This update was origionally published for Kickstarter backers here.

Work on our film continues to go well. Here are the latest developments:

Music

This month we finished a first pass of music, and let me tell you – it is really good. Way better than any documentary score deserves to be. We still have a few minor changes and revisions, but it’s definitely brought out some new layers in the film. It’s amazing how music can elevate a film and make it feel like a bit movie.

Post-Production

Everything else is close. Sound is basically there, mostly just waiting for music. Color correction still has a bit to go, but it’s don track. We’ve also got a post supervisor now who’s going to help us with final end titles and exporting the film in the right format for every platform including theaters.

Currently, we anticipate that all post-production will be done by the end of July. 

Bonus Features

Part of our release strategy from the begining has been to include a huge amount of bonus features. While the film is a stand-alone piece that will make sense on it’s own and appeal to audiences with zero previous knowledge about this topic, we know a lot of you are activists, medical professionals, birth educators, or just people who want additional information, who might be interested in additional material.

Currently the special features are going to include mini-bonus docs on specific areas (such as female genital cutting), deleted/bonus scenes, and extended interviews. We’re still deciding how much to include, so let us know if there is anything you’re curious to see in the bonus features – like a specific interview subject in an extended interview, or a topic that might not be covered in depth in the main film.

Distribution

There is an old film joke – a director and an studio executive are talking. The director says, “there’s three stages to making a movie: pre-production, production, and post-production. “No,” the studio executive replies. “There are two stages – making the movie, and selling the movie.” I tend to agree with the studio executive here.

This past month, I have been reading everything I can on indepedent distribution, consulting with other filmmakers, and developing a plan. We are going to have to treat distribution as it’s own separate stage, which could be as big as making the project itself. Doing this stage right might mean raising additional funds or bringing in additional help, so that this film reaches those beyond our current sphere of influence, and becomes a movement, not just a moment.

I’m developing a plan here, but I’d like to save talking about it till the next update or later. Just know that we’re working on it, and that getting this film out to the world will be it’s own crazy adventure. We want this film to be seen by as many people as possible, and that means taking it’s release as seriously as we’ve taken making the project itself.

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Tl;dr version: it all continues to go well. Let us know on social media know what bonus features you’re looking forward to. Distribution plans are in the works.

Progress update: The good news is that we have picture lock – meaning that picture editing is now done. Now we’ve just got sound, music, color correction, and a few graphics left.

Here’s what each area looks like:

Animation

Animation is complete. We’ve still got some title graphics to do, but all the big shots are there.

Animation was a funny process, because some of our graphics involve medical drawings of the penis and foreskin, which meant very detailed conversations about those body parts, and a message chain that borders on embarrassing (Ex: “This penis shot needs more frenulum.”). But let me tell you – our film is going to have the best anatomically correct penis animations of any documentary ever made.

Thankfully our animator was a total pro, who’d done work on other documentaries before, and even did the opening title sequence of a recent season of South Park. He ended up being really right for this project.

Sound

Sound editing has also begun. We had some very frustrating technical snafus initially, but now that’s done and we’re into the bulk of sound editing. Sound editing includes a lot of things you won’t think about unless you’ve gone through the post-production process. Both myself and our sound mixer are into the process enough that we get excited over things like footstep foley or background editing.

 Music

Music has also started. It took a while to find the right sound for our film. When our composer, John Graves, did music on our trailers, we had to go through a couple different versions on the first trailer, but by the third, he nailed it on the first version. Likewise, we had to do a couple versions of the first few tracks as we synced up our creative processes, but now music is really hitting on point.

Music can be the trickiest part to direct, because while I’ve worked as an editor and sound mixer, I don’t have the same technical training around music. I’ve had to learn how to speak musician a bit better, and our composer has had to learn to translate my non-musician way of speaking into his craft.

He’s been creating some really beautiful stuff. Listen to a sneak peak here:

Music can take some time. If you think about it, composing music for a film is like recording a whole album on top of all the other things that have to get done for a movie. There are Kickstarter projects created just to record music, and you wouldn’t expect your favorite band to make their next album in a day or two. Thankfully, our composer is a pro and already well into the process.

Kickstarter Rewards

We sent most physical Kickstarter rewards in December 2016. If you filled out your rewards survey after that date (or haven’t filled it out at all), then that’s the reason you might not have them yet.

For those who haven’t gotten physical rewards yet, we may do a second round of shipping sometime this summer once we’re not full speed ahead on deadlines. Expect to see those August-ish.

If you want rewards, make sure you’ve filled out our reward survey ASAP! Can’t send you stuff if we don’t have your address.

Film Festivals

I could probably write a whole update just on film festivals (and probably will at some point). Most film festivals require you to submit around three months before the festival itself, which means that if we want to screen in festivals this winter, we have to start submitting now.

It also means that if you want to suggest a film festival, make sure it’s September 2017 or later. That said, we are very interested in your festival suggestions, especially European or foreign film festivals with audiences who may not be aware Americans practice this. If you there’s a festival we should check out, let us know here.

Film festivals are very competitive, so we can’t predict where we’ll premiere yet. That said, we have a strong film, and a large audience that wants to see it. (Can you imagine how much fun it’s going to be when our audience shows up for a big festival screening?) We won’t hear back from any festivals till August, so don’t expect any festival news till then.

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So that’s it. The next few months we’ll be finishing post-production, submitting to festivals, and planning our release. There should be a few updates during that time talking about ways you can help us reach people with this film, and hopefully sharing some good news as we hear back from festivals.

Thanks again for supporting our film. Can’t wait to share it with you.

Since the American Circumcision Kickstarter, we’ve had repeated requests for t-shirts. Many emails, and Facebook messages asking “where can I get a t-shirt?” Because of this interest we’re now offering a new t-shirt design on teespring.

• Get the new “Find Out The Whole Truth” American Circumcision t-shirt here.

 

This t-shirt is only available for the next 7 days.

There may offer it again in the future if this is hugely popular, but if you want to be sure to get one, get a t-shirt now.

It’s design is different then the one we used in our Kickstarter, and speaks to the idea that Americans are not give the whole truth about circumcision.

This design is also available as a v-neck or hoodie.

Thank you for supporting our film.

Thank you to all our backers for contributing to our Kickstarter campaign and helping to make this film possible! Here are a few who we’d like to thank publicly for supporting us:

Melinda Springer
INTACT Wichita Falls
Evan Roman
Reggie Talley
Anna Moore
Brittany, Utah chapter of The INTACT Network/Saving Our Sons
Sam Dicker
Ian A Tompkins
Amine BARNAT
T. O. McBride
Jesse
Joshua Carter
Jet Kimchrea
Andreas Ooka
Ozzy Ellis
Jimmy Bui
Brian McLean
JO Koumouitzes
Lori Lappin
Lauren Arrow
Leah
Christopher Carrion
Dr Avi Sznejman
J.G. te Molder
Wanderer
Hannah Wallen
Iris Waters
Gary Costanza
Joseph
SAMACY (Sam Ogden and Macy McKenny)
Nicholas Wauthier
Jim Elkouri
Matthew Shipley
Brandy Kincaid
Alex Ryan
Kyle Smith South Africa
Timothy Quick
Sarah Wiebenson
Eran Sadeh
AK Barnard
Shelley Wright-Estevam & Smily Estevam
Stützle
Hans Castorp
Craig B. Adams
PL
Greyson Butler

Thank you again to everyone who contributed to our Kickstarter. We can’t wait to bring you the film. 

Note: For those who’ve asked, this is just the backers who claimed a “Public Thanks” reward. Those of you who are getting your name in the credits will receive that when we’re closer to launch.

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