The Aviary - A Chapman University Thesis Film
Donation protected
The Aviary is a senior Thesis short film from students of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
Directed by Tatum Lenberg & Produced by Amelie Beresford-Wood
Written by Aiden Carere, Cinematography by Emu Haynes, Edited by Ariel Becker, Sound Design by Madeleine Shenners Smith, Production Designer by Zofia Mowle, 1st AD: Maks Halpin, UPM: Sydney Edgecomb
Our Sponsors:
- The Zonta Club of Newport Beach - $3k
- Chapman University, Dodge College's Producer Initiated Program Committee - $5k
- The Free Market Grant Committee -$10k
- The Eckert Family - $1k
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
**Please help us fundraise the last 5k needed to shed light on these important stories!!**
Logline
Kidnapped from her bed in the middle of the night, sixteen-year-old Naomi is driven hundreds of miles to a remote wilderness program, with a methodology as incoherent as it is catastrophic.
Story
Throughout their upbringings in the California Bay Area, both Tatum and Amelie saw numerous peers be taken to Wilderness Programs throughout the country, and come back completely changed. When one of Amelie’s close childhood friends told their story publicly for the first time, she was exposed to the negative methodologies of these programs, and realized these survivor’s stories needed to come to light. The team brought on talented writer and friend, Aiden Carere, to write the script. Pulling from first hand testimonies by former survivors and parents, as well as various documentaries and exposés on the programs, Aiden created the character of Naomi. A 16 year-old struggling with a drug addiction, Naomi is sent to a remote Wilderness Program, where she is exposed to the insensible and destructive practices of the camp programmers. Our goal in creating this short film is to shed light on the negative impacts of Wilderness Programs and the traumatic effects they have on youth’s mental and physical well being.
Unfortunately, Naomi represents one of over 6,000 adolescents taken yearly to wilderness programs for a minimum of three months, most often under involuntary and sometimes unsafe conditions. The troubled teen industry racks up over 1 billion dollars in revenue across their multiple forms of “rehabilitation” per annum. Furthermore, after making it through these wilderness programs, kids are often taken to a therapeutic boarding school, where conditions become more severe (testimonies from survivors can be found here). Influential members of society such as Paris Hilton, Kat Von D, and Misha Osherovich have also courageously told their stories, and our film aims to add to this wave of support for those affected by these camps.
Why We Need Your Help
These are the areas that your donation will be going towards. Although we have received some financial support from the school, we are still missing half of our budget needed to bring this story to life in order to give it the justice it deserves.
Cast: Due to the true nature of the film, we require extremely skilled actors who are able to handle the sensitive subject matter presented in our script both with authenticity and subtlety. For this reason, we are dedicating 20% of our overall budget to hiring a dedicated, professional casting director, with the experience to discern actors who are capable of meeting this challenge.
Locations: We feel that filming in a location authentic to these survivors’ stories is crucial. We found a campsite that is our dream location in Wrightwood, CA (70 miles away from Chapman), making this a travel shoot. If given the chance to book it, this location will allow us the space and resources to record every aspect of the film needed within a safe environment. The production costs associated with our location/ travel are an added two meals a day and lodging, gas compensation for cast and crew, and general location rental. With your help, we will have the financial means to book this location and have an authentic setting to shoot this important story.
Exterior Night Lighting Equipment: In our script, we have a few scenes that take place during the nighttime in the forest, which is known for being one of the most difficult types of scenes to light. Our talented and dedicated cinematographer, Emu Haynes, has extensive experience with exterior night lighting, and has researched projected estimates for safe night lighting options. To stay true to the raw look of nature and setting, our primary source of light will have to be moonlight. Real moonlight, however, is a softer, directional source of light that shoots downward from a very high degree. To imitate this, we will need to rent more powerful light units than Chapman’s equipment has to offer, and require some sort of machinery to hike the lights up to a much higher level than any ordinary stand. If we were to only use stands, the moonlight effect would only play in very tight close ups as the directional angle of the light would be unrealistic in any wides.
Our primary option is to rent from a local service that offers pre-rigged lights on machinery that booms up high. Their smallest package includes four 4k lights on a boom that goes up to 42’, costing us more than we have currently obtained in our cinematography budget. The unit has an articulated arm which can be controlled by buttons at the base of the unit, rather than losing a crew member to solely operating the lift via the basket above. The machines are also prepped for unstable terrain, meaning they are the safest option for our set. With the limited crew size due to COVID-19, this lighting unit would ease production immensely and create a safer, faster, and more comfortable working environment.
To bring this film to life, and to give the night scenes the true feeling of being alone in the dark wilderness, we will need funding to acquire one of our lighting options. With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to be in place limiting our crew size, and with the outdoor terrain we are shooting on, this option is preeminent. We are committed to telling this true story and giving it the life and justice it deserves.
Production Design: Our film is heavily reliant on the use of production design to create the setting and props that a real wilderness camp would have. Our outstanding production designer, Zofia Mowle, is planning to recreate a campsite and labor site that will be used in multiple scenes of our script. This means that we will need to have tents, backpacks, prop axes/wood, and other expensive outdoor equipment. As we know, renting any outdoor equipment can be pricey, especially when renting this for multiple days at a time in large quantities for all our actors. This is why we are expecting production design will take up about 15% of our overall budget.
Thank you so much for helping us be one of the first to tell these important stories, all while furthering our education in the process! We couldn’t do this without your help!
Love,
The Aviary team
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theaviaryfilm/
Directed by Tatum Lenberg & Produced by Amelie Beresford-Wood
Written by Aiden Carere, Cinematography by Emu Haynes, Edited by Ariel Becker, Sound Design by Madeleine Shenners Smith, Production Designer by Zofia Mowle, 1st AD: Maks Halpin, UPM: Sydney Edgecomb
Our Sponsors: - The Zonta Club of Newport Beach - $3k
- Chapman University, Dodge College's Producer Initiated Program Committee - $5k
- The Free Market Grant Committee -$10k
- The Eckert Family - $1k
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
**Please help us fundraise the last 5k needed to shed light on these important stories!!**
Logline
Kidnapped from her bed in the middle of the night, sixteen-year-old Naomi is driven hundreds of miles to a remote wilderness program, with a methodology as incoherent as it is catastrophic.
Story
Throughout their upbringings in the California Bay Area, both Tatum and Amelie saw numerous peers be taken to Wilderness Programs throughout the country, and come back completely changed. When one of Amelie’s close childhood friends told their story publicly for the first time, she was exposed to the negative methodologies of these programs, and realized these survivor’s stories needed to come to light. The team brought on talented writer and friend, Aiden Carere, to write the script. Pulling from first hand testimonies by former survivors and parents, as well as various documentaries and exposés on the programs, Aiden created the character of Naomi. A 16 year-old struggling with a drug addiction, Naomi is sent to a remote Wilderness Program, where she is exposed to the insensible and destructive practices of the camp programmers. Our goal in creating this short film is to shed light on the negative impacts of Wilderness Programs and the traumatic effects they have on youth’s mental and physical well being.
Unfortunately, Naomi represents one of over 6,000 adolescents taken yearly to wilderness programs for a minimum of three months, most often under involuntary and sometimes unsafe conditions. The troubled teen industry racks up over 1 billion dollars in revenue across their multiple forms of “rehabilitation” per annum. Furthermore, after making it through these wilderness programs, kids are often taken to a therapeutic boarding school, where conditions become more severe (testimonies from survivors can be found here). Influential members of society such as Paris Hilton, Kat Von D, and Misha Osherovich have also courageously told their stories, and our film aims to add to this wave of support for those affected by these camps.
Why We Need Your Help
These are the areas that your donation will be going towards. Although we have received some financial support from the school, we are still missing half of our budget needed to bring this story to life in order to give it the justice it deserves.
Cast: Due to the true nature of the film, we require extremely skilled actors who are able to handle the sensitive subject matter presented in our script both with authenticity and subtlety. For this reason, we are dedicating 20% of our overall budget to hiring a dedicated, professional casting director, with the experience to discern actors who are capable of meeting this challenge.
Locations: We feel that filming in a location authentic to these survivors’ stories is crucial. We found a campsite that is our dream location in Wrightwood, CA (70 miles away from Chapman), making this a travel shoot. If given the chance to book it, this location will allow us the space and resources to record every aspect of the film needed within a safe environment. The production costs associated with our location/ travel are an added two meals a day and lodging, gas compensation for cast and crew, and general location rental. With your help, we will have the financial means to book this location and have an authentic setting to shoot this important story.
Exterior Night Lighting Equipment: In our script, we have a few scenes that take place during the nighttime in the forest, which is known for being one of the most difficult types of scenes to light. Our talented and dedicated cinematographer, Emu Haynes, has extensive experience with exterior night lighting, and has researched projected estimates for safe night lighting options. To stay true to the raw look of nature and setting, our primary source of light will have to be moonlight. Real moonlight, however, is a softer, directional source of light that shoots downward from a very high degree. To imitate this, we will need to rent more powerful light units than Chapman’s equipment has to offer, and require some sort of machinery to hike the lights up to a much higher level than any ordinary stand. If we were to only use stands, the moonlight effect would only play in very tight close ups as the directional angle of the light would be unrealistic in any wides.
Our primary option is to rent from a local service that offers pre-rigged lights on machinery that booms up high. Their smallest package includes four 4k lights on a boom that goes up to 42’, costing us more than we have currently obtained in our cinematography budget. The unit has an articulated arm which can be controlled by buttons at the base of the unit, rather than losing a crew member to solely operating the lift via the basket above. The machines are also prepped for unstable terrain, meaning they are the safest option for our set. With the limited crew size due to COVID-19, this lighting unit would ease production immensely and create a safer, faster, and more comfortable working environment.
To bring this film to life, and to give the night scenes the true feeling of being alone in the dark wilderness, we will need funding to acquire one of our lighting options. With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to be in place limiting our crew size, and with the outdoor terrain we are shooting on, this option is preeminent. We are committed to telling this true story and giving it the life and justice it deserves.
Production Design: Our film is heavily reliant on the use of production design to create the setting and props that a real wilderness camp would have. Our outstanding production designer, Zofia Mowle, is planning to recreate a campsite and labor site that will be used in multiple scenes of our script. This means that we will need to have tents, backpacks, prop axes/wood, and other expensive outdoor equipment. As we know, renting any outdoor equipment can be pricey, especially when renting this for multiple days at a time in large quantities for all our actors. This is why we are expecting production design will take up about 15% of our overall budget.
Thank you so much for helping us be one of the first to tell these important stories, all while furthering our education in the process! We couldn’t do this without your help!
Love,
The Aviary team
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theaviaryfilm/
Fundraising team (5)
Amelie Beresford-Wood
Organizer
Orange, CA
Tatum Lenberg
Team member
Aiden Jacob Carere
Team member
Emu Haynes
Team member
Zofia Mowle
Team member