Martin Burns

My name is Martin Nixon, and I am a writer/director currently preparing to make the short film Starshine Wilderness: a sci-fi comedy about a past-his-prime astronaut who sets out to recapture the respect of his estranged family.

Having made a few well-received short films, I wanted to do something more ambitious, and this is my largest project to date: roughly twice as long as my previous short film, and full of complicated sets and miniatures. This is the movie I have been waiting to make.

THE STORY

After many acts of minor negligence, Mission Commander Mike Mason finally gets fired after accidentally blowing up a twenty billion dollar NASA moon base. This harsh awakening back to reality forces Mike to face up to the truth: that he has become a lazy astronaut and rested on his laurels, that his long divorced ex-wife and kids do not respect him, and that his ego has grown beyond what it deserves.

He sets out to change his ways, earn his job back, and regain the respect of his loved ones… but along the way, he will have to face up to the fact that our lives are what we make them, and that sometimes we have to choose what's most important to fight for.

WHY I NEED YOUR CASH

The movie will have its own very distinctive style: instead of a black background with little white dots for space, I'm painting a whole bunch of van Gogh style swirly night sky paintings for all of the starscapes in the film. (I'm also a painter, so those at least are free.)

I'm planning to use miniatures instead of CGI for all of the space stations and lunar landscapes; I want the entire setting to feel deliberately stylised and a bit unreal, like old 1970s sci-fi movies. The contrast with the organic and beautiful painted backdrops is what I see providing the visual charm. My visual effects guy is tirelessly working on 3D computer models for the miniatures, and we'll need to pay to have them 3D printed. Plus, we're blowing one of them up in a slow-motion shot. You should wanna fund this thing on that alone, c'mon.

I'm also needing to build a full-scale space station corridor set and lunar buggy. These things aren't easy or cheap, and I'm (sadly) not an engineer. I need things to be built properly so the movie can adhere to safety regulations.

We're also going to need three space suit costumes for the actors. If you're not already sold on how awesome this is going to be, I dunno what else I can say!

WHY IT'S A FILM WORTH FUNDING

Comedy as a genre disarms people to accepting the truth in a unique way. If you want to make a movie about family and redemption, you don't make a drama about family redemption. No-one wants to watch that. You make a comedy about space that tells the story of family redemption, because people will enjoy watching it. If you create characters people like, they will see themselves in them, and think about themselves and their real lives. Sure I like making people laugh, but first and foremost I like to tell stories that people care about and that have the ability to reach out to them.

I remember the first time I watched a Wes Anderson movie: I realised that there are a whole bunch of thoughts and emotions that everyone has that nobody likes to talk about. But they were't just in me! I want to provide that experience for others.

I love sci-fi, and I feel it's a genre that I need to make a comedy in. The humour comes from the contrast of real human characters in crazy situations; to us it's a silly setting they're in, but to them, that's just real life. There's nothing silly about the wacky stuff they're caught up in. It's that contrast that makes it funny, as well as emotionally real.

If you want to find out more, or see if you can help without donating money, don't hesitate to drop me an email at [email protected].

I hope you want to help me make this movie a reality! Or alternately, check out the rewards I'm offering and see if there's any of that sweet loot you want.