About

Hi. My name is Terrence Kelsey - Writer/Director. Welcome to our campaign for THE CIRCLE - A supernatural horror short in the vein of The Shining and Poltergeist.
THE PROJECT:
It has taken us (myself and Producer Jason Hampton) two years to prepare for this campaign which has gone through casting and a recast for some of the leads, assembling our crew and lastly creating a creepy teaser trailer for you to view within our opening pitch video - SEE ABOVE!
THE CIRCLE TEASER TRAILER:
The look of the trailer is inspired by the TV teaser to Larry Cohen's IT'S ALIVE (1974) with its minimalist set design and dark lighting. VIEW HERE:
and the creepy atmosphere, blood effects and title crawl are literally cribbed from the teaser trailer to Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING (1980). VIEW HERE:
Furthermore, the jarring blitz edits that appear within the teaser were inspired by the opening title sequence to the FX show AMERICAN HORROR STORY. VIEW HERE:
The ultimate goal is to make an intense, scary horror short which we intend to garner attention to make a feature version, either independently, or within the Hollywood studio system. Therefore the quality of this short has to be at a level of a Hollywood studio feature.
HERE'S A NEW BEHIND-THE-SCENES MONTAGE ON THE MAKING OF THE CIRCLE TEASER TRAILER, PLUS WRITER/DIRECTOR TERRENCE KELSEY GET BLOODY FOR A QUICK PHOTO SHOOT AFTERWARDS TO PROMOTE THE FILMING! FEATURING Producer Jason Hampton, Editor Eugene Baldovino (both of whom did grip work and Behind-The-Scenes photography during the shoot), Special FX/Make-up Artist Jared Guenther and Cinematographer Justin Cruse (of Haberslam Studios) who filmed THE CIRCLE Teaser Trailer! ENJOY!!!
NEW LIMITED PERK - SIGNED NECRO NICKI 8 X 10 PHOTO WITH DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OR SIGNED DVD:

THE PERKS:
We have organized very competitive perks with quality, durability and our customers in mind. Our physical products are not your typical campaign merchandise. For instance, our men's shirts are printed on American Apparel and are %100 cotton using digital silk screening. This quality standard applies to all of our apparel and other merchandise as well.
PLEASE STAY TUNED to the special video & photo updates forthcoming on some of the perk items such as the above-mentioned T-shirts and Hoodies, as wells our Poster and upcoming website (where I will be blogging regularly throughout the production from pre-production through post-production and ultimately, during the finished short film's festival run).
THE CIRCLE 16x20 POSTER - to be signed by Director Terrence Kelsey and Producer Jason Hampton

THE CIRCLE STICKERS - originally we were going to have only one design. But then we came up with a second awesome circular design. So we are going to give 2 stickers out now for the various perks that mentions a sticker with them.
STICKER A:

STICKER B:

THE T-SHIRTS & HOODIE PERKS VIDEO (feat. models Tiffini Truth, Sabine Stangenberg, Nicki Necro, Carter Kennedy & Joey DeMartini) - The Shirts & Hoodie come in sizes SM - XL
FOR THE LADIES: They come in Women's Slim Fit/ Women's V-neck/ Women's Tank Top
FOR THE MEN: They come in Men's Heavyweight T-shirt/ Men's Muscle Shirt (these shirts can be worn by the Ladies as well)
FOR BOTH GENDERS: The Hoodie
THE $9500 GOAL:
We want to make THE CIRCLE look as good as possible. In order to do so, and to present the finished product on a theatre-sized screen, we would like to shoot with 4k resolution on a RED Camera along with a 1 Ton Grip & Lighting Package. In other words - top of the line equipment.
As for the Special Effects, both practical and visual effects are needed to tell this story. These effects along with stellar Sound Design and Mixing will help THE CIRCLE stand above the competition.
Your generous donations will enable us to pay our talented, hardworking cast and crew, as well the material needed for them to create and perform their tasks in front of and behind the camera respectively.
THE CIRCLE CAMPAIGN CREW INTERVIEWS:
Speaking of the crew, we interviewed some them for this campaign. We will be showcasing these passionate, creative individuals throughout the campaign's duration. You will meet:
Production Designer ADAM WONG PEREZ - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4181132/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 with his girlfriend/Art Director CAITLIN HALLIBURTON - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3526071/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Wardrobe Designer/Costumer ISABEL MANDUJANO - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2821562/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Graphic Designer SABINE STANGENBERG - who created all of the artwork for this project: posters, t-shirts, stickers and website
Film/Video Colorist TAWAN BAZEMORE - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2249534/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Editor EUGENE BALDOVINO - currently working on THE TALKING BAD and THE TALKING DEAD - the talk shows for BREAKING BAD and THE WALKING DEAD respectively - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1374471/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
and Special FX/Make-up FX artist JARED GUENTHER - previously worked on Marvel Studios IRON MAN, THE AVENGERS, ENDER'S GAME and more - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2279847/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
These individuals are just a portion of our crew. I think you will enjoy their interviews and their thoughts on THE CIRCLE.
THANK YOU:
To all of you wonderful Kickstarter Donors - this project CAN NOT happen without your support. Whatever you can give is absolutely appreciated and we hope our perks are an enticing enough reward for your generosity.
WE PROMISE TO GIVE YOU THE VERY BEST OF OUR ABILITIES in creating a quality supernatural horror short film that you all can enjoy and hopefully be creeped out and scared by.
Thank you very much for viewing this campaign and contributing to THE CIRCLE!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN SEASON!!!

Risks and challenges
As with any creative endeavor, film-making has its own unique set of challenges that each project must surmount. For instance, once funding is secured, we will need to lock down below the line crew, locations, insurance, permits, equipment and various other logistics to make our shoot go smoothly.
As dedicated professionals, it is our job to make sure we overcome any challenges that arise. We already have a proven track record in this regard, in that The Circle has had to recast our main talent for unforeseen reasons. This pushed our schedule back, and entailed starting auditions over again, and finding just the right actor to play our main lead Audrey. Now that we have Kelly Ryan we couldn't be more ecstatic about how awesome The Circle will turn out.
These are just a few issues that can arise in the making of The Circle, and we absolutely are confident that we will step up to the challenge and make a rock solid film.
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Funding period
- (29 days)