Back This! – Until the Day Breaks / Lab Rats
Welcome to the latest edition of our regular crowdfunding feature here on Nerdly – Back This! – where we take a look at some of the cool content taking the crowdfunding route on sites such as Indiegogo, Sponsume and Kickstarter. This month we’re spotlighting two new film projects on Kickstarter: Until the Day Breaks, from a group called Project Trident; and body horror short Lab Rats, from the folks behind 6 Shooter – which featured in the Frightfest/Media Mogul Shortcuts to Hell anthology.
Until the Day Breaks
Until the Day Breaks is a sci-fi buddy movie from a group called Project Trident, who are former Arts Picturehouse employees and projectionists setting out to make the film they always wished they could’ve shown while they were working. THe official synopsis:
In the wake of a zombie apocalypse Reverend Ivan Passworthy is alone in the world, his dog Wacko and an imaginary old lady named Maureen his only companions. In the 12 years since the end of civilisation Ivan has carved out an isolated existence within a few acres of heavily fortified English countryside, waiting patiently for survivors to return. When Maureen’s constant nattering becomes too much to bear, Ivan’s prayers for salvation are answered by the crash landing of a bizarre extraterrestrial named Lee. The unlikely pair quickly find common ground through their own personal losses, but can they send Lee home before they are consumed by the undead evil just beyond the fence?
Project Trident have a hostory of producing an inordinate amount of short films (100 at the last count) but Until the Day Breaks| marks their first feature length product. The Kickstarter project is looking for a whiopping £50,000 with pledges starting as little as £1 for a thanks, with a £5 pledge getting you a digital copy of the finished film. Check out the kickstarter campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/294961384/until-the-day-breaks-a-sci-fi-buddy-movie
Lab Rats
New body horror Lab Rats comes from Team Chameleon, the folks behind 6 Shooter – a killer worm short film which only cost £70 and premiered at Frightfest. Lab Rats takes the blood, guts and silly splatter effects creating SFX and VFX team behind 6 Shooter, putting much more money behind creating the effects (hence the Kickstarter campaign) and push them to their goriest potential with as much done practically as possible – as is clearly visible in the small melting FX test below:
Lab Rats follows Kat and her eco-warrior friends who embark on a mission to expose the international bio-chemistry company, Ring-Amnion, as liars after a tip-off that they ran an animal testing lab – despite their public profile claiming otherwise. The gang, and Kat’s 20,000 online followers, are eager to find out what Ring-Amnion have been hiding as they break into an old building, but they aren’t prepared for what they find inside… It soon becomes apparent that Ring Amnion do indeed test on the living and not just animals – which is where the slimy, gory, oozing effects come in.
The team are looking for £4000 in total for their short film, with pledges starting at £5, with the top tier – £750 – getting you an Executive Producer credit on the film and other perks. Check out the kickstarter campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/
And check out the Lab Rats Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as their website www.teamchameleon.com
