Jess Gibbons

The Story

Purple follows Riley, a young woman who's grappling with her low socioeconomic background as she finds herself in new surroundings with new people. From this, a blossoming friendship forms which helps Riley embrace her current place in life.

The film is inspired by a slice-of-life, realist style that gives emphasis to the smaller moments of life. Purple seeks to explore how human connection cures shame, and how there’s no love which does not become help, all while celebrating female friendships. Produced by students of Swinburne University of Technology, Purple will be shot on beautiful 16mm film and has dreams of heading to the small festival circuit. Although production has begun, the money raised will support the film through post-production, covering hefty expenses associated with shooting on film, as well as contributing to festival fees to ensure Purple goes out into the world and reaches audiences. 

The Crew

Meet our dedicated, hard-working crew! 

(Left to right):

Jess Li - Writer/Director

Jess Gibbons - Producer

Francis Healy Wood - Director of Photography

Jenni Aldred - Editor

Anatoly Sawenko - Sound Supervisor

The Cast

Introducing Shamita Siva as Riley. Shamita is a multi-faceted actor, dancer and all-round performer, who thrives on choreographing and devising new work. She writes spoken word, plays the drums and piano, and is a freelance model. She draws inspiration from everyday experiences, music and sound, and social issues she is impassioned by. She holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts from Monash University and has trained at Stella Adler Art of Acting studios, and currently supplements her work with classes at Film & Television Studios International. 

Also starring Isobelle Amie as Marlie. Isobelle is a creative involved within many facets of the artistic world. First an actor by amateur stage, she now lends herself to short film roles, working towards a larger landscape of experience. Her love of film has led her to study a filmmaking bachelor at Melbourne’s Swinburne University; here she undertakes her love of writing, directing and editing. She has completed 5 of her own short films, with plans to delve further into the acting world and continue filmic and artistic endeavours once graduating at the end of 2018.

Film is an expensive medium to begin with, and shooting on 16mm film is even more so. However, shooting on actual celluloid film is a completely different process to shooting digital, which teaches an entirely separate set of skills. In addition to being able to achieve the beautifully textured, filmy-look, it’s also such an amazing learning opportunity that we did not want to pass up on. However, it means extra expenses for film stock, processing, and scanning. We're still studying and therefore cash isn't always readily available but we're scratching together what we can to make this film work! (How funny that it's a film about being poor.)

We're still learning, we'll definitely have some hurdles to overcome along the way. We've been tasked to make this film within 13 weeks so we're all systems go! We've already had to go up against logistical, monetary and technological challenges but our team has yet to falter. Now, as we're wrapping up production and moving to post, we'll be delving into the editing process which includes sound design, original compositions & colour-grading and potentially pick-ups. And finally, to get a polished product that we can submit to festivals so we can share our work, and this story.

The End.

Filmmaking is our passion. It's what gets up in the morning and also what makes us work crazy hours into the night. Even the smallest donation can help us continue living out our dreams and we sincerely thank you just for showing interest and checking out our campaign. By donating to us, you're giving life to stories that aren't heard anywhere else, and ensuring that there will be more to come. You are amazing and please know how grateful we are for your support. We feel like we're so close to making something beautiful and something we're all going to be proud of, and we just need your help to get us over the line. Will you be the Marlie to our Riley? 

Jump on over to our Facebook page, (https://www.facebook.com/Purple16mmFilm/) and our Insta @purple16mmfilm to check out our progress and some awesome BTS content!

Much love,

The Purple Team