We are a group of student filmmakers from Emerson College, each dedicated to growing in our craft as well as telling stories that we believe will make a difference.

Out of the Loop is a 16mm BFA thesis short film that puts the process of healing on full display and recognizes the difficulty of readjusting to daily and long term living after traumatic and unjust events, as well as the extensive and lasting impact of trauma on families. The film explores institutional injustice, family ties, separation from self, and dehumanization. The common conflicts of man versus self and man versus society are blurred to emulate the self destructive qualities of trauma.

Note from Writer, Director, and Creative Producer Brady Zielinski: "I plan to approach Out of the Loop with the sensitivity and care necessary for the story. Through this, I hope to make a film that is intelligent in its critiques, empathetic in its portrayal of mental struggle, and profoundly human to its core."

Regarding Budget:

Making films on a student budget often proves difficult enough but accompanied by the elimination of Emerson College's BFA program budget, we are relying on donations in order to make this film a reality.

All funds donated will go towards the film's production and to ensuring that we provide a safe, inclusive, and equitable working environment for our cast and crew. Our expenses include:

We've given much consideration into how best to support the goals and missions of this story. The choice to use 16mm film, while expensive, is a personal one. Unlike digital filmmaking, analog film is as much apart of the creative process as the cinematographer or director. It makes an imprint on the image and captures an intimacy that digital filmmaking simply cannot replicate. Another important piece of the budget will go towards our production design and art team. In order to capture the nostalgia and the tragedy of a stolen youth, we are recreating one of our lead's bedrooms from scratch on a soundstage. We intend to replicate that of a young man's bedroom with posters, artwork, and flats repurposed for the stage. Additionally, we anticipate using the remainder of our funds for more logistical necessities such as transportation for equipment, an AIRBNB that will double as a shooting location for one of the film's most important scenes, housing costs for our student crew to stay past the campus' closing, and most significantly keeping our cast and crew fed at a time where they will be needing to stay after the college's closing. These are unavoidable costs that occur with any production but with your help, we can tackle these comfortably and rather than worry about making ends meet, we can prioritize telling our story to the best of our capacity.

We thank you in advance for your support and wish you all the best.