"Trackside" railfan documentary

UPDATE: The film is finished! Thanks to all who donated, it will be released publically on July 16 2017 at youtube.com/user/segorailroadmodels.

If there's a train, you've probably seen somebody photographing it. The railroad photography hobby - known as "railfanning" - is made up by a fascinating group of people who enjoy trains yet are often misunderstood, ranging from well-meaning psychological studies linking railfanning to autism to being detained without cause as terrorists by suspicious officers encouraged by a paranoid public.

"Trackside" is a documentary film telling the story of a group of railfans in Utah and Nevada: their passion and fascination with railroads that in some cases goes back generations in their family history. First concieved by Joshua Bernhard of ERA Films , upon presenting the idea to several people the feedback was positive and the decision was made to continue forward.

As the idea picked up steam (pun intended), it soon became apparent that this film would be impossible to make without some sort of budget larger than the director's own wallet. Thus, to help make this project a reality, we are looking for money to cover the following expenses:

1. Travel - there will be a fair amount of travel, including a potential trip to Ely, Nevada, a distance of over 350 miles from our headquarters. We allot $250 for this.

2. Music - an original score will be commissioned to accent the film, and for quality work, a price must be paid. We allot $100 for this.

3. Collaboration - we will need to purchase the rights to use some footage outside of our ability to capture ourselves. We allot $150 for this.

4. Equipment - our current setup is adequate, but not ideal for our script. We will need to rent camera mounts and lenses. We allot $500 for this.

Shooting has already begun, but the long-distance work will begin by November 16th, with an extended trip in December. Our goal is to meet full funding by December 1st, 2016. The film will be released for public viewing on May 10, 2017, the anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike to complete the Transcontinental railroad in 1869.

Contributers will recieve several perks, depending on the size of the donation. All donors, if their name is provided, will be listed in the credits and sent a private link to the film 1 week before public release. Donors of $20 or more will also receive an 11x17" film poster; donors of $50 or more will be listed as executive producers and will receive a DVD copy of the film before it is publically released.

Thank you so much for your interest! To see some previous works as an example of what we will be doing with this (but on a much larger scale than anything I have done before), please see the ERA Films Youtube Channel or the Desert Empire Project blog .

-Joshua Bernhard