Kickstarter

The Story

Low Shoulders is a narrative of young love, violence, and escapism, and a journey south along the California highway. In many ways, it’s a genre film: the story of a young couple on the lam. 

But it’s also a story about story – about the stories we tell ourselves to help make sense of the world, and about how buying into a story can sometimes have unintended consequences. 

They were just two teenagers at a suburban high school — Annie was a couple grades higher than Billy, Billy was dating Annie's sister — but they were different from the others. At least, they thought they were. Billy saw something in the glint of Annie's eye, and she in turn noticed something in him. So she stole him. Faster than you could say “get your guns out” they were in love and “the only possible people for each other.” 

A brazen impulse leads Billy and Annie south along the California highway on a killing spree that brings them closer and closer together, as if together they had no vestige of a beginning, no promise of an end.

But what would happen when they ran out of California?

The Background

The idea for Low Shoulders began when Evan wrote the short play "Witness to a Murder," which was staged in a festival in San Francisco in early 2010. Evan drew inspiration from the music of Andrew Bird, the choreography of a dancer friend, and the iconic Raymond Pettibon graphic seen on the cover on the Sonic Youth album Goo: "I stole my sister's boyfriend...Within a week, we killed my parents and hit the road." 

The staged version of the story was a success. After seeing the play, I (Elijah) approached Evan about turning the piece into a short film. Together, we adapted it into a script, and began to put the film into process.

Casting and assembling a crew soon followed, and, thanks to Piano Fight, a Bay Area based theater production company, we were able to get the initial funds and equipment needed to start filming. With a talented cast and crew drawn from the local film and theater communities, we've had some fantastic successes in further developing the vision of Low Shoulders.

To this point, we've filmed about half the scenes in the film. 

Why We Need Money

We've started production on Low Shoulders and have made significant progress. But we've reached a point where we need some help from the community. We have a few specific things that we need the money for:

• A heavy-duty camera car mount
• The rental and purchasing of props, including a '68 Chevy Camaro
• Food, gas, and lodging for an essential on-location weekend road trip and shoot in Visalia, CA
• Actor stipends
• Location securement
• Post-production costs: ADR, sound design, mastering, DVD production, and marketing materials

Financially-speaking, we know exactly what we need to make this happen. Your small donations will add up, and will help us make a fantastic film that will get played in festivals nation- (and hopefully world-) wide. Thanks a million for your support. 

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To learn more, visit lowshoulders.wordpress.com.