After a monumental loss, it's hard to see a way forward. Cal Melbourne is lost in his grief, looking for a light to guide him to a better life for himself and his son. We all know how isolating that can be. Help us show people they aren't alone in their journey.
After a monumental loss, it's hard to see a way forward. Cal Melbourne is lost in his grief, looking for a light to guide him to a better life for himself and his son. We all know how isolating that can be. Help us show people they aren't alone in their journey.
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Story
Mission Statement
Our close knit team is working to show the authentic and often overlooked side of small town life. We are hoping to shine a light on how patriarchal structures impact all and how they can deeply hinder the grieving process by stigmatizing emotional and mental health.About The Project
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Our small team wants to tell an impactful story.
We believe that every great film starts with a solid story that resonates with a wide variety of people. After making the short, we realized people were hungry for something that felt down to earth and distinctly Midwestern. Expanding the world of Knee High to include grief and uncertainty about the future feels right and we are excited to bring you all along on the journey!
Here's part of our cast and crew at basecamp after wrapping the short. (Yes, our basecamp had a semi-cab parked in it!)
Front row - left to right: Sound mixer John Hennessey Baker, Cinematographer Bruce James BalesBack row - left to right: Grip Jeremy Williams, First AD Emily McCurdy, Director Marissa Vonn, Gaffer Spencer Michael Smith, Cal/Producer Michael Ridley, Grip Matt Boyles
We are producing this film in Iowa because it’s our favorite state!
We love making films here. The state has a wealth of stories to be told and a deep well of talent to work with. It’s a beautiful state with four seasons (sometimes all in a day!), a gorgeous landscape, and the most humble people you’ve ever met. It’s the perfect playground for a filmmaker and we’re so excited to bring this story to life there.
This film is anchored by authentic characters. It deals with grief, uncertainty, and shifting family dynamics.
Cal is kind, industrious, and stubborn. He’s watching his world crumble and has no idea what to do. His grandfather just passed, his ex and their son have moved to the city, the family farm is being foreclosed on, and he has no clear path forward.
The film follows him over the rolling hills of grief and watches as he searches for answers.
The film will be visually and tonally similar to “The Rider” and “Minari”.
Landscapes and rich colors will anchor this story and keep viewers in the Melbourne world. We are honored to work with DP, Bruce James Bales, to tell this story.
We have locked our script, begun securing locations, and are deep in pre-production.
We start production this fall and would be honored to have your support in making this story shine.
Your support will help us secure lenses, house cast, feed our team well, and expand our production and wardrobe design budget. It will also help cover necessary insurance and Covid safety measures.
COVID-19: We all know Covid has thrown the film industry for a loop. We will be working safely and following all SAG Return to Work protocols at the time of production.
My name is Marissa Vonn and I am the Writer-Director of Knee High. Thank you so much for taking the time to consider this film. I sincerely appreciate every person who reviews this campaign and am grateful for the time you dedicated to do so.
Knee High is a film that is close to my heart because it is set in my home state; Iowa. This film tells a story that feels authentic, despite its fictional roots. Every character is reminiscent of someone you know, and that’s exactly why I feel audiences will connect to it. We all know, or are part of, a Melbourne family.This story fell into place while on a quest for good pizza with my dad (it's at Torino's in Fairfield, if you're curious) where we were talking about farming and how family farms operate. Real life and real life problems always make me think about the things that could happen and talking about how farms change hands made me imagine how a young person would handle that responsibilty. At the time, I had a scene playing in my head that didn't have a story yet (writer brain is weird) and after a few hours, I realized this was it's story. The scene in my head was of a dad carrying a little kid in a farmer costume across a parking lot while mom watched. You can see that scene in our short film. I always knew the story had more to it and it was easy to find once the characters came to life in the short.
The grounded world of Knee High is one that takes a special kind of care to craft. I'm extremely honored to have the perfect team crafting this world with me and bringing this story to the screen. We are excited to sink into this world that feels like home and tell this story.
I hope that you will join us in shining a light on our favorite flyover state and all of its unique stories. This film would benefit immensely from your support and we'd be honored to have it.
Thank you!
Our team has done a LOT of work together. We've made five short films and an episode of an amazing webseries. Each project has leveled up our production skills, our communication, and our ability to solve any problem that filmmaking throws our way. This team is caring, passionate, a little scrappy, talented, and most of all dedicated. We are dedicated to giving this story the space it needs to breathe and doing what it takes to bring this story to life in an authintic way. You can see some of our past work together below!
Our goal is set at $10,000. This will get us through production.
Our stretch goal is $15,000.
With the additional $5,000, we will sail through post and get submitted to our dream festivals. Every dollar over our original goal will go towards costs that will come once the camera stops rolling. Post production is a beast of it's own and we'd love to have the ability to get our film straight into the edit bay when we wrap. Reaching our stretch goal would put us in a great position to do that!
SHARE
Please share our campaign with anyone you think would connect with a film like this!Feel free to copy and paste these texts on your favorite social media:
Facebook:
Join me in supporting @KneeHighFilm on @SeedAndSpark ! #KneeHighFilm follows a young father as he deals with grief, co-parenting, and trying to take on the family farm. Join them on @seedandspark: www.seedandspark.com/fund/knee-high
Twitter:
Join me in supporting #KneeHighFilm by @marissavonn on @SeedAndSpark! Find them here: www.seedandspark.com/fund/knee-high
Instagram:
Join me in supporting #KneeHighFilm by @marissavonn on @SeedAndSpark ! #KneeHighFilm follows a young father as he deals with grief, co-parenting, and trying to take on the family farm. Join them on @seedandspark: www.seedandspark.com/fund/knee-high
MORE WAYS TO SHARE
Tell your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors about Knee High.Share our posts, campaign page, and our supporter updates! Make sure to use our #KneeHighFilm hashtag and tag us @KneeHighFilm!
Regular visits to our Seed&Spark page keep you in the know AND increase our chances of being featured on the site!
Incentives
$5
Thank you!
Thank you for helping bring this film to life! We are eternally grateful to everyone who supports us and would love to tell the world.
As a thank you, we'll give you a social media shout out!
Please share your social media handles with us so we can brag about how lucky we are to have your support!
$10
Help house the team!
Your support is going right towards housing the few out of towners that are joining our cast and crew!
For helping us bring this to life, we'll be sending you an exclusive Knee High digital postcard.
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$25
Supply a piece of wardrobe!
Your pledge is enough to cover a piece of wardrobe for one of our cast members!
To thank you for helping make our cast look amazing, we'll share a custom thank you graphic AND an exclusive sneak peek at a scene from our script. You'll also get everything offered at levels below this.
$50
Chip in for lenses!
Support at this level will be going towards renting Cooke lenses for the duration of our production.
As a thank you, we will share our Knee High playlist with you! This is what we're listening to while rewriting, doing prep, and driving to set. You'll also recieve everything on offer at tiers below this.
$100
Help us out with insurance and expendables!
Your pledge is going towards insurance and expendables! Insurance keeps us safe (and legal!) and expendables like masks, gaff tape, sharpies, and hand sanitizer to keep our set running. Thank you!
We're going to share our lookbook with you! You'll also get everything offered below this level. Below is a peek at a single page of our lookbook!
Our lookbook includes notes, inspiration, and clips. Lookbooks are a great way to predict what a finished film will look like and we'd love to share ours with you.
Claimed: 26 of 100
$250
Feed the crew for 2 days!
Pledging at this level will feed our small crew for 2 days!
As a thank you, we're going to share a production diary with you! You'll get an up close look at our production as we move from pre-production into production.
This diary will include photos and notes from the cast and crew. You may even get early access to our dailies! In addition to this, you'll also get access to everything offered at support levels below this one.
$500
Rent our picture car!
You're paying for one of our picture cars! Any car that appears on screen is considered a picture car. We have three in our film and you are facilitating one of them!
As a thank you, we will share a weekly recap video that includes behind the scenes footage, interviews, dailies, and maybe even some bloopers! You'll also get all incentives offered at levels below this.
Below is a photo of one of our picture cars in action!
$1,000
Help us store our movie!
With your pledge of $1,000, we will be able to purchase one of the drives needed to store our film during production and through post.
At this support level, you'll be granted a set visit AND a 1 hour consult to talk about filmmaking with our Writer-Director. You'll also get access to everything offered at earlier tiers!
Want a peek at a day on one of our sets? Check out this video:
Claimed: 2 of 10
$2,500
Be an Associate Producer
Thank you for your belief in this film. You are supporting us in a MASSIVE way and we are so thankful to you. Your support will allow us to house our out of town cast and crew, buy all our crafty, or purchase 2 necessary drives!
Those who pledge this amount will be given an Associate Producer credit and a wrap dinner invite! You'll also get everything offered prior to this level.
Here's a preview of what your name would look like in the credits!
Claimed: 0 of 5
$5,000
Be an Executive Producer
Thank you so much for being such a monumental part of this film.
A pledge at this level will cover one of the following costs: insurance, renting a camera + lens package, feeding our crew for the full shoot, all of our necessary storage, or covering our post-production and festival fees.
In addition to an Executive Producer credit, you'll get a wrap dinner invite, a set visit (we'll even let you slate if you want!), a link to join us virtually for our final shot of production, and access to ALL of our incentives.
Claimed: 0 of 5
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Wishlist
Use the WishList to pledge cash and loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an incentive directly.
$5
Thank you!
Thank you for helping bring this film to life! We are eternally grateful to everyone who supports us and would love to tell the world.
As a thank you, we'll give you a social media shout out!
Please share your social media handles with us so we can brag about how lucky we are to have your support!
$10
Help house the team!
Your support is going right towards housing the few out of towners that are joining our cast and crew!
For helping us bring this to life, we'll be sending you an exclusive Knee High digital postcard.
$25
Supply a piece of wardrobe!
Your pledge is enough to cover a piece of wardrobe for one of our cast members!
To thank you for helping make our cast look amazing, we'll share a custom thank you graphic AND an exclusive sneak peek at a scene from our script. You'll also get everything offered at levels below this.
$50
Chip in for lenses!
Support at this level will be going towards renting Cooke lenses for the duration of our production.
As a thank you, we will share our Knee High playlist with you! This is what we're listening to while rewriting, doing prep, and driving to set. You'll also recieve everything on offer at tiers below this.
$100
Help us out with insurance and expendables!
Your pledge is going towards insurance and expendables! Insurance keeps us safe (and legal!) and expendables like masks, gaff tape, sharpies, and hand sanitizer to keep our set running. Thank you!
We're going to share our lookbook with you! You'll also get everything offered below this level. Below is a peek at a single page of our lookbook!
Our lookbook includes notes, inspiration, and clips. Lookbooks are a great way to predict what a finished film will look like and we'd love to share ours with you.
Claimed: 26 of 100
$250
Feed the crew for 2 days!
Pledging at this level will feed our small crew for 2 days!
As a thank you, we're going to share a production diary with you! You'll get an up close look at our production as we move from pre-production into production.
This diary will include photos and notes from the cast and crew. You may even get early access to our dailies! In addition to this, you'll also get access to everything offered at support levels below this one.
$500
Rent our picture car!
You're paying for one of our picture cars! Any car that appears on screen is considered a picture car. We have three in our film and you are facilitating one of them!
As a thank you, we will share a weekly recap video that includes behind the scenes footage, interviews, dailies, and maybe even some bloopers! You'll also get all incentives offered at levels below this.
Below is a photo of one of our picture cars in action!
$1,000
Help us store our movie!
With your pledge of $1,000, we will be able to purchase one of the drives needed to store our film during production and through post.
At this support level, you'll be granted a set visit AND a 1 hour consult to talk about filmmaking with our Writer-Director. You'll also get access to everything offered at earlier tiers!
Want a peek at a day on one of our sets? Check out this video:
Claimed: 2 of 10
$2,500
Be an Associate Producer
Thank you for your belief in this film. You are supporting us in a MASSIVE way and we are so thankful to you. Your support will allow us to house our out of town cast and crew, buy all our crafty, or purchase 2 necessary drives!
Those who pledge this amount will be given an Associate Producer credit and a wrap dinner invite! You'll also get everything offered prior to this level.
Here's a preview of what your name would look like in the credits!
Claimed: 0 of 5
$5,000
Be an Executive Producer
Thank you so much for being such a monumental part of this film.
A pledge at this level will cover one of the following costs: insurance, renting a camera + lens package, feeding our crew for the full shoot, all of our necessary storage, or covering our post-production and festival fees.
In addition to an Executive Producer credit, you'll get a wrap dinner invite, a set visit (we'll even let you slate if you want!), a link to join us virtually for our final shot of production, and access to ALL of our incentives.
Claimed: 0 of 5
- Updates
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Current Team
About This Team
This team has been through it all! We have created 5 short films together and Knee High will be our first feature length film together. The films we've made together have screened at festivals worldwide and our friendships have grown stronger since starting. There is no better crew to bring this story to life and we are excited to get back on set together!
Marissa Vonn - Writer/Director
Marissa loves telling compelling stories with moments that tug on your heartstrings. Family tales, cerebral dramas, and anything with an authentic lead are Marissa’s favorite projects. She has a passion for creating complex roles that challenge actors and loves collaborating with her crew.
Michael Ridley - Producer/Actor
Michael is an actor born in Milwaukee and raised in Denver. He loves sinking into roles and discovering the character's history alongside the director and fellow cast members. He is passionate about finding the heart of every story and making it evident on screen. Michael is acting as a producer on this film and also carries a "Story by" credit for the work he did in the script's development stages.
Bruce James Bales - Cinematographer
Bruce is always interested in serving the story; finding out what moves people, what brings them closer together, and what makes them ask questions. Crafting an engaging and emotional visual language is his goal, along with being a clear communicator and collaborator.
Kalena Clarkson - Associate Producer
Kalena is an absolute force. She does whatever it takes to help bring stories to life and knows that sometimes the easiest way to support someone is a hot cup of coffee. She is joyous and driven and always brings an amazing energy to set. Kalena started her film career in recent years and we are excited for her to step into a new role with us on this feature!
Dakota Carpenter - Production Designer
Dakota has an incredible eye for design and the way a space should feel. They also know how to make an outfit feel authentic and look great on camera. Dakota knows how to get things done without compromising a great attitude and a level head. We're so honored to have them on our team and can't wait to watch their skills elevate this film!
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