Give Mental Health Representation
Donation protected
Greetings! Ashley Betts and Noah Eckstein here. We are asking our friends, friends of friends, family and foes alike to help fund our first story on mental health.
What even is ants?
A year ago we started this project called we are all ants, a new journalistic platform that aims to raise the standard of transparency in journalism by showing storytellers and interviewees not on polarized political sides but rather as people - all on the same team - because at the end of the day we are all ants.The mission of our work is to incorporate the human element into storytelling.
The inspiration behind ants is the acknowledgement that our society is deeper than what we portray in traditional forms of journalism and media, and (we believe) that the perpetuated forms of “reality” television are vastly toxic to its audiences. Traditional objective journalism and even documentaries will engage in an issue that they highlight and offer the story to the viewer, but will seldom be paired with a solution, so as to remain impartial on their stance. In effort to change what we are critical of in contemporary media, we will embody a renegade style that is vulnerable, empathetic and transparent, while challenging the documentary genre that this project will naturally fall under. We intend to bring a multi perspective, round table approach to our work that aims to be a proactive, hybridized form of documentation.
So, think 1960's New Journalism movement meets Anthony Bourdain meets young people trying to proactively change our cultural priorities and there you have it: ants!
What story on mental health?
Come late September, we will take off in our Subaru and will live minimally as we travel across the United States pursuing leads revolving around mental health. Mental health has been in the shadow of physical health since long before the dawn of advertising, and is still vastly stigmatized. Our country is facing an increasingly palpable mental health crisis; we want to address the general neglect of this issue by exploring the many angles of this story.
We are asking all of you to please help us bring representation to this important matter. If you are interested in how we plan to change journalism, why we started this project, where your money would be going and reasons to invest continue reading!
Check out our website weareallants.com and instagram @weareallants_
Ants is also casting storytellers to join us in telling our first story on mental health. If you are interested in hoping aboard to help film or tell stories with us, please get in touch.
Why is Ants important?
The 6 o’clock broadcast news is no longer relevant to young audiences. Because of this we feel it is vital to give younger generations a shot at telling the news. We feel that broadcast journalism confines itself to age-old traditions that historically have taken a long time to progress our culture and our society deserves something better and bolder in 2018. By having younger, diverse voices steer national conversations - like what is happening with the brave high school survivors of the Parkland shooting as they tour the country speaking bravely on gun reform - discernible change can happen.
This endeavor will be the initial plunge into our cinematographic embryonic journey. Our intention is to submit the final product of this story to film festivals and to use as a pilot or proof of concept for the larger idea of ants. We will be taking an interdisciplinary look at the perspectives spanning mental health as well as how we represent it, with film, writing and art.
Our leads for this story are in locations spanning coast to coast. Our funding goal will cover baseline costs to make this happen, enabling us to live on the road for at least one month, allowing us to stay in each place for extended periods of time, immerse and follow the stories as they unfold.
We need your help to change journalism and make our project happen. Whatever you can spare us will be greatly appreciated. However, it is FREE to share this campaign on social media, so please do!
This is a snapshot of our Instagram page with about 10k followers
Where would my money be going to?
Primarily toward startup costs for equipment; we are looking to buy refurbished (not new) to save money. Neither of us will be paid, we are working for passion. Your money will also help us get to our destinations - living minimally on campsites and federal grounds when possible and at places that parallel our ethos. Donations would cover travel and living costs on the road for a few months and flights if a story is remote or disjointed from the car journey.
Production costs include camera equipment (bodies, lenses, audio, lighting, memory, hard drives), vehicular expenses (gas mileage, oil changes, emergency repairs/maintenance), camping equipment, campsite stay charges, backup funds for shelter, hired hands; additional filmographer per diem costs.
Post Production costs including software subscriptions, licensing, marketing, and hired hands for animation and editing.
If you have anymore questions regarding our budget, please get in touch with us.
-__________-__________-__________-__________-__________-_________-_________-
We understand that filming is a vulnerable experience; a lot of the stories we plan to tell will be very personal to many people. Because of this we plan to proactively raise money for our interviewees and non profits. If you have questions, comments, advice, criticism, encouragement, or simply want to chat, please feel free to contact us at any time using this platform!
Thank you so much for your time and help.
Love,
Ashley and Noah
For a further look into what we are doing, check out our website weareallants.com and instagram @weareallants_
*** Please note: When making a donation, if you chose not to tip all you have to do is select "other percentage", and type in 000***
What even is ants?
A year ago we started this project called we are all ants, a new journalistic platform that aims to raise the standard of transparency in journalism by showing storytellers and interviewees not on polarized political sides but rather as people - all on the same team - because at the end of the day we are all ants.The mission of our work is to incorporate the human element into storytelling.
The inspiration behind ants is the acknowledgement that our society is deeper than what we portray in traditional forms of journalism and media, and (we believe) that the perpetuated forms of “reality” television are vastly toxic to its audiences. Traditional objective journalism and even documentaries will engage in an issue that they highlight and offer the story to the viewer, but will seldom be paired with a solution, so as to remain impartial on their stance. In effort to change what we are critical of in contemporary media, we will embody a renegade style that is vulnerable, empathetic and transparent, while challenging the documentary genre that this project will naturally fall under. We intend to bring a multi perspective, round table approach to our work that aims to be a proactive, hybridized form of documentation.
So, think 1960's New Journalism movement meets Anthony Bourdain meets young people trying to proactively change our cultural priorities and there you have it: ants!
What story on mental health?
Come late September, we will take off in our Subaru and will live minimally as we travel across the United States pursuing leads revolving around mental health. Mental health has been in the shadow of physical health since long before the dawn of advertising, and is still vastly stigmatized. Our country is facing an increasingly palpable mental health crisis; we want to address the general neglect of this issue by exploring the many angles of this story.
We are asking all of you to please help us bring representation to this important matter. If you are interested in how we plan to change journalism, why we started this project, where your money would be going and reasons to invest continue reading!
Check out our website weareallants.com and instagram @weareallants_
Ants is also casting storytellers to join us in telling our first story on mental health. If you are interested in hoping aboard to help film or tell stories with us, please get in touch.
Why is Ants important?
The 6 o’clock broadcast news is no longer relevant to young audiences. Because of this we feel it is vital to give younger generations a shot at telling the news. We feel that broadcast journalism confines itself to age-old traditions that historically have taken a long time to progress our culture and our society deserves something better and bolder in 2018. By having younger, diverse voices steer national conversations - like what is happening with the brave high school survivors of the Parkland shooting as they tour the country speaking bravely on gun reform - discernible change can happen.
This endeavor will be the initial plunge into our cinematographic embryonic journey. Our intention is to submit the final product of this story to film festivals and to use as a pilot or proof of concept for the larger idea of ants. We will be taking an interdisciplinary look at the perspectives spanning mental health as well as how we represent it, with film, writing and art.
Our leads for this story are in locations spanning coast to coast. Our funding goal will cover baseline costs to make this happen, enabling us to live on the road for at least one month, allowing us to stay in each place for extended periods of time, immerse and follow the stories as they unfold.
We need your help to change journalism and make our project happen. Whatever you can spare us will be greatly appreciated. However, it is FREE to share this campaign on social media, so please do!
This is a snapshot of our Instagram page with about 10k followersWhere would my money be going to?
Primarily toward startup costs for equipment; we are looking to buy refurbished (not new) to save money. Neither of us will be paid, we are working for passion. Your money will also help us get to our destinations - living minimally on campsites and federal grounds when possible and at places that parallel our ethos. Donations would cover travel and living costs on the road for a few months and flights if a story is remote or disjointed from the car journey.
Production costs include camera equipment (bodies, lenses, audio, lighting, memory, hard drives), vehicular expenses (gas mileage, oil changes, emergency repairs/maintenance), camping equipment, campsite stay charges, backup funds for shelter, hired hands; additional filmographer per diem costs.
Post Production costs including software subscriptions, licensing, marketing, and hired hands for animation and editing.
If you have anymore questions regarding our budget, please get in touch with us.
-__________-__________-__________-__________-__________-_________-_________-
We understand that filming is a vulnerable experience; a lot of the stories we plan to tell will be very personal to many people. Because of this we plan to proactively raise money for our interviewees and non profits. If you have questions, comments, advice, criticism, encouragement, or simply want to chat, please feel free to contact us at any time using this platform!
Thank you so much for your time and help.
Love,
Ashley and Noah
For a further look into what we are doing, check out our website weareallants.com and instagram @weareallants_
*** Please note: When making a donation, if you chose not to tip all you have to do is select "other percentage", and type in 000***
Fundraising team: we are all ants (2)
Noah Eckstein
Organizer
Raised $2,502 from 22 donations
Butler, NJ
Ashley Betts
Team member
Raised $3,070 from 8 donations
This team raised $1,249 from 10 other donations.
