Hi there, we’re the team making the short film ‘Apocalyptium’! We are currently trying to raise funds to help finish the final stages of the short film’s completion. Alongside this, we have been working with many different artists for several months now on associated projects to help distribute the film, we’ll tell you about those later! Finally, we need your help in making sure all the costs in the distribution process can be covered to give the film the best chance of success and making sure it reaches the audience it deserves! festival submissions, printing costs of postcards, website hosting fees; There’s a lot to consider!

But how about we tell you a little bit about ‘Apocalyptium’ first?

‘Apocalyptium’ follows the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Leviathan living together in a small house in Canterbury. They’re waiting for the end times to come but they’re tired of waiting, numb to the monotony of earthly living. They juggle killing time with eternal life, and heaven has grown silent over many aeons. But when answers begin to cascade down from high above, as the call of the void surrounds them, where will they find refuge?

Enter Apocalyptium…a state of mind.

Hopefully that gives you a little insight into what we’re making here, honestly we’re really excited to show you the finished film! It’s been in development for nearly two years now, and it’s filled with atmosphere, moodiness and obscurity. Below is a mood board of just some of the visual media that served as inspiration for the film. We wanted it to have a really unique tone and look not achieved by a lot of filmmaking right now!

The ride of making this film has already taken our crew (mostly friends and artists found online) to some unprecedented places, so we can’t wait to give you some insight into the even higher heights we’re trying to reach now!

But then that does beg the question…why do we need your help?

It sounds like everything’s going well right? That’s true, because we’ve been working hard keeping our nose to the grindstone on all the elements so far: conception/pre-production and post-production. We’ve done everything from designing storyboards to building sets to production management to recording locusts to 11-hour paint sessions just for one shot! We’ve organized teams of people who helped on the shoot, as well as organize and sustain the lengthy and soon to be closing post-production period. It has taken a long time to bring this home, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the work everyone has turned in so far.

So we wanted to bring along a few friends to the party.

Everyone who’s been working on the project so far has either taken a reduced rate or gratefully volunteered their time and labor for free. Remember those associated projects we mentioned earlier? Well, ever since we started making this film, we wanted to make sure that the highest artistic standards were met while people financially didn’t suffer when working on this.

We’ve willingly put money on the line out of our own pockets to make sure this got made to a standard we cared for, and we haven’t rushed anything or deliberately undermined our work or the work of other talented people just so we could save a quick buck here and there. We’ve been determined since Day 1 for this to reflect our belief in grassroots community building, artists are a network of people who can help each other if they figure it out. We also know that festival exclusivity periods during release might keep the film from public/online sight for a number of months, and we wanted to make sure that ‘Apocalyptium’ would be able to leave an impression while that happened.

So we started designing:

– A gallery of six short conceptual promo films: each one is a 1/2 min piece exploring a concept or perspective from the film. These are designed to be housed on the website as a virtual gallery, as well as to be used in social media promotion. Each one might be different somehow; a song, a letter, perhaps one of them may be illustrated or animated, maybe the textures of video footage might be different. You’ll have to find out!

– A 12 page digital comic – fully hand drawn and illustrated by an absolutely phenomenal artist in Mexico (Iván Hernández whose work can be found here), it’s current working title is ‘Apocalyptium: Genesis’ and will fill in some of the illustrative points of the film’s larger world. It’s gonna be fantastic, and it’s going to be free to download from the website!

– A free, inclusive mixtape designed for the release and promotion of the film. This will feature tracks designed from musicians we’ve reached out to, inspired by the apocalypse, the short film, and other associated references. This will also be free on the website, we’re already excited by some of the demos people have turned in!

There’s even been talk of a mysterious seventh film, an apocalypse visualiser of some sort to convey the feeling of the apocalypse in a short rapid-fire dose! If that sounds like something you might be interested in then get in touch with us!

We’ve been ecstatic about developing these projects alongside the main film’s completion timeline, because we’re now able to showcase a whole circus of talent in several different ways, as well as have material to help boost the film’s visibility. But all of this costs some serious money and financially, as the development of one film has now extended to several other branches on its’ tree, we’re beginning to take a serious hit.

Therefore we’ve decided that now is a good time for us to ask for funding, we’re going to be doing everything in our power to try and get these projects finished and these artists paid but we could use your help. Any contributions you can spare will go towards the costs involved with the completion of the main film, the completion of associated projects, and distribution expenses involved with submitting to and attending film festivals. Any loose digital change, even £1 from someone somewhere can help those involved eat and continue making this project in the most artistically beautiful way possible.

We’ve tried to come up with perks that reasonably reflect where our position is right now, as trying merchandising perks to entice people could significantly balloon our production costs, and might draw attention away from the artistic pieces we’re building. Filmmaking is fraught with uncertainty anyway, and a lot of us when we started on this never even imagined being this far down the line on this project. There’s always a few hiccups along the way and still plenty which could go wrong even with what’s left, but we’ve had a lot of faith in this project and it’s been duly rewarded. So come see for yourself what we have to offer; it’s only a state of mind away.

-Signed

The Apocalyptium Team

£10 Hi-res downloads of the original comic, musical mixtape, and gallery of short films.

£25 Getting featured in the credits, an early link to the film and hi-res downloads of the original comic, musical mixtape, and gallery of short films.

£50 A poster and a feature in the credits

£100 An invitation to the screening and a feature in the credits

£200 taking part in a Q&A with cast and crew, an invitation to the screening, and a feature in the credits

£350 Be an Associate Producer on the film, an invitation to all screenings and a poster.