Kickstarter

"Three couples go on a rustic vacation to Boulder Creek, a small town nestled deep in the Californian redwoods forest, to relax during the Independence Day weekend. Their isolated surroundings and close quarters soon conspire to drag their past indiscretions and secrets to light, and put their relationships to a grueling test."

This is the central premise of our feature film, the UNTITLED REDWOODS PROJECT. The hook of the story is that even the filmmakers don't know the whole story until shooting is over. We've even gone so far as to refuse naming the film until after production so we can maintain the sense that anything can happen. By utilizing advancements in digital cinematography and extensive experience working with actors, we aim to directly challenge notions of how a narrative feature film is traditionally made. On a surface level, we're taking the style of reality TV shooting and applying it to a fictional story, but it's a little more complicated than that:

Up until the day of shooting, the actors only have the general premise and detailed character backstory to draw from. They will draw on those elements to create the action that plays out in the film, guided by daily notecards from the director containing a specific set of goals they are to accomplish that day. No retakes, cuts, or set-ups-- all story decisions are final and binding. As filmmakers, it will be our job to cinematically capture the story as it unfolds and fashion it into a compelling feature film. This will be accomplished through the use of a pair of HD-capable DSLR cameras that balance stunning picture quality with an unobtrusive setup suited to our needs. We aim to make a finished film that will be an honest, frank, and authentic look at Generation Y's approach to commitment and what happens when those bonds begin to fray.

The film is scheduled to shoot over the Labor Day weekend and will head to editing immediately after, and is projected to be ready for festival screenings by March of 2011. Please note that these dates aren't final until funding is secured.

To complete the film, we are looking at a budget of $3,000, which would go to: -location rental -camera/sound equipment rental -transportation costs -food for cast/crew during the shoot -contingency

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS:

DIRECTOR: CAMERON BEYL An award-winning filmmaker based out of Los Angeles, Cameron's work spans five independent features since 2004 as well as a number of shorts. A graduate of Emerson College, he has worked at Warner Independent Pictures and Lionsgate and built relationships with a wide variety of industry professionals, from writers, actors, and artists to independent producers and festival organizers. His latest feature, SO LONG LONESOME, won the Best Feature award at the 2009 Zero Film Festival in Los Angeles.

PRODUCER: AVIV RUSS A graduate of Emerson College and Los Angeles native, Aviv has served as producer on a number of short films as well as Cameron's feature SO LONG, LONESOME. He has worked at Partizan Entertainment and is currently attached to produce several Los Angeles-based independent projects.

PRODUCER: PUNEET LAYAL A graduate of UC Riverside, Puneet has served as producer on Cameron's feature SO LONG, LONESOME, in addition to working as an Assistant Director of the Now Film Festival. He has also worked in various positions at Warner Independent Pictures, Magnolia Pictures, and VOX Talent Agency. He is also a founding member of the Association of Entertainment Professionals.

PRODUCER: JOSH WOOLF Josh Woolf is a graduate of Emerson College and a native of Boston, MA (although he has also lived in New Zealand and South Africa). Josh first worked with Cameron as an assistant director on his 2007 short film "The Architect," and before moving to Los Angeles, he worked on the east coast on numerous feature films including Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island." He currently lives in Santa Monica where he works in script development.

We hope you'll be a part of this exciting project. Thanks for your attention and support of independent film! -The makers of UNTITLED REDWOODS FEATURE