Brodie Pyke

Spectrum is a 7 part series, exploring different perspectives of a single night, where partners, friends, and strangers test the limits of their relationships gradually adding depth to questionable actions and leaving the audience to judge.

Spectrum explores the idea of an ever-changing spectrum - a spectrum of good and bad actions, time, emotion, anxiety and sexuality. By the end of the series, many characters have moved along a spectrum and the different experiences highlight that not all actions are good or bad, not all sexuality is fixed, and that emotions are fleeting, but consequences are real.

We are planning to film the series through May and need your help to raise some funds to help pay for our set designs, costumes, locations, travel, food and equipment. With your help we can make spectrum bigger, brighter and better.

Spectrum will show diverse perspectives unfolding simultaneously. This unique structure of narrative highlights that all people live complicated and vivid lives, even if their ambitions, mistakes, beliefs, insecurities and outcomes are different to one another. The world will be melodramatic, moving from one extreme to another. Topics of Love, Depression, Rebellion, Aggression, Loyalty and Hope will all be explored throughout the episodes.

Each episode focuses on a particular emotion, which will be exaggerated by the visual style and characters performance. The series explores various types of mental health both extreme and subtle. It doesn’t glorify or shame them but rather how that feeling impacts their choices and experiences. Each character has their own emotional battle and that directly impacts their choices and outcomes. Mental health is an important topic and we are hoping to portray it in an honest and respectful way.   

The story contains some violence and substance abuse. It’s important when talking about a spectrum of emotions to include how those emotions can cause destructive and negative outcomes too. Each violent act relates to the characters motivations and remains in context to the story. We do not condone violence or substance abuse but believe its important to show when highlighting these topics.  

We are a very small crew, we have been working hard on preparing the scripts, shot-lists, design and logistics for Spectrum.

Brodie Pyke - Writer/Director/Producer

Director's Statement 

We are excited to get Spectrum off the ground. The story has developed a lot over the past few years into something really interesting and thought provoking. A lot of the topics in Spectrum are confrontational but underneath all that are strong messages about relationships, in particular our relationships with ourselves. I feel a lot of people struggle with the idea that we're wasting time and when things go wrong we tend to take it out on ourselves and the people around us. When we have low self acceptance we push people away and lash out at people because of our own insecrutities. I'm hoping people walk away from spectrum relating to the characters but trying not to go down the same path they do. It's a dark series, but it has light moments when the characters get it right.

Spectrum is an ambitious peice because of its design, characters and narrative. We really need the extra funding to help us build Spectrum into something visually stunning and build our characters and locations into bigger and brighter versions of themselves. With your help we'll be able to hire a bus to get our extras to the warehouse, helping to create an atmosphere that is authentic. We'll be able to create interesting set designs and costumes, giving each character unique costumes and hire equipment (lenses, lights, etc) to really make our shots visually interesting.

Taylor McMullen - Producer

Producer's Statement

Brodie first pitched the concept for Spectrum to me in 2016, as a brief tagline, ‘A group of friends go into a warehouse and everything changes’. I was hooked. Since then, I’ve watched the concept develop into a complete 7-part story, with twists, turns, and big reveals. Now, two years later, we are finally going to see this stunning series brought to life, thanks to you. 

The series explores one night, one warehouse party, from the perspective of seven different characters, each with a unique viewpoint. As the series progresses we really explore the different characters - how they react to other characters, their motivations, and their intentions. The multi-perspective form of storytelling allows us to revisit certain events multiple times during the series, being exposed to new information every time, and potentially view characters in a different light. Remember, the main theme of the series is spectrums - not everyone, or every action, is simply good or bad. 

We have already sourced most of our locations, including an amazing multi-room warehouse space for our party, and a few lovely homes for our characters - who we have already casted! The money from crowdfunding will predominantly go to travel expenses for our wonderful cast and crew, catering costs, equipment hire, and production design. 

We have grand plans for the series, however many of these ideas involve large-scale sets and huge neon lights, which can run expensive. What we are really looking for is some additional funding to be able to produce the series the way it deserves to look, complete with bold colours, lavish production design, and costumes full of life and colour. We would love your help to take our production to the next level. Thank you.

Sam Foster - Cinematographer

Carita Gronroos - Art Department

We are still searching for a few other cast members.

Each perspective will have their own designated colour. Most of the background, props and costumes will feature this colour. When we see the locations outside of the warehouse (houses, offices, pub, etc) each shot will be filled with objects and lights of that colour. We will attempt to feature these colours in the warehouse, but is nor crucial as the warehouse is where the style becomes more absurd. 

The warehouse will appear to have a dynamic range of rooms and corridors. This will allow us to shoot in separate locations and portray the idea of it all being in the one space. The sets in these locations will be dressed very grungy and industrial to help the continuity of each location match. These setting will utilise graffiti art, rubbish, brick walls, crates, boxes, and steel scaffolds. The decorations will mostly be silver, helping to connect each location. We will also use projectors to cast various images on walls helping to show a cohesive design in each location.

Stay connected to the production by following us on our Facebook and instagram accounts.
https://www.facebook.com/spectrumwebseries/
https://www.instagram.com/spectrumwebseries/

$900 - Catering
$800 - Travel (This is expenses for our actors/crew to get to and from set. It also includes a bus hire for our extras to get to and from the warehouse space).

$750 - Equipment Hire (We will need to hire out lenses, an adaptor, shoulder rig and monitor for our camera, various types of lighting for the warehouse party and microphones to be able to capture clear sound).

$450 - Costumes

$500 - Production Design

$450 - Distribution

$150 - Rewards

TOTAL = $4000

Challenges for spectrum are mainly our extras and continiuty.

EXTRAS
Our main warehouse space is located in Smithfiled, about an hour and a half journey fron Central Station by public transport (Train and Bus). Due it to it being hard to get to it limits the chances of us gaining a lot of extras to fill the space and make it look like a genuine warehouse party. Therefore providing a small bus for extras we will be able to drive them to and from the location and pick them up at surrounding locations.

CONTINUITY
We are shooting Spectrum over the course of an entire month and need each episode to appear as the same night. We also need multiple locations to link up and seem like one large warehouse when in reality it will be a few seperate locations. To help with continuity our production design is vital to help match up the atmosphere of each location. Our decorations and lighting will help to connect each location to appear as one warehouse.