Remind me, who are you again?
I’m Brian Firenzi, the guy behind 5-Second Films, The Law from Video Game High School, and Officer Sminkle from 5SF’s feature film, Dude Bro Party Massacre III. Since 2014, I’ve been writing and living in London, and one of those things I wrote was a book of short stories called “Exquisite Boy.” One such chapter is all about being haunted by a magical moonchild who speaks to me through a movie screen…
Okay, back up. Now you’re describing the animated short you want to make, yeah? It sounds really weird.
Right, I need to write these Kickstarter appeals with more clarity, I get that. We’ve reached the “Describe Your Project” portion. And it’s one hell of a story to describe.
You know what? A better introduction to Under the Haunted Moon can be clicked on right here. It’s the first minute and a half of the short (though anything, and most definitely the music and sound mix, is subject to change):
And to answer that last part, I would say that this story starts out “weird.” It begins in the land of “odd.” But as the story unfolds – as I attempt to outfox and outrun the boy in the movie screen – it shifts gears, expanding into a years-spanning tale of supernatural obsession, young love and hidden identities. Then it shifts gears again, warping through time and space to get at the things that keep us all running. More than just about any other short I’ve written, this one is a ride.
And coming along for that ride are the voices of Alec Owen (5-Second Films, Dude Bro Party Massacre III), Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney of BriTANicK, and more! Plus, Christopher Bingham from High Five Spaceship, Dreaming Pills, and, y’know, tons of classic YouTube stuff, is going to be composing the score
All that talent sounds great, but here’s the big question: Who’s animating this?
Phil Franjo is the real deal. He works at Tonic DNA in Montreal by day, on projects for studios like Warner Bros. and Netflix, and in his off hours he is singlehandedly making Under the Haunted Moon a reality. I’m humbled that someone so talented actually clicked with this story, understands the tone so fully, and is working so diligently to realize it. But as you can tell if you watched the video, craft at his level does not come cheap. So though I’ve been funding the first few minutes of animation myself, it won’t get finished without your help. And the more help we get, the better and faster the short will be completed!
Is this where you tell me about your stretch goals for the short?
[Blushes] You know me so well!
So what do you plan to do with it, and what do I get out of it?
I’ll be submitting it into festivals, but I’m not making any money off the short itself. It’s all going to the animators and sound team who are going to really make it sing. I’ve just been excited to tell this tale in a visual medium for years now, and one day…after backers get their early-access download, of course…it’ll launch online for anyone to watch for free. If you donate even a little bit, you will not only get our undying thanks and proper credit in the short, but access to exclusive production updates as our journey begins. But if it’s bigger perks you’re after – from 5SF stuff to book-related perks, to even getting your voice in the short itself – read on!
Animation takes a ton of time, whether you’ve got a dedicated team working around the clock on it or just one guy logging in hours whenever he can. In our case, it’s currently the latter, so that’s why you might notice the perks all have a delivery of 2021…we chose that date to reflect when the short will be finished and the early-access link will be in your inbox. You can definitely expect other perks to arrive much sooner than that. But good things take time, and I don’t want to pretend they don’t. So there’s your estimated release date. And if you want to bump that date sooner, it’s all a matter of whether we cross certain stretch goal milestones, so we can hire more artists!
As for whether this project could be shut down for other reasons, I want to state that this is a work of parody and I certainly don’t intend to make any money off of it. This is a Kickstarter simply to pay the animator for his time and effort. Therefore, the money I generate from this campaign will go towards fulfilling perks, (hopefully) hiring more help and making the short the best it can be, from the sound to the visuals.