Scourge of Nature: Scourge of Nature is the story of Thomas – short, skinny, flaming red hair and without friends

Scourge of Nature

The story of the project

“Plants may seem peaceful on the surface but they are still living beings with a will to dominate and survive. People are the same.”

What happens when a young schoolboy takes a stand against the bully who always wins? Scourge of Nature is the story of Thomas – short, skinny, flaming red hair and without friends. A keen young horticulturalist living in a where world where plants make more sense to him than people. He wishes he could be one of the cool kids like Jeremy.  Instead Jeremy and his best friend York torment Thomas at the school bus stop every day. But can Thomas put an end to the torture?

When Julie Sam-Yue (Director) came upon Sam Wiseman’s (Writer) script, the intention was to make a comedy about a schoolboy getting back at his bully. As the story developed something became glaringly obvious – there is nothing funny about being bullied, in fact it is quite the opposite. Which led to the question, why do people bully?  Bullying has been around since the dawn of time, so why is it getting worse and not better?

The creative team took the opportunity to make Scourge of Nature into a film that truly represents what bullying is – a horror. Taking inspiration from directors such as Lars Von Trier, Stanley Kubrick, Xavier Dolan and Andrzej Żuławski, we aim to bring you a film that starts a much-needed discussion about bullying in the schoolyard.

How the funds will be used

LOCATIONS: Locking down the right location can mean a bunch of fees – no location, no shoot!  Our locations for the shoot include a Greenhouse, a bus stop, a school room, principals office and a school gate. Applications to council and reimbursement for 

CREW: Our crew is worth diamonds and rubies – but that don’t pay the rent!  Other than our heads of department, our shoot requires a 1st Assistant Director, Camera Assistants, Grips and Gaffers to make sure our shoot goes to plan and runs on time. Time = money!

MAKE UP and WARDROBE: While minimalism is always effective, we still need to dress our cast! Our shoot requires a level of special effects make up. We also will be dressing 10 school boys in identical school uniforms

PROPS and SET DRESSING: With your help, we would like our film to jump off the screen! More specifically, our shoot will require lots of plants and duplicates of our prized orchid! We will also be creating a bus stop.

CATERING: All crew love to eat, and when they eat well, they work well! This part doesn’t need to much explaining. Shooting a film is exhausting work, keeping our crew happy means keeping them well fed and hydrated.

FESTIVAL ENTRY: We would like our film to be seen around the world! Entering a film into a festival can cost anywhere between $30 and $100 per entry. We want our films message to be spread as far as possible, and festival screenings are a great way to do so.

CAMERA: Depending on who you talk to, probably the most important thing! Our film will be including some slow-motion shots which will require particular equipment.

POST-PRODUCTION: The shoot is only phase one – our post team will need the resources to scare you to the core. Colour grading, editing, sound design and composition comes under the Post-Production banner! This phase enables us to have a completely finished film ready for viewing by you!

 

Challenges

All filmmaking is challenging.  There are locations to find, crew to hire, props to source and everything in between needs to be organised within an inch of its life to be in front of the camera in time for “action!”. When it comes to Scourge of Nature our greatest challenge is making a powerful film that can reach out to people and make an impact on how we think about bullying.
 

Summary:
What happens when a young schoolboy takes a stand against the bully who always wins? Scourge of Nature is the story of Thomas – short, skinny, flaming red hair and without friends. A keen young horticulturalist living in a where world where plants make more sense to him than people
See Campaign: http://www.pozible.com/project/199059
Contact Information:
Scourge of Nature

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Source: ICNW