All artworks designed by Chutong Liu.

I went to American high school armed solely with knowledge gathered from the cultural phenomenon “High School Musical”... I quickly realized America is a different place than I'd expected.

Especially for minorities.

To cope with cultural differences, I “erased” my Vietnamese identity in order to blend in. It began with using an American name. That experience led me to MIKE.

MIKE is a coming-of-age story inspired by the international student community. There are one million of us residing in the United States, and 36% of us report experiencing mental health issues and identity crises. Similar to my experience, these students cope with ignorance on a daily basis while trying to fulfill their social desires as human beings.

"Stop being yourself" becomes a survival mechanism. Long before you know it, you become unsure of who you were.

I want to explore the genuine comedy and pain that stemmed from this situation. Through this short, I hope international students will feel seen and also brave enough to be proud of who they are.

Set entirely on the first day of school, Hiep Nguyen is a Vietnamese student going on an exchange program at a Christian high school in South Dakota.

At school, Hiep stumbles through the challenges of conforming to an environment of all-white, religious Midwesterners who only know about Vietnam through the Vietnam War. As he tries to fit in with the new environment, Hiep seeks to befriend Christian, who is rumored to be a quarter Vietnamese.

Through these obstacles, Hiep will have to ask himself: Should I accept myself wholly, or should I NOT BE MYSELF in order to connect with others within this school?

MIKE seeks to resemble a bittersweet memory of high school. There's a sense of contrast within those memories of teenage angst - and we will deliver just that through a progession of compositions and colors.

COMPS

Our inspiration includes THE FAREWELL, which utilized composition to evoke comedy within a very dramatic situation; We also enjoy LADY BIRD & ATLANTA: FUBU for their ability to use color to reflect a protagonist's progression.

COLOR

Hiep's journey will have a WARM color palette ... until it doesn't. We want to invite the audience into this memory as if it's their own. However, when our protagonist has to make an ultimate choice of whether to be true to himself or not, the world turns COLD.

COMPOSITIONS

The journey Hiep embarks on is filled with ups and downs, and we want you to experience what that feels like through tracking shots, offbeat angles, and handheld movements. Act I consists of a variety of wide & medium offbeat angles to signify otherness. Act II consists of multiple handheld shots as Hiep takes braver choices and Act III is coordinated with traditional, stabilized angles to signify a return to normalcy.

To reflect the message of diversity presented within the short, We are crewing mostly international students and minorities, who can resonate with the theme of isolation and loneliness that MIKE wants to deliver. Furthermore, our multinational MIKE team are all students of the highly-prestigious USC Film Production program.

When you pledge, you are not only pledging to MIKE - you are pledging to the careers of a diverse group of up-and-coming filmmakers, who want to keep on entertaining you and others. Your pledge would help make this film the springboard needed for us to keep on telling more important stories about diversity & immigration.

In order for us to deliver the best product possible, we want to ensure the well-being of our team is taken care of. Therefore, you can expect your pledge to go toward things such as: 

• Medical kits, COVID tests & face masks
• Quality meals & crafty for all involved in the production
• Transportation to and from set for any actors & crewmembers
• Insurance & contingency for any emergency events and to keep the set safe 
• High-performance gear necessary to carry out the story's vision

If your pledge helps us reach our goal, we would be able to deliver the fully finished film by August 2023, with the hope of putting MIKE in major film festivals during the fall season circuit. 

Plus, our incentives are just very fun. 

Please follow our Seed & Spark, social media, and TikTok. You do not have to pledge to follow them. They are free and will be regularly updated to post various facts about international student life in America. Furthermore, every once in a while, our crew or actors might jump in to give you some fun updates.

• Instagram: @mikeshortfilm
• Tiktok: @mikeshortfilm

Please share our Seed & Spark or social media platform if you find it informative and helpful. We appreciate any interaction we have, and it will help us take one step at a time toward our goal of creating a meaningful film with a well-fed crew :)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!