A Giant Living Eye
Norfolk, Virginia | Film Short
Sci-Fi, Comedy
Have you ever felt like your job exists just to be a job? A Giant Living Eye, starring SungWon Cho, is an absurdist sci-fi office comedy that examines the often miserable existence that is a desk job, & the ever-encroaching panopticon of "Corporate Management" that we've come to accept as standard.
A Giant Living Eye
Norfolk, Virginia | Film Short
Sci-Fi, Comedy
1 Campaigns | Virginia, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $22,383 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
286 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
Have you ever felt like your job exists just to be a job? A Giant Living Eye, starring SungWon Cho, is an absurdist sci-fi office comedy that examines the often miserable existence that is a desk job, & the ever-encroaching panopticon of "Corporate Management" that we've come to accept as standard.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Grey's office life is turned upside-down when Corporate decides to install a Giant Living Eye to surveil the office, but is the only one who seems to think anything is amiss. A Giant Living Eye is short absurdist sci-fi office comedy that examines the often miserable existence that is a desk job, and the ever-encroaching panopticon of "Corporate Management" that we have come to accept as standard.
Do you hate your office job? We hated our office jobs. The underlying panic of being watched for 8 hours every day to meet some sort of arbitrary corporate goal. The corporate speak: never a mistake but an “opportunity”. Little to no movement year after year up a ladder that was not designed for you to climb. The line must always go up, companies must achieve growth at all costs to keep some shadowy stock holders happy.
These are the sorts of things that we felt, and have had others express that they’ve felt, often. Before we launched our own production company, that was our world. And it’s always been in the back of our minds, even when we’d finally escaped it. That’s where A Giant Living Eye was born, in a late night insomniac writing session when we couldn’t get out of our heads just how weird middle management really is. So we wrote this short, extending the themes of corporate governance to their absurdist conclusion. We wanted to make something that captures that feeling while making it so strange that you can’t ignore it. Hence, the Eye. We were inspired by large repetitive open office spaces like in Billy Wilder's The Apartment (pictured above) and the workplace dynamic of films like Office Space (below).
To be honest, we didn’t think this project would get off the ground. It’s wild, kind of expensive, and needed a lot of really excellent comedic performances to sell the vision (ha ha ha get it?). But everyone we showed it to hit us with the same thing over and over: “Oh, I’ve been here before, we’ve gotta make this.” A Giant Living Eye’s themes proved universal, and our production team came together. And then the cast came together, led by the incomparable SungWon Cho and his perfect foil in Gina Grinkmeyer as our leads. Everyone believed that we could make this film, so we did. Now we need your help to get it across the finish line, because we wrote something with a lot of VFX and complicated editing and there’s just no way around that costing money.
Q: So why the heck do you need money? Didn’t you already make the dang movie??
A: We already shot the film. Shot ain’t done, friend! We were lucky enough to have backers fund production so that we could get the ball rolling. But there are so many pieces that need to go into a film in the post-production process, and that’s where you can help us!
(concept art by Ashley Chung, Production Designer)
VISUALS (EYE STUFF)
There are a lot of visual effects in this film, from the Eye itself, to more body parts…. To a large practical piece that will need additional VFX help. Our production designer Ashley did a phenomenal job building this world, and in order to bring this to life we have to fill in the parts that she wasn’t able to create physically (i.e. a Giant Living Eye). We shot this on the Alexa Mini with Angenieux zooms, so we are going to send this to a colorist to make those colors sing. What you see in the trailer is me (Reid) throwing a LUT on some footage, and that won’t fly!
Sample image right out of camera with director chicken-scratch
Sample image from Andrew, the VFX superstar
SOUND (EAR STUFF)
Movies need sound. We recorded incredible audio, so now we’ve gotta mix it, master it, add in foley and other SFX, record the soundtrack that our composer Scott’s been working on, and there is one song that we would very much like to license in the film but music rights can get… pricey. So we’d love your help with that!
FESTIVALS!
Once this baby’s done cookin’ we’re gonna hit the festival circuit hard. We believe we have a film here that could play at major festivals and we want to get it in front of as many eyes as possible (Director’s note: my autocorrect changed “possible” to “kissable” and now I can’t stop thinking about kissable eyes. Muah). This can get expensive really quickly as the festivals come along.
REID KERLEY - WRITER & DIRECTOR
Reid has been working in the industry as a director for over 10 years in narrative, documentary, and commercial filmmaking. His films have screened at the Richmond International Film Festival, the Staten Island Museum, the Chrysler Museum of Art, and more. He wants to tell diverse stories in off-beat ways, blending genres and techniques to come up with something new and exciting. Or at least try to. I guess you'll have to decide if it worked? He really hopes it did.
SARAH MITCHELL - WRITER & DIRECTOR ALSO
Sarah is a writer based in Virginia who has written several short films with Reid. This will be her first time joining as a director, though she has produced his films before. She's the smarter of the two. She didn't write that, she'll have you know, but I'm not deleting it.
Reid and Sarah are a husband and wife duo. It seemed weird not to mention it and even weirder to put it in only one of their profiles, so it will sit awkwardly here, before Kyle's.
KYLE GILBERT - PRODUCER
Kyle began producing Reid's films when they were in college and Reid needed $500 to buy a piece of gear and Kyle had $500. Then it turned out he was actually really good at organizing and managing people and locations and especially Reid. They've continued working together ever since. He is the person and not the dog.
BRIAN MACDONALD - DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Brian discovered his passion for filmmaking at the age of 12, shortly after receiving his first camcorder and before moving overseas. What began as a compulsion to document everything around him soon evolved into a love for moving
images. Brian went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Video Studies with a concentration in Cinematography from George Mason University. Brian currently works as a freelance Director of Photography and has worked on features, shorts, music videos, and more.
ANDREW EATON - VISUAL EFFECTS
Andrew has worked in visual effects and animation for over a decade, working with international brands like Audi, Visa, etc. He's currently working on "a Will Ferrell movie" (he won't tell me which one!! >:( ) He's probably too good to be working on this. Unfortunately for him, Reid is very persuasive. Andrew has created visual effects for many of Reid's films, making a Giant Bug, aliens, and more. This picture Reid took makes him look cooler than he is.
BRIAN CROUCH - EDITOR
Woah, another Brian. Brian is the funniest person on the team. He probably should've written this film, but he didn't. Reid and Sarah did. So he's going to edit it instead. Brian has. edited all of Reid's shorts since 2018, and his creativity comes through in every cut. He has worked in the industry for over a decade in the commercial, narrative, and documentary space.
SCOTT HOELZER - COMPOSER
Scott makes sounds that sound like sounds. Sometimes they are scary!! Sometimes they are funny! Sometimes they're just mellow and cool and chill. He has worked on all of Reid's shorts since 2019, crafting scores that bring the images to life. Or sometimes death. He likes to go outside and climb rocks. He says he does this for fun but that can't possibly be right...
SUNGWON CHO - GREY
Your normal, everyday office person, just getting by. He is the only one troubled by the Giant Living Eye now protruding from his office's ceiling.
SungWon Cho is a voice actor you may have heard in KPop Demon Hunters, Delicious in Dungeon, Lackadaisy, God of War: Ragnarok, Borderlands 3, Aggretsuko, Ranking of Kings, One Piece, Pluto, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Bigtop Burger, Pokemon, Neon White, AI: The Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative, Like a Dragon, Granblue Fantasy, Odd Taxi, Craig of the Creek, Tuca & Bertie, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Monster Prom, and more. In live action, he starred in the series Anime Crimes Division and more recently in the critically acclaimed film Blackberry. He loves his cats Effie and Sophie very much.
GINA GRINKMEYER - LAUREL
The floor's mid-level manager, arbiter of the Corporate Will and excited about the Company's future. Sometimes you have to have a Giant Living Eye in your office, so what?
Gina Grinkemeyer is an actress in the DMV area who has appeared in major productions such as Wonder Woman 1984 and House of Cards, and recently in the film No Vacancy. She also runs and incredible Etsy shop called Grinkydink Creations where she sells hand-crocheted lil' guys with big butts. Her acting talent got her the role.... but we'd be lying if we said we didn't also do it for the lil guys. She didn't ask me to mention it I just can't stop telling people about these crocheted animals with dump truck rumps.
BRANDON THANE WILSON - CECIL
He just wants to do his email job, is that too much to ask?
Brandon Thane Wilson began his professional career at age 15 when he was cast at two of Washington D.C.'s finest theaters, Arena Stage and The Shakespeare Theatre. Since then he has worked in film and television, appearing in such films as Wonder Woman 1984 and on the television shows The Blacklist and Orange is the New Black.
MAGGIE GOUGH - SUSAN
Thinks the Eye isn't great, but she's got bills to pay, alright?
Maggie is a NYC based actress originally from Virginia, who has appeared in television shows such as FBI: Most Wanted on CBS and recently starred in the feature film Written by Mike, where she met Reid who decided he had to cast her in something ASAP so he did.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
VFX
Costs $10,000
This is a VFX heavy film. From the giant eye in the ceiling, to screen replacement, to compositing, titles, etc. This funding covers that.
Editing
Costs $1,500
There are a lot of different video elements going into this short, multiple cameras, etc, and it's a very complex editing process.
Colorist
Costs $1,000
We filmed in Arri Raw and would love a professional colorist to take this footage and get the absolute most out of it.
Sound Mixing & Editing
Costs $1,500
Audio is one of the most important aspect of a film. We got great audio and need a professional sound editor to make it sound incredible.
Festivals and Marketing
Costs $4,000
Once the film is done, we want to get it out to the world. This covers the cost of submissions and marketing materials to get the word out.
Music Licensing
Costs $2,000
There are some specific songs that we would really like to use for the short, but those rights ain't cheap!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
We have a team for this movie! They are cool people who are good at movie.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Grey's office life is turned upside-down when Corporate decides to install a Giant Living Eye to surveil the office, but is the only one who seems to think anything is amiss. A Giant Living Eye is short absurdist sci-fi office comedy that examines the often miserable existence that is a desk job, and the ever-encroaching panopticon of "Corporate Management" that we have come to accept as standard.
Do you hate your office job? We hated our office jobs. The underlying panic of being watched for 8 hours every day to meet some sort of arbitrary corporate goal. The corporate speak: never a mistake but an “opportunity”. Little to no movement year after year up a ladder that was not designed for you to climb. The line must always go up, companies must achieve growth at all costs to keep some shadowy stock holders happy.
These are the sorts of things that we felt, and have had others express that they’ve felt, often. Before we launched our own production company, that was our world. And it’s always been in the back of our minds, even when we’d finally escaped it. That’s where A Giant Living Eye was born, in a late night insomniac writing session when we couldn’t get out of our heads just how weird middle management really is. So we wrote this short, extending the themes of corporate governance to their absurdist conclusion. We wanted to make something that captures that feeling while making it so strange that you can’t ignore it. Hence, the Eye. We were inspired by large repetitive open office spaces like in Billy Wilder's The Apartment (pictured above) and the workplace dynamic of films like Office Space (below).
To be honest, we didn’t think this project would get off the ground. It’s wild, kind of expensive, and needed a lot of really excellent comedic performances to sell the vision (ha ha ha get it?). But everyone we showed it to hit us with the same thing over and over: “Oh, I’ve been here before, we’ve gotta make this.” A Giant Living Eye’s themes proved universal, and our production team came together. And then the cast came together, led by the incomparable SungWon Cho and his perfect foil in Gina Grinkmeyer as our leads. Everyone believed that we could make this film, so we did. Now we need your help to get it across the finish line, because we wrote something with a lot of VFX and complicated editing and there’s just no way around that costing money.
Q: So why the heck do you need money? Didn’t you already make the dang movie??
A: We already shot the film. Shot ain’t done, friend! We were lucky enough to have backers fund production so that we could get the ball rolling. But there are so many pieces that need to go into a film in the post-production process, and that’s where you can help us!
(concept art by Ashley Chung, Production Designer)
VISUALS (EYE STUFF)
There are a lot of visual effects in this film, from the Eye itself, to more body parts…. To a large practical piece that will need additional VFX help. Our production designer Ashley did a phenomenal job building this world, and in order to bring this to life we have to fill in the parts that she wasn’t able to create physically (i.e. a Giant Living Eye). We shot this on the Alexa Mini with Angenieux zooms, so we are going to send this to a colorist to make those colors sing. What you see in the trailer is me (Reid) throwing a LUT on some footage, and that won’t fly!
Sample image right out of camera with director chicken-scratch
Sample image from Andrew, the VFX superstar
SOUND (EAR STUFF)
Movies need sound. We recorded incredible audio, so now we’ve gotta mix it, master it, add in foley and other SFX, record the soundtrack that our composer Scott’s been working on, and there is one song that we would very much like to license in the film but music rights can get… pricey. So we’d love your help with that!
FESTIVALS!
Once this baby’s done cookin’ we’re gonna hit the festival circuit hard. We believe we have a film here that could play at major festivals and we want to get it in front of as many eyes as possible (Director’s note: my autocorrect changed “possible” to “kissable” and now I can’t stop thinking about kissable eyes. Muah). This can get expensive really quickly as the festivals come along.
REID KERLEY - WRITER & DIRECTOR
Reid has been working in the industry as a director for over 10 years in narrative, documentary, and commercial filmmaking. His films have screened at the Richmond International Film Festival, the Staten Island Museum, the Chrysler Museum of Art, and more. He wants to tell diverse stories in off-beat ways, blending genres and techniques to come up with something new and exciting. Or at least try to. I guess you'll have to decide if it worked? He really hopes it did.
SARAH MITCHELL - WRITER & DIRECTOR ALSO
Sarah is a writer based in Virginia who has written several short films with Reid. This will be her first time joining as a director, though she has produced his films before. She's the smarter of the two. She didn't write that, she'll have you know, but I'm not deleting it.
Reid and Sarah are a husband and wife duo. It seemed weird not to mention it and even weirder to put it in only one of their profiles, so it will sit awkwardly here, before Kyle's.
KYLE GILBERT - PRODUCER
Kyle began producing Reid's films when they were in college and Reid needed $500 to buy a piece of gear and Kyle had $500. Then it turned out he was actually really good at organizing and managing people and locations and especially Reid. They've continued working together ever since. He is the person and not the dog.
BRIAN MACDONALD - DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Brian discovered his passion for filmmaking at the age of 12, shortly after receiving his first camcorder and before moving overseas. What began as a compulsion to document everything around him soon evolved into a love for moving
images. Brian went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Video Studies with a concentration in Cinematography from George Mason University. Brian currently works as a freelance Director of Photography and has worked on features, shorts, music videos, and more.
ANDREW EATON - VISUAL EFFECTS
Andrew has worked in visual effects and animation for over a decade, working with international brands like Audi, Visa, etc. He's currently working on "a Will Ferrell movie" (he won't tell me which one!! >:( ) He's probably too good to be working on this. Unfortunately for him, Reid is very persuasive. Andrew has created visual effects for many of Reid's films, making a Giant Bug, aliens, and more. This picture Reid took makes him look cooler than he is.
BRIAN CROUCH - EDITOR
Woah, another Brian. Brian is the funniest person on the team. He probably should've written this film, but he didn't. Reid and Sarah did. So he's going to edit it instead. Brian has. edited all of Reid's shorts since 2018, and his creativity comes through in every cut. He has worked in the industry for over a decade in the commercial, narrative, and documentary space.
SCOTT HOELZER - COMPOSER
Scott makes sounds that sound like sounds. Sometimes they are scary!! Sometimes they are funny! Sometimes they're just mellow and cool and chill. He has worked on all of Reid's shorts since 2019, crafting scores that bring the images to life. Or sometimes death. He likes to go outside and climb rocks. He says he does this for fun but that can't possibly be right...
SUNGWON CHO - GREY
Your normal, everyday office person, just getting by. He is the only one troubled by the Giant Living Eye now protruding from his office's ceiling.
SungWon Cho is a voice actor you may have heard in KPop Demon Hunters, Delicious in Dungeon, Lackadaisy, God of War: Ragnarok, Borderlands 3, Aggretsuko, Ranking of Kings, One Piece, Pluto, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Bigtop Burger, Pokemon, Neon White, AI: The Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative, Like a Dragon, Granblue Fantasy, Odd Taxi, Craig of the Creek, Tuca & Bertie, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Monster Prom, and more. In live action, he starred in the series Anime Crimes Division and more recently in the critically acclaimed film Blackberry. He loves his cats Effie and Sophie very much.
GINA GRINKMEYER - LAUREL
The floor's mid-level manager, arbiter of the Corporate Will and excited about the Company's future. Sometimes you have to have a Giant Living Eye in your office, so what?
Gina Grinkemeyer is an actress in the DMV area who has appeared in major productions such as Wonder Woman 1984 and House of Cards, and recently in the film No Vacancy. She also runs and incredible Etsy shop called Grinkydink Creations where she sells hand-crocheted lil' guys with big butts. Her acting talent got her the role.... but we'd be lying if we said we didn't also do it for the lil guys. She didn't ask me to mention it I just can't stop telling people about these crocheted animals with dump truck rumps.
BRANDON THANE WILSON - CECIL
He just wants to do his email job, is that too much to ask?
Brandon Thane Wilson began his professional career at age 15 when he was cast at two of Washington D.C.'s finest theaters, Arena Stage and The Shakespeare Theatre. Since then he has worked in film and television, appearing in such films as Wonder Woman 1984 and on the television shows The Blacklist and Orange is the New Black.
MAGGIE GOUGH - SUSAN
Thinks the Eye isn't great, but she's got bills to pay, alright?
Maggie is a NYC based actress originally from Virginia, who has appeared in television shows such as FBI: Most Wanted on CBS and recently starred in the feature film Written by Mike, where she met Reid who decided he had to cast her in something ASAP so he did.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
VFX
Costs $10,000
This is a VFX heavy film. From the giant eye in the ceiling, to screen replacement, to compositing, titles, etc. This funding covers that.
Editing
Costs $1,500
There are a lot of different video elements going into this short, multiple cameras, etc, and it's a very complex editing process.
Colorist
Costs $1,000
We filmed in Arri Raw and would love a professional colorist to take this footage and get the absolute most out of it.
Sound Mixing & Editing
Costs $1,500
Audio is one of the most important aspect of a film. We got great audio and need a professional sound editor to make it sound incredible.
Festivals and Marketing
Costs $4,000
Once the film is done, we want to get it out to the world. This covers the cost of submissions and marketing materials to get the word out.
Music Licensing
Costs $2,000
There are some specific songs that we would really like to use for the short, but those rights ain't cheap!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
We have a team for this movie! They are cool people who are good at movie.