The Voiceless Man
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Animation, Horror
A man with no voice lives a life of constant bullying for not having a mouth. In his darkest hour, the Voiceless Man meets a stranger who grants him a voice by drawing a mouth on his face. Finally obtaining a mouth, the Voiceless Man abuses his eloquence for hate and violence.
The Voiceless Man
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Animation, Horror
2 Campaigns | Guangdong Province, China
Green Light
This campaign raised $15,005 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
107 supporters | followers
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A man with no voice lives a life of constant bullying for not having a mouth. In his darkest hour, the Voiceless Man meets a stranger who grants him a voice by drawing a mouth on his face. Finally obtaining a mouth, the Voiceless Man abuses his eloquence for hate and violence.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Hi everyone, my name's Julian Stern and I am the writer/director of this animation short.
This project was first created back when I was a sophomore in high school. What started out as a two page, poorly drawn comic book, has evolved into a fleshed out storyboard with a stronger narrative. Because this is a low-budget animation we want to keep the narrative short and to the point. Although the story is only five minutes long on script, we understand the animation process for five minutes is not an easy task.
But why use animation to tell this story? We want our characters, the world, and the tone to feel it belongs in a fairy-tale storybook come to life. That the characters and actions leap from the pages and live on their own. I want to give a visual representation of what I believe hate looks like in a person, how it controls one’s life, and the result of those who let anger consume them that I believe can best be shown through animation.
A man with no voice (The Voiceless Man) lives a life of constant bullying for not having a mouth. In his darkest hour, the Voiceless Man meets a stranger who grants him a voice by drawing a mouth on his face.
Finally obtaining a mouth, the Voiceless Man uses his power for hate and convinces a mob to cause acts of violence. Will he realize the error of his ways before he loses everything around him? Or will his anger blind him to the point of no return?
We wanted to establish this black and white world in a setting that is familiar but distant. We chose a dystopian victorian era to set the scene for our narrative. The victorian era serves as a means to travel back during a time of great change, socially and politically. I wanted the world to look as though it was currently in a state of great change. Since this story is to resemble a fairytale I wanted the setting to be a place that looks old and can have a great history. But, because I wanted this story to feel like it could take place in modern times I wanted the world to feel as though it could be set in a modern setting, hence the city buildings mixed with brick roads.
The VOICELESS MAN, thirties, lonely and insecure, he has grown his whole life being shut down by others and being the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong around him. Because of this, he has grown to not stand up for himself. He feels weak and blames everyone around him for feeling this way. And for this, he feels a deep rooted hatred towards the world, but doesn’t have a way to express it.
The BEAST OF THE FEAST, a salesman with a silver tongue masked as a saint. It is a deity that grants wishes that end up only helping itself. The Beast serves as a moral compass who ends up feeling horrible for what it has caused. Is this a part of its act? Or does it truly feel remorse?
In this fairytale horror animation, we explore the concepts of light vs dark and hate.
In a monochrome world there is no grey area. Our protagonist’s worldview is literally displayed as a colorless world where he can only choose one path to go down. Rather than believing there are other solutions to his dilemma and moving on with his life, once he gets his wish, he continues to live in a world where everything wrong must be righted in a violent hate-filled manner.
Hate is, at the end of the day, a self-destructive disease that ends up hurting everyone around the individual spreading it. A person who spreads hate, will eventually fall apart into the tiny fragments that once made they whole.
The world feels like it’s becoming more and more violent. Maybe it’s always been that way and we’re just seeing a different version that can be compared to one history after another. Instead of people using their voices to bring peace, it feels like everybody is using their voice to divide. Rather than merging sides, people are drawing lines in the sand.
When we think of the voiceless man, we compare him to a lot of people within the world who act just like him. Whether that is on social media, spreading hateful remarks, or in our own government. And the harsh reality is, as we get older, more people within our personal lives end up turning into this character.
BUDGET
Here's a rough budget breakdown for our project. Because we are an ultra-low budget animation project, most of the creative team members are working for free to realize our collective vision. However, we still need to crowdfund to pay our animation team, our cast, and our sound crew in order to deliver a quality product.
TIMELINE
Currently, we've finished storyboarding the entire script and completed the animatic with temporary sound design and music. We are in the process of crewing up the animation team and casting a voice actor.
After crewing up our entire project we will get the ball rolling by distributing shots to our animation teams. (June - August 2023)
While animation is underway, our director will be working with the voice actor. (August - 2023)
As each shot is completed, we will begin constructing the sound of our world with our sound designer. (November - December 2023)
Finally, once animation and sound design is complete, we will hand over our project to a composer. (February 2024)
When the composer has completed their composition, the entire project will be mixed. (February - March 2024)
DISTRIBUTION
Upon its completion, we intend to enter this animation into festival circuits. Yet we won't just stop there! The ultimate goal is to acquire distribution to online platforms and gain a wider audience. We believe this is a meaningful story and deserves to be seen by more people like you :)
SPREAD THE WORD
The only way we will reach our crowdfunding goal is if we reach beyond our networks. If you’d like to be a part of supporting this project, YOU can make the difference in our success!
Please share our campaign via your social media, email, word-of-mouth, however you want! We can't do this without you!
Here are some examples. Feel free to copy and paste!
Help filmmaker Julian Stern @juls_magewls by supporting his dystopian noir animation A VOICELESS MAN about the catastrophe caused by personal hatred and violence. Join them on seedandspark.com/fund/the-voiceless-man-animation.
I'm so excited to see the short animation A VOICELESS MAN, by director/writer Julian Stern @juls_magewls, be made this fall. This is an amazing and timely animation worthy to be seen by more people! Support them on seedandspark.com/fund/the-voiceless-man-animation.
Thank you for all your love and support! Any contribution would be greatly appreciated!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Sound Design and Quality
Costs $1,500
We want to bring this world to life visually and audibly in the best way possible!
Animation
Costs $11,750
This funding amount will ensure our animators are paid for their time, talent, and effort!
Equipment Operations
Costs $650
Buying an extra hard drive to backup our project files is essential for a project like this!
Composer
Costs $750
We want a constant underscore to sell the tone and the world of this cautionary tale!
Actor's Fund
Costs $300
We can't tell this story without the right voice for our Voiceless Man story!
Catering
Costs $50
For recording day, we'll need to provide snacks to our voice actors as well as our sound designer!
Share this update!
About This Team
JULIAN STERN (Director) – Julian Stern is a Los-Angeles based actor, editor, writer, and director. He recently graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with his junior thesis Mind Made Up being officially accepted into the Portland Comedy Film Festival. Julian spends most of his time working with his USC graduates on their own content. Whether it’s being a first assistant-director for a melancholy drama short or an editor for a 1920’s themed musical. Additionally, while Julian isn’t mastering his craft you can find him wasting his time on Twitch or being a nerd and playing Dungeons & Dragons.
ALEX JIANG (Producer) – Born and raised in China, Alex Jiang is a freelancing writer/director/producer. She earned her BFA degree from USC School of Cinematic Arts and is now pursuing her MFA degree at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Alex’s short films have gone to multiple domestic and international festivals such as Palm Springs International ShortFest, LA Shorts, Taiwan Queer International Film Festival, etc. She is eager to tell stories that center around the topics of identity, gender, and culture.
CIAO ZHAO (Producer) – Ciao is a LA-based Chinese producer with experience in narrative shorts, documentaries and commercials. Her short documentaries garnered millions of views online, and her narrative works have been selected at various festivals including WorldFest Houston, CanadaShorts & LA Asian Film Festival. She’s currently working at the feature team at Rideback while looking to get involved in high-concept stories with heart.
MADISON LIN (Producer) – Madison Lin is an award-winning filmmaker from Oakland now based in Los Angles. She studied Film and Television Production at the University of Southern California and has a background as the founder of Enigma Films. She has produced over twenty shorts. She also has experience in feature development with companies such as Film Independent, Blumhouse Productions, and Netflix.
VAL TAN (Producer) – Val is an international filmmaker that calls Singapore, New York, and Los Angeles home. Val is not an actor, dancer, singer, or vegetarian, but saw how many filmmakers try to portray themselves as multifaceted artists and wants to add those words to her bio. Val IS an optimist and risk-taking filmmaker, and hopes to make films that showcase different voices in the community and bring a positive message.
STARR HORTON (Head of Story) – Starr Horton is an animator, concept, and storyboard artist who graduated from USC in 2021. He has since done work for clients such as Bad Bunny, Logic, and Metallica. He is currently working as the head of story on the Voiceless man.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Hi everyone, my name's Julian Stern and I am the writer/director of this animation short.
This project was first created back when I was a sophomore in high school. What started out as a two page, poorly drawn comic book, has evolved into a fleshed out storyboard with a stronger narrative. Because this is a low-budget animation we want to keep the narrative short and to the point. Although the story is only five minutes long on script, we understand the animation process for five minutes is not an easy task.
But why use animation to tell this story? We want our characters, the world, and the tone to feel it belongs in a fairy-tale storybook come to life. That the characters and actions leap from the pages and live on their own. I want to give a visual representation of what I believe hate looks like in a person, how it controls one’s life, and the result of those who let anger consume them that I believe can best be shown through animation.
A man with no voice (The Voiceless Man) lives a life of constant bullying for not having a mouth. In his darkest hour, the Voiceless Man meets a stranger who grants him a voice by drawing a mouth on his face.
Finally obtaining a mouth, the Voiceless Man uses his power for hate and convinces a mob to cause acts of violence. Will he realize the error of his ways before he loses everything around him? Or will his anger blind him to the point of no return?
We wanted to establish this black and white world in a setting that is familiar but distant. We chose a dystopian victorian era to set the scene for our narrative. The victorian era serves as a means to travel back during a time of great change, socially and politically. I wanted the world to look as though it was currently in a state of great change. Since this story is to resemble a fairytale I wanted the setting to be a place that looks old and can have a great history. But, because I wanted this story to feel like it could take place in modern times I wanted the world to feel as though it could be set in a modern setting, hence the city buildings mixed with brick roads.
The VOICELESS MAN, thirties, lonely and insecure, he has grown his whole life being shut down by others and being the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong around him. Because of this, he has grown to not stand up for himself. He feels weak and blames everyone around him for feeling this way. And for this, he feels a deep rooted hatred towards the world, but doesn’t have a way to express it.
The BEAST OF THE FEAST, a salesman with a silver tongue masked as a saint. It is a deity that grants wishes that end up only helping itself. The Beast serves as a moral compass who ends up feeling horrible for what it has caused. Is this a part of its act? Or does it truly feel remorse?
In this fairytale horror animation, we explore the concepts of light vs dark and hate.
In a monochrome world there is no grey area. Our protagonist’s worldview is literally displayed as a colorless world where he can only choose one path to go down. Rather than believing there are other solutions to his dilemma and moving on with his life, once he gets his wish, he continues to live in a world where everything wrong must be righted in a violent hate-filled manner.
Hate is, at the end of the day, a self-destructive disease that ends up hurting everyone around the individual spreading it. A person who spreads hate, will eventually fall apart into the tiny fragments that once made they whole.
The world feels like it’s becoming more and more violent. Maybe it’s always been that way and we’re just seeing a different version that can be compared to one history after another. Instead of people using their voices to bring peace, it feels like everybody is using their voice to divide. Rather than merging sides, people are drawing lines in the sand.
When we think of the voiceless man, we compare him to a lot of people within the world who act just like him. Whether that is on social media, spreading hateful remarks, or in our own government. And the harsh reality is, as we get older, more people within our personal lives end up turning into this character.
BUDGET
Here's a rough budget breakdown for our project. Because we are an ultra-low budget animation project, most of the creative team members are working for free to realize our collective vision. However, we still need to crowdfund to pay our animation team, our cast, and our sound crew in order to deliver a quality product.
TIMELINE
Currently, we've finished storyboarding the entire script and completed the animatic with temporary sound design and music. We are in the process of crewing up the animation team and casting a voice actor.
After crewing up our entire project we will get the ball rolling by distributing shots to our animation teams. (June - August 2023)
While animation is underway, our director will be working with the voice actor. (August - 2023)
As each shot is completed, we will begin constructing the sound of our world with our sound designer. (November - December 2023)
Finally, once animation and sound design is complete, we will hand over our project to a composer. (February 2024)
When the composer has completed their composition, the entire project will be mixed. (February - March 2024)
DISTRIBUTION
Upon its completion, we intend to enter this animation into festival circuits. Yet we won't just stop there! The ultimate goal is to acquire distribution to online platforms and gain a wider audience. We believe this is a meaningful story and deserves to be seen by more people like you :)
SPREAD THE WORD
The only way we will reach our crowdfunding goal is if we reach beyond our networks. If you’d like to be a part of supporting this project, YOU can make the difference in our success!
Please share our campaign via your social media, email, word-of-mouth, however you want! We can't do this without you!
Here are some examples. Feel free to copy and paste!
Help filmmaker Julian Stern @juls_magewls by supporting his dystopian noir animation A VOICELESS MAN about the catastrophe caused by personal hatred and violence. Join them on seedandspark.com/fund/the-voiceless-man-animation.
I'm so excited to see the short animation A VOICELESS MAN, by director/writer Julian Stern @juls_magewls, be made this fall. This is an amazing and timely animation worthy to be seen by more people! Support them on seedandspark.com/fund/the-voiceless-man-animation.
Thank you for all your love and support! Any contribution would be greatly appreciated!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Sound Design and Quality
Costs $1,500
We want to bring this world to life visually and audibly in the best way possible!
Animation
Costs $11,750
This funding amount will ensure our animators are paid for their time, talent, and effort!
Equipment Operations
Costs $650
Buying an extra hard drive to backup our project files is essential for a project like this!
Composer
Costs $750
We want a constant underscore to sell the tone and the world of this cautionary tale!
Actor's Fund
Costs $300
We can't tell this story without the right voice for our Voiceless Man story!
Catering
Costs $50
For recording day, we'll need to provide snacks to our voice actors as well as our sound designer!
Share this update!
About This Team
JULIAN STERN (Director) – Julian Stern is a Los-Angeles based actor, editor, writer, and director. He recently graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with his junior thesis Mind Made Up being officially accepted into the Portland Comedy Film Festival. Julian spends most of his time working with his USC graduates on their own content. Whether it’s being a first assistant-director for a melancholy drama short or an editor for a 1920’s themed musical. Additionally, while Julian isn’t mastering his craft you can find him wasting his time on Twitch or being a nerd and playing Dungeons & Dragons.
ALEX JIANG (Producer) – Born and raised in China, Alex Jiang is a freelancing writer/director/producer. She earned her BFA degree from USC School of Cinematic Arts and is now pursuing her MFA degree at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Alex’s short films have gone to multiple domestic and international festivals such as Palm Springs International ShortFest, LA Shorts, Taiwan Queer International Film Festival, etc. She is eager to tell stories that center around the topics of identity, gender, and culture.
CIAO ZHAO (Producer) – Ciao is a LA-based Chinese producer with experience in narrative shorts, documentaries and commercials. Her short documentaries garnered millions of views online, and her narrative works have been selected at various festivals including WorldFest Houston, CanadaShorts & LA Asian Film Festival. She’s currently working at the feature team at Rideback while looking to get involved in high-concept stories with heart.
MADISON LIN (Producer) – Madison Lin is an award-winning filmmaker from Oakland now based in Los Angles. She studied Film and Television Production at the University of Southern California and has a background as the founder of Enigma Films. She has produced over twenty shorts. She also has experience in feature development with companies such as Film Independent, Blumhouse Productions, and Netflix.
VAL TAN (Producer) – Val is an international filmmaker that calls Singapore, New York, and Los Angeles home. Val is not an actor, dancer, singer, or vegetarian, but saw how many filmmakers try to portray themselves as multifaceted artists and wants to add those words to her bio. Val IS an optimist and risk-taking filmmaker, and hopes to make films that showcase different voices in the community and bring a positive message.
STARR HORTON (Head of Story) – Starr Horton is an animator, concept, and storyboard artist who graduated from USC in 2021. He has since done work for clients such as Bad Bunny, Logic, and Metallica. He is currently working as the head of story on the Voiceless man.