NTFSVTB: A student short film

Logline: Engrossed by samurai culture, Nolan must put his philosophy to practice to defend his sacred cabin against the dishonorable Bandits.

The Story: Nolan lives a secluded life in his cabin far from the dangers of modern society. He takes a liking to samurai culture, only to become far too obsessed and deluded into thinking of himself as one. When a group of seemingly normal, rebellious teenagers show up to his cabin, Nolan mistakenly identifies them as the “Bandits”. He takes this as the perfect opportunity to fully embody his samurai-ness. Does he choose peace or violence in the name of protecting his land and dignity?

Mission Statement: The main takeaway from this film is the idea of isolation and how self-destructive it can be. Society (specifically Western) can often be overwhelming and distressing. The lack of respect/nobility often seen in Western culture and the complete disregard that many have for nature and its inhabitants can cause one to become detached and secluded from modern civilization. But this type of avoidance and means of distraction from reality ultimately does more harm than good. This film, while being outwardly silly and lighthearted, intends to shed light on the dark sides of humanity - how easily we can succumb to paranoia, obsession, and a false sense of righteousness/superiority.

We want to create a film that touches on these issues in a subtle, yet engaging way by incorporating stylized shots of samurai action, such as those seen in the works of legendary Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa. Our intention is not to copy his style, but rather use it as inspiration for our cinematic vision. The music in this film will also play a large role in setting the tone. We plan to score the film entirely with the help of our director who has a music background.

Aside from all the serious and logistical stuff, we ultimately just want to have fun making our visions come to life. Our team is passionate about producing something that can resonate with all. Enough of us telling you how, let us show you how this story can do just that.

Meet our Team of Bandits:

DIRECTOR - Caleb M. LaClear: Raised in Farmington, New Mexico, Caleb is a fourth year film and video student at Grand Valley State University. He is passionate about writing, directing, and scoring for films. This is his first debut as a writer/director, but Caleb has scored multiple different projects during his time at Grand Valley and produces his own music as well.

CREATIVE PRODUCER - Len Tran: Len is a Vietnamese-Filipina student at GVSU where she is currently studying film. Always seeking ways to express herself, she finds film and music to be most compelling in doing so. She hopes to dive deeper into these realms to share stories that are unique to her experiences, and more specifically, to her racial identity. Her philosophy and psychology background helps bring another unique element to this film as she's deeply interested in studying and capturing human behavior. She's worked as an apprentice for Grand Stand Pictures' documentary film A City within a City, documenting the Black freedom struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She's co-produced a music video, worked in live music production, and is producing this short film.

CINEMATOGRAPHER - Kaela Sherk: Kaela is in her fourth year at GVSU studying film and video. She has always been passionate about photography and videography, creating her own videos for social media since she was a teenager. Since beginning college, she has had numerous experiences as a cinematographer and video editor. She currently works at Grand Valley as a digital studio technician, where she assists with filming and editing educational videos for faculty.

SOUND DESIGNER - Jared Hogan: Jared is a sound designer and actor hailing from Spring Lake, MI. A film and video student at GVSU, he spends as much time working stage shows as he does holding a boom mic. Since he started college, he's acted in shows including Mr. Burns, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Gloria, The Importance of Being Earnest, and a new play in The Presentation. He's also sound designed for shows including Rosencratz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Welcome to Paradise, In Love and Warcraft, and most recently, The Baltimore Waltz. When he's not on stage, he's usually lending his voice or recording abilities to film students and professionals made alike, including sound designing for Grand Valley's Summer Film this past year, Unemployees.

PRODUCTION DESIGNER - Logan Vales: Logan is an artist, storyboarder, and concept designer. He currently attends GVSU as a senior, with a major in filmmaking and a minor in illustration. Logan spends a lot of his time working on projects in his home studio. He's currently a co-creator/artist on an original comic series Frenzy with a friend of his. He designed the movie poster and will be creating a lot of the original art and set decoration for the film.

Some of Logan's work:

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT - Andrew Schreur: Andrew is a Zeeland, Michigan native. Currently a senior in GVSU's film and video production program, he specializes in animation, scriptwriting, and stunt choreography. He also works as an animation intern for Grand Valley's Grand Path Project. When he's not making movies, he spends time hiking with his dog, Jaina.

With your help, we can make a small, yet mighty, 6-person-crew-movie feel immersive and worthwhile. While we're currently in the preproduction phase, we have a very limited amount of time to raise the funds necessary for this film. We plan to shoot from October 21st - 22nd and will need to hire and pay our actors; pay and secure shooting locations; gather all the props/set decoration, camera equipment, and sound equipment; and budget for food and catering services to ensure our cast and crew are well taken care of. After carefully budgeting almost every element it takes to make this film, our estimated budget is somewhere between $1300 - $1500. Any extra amount we raise will be considered donations toward submitting our film to festivals.

Actors - we plan to cast four people total for our film: Nolan (the forest samurai) and Danny, Rodney & Aiden (the Bandits).

Locations - our film story takes place in a cabin in the woods, and we've found just that. We'll be renting out an Airbnb that has exactly the look that we're going for. We're hoping to rent out an additional space to board our crew of 9 people (including cast) so we can avoid any headache around space for filming/sleeping.

Camera Equipment - because we're going for a largely stylistic, almost Kill Bill-type look for some of the action sequences, we're hoping to invest in renting out some good lighting equipment. We have access to a 6k cinema camera so our budget will go mainly towards lighting equipment/other devices that will allow for cool visual effects without relying too heavily on post production.

Some shot inpo:

Props/Set Decoration - we intend to depict Nolan in a way that's most authentic to who he envisions himself as, while also showing the reality of his true character and inner demons. This means investing in supplies to build some of our props or buying certain decorations that are not as readily available to purchase. Some main props we're hoping to buy or build include a Torii gate (a relatively small/carriable one), a traditional screen divider/shoji screen, a Tamati mat, a low table, and other traditional Japanese furniture that we feel are important to enhancing the story.

How can you help? None of this can actually happen unless we raise enough money to create and sustain our vision. We ask that you donate as much as you're able to. Simply making it this far to read what we have to say means so much to every single one of us working on this project. If you're unable to donate, please consider spreading the word to friends, family, and anyone with a shared interest so that we can gain more traction and attention towards this film.

Incentives - we want to give back for your generosity:

***incentives are only granted upon request. Please contact our producer to make these requests, along with any other comments/questions you may have.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. We strive to make this the best movie we've made yet.