Out
by Noah Dirks

Noah Dirks
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Out
by Noah Dirks
Noah Dirks
Follow
Inspired by interviews with hospice nurses, Out investigates how we retain our humanity when life's most emotional moments are encountered in a professional setting. The film features a nurse, Jen, who is forced to decide Peter's fate while navigating through his home and history.
Inspired by interviews with hospice nurses, Out investigates how we retain our humanity when life's most emotional moments are encountered in a professional setting. The film features a nurse, Jen, who is forced to decide Peter's fate while navigating through his home and history.
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Story
Mission Statement
We are committed to maintaining an inclusive crew and cast, with a gender-balanced set. The film also breaches the seldom-discussed subject of hospice care professionals and features the story of a middle-aged professional woman. Our story strives for a humanity we all can share and understand.About The Project
I was first inspired to write “Out” after speaking with an old friend, Leslie Stager, who has worked as a hospice nurse as well as in other forms of medical care for the past 33 years. While the plot is purely fictional, I have taken care to maintain an honest depiction of the subject through interviews with hospice care nurses. The film is intended not to be a devastating depiction of death, nor an exploitation of an emotionally charged subject matter, but rather an intimate and ultimately human story based in a challenging and underrepresented subject. -Writer/Director, Noah Dirks
Out begins at a snowy, aging farmhouse, in the middle of a field. Once functionally elegant, the structure now shows signs of decay as paint flakes from its siding, and the porch sags into the dirt. Jen, an inexperienced hospice nurse, drives across the frozen landscape with Anne, the nurse she is shadowing. Entering the house Jen is struck by its contents, the remnants of a forgotten life that hide away in boxes and teetering piles. When Anne suddenly has to leave, Jen is left alone with her patient, Peter, an uncommunicative back-to-earther whose only desire is to die on his land. As Jen goes about her normal duties, she finds herself enthralled by her patient and his surroundings. Peter's house is itself a relic of his fading values and history that captivates Jen as she starts to uncover pieces of his mysterious past. As she uncovers more, however, Jen is ultimately forced to make a choice that pits her moral and professional instincts against each other.
(left) Magnolia, 1999 | (right) Out test footage
Out’s atmosphere is integral to its story and is where a large portion of contributions will be invested. Working with our talented camera and art departments, we plan to construct a set that physically embodies Peter's history. Out’s style will plunge its audience into the muted world of Peter's home, densely populated by tokens of his past. We will be working with a subdued color palette of earth tones that form the oppressive environment of the house, mixed with occasional accents of brighter color. This aesthetic and set frame Jen's emotional journey through Peter's world. The film's visual atmosphere will be accompanied by an original score.
(left) Repulsion, 1965 | (right) No Country For Old Men, 2007
(top) Magnolia, 1999 | (bottom) Repulsion, 1965
Incentives
$5
Blow you a kiss
The film team will personally blow you a kiss every time they see you. Arrival date depends on wind patterns.
$10
Director's Note
Recieve a personal note from the Director, with a sneak-peek of Out's pre-production. This could be a storyboard frame, a piece of test footage, some juicy gossip etc. The possibilities are endless, but there's only one way to find out...
$15
Download Out's Soundtrack
Recieve a high-quality download of the film's original soundtrack, composed by Jeremy Freeman!
Claimed: 8 of 25
$25
Download Out
Recieve a beautiful HD download of the film on its completion!
+Soundtrack Download
$50
Contributor credit
Receive a credit as a contributor to the making of the film!
+Soundtrack
+HD download
$100
Personalized Photo Shoot
Have a personalized photo shoot with our DP, Jack Maraghy!
+ Contributor credit
+ HD download
+Soundtrack
Sold Out!
$250
Go "Out"... or Stay In!
Writer/director Noah Dirks will personally cook you a delicious meal!
+ Contributor credit
+ HD download
+Soundtrack
Claimed: 1 of 3
$500
Executive Producer Credit
Receive a credit as an Executive Producer of the film!
+Go "Out"... or Stay In
+HD download
+Soundtrack
$1,000
Executive Producer Supreme
Executive producer credit AND come join us on set to critique our filmmaking and eat our craft services. In addition, the director will make you a personal thank you video with music composed by our DP Jack Maraghy. He picked up the ukelele two weeks ago, but it's really the passion that counts.
+Go "Out"... or Stay In
+HD Download
+Soundtrack
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Wishlist
Use the WishList to pledge cash and loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an incentive directly.
$5
Blow you a kiss
The film team will personally blow you a kiss every time they see you. Arrival date depends on wind patterns.
$10
Director's Note
Recieve a personal note from the Director, with a sneak-peek of Out's pre-production. This could be a storyboard frame, a piece of test footage, some juicy gossip etc. The possibilities are endless, but there's only one way to find out...
$15
Download Out's Soundtrack
Recieve a high-quality download of the film's original soundtrack, composed by Jeremy Freeman!
Claimed: 8 of 25
$25
Download Out
Recieve a beautiful HD download of the film on its completion!
+Soundtrack Download
$50
Contributor credit
Receive a credit as a contributor to the making of the film!
+Soundtrack
+HD download
$100
Personalized Photo Shoot
Have a personalized photo shoot with our DP, Jack Maraghy!
+ Contributor credit
+ HD download
+Soundtrack
Sold Out!
$250
Go "Out"... or Stay In!
Writer/director Noah Dirks will personally cook you a delicious meal!
+ Contributor credit
+ HD download
+Soundtrack
Claimed: 1 of 3
$500
Executive Producer Credit
Receive a credit as an Executive Producer of the film!
+Go "Out"... or Stay In
+HD download
+Soundtrack
$1,000
Executive Producer Supreme
Executive producer credit AND come join us on set to critique our filmmaking and eat our craft services. In addition, the director will make you a personal thank you video with music composed by our DP Jack Maraghy. He picked up the ukelele two weeks ago, but it's really the passion that counts.
+Go "Out"... or Stay In
+HD Download
+Soundtrack
- Updates
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Current Team
About This Team
Noah Dirks (Writer/Director) is a Film and Computer Science double major at Wesleyan University. He has made several short films to date including co-directing Clarissa Starlander and the Missing Moon Princess with Shane Bannon, which won Best Story, the Jury Award, and Best Campus Picture at the 2015 Wesleyan Campus Movie Fest and was invited to attend Cannes. His parents told him to write a happy movie this time so he came up with this.
Alison Silverstein (Producer) is a Romance Studies major, which does not mean that she studies romance. She has experience organizing theater productions and radio plays. In her free time, she entangles herself in her friends' projects, speaks French and Spanish, and looks at videos of cute animals.
Wilson Lai (Producer) is a Film Studies major at Wesleyan. He has had experience working on multiple thesis films, but this is the first film that he is producing! He is extremely excited to be working with such a great team in Out. Wilson has no free time.
Joao Pedro Pereira-Webber (Producer) is a senior Film major and Noah’s housemate. He is from Chicago. João loves everything from Chicago. He is a Chicago cliche: he loves Mies van Der Rohe, Chance the Rapper, Wilco, the ‘L’ and is bitter about New York City (although he will admit that Lloyd’s has the best carrot cake in the world). He has experience working with 16 mm film as well as digital mediums.
Jack Maraghy (Director of Photography) is a Wesleyan University film major from Richmond, Virginia. A devout fan of Steve Erwin, his career began shooting nature documentaries in his backyard. Since then, he's graduated from the camcorder to director of photography on several shorts including Wesleyan film theses, 48-hour film festival submissions, and personal projects.
Molly Byrne (Assistant Director) is a Neuroscience major with a minor in Film. She has entered the 48-hour film project 4 years in a row and has worked with the director on independent projects. She originally came to know him by sitting next to him in a Biology class. Biggest mistake of her life.
Kira Newmark (Production Design) is an expert at doing far too much at once, and a junior film major at Wesleyan University. She is an Executive Producer for Cardinal Pictures, a member of the Film Board, the Assignment Editor for Intercut Magazine, and has stage-managed four Second Stage productions. This past year, she crewed on six short films mostly as an Assistant Director or Producer, and interned at Zeitgeist Films and Little Monster Films.
Annie Ning (Production Design) is a prospective Film and English major at Wesleyan University. Her desire to create unique visual spaces and worlds fuels her strong love for production design. Most recently, she has worked in the Art Department on various projects as a set decorator, ranging from a psychological-thriller shot in the Canadian woods to a home for unwed mothers set in the 1960's. Her heart belongs to rural New England—she cannot wait to work with the Out team to bring it to life on screen.
Megan West (Gaffer) is a Junior Film and English double major at Wesleyan University. She has worked in G&E on a number of projects, both on- and off-campus, and is excited to work with the talented crew of Out.
Matthew Renetzky (Sound) just came here for a good time and is feeling so attacked right now. He is a Government major, and has worked with sound since 2013 and is a highly coveted member of the Wesleyan film community. In fact, he's so hard to get a hold of, we had to hold a duel to win over his services. Lucky us that Noah is handy with a spear!
Caris Yeoman (Art Department) is a freshman whose experience with filmmaking has thus far been limited to silent, minute-long shorts, shot on iPhone apps and forcibly starring her seven-year-old brother. She is excited (and terrified) to join the crew of Out, a film with a level of actual professionalism. She decorated her dorm room with extreme deliberation and hopes this means she will have success as a member of the production design team.
Jeremy Freeman (Composer) is super stoked to be working on this film. He believes himself to be ready for the ride as he looks forward to stretching himself past the world of bass-slapping Pikachus and Dalmatians to the world of creepy hospice care. If that's not the definition of moving "Out," then you can check him into hospice care too.
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