Kickstarter

Wow, what a week.  On Monday we wrapped shooting on Day of Youth, on Tuesday we were Project of the Day on IndieWire, and thanks to your generosity, on Friday we reached our fundraising goal.  

On behalf of our cast and crew, thank you!  

We have all the footage in the can, and now thanks to you, we have the resources to assemble this footage into the best film we can make.  Without your contribution, we wouldn't be in such a good position--and we are all full of gratitude and enthusiasm as we head to work on finishing the film.

We'll be laying low for the summer as we go through post-production, but rest assured you will be hearing from us when the film is done and ready to screen.  Once we get closer to releasing rewards, you should be receiving an email survey via Kickstarter asking for your mailing address and your preferred video formats. 

In the meantime, you can keep up with our progress by following us on facebook and twitter.  We'll post updates as we move through post-production, and may even share the occasional sneak peek.  

Thanks again to all of you for your outstanding generosity, and you'll be hearing more from us soon.

Love and gratitude, 

Jared Vincenti

& the entire cast and crew of Day of Youth

I've been asked how we intend to spend the money we're raising.    

Funds are largely going towards post-production and promotion: we have a little bit of production to go, but the bulk of the funds raised are going to go towards software and facility rentals for finishing the film.  This involves editing the footage, designing and editing the sound, assembling music for a soundtrack, digitally coloring the footage, and possibly animating credits.  We'll also need to assemble press kits, print posters, and pay for festival submissions.  All of these are crucial steps in production, and having money to spend gives us momentum.

Day of Youth is a movie about the here-and-now.  It's a movie about what it's like to be a young adult and out of school and stuck in neutral in 2012.  It's about inertia, and it's about the current problems facing us today.  The film is urgent because it is about the moment we are in.

It's not uncommon for independent films to stall in post-production, because of the many steps necessary to turn footage into a film.  Even once the polished film is done, we will need to invest significantly in materials and festivals to get it seen.  Having money for post-production and promotion keeps us in motion, and keeps our film on track to be seen while it's still relevant.  If we meet our fundraising goal, we will likely finish the film before the end of the year!

Please help us spread the word.  Tell your friends about our film, and feel free to post about us on facebook and twitter (sample posts below!).  

Thank you--and up, up, and away!

Jared

Twitter:  Help @dayofyouth raise $7k on @kickstarter!  Support this funny film about brain damage and life after college!  http://kck.st/IjwVFy

Facebook:  Never bike without a helmet, and always support independent film!  Check out Day of Youth, a funny and important film about brain damage and life after college!  Give a little, give a lot, or spread the word!  Check out their fundraising campaign today at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903547832/day-of-youth 

Thanks so much to everybody who has already pledged to our film!  Every dollar makes a difference!  That may be easy to say, but I'd like to prove it by talking about two of the most important things on a film set:  food and coffee

Even on a professional set, food and beverages (or "craft services" in film lingo) are a huge expense. Film production is a lot of long days, heavy lifting, and strange hours. We work up quite an appetite and need a steady supply of perk-me-ups!  

On set for Day of Youth, every day of production had 15 to 40 people, working 12 hour days.  Every single member of the cast and crew worked for free--and in our world, that's all the more reason to have meals that are hot, plentiful, and delicious.

Your donation of $15 covers two pounds of good coffee, enough to fuel our cast and crew for a day of production.  And just $100 feeds a hot meal to the whole team!

How did we do get such value on our craft services?  Crowd-sourcing!  First of all, we had a number of meals generously donated (and delivered!) to our production by local friends.  On top of that, we had the one-and-only Katie Dolph!  

In addition to acting in the film--you'll see her as Linz--Katie prepared most of our meals and snacks in her kitchen.  She put her considerable culinary skills to work making sure we had filling, healthy, and delicious meals every day we worked.  

Katie's meals earned rave reviews from the cast and crew, and have inspired this week's special Backer Reward:  A Day of Youth Set Meal Care Package straight from Katie's kitchen!  Just ask anybody who worked on the film: this food is delicious, and kept morale high for shooting late on winter nights!  Now, a few of our backers can get a taste of the meals that kept us going.

We hope you can see what a difference even the smallest of donations makes.  Every cup of coffee costs money, but every cup of coffee keeps our team moving towards our goal.  Give a little, give a lot, or spread the word, and you're putting fuel in our tanks and warming our hearts as we push toward the finish line.  Thank you everybody!