DOMESTICATED SHORT FILM

Hey, hey, hey! Our names are Sam Jonas and Sam Haberman, and we are fundraising for a pseudo-experimental short film, filming in August of this year.

 

WHAT THE FILM IS ABOUT!

 

Logline: Two primitive boys, Sik and Muc, don’t know what it’s like to be human until they kill a girl who takes over their dreams and the surrounding forest, bringing one of them closer to humanity.

 

Sik and Muc are primitive humans, perhaps the first humans. For eternity, they have coexisted together in the forest and have no reference for what exists outside it.

One day, Mary, a young expecting mother, takes a trip into their domain.

Muc, with Sik’s silent compliance, sexually abuses and kills her. A police officer finds Sik and Muc. Muc kills the police, thus sending a hoard of police in their direction.

The armed modernity is now on their tail.

At the same time, Mary becomes eternal, taking over the surrounding forest and infiltrating Sik’s thoughts and dreams. She teaches Sik how to become an empathetic being and coexist with the surrounding world, turning him and the forest against Muc, who refuses to change, and sees the world as simply a competition between life and death.

 

 

WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?

It’s no secret films are expensive, and a lot of the budget goes into things we don’t even see!

We are personally funding the majority of the budget. However, we need some money to offset some behind-the-scenes costs!

Here’s precisely where your money will go!

 

Food: Feeding a cast and crew of 10-12 for three meals a day over three days and providing on-set snacks is a lot of money. A happy crew is a fed crew, and we want our crew to be happy, happy, happy.

 

We’ve budgeted around $800 for food.

 

Transportation: Moving equipment, cast and crew, and production materials will not be easy. We’ll need to rent a Uhaul for the five days and reimburse gas for cast and crew vehicles. We’re filming in a pretty remote location that will take a long drive to get to, and with the price of gas nowadays, it’s not going to be cheap.

 

We’ve budgeted around $600 for transportation.

 

Cast: This is not an easy shoot. We’ll be outside all day every day and the roles, although not dialogue-heavy, are complex and difficult to inhabit. Simply put, our cast should be, and deserved to get paid. Average pay for non-union actors is about $100 per day and $50-75 for half days.

 

We’ve budgeted around $1200 for our lovely cast!

 

 

WHY THIS FILM?

 

At its core this film is about the dichotomy of what it means to be human, a balancing act between our primitive ways and our modern culture and how we navigate our way through this tension to find who we are.

Also, in a weird messed up way, this is a coming of age story. This film, although by no means a lived experience, captures some of the emotions and feelings I had as I was growing older and figuring out who I was, and who I want to be in this world. This film, although a deeply personal film, resonates with some of our deepest human emotions.

 

GOALS OF THIS FILM!

This film has many goals, the first being to create a unique film that tells an engaging/interesting story. This is by no means a conventional film or conventional narrative, and my goal is to make a film that challenges the audience to find their own meaning in the film. We think films where each audience member can have their own interpretation of the film are the most powerful. In today's media-saturated market, audience members want meaning and reason spoon-fed to them, but we want them to earn it by searching for it within themselves.

Also, I look at this film as a learning experience, as a building block to my artistic and creative development. As a filmmaker I/we are on the pursuit of creating something special and truly transcendent, as well as something we love. This film and experience is a way to hone my craft and test my vision as a creator. This film will probably not be a masterpiece but will perhaps be looked back on as an essential learning experience to something special much further down the road.

 

 

THE PEOPLE!

 

 

Sam Jonas - Writer, Director

Sam is currently a junior at Northwestern University, majoring in Radio, Television, and Film, primarily focusing on film. He loves the craft and art of cinema; he loves how different films can offer so many different perspectives on the world. He has created numerous amateur short movies in the last few years, but this is by far his most ambitious project. His dream is to write and direct his films, and he hopes that his subjective perspective on the world and ideas that ruminate in his own subconscious can be translated on the screen for people to laugh, cry, think and find their own meaning in.

 

Sam Haberman - Producer

Sam Haberman is currently a junior at DePaul University working towards a BFA in Film & Television with a concentration in Creative Producing and a minor in Screenwriting. Sam has recently worked on the projects Hangry (2021), The Crossfade (2021), and Binding (2021). As he enjoys producing and writing, Sam also has a big interest in acting as well. Sam loves collaborating on projects with other ambitious filmmakers and is excited to continue creating films and meeting new people along the way.


WHAT YOUR MONEY GETS YOU!

Any Donation:  Special Thanks in the Credits
25$: Your own funny title credit
100$: Associate Producer
250$: Co-Producer

 

 

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP!

 

By sharing this page!