Stay Calm
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Horror
Stay Calm explores the idea of living a mindful life in a chaotic world. The characters are faced with betrayal, terror, lust, and envy, but their survival rests in how they deal with these emotions. They must learn to face every emotion with a deep breath, or else fall prey to becoming a monster.
Stay Calm
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Horror
Green Light
This campaign raised $6,070 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
120 supporters | followers
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Stay Calm explores the idea of living a mindful life in a chaotic world. The characters are faced with betrayal, terror, lust, and envy, but their survival rests in how they deal with these emotions. They must learn to face every emotion with a deep breath, or else fall prey to becoming a monster.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
“Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret -- it leads only to evil.” -Psalm 37
STORYLINE
All of humanity has been infected with a rage zombie virus that lies dormant until triggered by adrenaline spikes in it's host. A love triangle consisting of ZACK, his wife, GABI, and their best friend, PATRICK, have escaped the city and taken refuge in a desolate desert home. The trio must control their emotions and most primal instincts in order to keep from turning into a monster.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Stay Calm explores the idea of living a mindful life in a chaotic world. In our current political and social environment, it's far too common for us to do hurtful damage to ourselves and others by falling into habitual reactivity and acting out mindless, reactionary responses. So many of the thoughts and emotions humans pursue are toxic to our own well-being. It's like we drink the poison intended for someone else. The subsequent actions we take triggered by the emotions often cause needless harm onto others. And the cycle repeats...
The crux of our story centers around the tension between three people trying to find love, friendship, peace, and purpose, in a dying, violent world.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
In the spring of 2019, Connor McLean and Sam Quinn sat down over coffee to discuss concepts for a horror collaboration.
By the summer, Stay Calm was in pre-production mode. Over the following months we assembled a strong crew of professionals, raised funds, secured a location, completed casting, tightened the story, and visualized the aesthetic.
The film was shot over 4 days in August 2019, in Joshua Tree, California.
Post-Production started in September and over the next few months a rough edit was completed.
It's now time to enter the second stage of Post-Production, in which additional artistic skills will be employed to enhance the story and enrich the film's overall aethetic.
NEXT STEPS
These will be the next steps in the completion and distribution of our film:
-Visual Effects: We had an amazing make-up artist during our shoot to make our actors look super scary. Now it's time to add a few addiitonal visual effects on top of the practical make-up to really help sell the rage zombie look that we have in our minds eye. This will require high quality VFX work.
-Sound Design & Foley: The CRACK of a lightening strike, the CREEAAK of a wood floor, or the BOOM when a monster pops out! Finding the right foley sounds and creating the soundscape of an environment is tremendously important in horror films.
-Color Grading: We’ll need some great color grade to complete the vision of our Director of Photography, Kyle Krupinski.
-Original Score: In horror, music is extremely useful to help amplify tense moments, lead an audience's emotions, and give support to the film's overarching mood.
-Festival Fees: We’d love for our film to have a festival run and submissions are expensive!
The money raised with this campaign will go directly to fund these key areas of the production process.
OUR GOAL
Upon completion we will use Stay Calm as a proof of concept product to pitch to investors, distributors, and studios with the intention of developing it into a feature length film.
Thanks for checking out our project!
Sam Quinn & Connor McLean
Co-Creators
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Editing, Visual Effects, & Color Grading
Costs $2,000
This will cover color grading, visual effects, and editing.
Sound Design & Music
Costs $2,000
This be used towards the production of music, sound design, and mixing.
Festival Distribution
Costs $1,000
This will cover festival submission costs.
Marketing & EPK
Costs $1,000
This will cover marketing for an online release and creating an epk package for film markets.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Broken Bicycle Films is a film collective and production company. We are a supportive and generous community of filmmakers who share knowledge, skills, and connections with our fellow artists so that we may all create our strongest work. We offer a mutually beneficial support system, a method of cross-promotion, and a distribution platform for the filmmakers’ various works.
Sam Quinn, Writer/Director: Sam is an actor, filmmaker, and musician from Taos, New Mexico. He can be seen acting alongside Joel Egerton in Jane Got A Gun. Other film credits include Only the Brave starring Josh Brolin and Transcendence with Johnny Depp. He’s made appearances on several TV shows. Most recently he had a recurring role in Better Call Saul. Two of Sam's original rock musicals were produced in Chicago, IL. Stay Calm is his second short film.
Connor McLean, Writer/Director: Connor is a writer and filmmaker from High Point, North Carolina. Since producing his original stage plays and a feature film in NC, Connor has gone on to develop projects for SKY STUDIOS in London, an animated musical for a music production company under DREAMWORKS ANIMATION, and an original competition reality show with MALIBU FILMS.
Liana Rae Perez, Producer: Liana was born and raised in Los Angeles. She produced Mark Pellington’s latest sci-fi short film, starring Alfie Allen. She has produced music videos for grammy winners/nominees FEVER333 and Greta Van Fleet. Her music video for Phantogram was nominated for Best Rock Video International at the UK Music Video Awards 2018.
Kyle Krupinksi, Cinematographer: Kyle is an award winning Director of Photography based in Los Angeles. He is originally from the midwest. Kyle’s passion for cinematography and storytelling has led him to lens films, commercials, documentaries, fashion, and music videos. His work has screened at Sundance, British Film institute in London, SXSW Music Conference, Future Film Fest, Newport Beach Film Fest, Berlin Fashion Film Fest, Burbank International Film Fest and more.
Nikki Nilan, Editor/VFX artist: Nikki Nilan is a producer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA. She has edited multiple music videos for Backstreet Boys and AJ Mclean. Her latest work is a feature documentary for Emmy Award winner Andy Capper. She is currently key editor for award winning Director, Rene Elizondo at Malibu Films
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
“Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret -- it leads only to evil.” -Psalm 37
STORYLINE
All of humanity has been infected with a rage zombie virus that lies dormant until triggered by adrenaline spikes in it's host. A love triangle consisting of ZACK, his wife, GABI, and their best friend, PATRICK, have escaped the city and taken refuge in a desolate desert home. The trio must control their emotions and most primal instincts in order to keep from turning into a monster.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Stay Calm explores the idea of living a mindful life in a chaotic world. In our current political and social environment, it's far too common for us to do hurtful damage to ourselves and others by falling into habitual reactivity and acting out mindless, reactionary responses. So many of the thoughts and emotions humans pursue are toxic to our own well-being. It's like we drink the poison intended for someone else. The subsequent actions we take triggered by the emotions often cause needless harm onto others. And the cycle repeats...
The crux of our story centers around the tension between three people trying to find love, friendship, peace, and purpose, in a dying, violent world.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
In the spring of 2019, Connor McLean and Sam Quinn sat down over coffee to discuss concepts for a horror collaboration.
By the summer, Stay Calm was in pre-production mode. Over the following months we assembled a strong crew of professionals, raised funds, secured a location, completed casting, tightened the story, and visualized the aesthetic.
The film was shot over 4 days in August 2019, in Joshua Tree, California.
Post-Production started in September and over the next few months a rough edit was completed.
It's now time to enter the second stage of Post-Production, in which additional artistic skills will be employed to enhance the story and enrich the film's overall aethetic.
NEXT STEPS
These will be the next steps in the completion and distribution of our film:
-Visual Effects: We had an amazing make-up artist during our shoot to make our actors look super scary. Now it's time to add a few addiitonal visual effects on top of the practical make-up to really help sell the rage zombie look that we have in our minds eye. This will require high quality VFX work.
-Sound Design & Foley: The CRACK of a lightening strike, the CREEAAK of a wood floor, or the BOOM when a monster pops out! Finding the right foley sounds and creating the soundscape of an environment is tremendously important in horror films.
-Color Grading: We’ll need some great color grade to complete the vision of our Director of Photography, Kyle Krupinski.
-Original Score: In horror, music is extremely useful to help amplify tense moments, lead an audience's emotions, and give support to the film's overarching mood.
-Festival Fees: We’d love for our film to have a festival run and submissions are expensive!
The money raised with this campaign will go directly to fund these key areas of the production process.
OUR GOAL
Upon completion we will use Stay Calm as a proof of concept product to pitch to investors, distributors, and studios with the intention of developing it into a feature length film.
Thanks for checking out our project!
Sam Quinn & Connor McLean
Co-Creators
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Editing, Visual Effects, & Color Grading
Costs $2,000
This will cover color grading, visual effects, and editing.
Sound Design & Music
Costs $2,000
This be used towards the production of music, sound design, and mixing.
Festival Distribution
Costs $1,000
This will cover festival submission costs.
Marketing & EPK
Costs $1,000
This will cover marketing for an online release and creating an epk package for film markets.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Broken Bicycle Films is a film collective and production company. We are a supportive and generous community of filmmakers who share knowledge, skills, and connections with our fellow artists so that we may all create our strongest work. We offer a mutually beneficial support system, a method of cross-promotion, and a distribution platform for the filmmakers’ various works.
Sam Quinn, Writer/Director: Sam is an actor, filmmaker, and musician from Taos, New Mexico. He can be seen acting alongside Joel Egerton in Jane Got A Gun. Other film credits include Only the Brave starring Josh Brolin and Transcendence with Johnny Depp. He’s made appearances on several TV shows. Most recently he had a recurring role in Better Call Saul. Two of Sam's original rock musicals were produced in Chicago, IL. Stay Calm is his second short film.
Connor McLean, Writer/Director: Connor is a writer and filmmaker from High Point, North Carolina. Since producing his original stage plays and a feature film in NC, Connor has gone on to develop projects for SKY STUDIOS in London, an animated musical for a music production company under DREAMWORKS ANIMATION, and an original competition reality show with MALIBU FILMS.
Liana Rae Perez, Producer: Liana was born and raised in Los Angeles. She produced Mark Pellington’s latest sci-fi short film, starring Alfie Allen. She has produced music videos for grammy winners/nominees FEVER333 and Greta Van Fleet. Her music video for Phantogram was nominated for Best Rock Video International at the UK Music Video Awards 2018.
Kyle Krupinksi, Cinematographer: Kyle is an award winning Director of Photography based in Los Angeles. He is originally from the midwest. Kyle’s passion for cinematography and storytelling has led him to lens films, commercials, documentaries, fashion, and music videos. His work has screened at Sundance, British Film institute in London, SXSW Music Conference, Future Film Fest, Newport Beach Film Fest, Berlin Fashion Film Fest, Burbank International Film Fest and more.
Nikki Nilan, Editor/VFX artist: Nikki Nilan is a producer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA. She has edited multiple music videos for Backstreet Boys and AJ Mclean. Her latest work is a feature documentary for Emmy Award winner Andy Capper. She is currently key editor for award winning Director, Rene Elizondo at Malibu Films