Adventure Documentary Film Expenses

Hello everyone! I am Keenan DesPlanques, a senior at Animas High School and aspiring adventure cinematographer.


Throughout my years in high school, I have dreamed of creating an adventure documentary film to submit to film festivals and hopefully use to launch my career in the adventure filmmaking industry. My only struggle has been in finding a fascinating story for this film and funding to create thes films.


Over the course of this semester at animas high school, I have been avidly studying and researching the philosophy and psychology of time perception’s relationship with our comfort zones. This is a topic that I am incredibly passionate about. If you are interested in this topic, you may read my thesis paper here. With an adventure documentary I plan on artistically representing the idea with beautiful cinematics. The film will connect with my thesis and research through the stories of adventures and how stepping outside of our comfort zones can significantly impact our perception of time and our human spirit.


Filming will begin this August with a 3,000 mile bike tour from Trondheim, Norway to Santiago de Compostela, Spain over the course of 3 months. This will be an adventure, to say the least. I’m also in the process of planning additional segments for the film to include mountaineering, skiing and cycling in both foreign domestic locations. My film will be a story driven adventure film rather than just a film of big lines and gnarly objectives. (I still hope to have some of gnar, though.) 


Now that I have a captivating and visceral idea for a storyline for this film, I am absolutely ecstatic to start working on it just as soon as I graduate in May. Unfortunately, I have financial hurdles to overcome before I can begin my production. I will need funds for camera gear and travel expenses.
Both travel and filmmaking expenses are a far cry from being affordable for me. According to my budget calculations, the cost for my 2 year production of this film will be approximately $20,000. This has lead me to seeking crowd funding and sponsorships. I am setting a goal of fundraising $10,000 to cover the expenses of the filmmaking gear.

No donation is too small. Whether you can come on board monetarily, or just simply spread the word by sharing this page, all help is greatly appreciated and vital for me to achieve the goal of creating this film.


I am ready to dump my heart and soul into this film to produce something that will inspire people to change their minds on how we should live our everyday lives. This film will be shot in stunning and remote places and I’m ready to work my butt off to get there. I have an immense amount of gratitude for everyone’s support and I can’t wait to present a beautiful film to the world.


Thank you,

-Keenan