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Australian short film writer and director Pauline Findlay has painful memories of the bullying that took place when she was in high school. Determined to make a difference in the lives of teenagers, Pauline and producer Tracey Savage set out to make a film about the torment of bullying and tell a modern-day tale of survival.
...They knew that engaging with the youth community would be critical to the overall success of the film, so early on they turned to Facebook to build a community around the film and raise the crucial funds they needed to produce it.
"We wanted to speak directly to the youth market and engage with them in identifying what problems and bullying experiences they had come across," Pauline recalled. "We wanted to create a film that was real."
On Nov. 27, 2009, they created the "Red Dot, the Short Film" Facebook group and began providing regular updates on the film's progress and specific stages of development.
On a 6-month time frame to complete the film and needing to raise $30,000, Pauline and Tracey introduced Project 300/100 to their Facebook group. The project was designed to ask 300 of the film's supporters to donate $100 each, in order to raise the total needed.
The $30,000 needed in money and in-kind contributions was successfully raised from the project on the Facebook group and the film's own website to pay for gear hire, location and catering for the shoot. Regular updates to the Facebook group about the amount of funds raised helped spur more donations.
"We would say to people, 'Only 4 days to go and only $2,000 more before our film gets made,' " said Pauline. "I think this inspired our community to get involved and resulted in us achieving our goal by the stated deadline.
"Without Facebook we wouldn't have gotten the funding we needed to shoot the film. It was integral to our film being made."
Pauline and Tracey also used the Facebook group to recruit actors and extras. They connected with young people throughout Australia and were able to use real teenagers in many of the scenes of the film.
"Red Dot" is currently in post production, and Pauline and Tracey continue to use the Facebook group to raise the final funds needed and to engage with the film's fans. Red Dot needs to raise a final $20,000 to finish the film by October—just in time to make the deadlines for international film festivals, such as Sundance and the Berlin International Film Festival.
Annie, an associate on Facebook's communications team, believes in standing up to bullies.
See MoreAustralian short film writer and director Pauline Findlay has painful memories of the bullying that took place when she was in high school. Determined to make a difference in the lives of teenagers, Pauline and producer Tracey Savage set out to make a film about the torment of bullying and tell a modern-day tale of survival.
...They knew that engaging with the youth community would be critical to the overall success of the film, so early on they turned to Facebook to build a community around the film and raise the crucial funds they needed to produce it.
"We wanted to speak directly to the youth market and engage with them in identifying what problems and bullying experiences they had come across," Pauline recalled. "We wanted to create a film that was real."
On Nov. 27, 2009, they created the "Red Dot, the Short Film" Facebook group and began providing regular updates on the film's progress and specific stages of development.
On a 6-month time frame to complete the film and needing to raise $30,000, Pauline and Tracey introduced Project 300/100 to their Facebook group. The project was designed to ask 300 of the film's supporters to donate $100 each, in order to raise the total needed.
Pauline Findlay
The $30,000 needed in money and in-kind contributions was successfully raised from the project on the Facebook group and the film's own website to pay for gear hire, location and catering for the shoot. Regular updates to the Facebook group about the amount of funds raised helped spur more donations.
"We would say to people, 'Only 4 days to go and only $2,000 more before our film gets made,' " said Pauline. "I think this inspired our community to get involved and resulted in us achieving our goal by the stated deadline.
"Without Facebook we wouldn't have gotten the funding we needed to shoot the film. It was integral to our film being made."
Pauline and Tracey also used the Facebook group to recruit actors and extras. They connected with young people throughout Australia and were able to use real teenagers in many of the scenes of the film.
Tracey Savage
The Facebook group allowed them to reach out to teenagers who were familiar with the theme of the film and were comfortable in discussing it. "Red Dot" is currently in post production, and Pauline and Tracey continue to use the Facebook group to raise the final funds needed and to engage with the film's fans. Red Dot needs to raise a final $20,000 to finish the film by October—just in time to make the deadlines for international film festivals, such as Sundance and the Berlin International Film Festival.
Annie, an associate on Facebook's communications team, believes in standing up to bullies.
