THE FILM

New York based director Ramon J. Goñi partners up with SHOWstudio to create a story that explores the ominous space between the real and the imagined and the void that exists between life and death. 

Traversing the landscapes of film noir, high fashion, and vintage glamour, Goñi wishes to explore the cinematic gray area between the realms of romance, passion, and mortality all through the smoky mirrors of past and present and obscured fantasy and reality. 

The production will challenge and provoke the feelings of unease that film viewers endure when faced with the death of their hero or heroine, reflecting their own fear of death itself, and the unsettling finish to a film that leaves viewers to question “what's next?” 

The artistic approach to the subject of death, through the new genre of the so-called fashion film, goes beyond mortality itself and onto social critique of the blurred boundaries between arts, commerce and fashion. Goñi declares the death of those boundaries with the rise of the online commentary, blogs and creative content creation. 

What's art, commerce or fashion is in the eye of the beholder.

THE INSPIRATION 

Here's our inspiration, a poem from the book 'The Art of Losing': 

On New Terms' by Deborah Garrison

"I'd like to begin again. Not touch my own face, not tremble in the dark before an intruder who never arrives. Not apologize. Nor scurry, not pace. Not refuse to keep notes of what meant the most. Not skirt my father's ghost. Not abandon piano, or a book before the end. Nor count, count, count and wait, poised -the control, the agony controlled- for the loss of the one, having borne, I can't be, won't breathe without: the foregone conclusion, the pain not yet met, the preemptive mourning without which nothing left of me 

but smoke"

WHERE IT WILL BE PUBLISHED

This short film was commissioned by fashion and documentary photographer Nick Knight for SHOWstudio Gallery in London. It'll be part of their summer series in which artists from around the globe explore death using and interweaving various media – blending fashion, art, film, and photography into a series of unique and complex works. 

SHOWstudio has long served as a forum and platform for the genre of fashion film, advancing its very form and function, and allowing artists to stray from convention and into the avant-garde. To learn more about SHOWstudio, please view the following links:

http://www.showstudio.com 

http://www.uponpaper.com/people-partners/showstudio/ http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/fashion/showstudio/fashion-film http://www.businessoffashion.com/tag/showstudio 

BUT WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

After much planning and structuring for this production, we have unfortunately lost our financial sponsor (an apparel company) for logistical reasons having to do with the impossibility of sending samples on time from overseas. 

With an extremely urgent deadline approaching, and having shot on June 17th, we are in dire need of your support to fund the post-production stage of this project and get this film to London for the SHOWstudio Summer Series!!

In order to achieve what all 20 of us in our crew have strived for, it is imperative that we raise $5,500 in order to complete an incredible and unforgettable work of art and to have it submitted and presented to some of the industry's most discerning and respected audiences. 

We hope, once we have the funds, to have this film on view all summer at SHOWstudio's London gallery and as a collaboration between multiple talented people, we hope to make this the best possible representation of what we're all capable of. 

Thanks to the generosity of such New York establishments as The Standard Hotel, ACME Restaurant, Sony, Adorama, Bluwi modeling agencies, Soul and Marilyn, musicians and the crew itself, we've been able to get so far as to securing locations and an excellent team, but in order for us to achieve this goal and maximize our potential, we could really use the support of our family, friends, and colleagues! Be a part of an amazing experience by contributing to this project! 

THE CHALLENGE - $5K in 10 Days! 

Our challenge is to raise $5,500 in 10 days to cover basic production costs which, at the moment, live on a credit card that needs to be paid off by the beginning of July! 

Director and executive producer Ramon J. Goni decided to go ahead and front all the costs of the project with his personal credit card because of the extremely tight deadline (June 30th for online release) and because a fridge magnet told him so at breakfast when we lost our financial sponsor: 'Leap and the net will appear'.

Guess what? Mom and dad are not rich, the net has not quite appeared yet and we are still short of cash for the post-production process (no credit line left in the AMEX...), the deadline for the completion of the project is in 10 days and the payment of the credit cards is also approaching! After asking as many favors as we could, we just couldn't get around some basic production and post-production costs: 

- Location permits $300 

- Props $1000 

- Styling deliveries $200 

- Insurance $200 

- Lights and rigs $2500 

- Transportation and parking $500 

- Incidentals and food $300 

- Color Grading $500-$1000

- Sound design, delivery... we'll ask more favors.

Crew work, camera equipment and lenses, some location rentals and editing are being provided by all of our aforementioned sponsors. Now we need to pay for all the production costs so we can cover the post-production stage of the project. The online release of the film will be happening beginning of July. By then we need to grade the film, mix the sound (another $1000 to $2000) and cover for all the costs we incurred in production. Help! 

AND THERE IS A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT TOO...

This is not only a fundraising exercise but also an experiment. As part of our artistic statement, we want to change the terms of what funding an art project is about. We think this issue is at the core of why the lines between art, commerce and fashion are blurred at the moment, especially when it comes to the new genre of 'fashion film'.

Once we raise our $5,000 goal for the basic production costs detailed above, every contribution will be considered as an investment in the final piece. Whereas video-art remains a very difficult-to-sell artistic expression, it's a phenomenon on the rise, and we want to figure out whether a crowd-sourced co-production of a purely artistic project in such a short period of time will make its value rise, and sell. If that is the case we will return your 'investment' and give you a part of the profit we generate.

We will define this profit distribution as soon as we reach our goal. If we want to break the boundaries between commerce, art and fashion we think we should start doing it ourselves. By doing so, we'll be able to start full-disclosing how various projects are produced in the arts world when the boundaries between art, commerce and fashion are falling apart. 

Whether this is positive or negative for the final product, is up to you (and to the buyer) to decide. 

SOME OF OUR PAST PROJECTS 

Swoon Ephemere - SHOWstudio 

Entirely produced and funded by filmmaker Ramon J. Goni and his business partner, doll-maker Andrew Yang, whose dolls are featured in this film shot two years ago. 

http://showstudio.com/blog/post/swoon_ephemere 

Untitled (pool) - W Magazine 

Filmed at the Standard Hotel LA with the help of our amazing creative team in the West Coast. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRd3Hlu3NYk 

We'll be updating our Kickstarter page daily until the end of the month with all the developments in the post-production process so everything remains transparent and further involve you the viewer/contributer/voyeur/artist into this project. 

Check out my portfolio www.ramongoni.com 

Join the Facebook page and follow our progress: www.facebook.com/swoonnyc

Thank You! 

Please help promote by posting this project link to your Facebook or other social media.

BEHIND THE SCENES AND STILL PHOTO CREDIT: Ryan Scherb www.ryanscherb.com