Who’s the person who you go to call, but then think better of it and put the phone back down? Whose christmas card do you get and feel a slight pang in your chest? What’s the name that comes up during a retelling of a childhood story that you haven’t heard in years? We all have people who were once close friends but have drifted out of our lives for one reason or another. The Moon, The Sun, and The World begins when Elyse and Halcyon’s friendship rests on the precipice of being lost. 

After not seeing each other for six months, ELYSE returns to her friend HALCYON's apartment to have her tarot cards read with the hopes of gaining some insight about her recent failed romantic relationship. Four cards are pulled, each seeming to point more towards the women’s friendship than Elyse’s relationship. Both women struggle to see past their own feelings and tensions increase with each card. 

As each card is reviewed it inspires a short, unique vignette featuring strangers whom Elyse saw in the beginning of the film. Each vignette shows a moment between the strangers that parallels the tensions between Elyse and Halcyon. 

Apart from what a story is about, I think it’s incredibly important how a story is told. The vignette narrative structure allows for moments of breath separate from the main story. They will show glimpses into stories that run parallel to that of the main characters’, while adding their own answers to the essential question raised by Elyse and Halcyon’s story: “Can you ever truly get a relationship back?”

I haven’t had many regrets in my short twenty-two years, but the ones I do have involve not prioritizing my closest friendships. Our early 20’s are a time when we are still developing and trying to figure out who we are. It’s a time when it’s easy to get wrapped up in intense feelings of romantic love and neglect the other relationships one has in life.

At its core, The Moon, The Sun, and the World is a coming of age film about platonic love. It is about the moment of realizing how you might have been wrong in a given situation and the uncertainty of whether you can truly get a friendship back. Being a part of the Foothills Film Collective (a group of student filmmakers who chose to make short films instead of attending school virtually during the first year of the pandemic) not only strengthened my filmmaking skills, but also gave me some of the most important friendships that I have in my life. It’s only fitting that this diverse group of collaborators and friends would join me in bringing this story of love and friendship to life.

Since the majority of the film is set within Halcyon’s apartment, set design is a top priority for us. We plan to make the space feel full and real, while making it distinct to the character and visually rich for the audience. The cinematography within the apartment will often be very tight and intimate so as to connect us to the characters’ internal worlds as they process the events of the night. 

Each vignette will have its own unique visual style to create immersive storyworlds for these characters even though their stories only complement the main narrative.

They will take visual inspiration from a variety of genres — such as Japanese Experimentalism and Westerns — and from different directorial influences as well. 

After the crowdfunding campaign ends in late August, our team will be in hyperdrive preparing for the shoot until mid-October. The film will shoot from October 19th - 23rd during Yale’s fall recess. The rest of the fall semester will be spent on post production, with the goal of having a final version of the film by mid-December. This will allow for us to submit to festivals in the beginning of 2023 and release the film after its festival run!

Having December the Senior Thesis deadline gives this film a definitive timeline —  it will be made this coming fall no matter what. It’s your contribution that will help us achieve the greatest quality film possible!

Despite all the amazing qualities of filmmaking, it does have one con: it’s incredibly expensive! We need your help to reach our crowdfunding goal of $7,000. These funds will help us secure equipment and location rentals, as well as care for our talent and crew!

Additionally, while we would be absolutely thrilled to hit our goal, we would also not be mad at exceeding it! The more money we are able to raise, the less compromises we have to make and the film can be our fully realized vision. Anything that exceeds what is necessary for production costs will be used for post-production (color grading and sound mixing) as well as festival submission fees!

Even if you’re not able to contribute monetarily, there’s still a big way in which you can help our project: follow and share! share! share! The only way we will be able to reach our goal is by reaching a wide audience with our campaign. Please share our campaign via social media, email, word of mouth, or basically any way that information is spread! You can also follow the campaign above, and you can get email updates from us every step of the way! Following also helps our campaign get extra benefits from Seed & Spark, so please do so! It’s free!