I must do! 

WHAT?

The film is a tragedy, but not in tone. The promotional video captures the feeling we'd like to achieve well. Hopefully it's all a bit funny too.

This film is an experiment in narrative structure and perspective through repetition and the interweaving of the boys' stories. The "truth" is never clear as each narrative is seen through different eyes. 

Lastly, the film will be a visual experiment too, utilizing many of the techniques shown in the video above. The goal, as always, is to hopefully tell a timeless story in a new way. So, here's hoping.

CREW

• Director: Daniel Jaffe
• Writer: Daniel Jaffe, Michael Feinstein
• Producers: Jonathan Cohen, Luisa Conlon, Sophie Brooks, Michael Feinstein
• Cinematographer: Adam Gundersheimer. 

And many others. We have a great group of NYU students, grads/long time collaborators on board. Very exciting. 

DONATE?

Hell yeauh! Why not? Films take huge effort: both financially and emotionally. Especially the ones you really care about. This film is no exception.

WHERE DOES IT GO THOUGH (DA MONEY)?

Since the piece is period (as of now), we need mad help bringing 1964 to life. The contributions will go to:

• art department, costumes: huge part of this one 
• camera, equipment: it's true you need it
• locations, permits: a must
• good food for cast/crew: a BIG must
• etc: there's always a good amount of this

Our budget's set at about $7000 total, not including post production. Your help is beyond important and incredibly meaningful to us. We can't do it without you!

THANKS!

Assuming you just can't get enough of our promo video, here it is on Vimeo!

And please, feel free to check out my other work online here:

• VIMEO
• BLOG

Check out our Facebook page too:

http://www.facebook.com/ToAnExtent

Your contributions and help mean the world to us. We cannot thank you enough but we can try. This should be a great project and we're happy you could be a part. With much love, THANKS!!

~ Daniel Jaffe