50 States: One Vision – Join This Cinematic Journey!
GoFundMe link:https://www.gofundme.com/F/journey-across-america-independent-film-project
GoFundMe link:https://www.gofundme.com/F/journey-across-america-independent-film-project
Welcome to a project unlike any other. I’m embarking on an ambitious solo film series production, traveling to all 50 U.S. states over multiple years, and creating stunning, artful films that capture the essence of each state, in a way you've never seen before. Imagine if Terrence Malick, Stanley Kubrick, or Christopher Nolan had a hand in making David Attenborough's Planet Earth. Imagine if Ansel Adams had made motion pictures of America's beauty instead of still photography. Imagine a man, alone on the long roads of America, following years of research and his instincts, with his cutting-edge filmmaking equipment (and his newly formed LLC to boot) capturing everything that makes these lands unique and special on this planet. That is what this project will be and I invite you (and your friends) to join me on it... All for the price of a good cup of coffee...
This project is currently 100% independent - with no major sponsors or corporate backing - just pure, uncompromised filmmaking by me, on roads across our beautiful country, capturing everything I can that I find beauty in. Think if each state had its own IMAX film, showing off countless wonderful and nuanced aspects that make every state unique with the consistency and continuity of a sole, experienced experimental film director and cinematographer. They will be meditative and staggeringly detailed compositions, rivaling fine art photography. Some moments may be experimental, but all of it will be captivating. This level of scale and independence means I need your help to make this happen at the ambitious cinematic presence required. And the more that join in the funding, the bigger, deeper, and grander the whole project will become!
Why Fund This?
️A True Film Experience - Funded by many, made for all - These will not be vlogs or travel documentaries, and they certainly won't be about me: They will be carefully crafted cinematic films created by a seasoned professional, award-winning* storyteller, filmmaker, and photographer - shot for the big screen. The beautiful environments of each state will be the star of the show! (*2020 Emmy Award for Director - "The New North Pole of the Winds")
️High-Quality Home Viewing for Funders - This project will take many years and films will be released as production continues on others. After each film is complete, I will submit them to film festivals around the world. At the same time it premieres at a festival, everyone who helped fund this project will get to watch the film in stunning 4k+ quality from home (via a link provided to you at that time). You could watch them on your phone, but they will look spectacular on the largest screens (and speakers) you can get your hands on. If you live close to one of the theater screenings, I'll pay your way into it, and if the scale of this goes completely bonkers, I will take the films on the road for screenings, screening a few states at a time, but that's getting ahead of myself! Now, this is where this gets wild: This premiere/release process will happen fifty times - one for each state. I am expecting to have a few released per year after production is going for a while.
State-of-the-Art Equipment - This journey will take years, and to ensure the films are as breathtaking at the start as they are at the finish, I need to invest in high-quality camera systems and amazing lenses from day one, and rentals won't do. You have to own the equipment to make this work. This isn’t just about documenting a trip - this is about creating timeless cinema that our country and environments deserve. This futureproofing is also required as each state will be visited multiple times and everything needs to be very consistent. I have done what I can in terms of selling gear and saving but this is where crowdfunding is required to make this happen. Funding will directly go to the required necessities for this mission: 8K+ cameras, large format lenses, equipment, a hearty production van, gas, insurance, film festival fees, etc... (For the camera/cine nerds, I will be sharing so much technical info about the production as it happens. You will absolutely learn something!)
A Fully Solo & Pro Production - I’ll be driving to every location myself, immersing myself in each community and environment along the way. No crew, no distractions - just me, my vehicle, and my cameras; capturing the raw essence of America in a way no traditional production ever could. This will take a lot of time, energy, and resources but driving is a required tenet of the project. I need to see the place, feel it... And I will have to visit each state a few times to capture the reality of a place. Sometimes it will be passing through on my way somewhere else, sometimes it will be staying for a week or more, just exploring and filming. (I have done the math though: each long-form faraway trip will cost at minimum around $5,000 and my hope is to do at least two big ones and three small ones per year) There is no such thing as a flyover state here. Your state will be as important and as represented as beautifully as possible, just like all 49 others. I have even started an LLC to legitimize this production. It is called Avocet Films and will act as the production company and distributor of this multi-year, fifty-film project. (more about Avocet at the very bottom)
A Community-Funded Dream – The more people who join us, the less each person has to contribute to make this amazing production possible. If thousands (or tens of thousands! or hundreds of thousands!) chip in a small amount, this project becomes astoundingly profound, rivaling what massively funded productions could attain and changing the direction of my career in a very major way. (The overall GoFundMe goal will slide upwards over time to reflect the growth of the project and this GFM will essentially act as a savings account for the LLC over the production.)
More Support = Higher Quality – The bigger this scales, the bigger the films become. More funding enhances every single aspect of it - from Oscar-worthy cameras and lenses to much more time spent in each location, allowing me to craft something truly extraordinary.
Why I’m Doing This Alone
This is my dream and vision - no compromises, no design-by-committee, no one else deciding what gets shot or included in the final films. This is about seeing and documenting America through my eyes, body, and soul. Not only will the films be fully created by me, but also the field recording and sound design, and each film will have a soundtrack written for it. I am also a musician but have also had fun collaborating with fantastic, award-winning musicians in my previous documentaries. I will be doing something like that again too! You will be able to follow along in the production through updates via a Substack / Patreon-type platform, which by donating here, you will get into that for free for the duration of the entire project.
Outcomes and Final Products
All fifty states will each have a film that is at least 30 minutes long (with no maximum length set) that will be shared with all funders when complete. I am hopeful that some of the films/states will be able to be shown on network TV / PBS / or a streaming service. Those conversations are long ones though, and I have to have some done to get that going. Each state and/or region will also have a book of photography created that will be available for purchase and will include behind-the-scenes shots, notes, fine art level photography, and hopefully a physical media version of the final film in the back sleeve. Those books will assist in funding future portions of the production. (Exclusive high-level donors of $10,000 or more will receive signed copies of all of the books plus gallery-quality photo prints, etc)
How You Can Help
✅ Donate any amount you can, especially if it's the minimum of $5 on GoFundMe (just get your friends too as well). Literally every single dollar counts and will make this vision turn into reality! Every person who donates to this GoFundMe will receive access to that paywalled production site, downloads to all of the finished films, and also a download to an exclusive EP of my music that will be released in late spring 2025. It will only be available here.
✅ Share this campaign far and wide with as many people as you can. The more people who see it, the bigger this becomes. Even if you can’t donate, please consider sharing it with a few (or a lot) of friends. The wider the reach, the easier this becomes to fund well. Each share spreads the word further and further and increases the chances of fully crowdfunding this project to a really grand level.
✅ Be part of something rare - and for a bit more - be a Producer. Funding at $500 or more will include your name in the credits of all 50 films. Imagine that though; by donating $500, your name across silver screens all over the world, annually, in 50 different films. That's only $10 a film!
Donating $1,000 will count you as a “Producer” in the credits. $5,000 or more will get you a limited “Executive Producer” status and will get you early access to material and an exclusive license to use all of the raw material in your productions (the shots, the soundtracks, field recordings - everything. A contract will be sent to make this legally binding.)
This is an ambitious project but with a high level of funding, is completely attainable to me. My past work speaks for itself in terms of scope, scale, and execution. It will be an enjoyable and life-changing production that will keep me busy for many years and with your help, you will be along for the ride in multiple ways. It's important to me for you to get to see as much as you want to see in this process. I’m setting out to create something timeless, cinematic, and completely original and funded by all of us together!
Please donate and share widely today to help make this vision a reality! Thank you for considering (and reading all the way to the end!)
((Bio & About Me))
Sean Curtis Patrick (b.1984) is an Emmy Award-winning experimental and documentary filmmaker, photographer, composer, explorer, and artist. He began photography at the age of six at a summer camp and has never looked back. He is formally trained with a Bachelor of Science from Northern Michigan University and has had an illustrious career at academic institutions ever since. He has worked at the University of Texas at Austin, Stanford University, The University of Michigan, and is currently at Western Washington University. He has also worked for private ad agencies and had Fortune 500 clients through that work. His music has been released on multiple international record labels, and he has collaborated with many influential electronic artists for the last twenty years. Sean’s music tends to be instrumental, textural, and emotive, recalling some of the barren landscapes he has explored. Sean published his first photography book in September of 2024. He lives in Bellingham, WA with his fiancée and their numerous pets.
((About Avocet Films))
Avocet Films LLC is an independent film production company founded by Sean Curtis Patrick and was created solely for this multi-year production. Avocet will create compelling cinematic works that challenge the status quo and push creative boundaries in environmental visuals and storytelling, using cutting-edge technology and techniques. This newly formed LLC is driven by a commitment to artistic integrity, the highest possible quality imagery, and forging new paths in landscape and environmental filmmaking.
GoFundMe link:https://www.gofundme.com/F/journey-across-america-independent-film-project
08/09/2024
Today, Friday, August 9th, 2024 at 12 Noon PST, Pre-orders open for my first book: "A Rift Emerged in a Pleasant Meadow: Selected Images".
It is available here now!
It will be available in three flavors, one of which includes a never-before-released book about Greenland:
1. a $70.00, 114 pg copy of "A Rift Emerged..." on beautiful 80lb semi-matte photo paper.
(Nicer than many very luxe photo books in terms of feel)
2. a $240.00, 114 pg copy of "A Rift Emerged..." on heavyweight 100lb, full matte eggshell paper AND a copy of a never before published 80pg, completely textless art book of vistas and details of the mysterious and seldom visited Arctic island of Greenland (on that same heavier paper).
"A Rift Emerged..." is comprised of four location-based chapters and is sized at 20x25cm and "Greenland" is completely textless and is 30x30cm. The book is officially published on my 40th bday, September 10th, 2024. Shipping may be the week before or after depending on where your order falls (and wanting to enjoy my actual birthday).
There will only be 40 signed and numbered copies of "A Rift Emerged..." and many less of the exclusive Greenland book. Each purchase will come with a selection of extras that I will not be publicizing or sharing. A full album of new music will be included with each, most likely as a digital download due to the vinyl scourge of the last few years. If it is ever pressed though, you will get a free copy, guaranteed. A lot of other goodies are included though...
Again, only a limited edition of 40, in honor of my 40th bday. I can't wait for you to hold these books and see the other items...
It is available here now!
I hope to see your names pop up in the invoices. I hope all is well wherever you may be. s.
08/04/2024
Hello! I played my second concert of the year. This time in Seattle and the wonderful and wild venue, the Georgetown Steam Works. I brought my newest instrument as my main one: the Buchla Music Easel. It worked wonderfully, especially as it all came together the week prior with the assistance of my dad. Photos below of the gig and the creation of the Easel... Main concert photoby my lovely fiancee, Elise!
05/13/2024
Hello! First show in six years. This upcoming Sunday on the lovely campus of Western Washington University. Poster and link below...
Link to fest info! See some of you PNW/BC’ers there!
5/1/2024
Well, I messed that up. I planned on updating this page often and now it has been six months. Oops. Sorry about that. A few updates have happened since I last wrote on this page.
First up: I have a new EP. It was written for and about my loving fiancee, Elise. I hope you enjoy it. It played on KEXP last sunday and was a joy to hear on the airwaves.
Second up: “Ribbons of Light” is now more pubically available via Bandcamp. It originally came out last September but was only enjoyed by those who bought one of my Annual Edition ceramic pieces. Listen here...
Third up: I am playing my first show since 2018. Its on the beautiful campus of Western Washington University on May 19th. More info here...
I hope all are doing well so far this year. I know its been a trying one thus far but I hope you and yours are all well. If you are local to the PNW, I hope to see you at the show on the 19th. s.
11/06/23
Hi. I got an oscilloscope this weekend and as you can imagine, the Buchla looks great through it. As does old CCTV camera data... More on all of these things in the future. Till then... Watch the clip below...
10/30/23
Hi. I thought you all may appreciate seeing an image I was just finalizing this morning. I got to thinking about this moment of time in 2021 and how it changed my life or rather began a change, and I wrote some words about its significance to me. Writing more long-form things will forever be important to my work and while I don’t share many, this is one that I think is quite nice, albeit a bit personal.
This first photograph was taken while on my way to the iconic monolith of Delicate Arch, within Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. It was July 2021 and the clouds rolled and ebbed and flowed in like waves off beaches of my childhood in Northern Michigan in summertime moments that are left undisturbed in felt-like memory. Sand blew upward and small birds flicker and flurry into fits of running to flight amongst laughing and leaping children as grey skies make distant sounds. This new desert and my old lakes had more in common than expected. I had been on the road for two weeks.
A short window of cell service emerged, near Balanced Rock, a vertical jut of teardrop sandstone that looked ready to roll over onto the numbed throngs of tourists below. They wouldn't even know what hit them but despite that, hadn't. Balanced Rock has remained upright for around seventy millions years. The one hundred and twenty eight foot tall boulder of Entrada Sandstone is perched atop a precarious layer of soft and even older mudstone and despite all of the snapshot tourist's mental energy and millions of years of erosive forces to topple it, the oblong stone remains a static artifact of a long dead epoch. I turned left at the small lot in front of the inevitable and intractable future magic trick that is the sum of both long-form time and gravity. A narrow road and a few hundred yards of flat ground. I put the car in park.
I was quickly searching for the site of where Edward Abbey’s tin trailer once was and it was an important site for me to find but I had to act somewhat quickly as I had a lot of land to see. When I was in college, I was introduced to Abbey’s work in a writing class by a noted, minor scholar of Shakespeare who required us to call him Uncle Jim. Uncle Jim, or James, used to drink with my actual Uncle around bars in Marquette, when they were both between classes, semesters, and probably professorial trouble. A book that we read in James's class, amongst others by Rachel Carson, Terry Tempest Williams, and Barry Lopez was Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire. The book filled my mind with smudges of red and ochres and deep gradated blue skies and black nights of distant overhead swirls of galaxies and celestial structures yet-not-named or even yet seen but just theorized. Desert Solitaire was the first book that fundamentally changed me and it taught me not only how to write but also taught me to keep my eyes open and focused on an eventual life out West and to one day visit the place where some of these words were actually written, in an old trailer now long departed.
Over the two decades since first reading Desert Solitaire, I have given out dozens of copies to people I know, some of which have actually read it. Some of those people have told me various things about how they did not like it or found him to be an irrepressibly odd and a somewhat abhorrent figure. I found him more wry and cynical than mean, much like the environment he lived to write about. He also tended to be overly brutal on everyone (except nature itself) and that lack of sensitivity towards fellow humanity grates people in our more coddled and comfortable world, a world that he probably would now quite loathe but I quite like. People are nicer and thoughtful now; less drunk, and less bursting with the zeal of forefathers moral fire and brimstone. Drunks and assholes still exist but less of them they are in these softer and warmer days. They could take a joke though. And they sure could write.
Upon pulling up to the blank spot of rusted dirt, I called on a long time friend to confirm where I was and if I was in the right place. This was a friend who was as close to a brother as I will ever know in my life and yet, one I no longer speak to, much like some real life brothers. So it goes. So it goes, into the twilight of long lives and miscommunications and comments both parties wish they could retrieve but for pride, remain. This friend was someone that I introduced Desert Solitaire to quickly after I read it with Uncle Jim and gave my dog eared copy to. Shortly after this trip to this place of arid catalyst, I would recite a passage from the book at his wedding and connect with my soon-to-be future wife, Elise, at the dinner. The profundity and sanctity of this place and time now holds incredible importance.
Later, as a wedding present, I printed four photographs from the visit to Arches and had them framed for them. The prints were large and were impactful, much like the place itself. I wonder if the photographs still hang on their walls or if they were taken down after our eruption and erosion. Monochromatic vistas that are haunted by lost old loves would be easily replaced by colorful framed photos of autumnal embraces and family dogs springing through meadows. Ghosts tend to be seen as black and white. Stark intruders of memory spurned into a spectral world of the living. For the sake of their emotions, I hope the frames have been removed and pushed to the depths beneath the stairs or new photos slid between the matte and the glass, obfuscating the sentiment. I had to remove all of their work in our home as it hurt to walk by. A panorama of ones own formative existence makes some of the bumps along the road of life seem required but I could have done without this mentally expensive divorce. So it goes though and onward. Silence from all parties. Lines cut in a world of many lines and throughways. Intense reflection has shown me to not always be the most easy person to exist amongst and I am certain to have been an irresolute companion at times, including to someone who was a living hero to me. He made me better in many ways and I probably let him down often.
I walked amongst the scrub and dirt for a moment and imagined the irate Abbey seeing the families in minivans at the pit toilets put next to his old haunt. He is long dead though, zipped in his old sleeping bag and secretly buried in the desert by his closest friends. I imagined going out or rather, in, like that and imagined who would be holding the shovels. In present time, the hands holding that shovel have changed and for the better. I left what I was certain was the location of the trailer but will never be certain. There wasn't even a sign. There was one for the toilet though. Abbey would have screamed.
A halo of perched rainclouds moved in with a frightful abandon to wash over the gawkers and comers and goers and children in valleys of a landscape few breathing things could genuinely thrive in. The short summer shower soaked into the porosity surrounding. Nameless hoodoos and pinnacles of diatoms and sand swelled imperceptibly but I could hear the sucking sound of the sponging water into the earth. Subtle erosion as gaps emerge between molecules of grit and compacted dust. I was now sitting at a cliff of oblivion, in front of the Delicate Arch. This place should be temple quiet, not chaos, as it was. I channeled Edward Abbey, Uncle Jim, and my old lost friend when I snapped broken, terse commands at insane children and influencers playing too close to the cliffs edge and maybe more importantly, they were out to walk into my photos.
Stop. Ayúdeme. Get out of there. Alto. Alto. No, not that way. Find your parents. Donde esta padres. Be safe. Esta Segura.
A ring of tourists stood silent and an Eastern European man behind a tripod clapped twice, gave me a thumbs up, and exclaimed a monosyllabic sound. The rain let up to a mist and the steam rose from the baked curved rock and smears of rubber soles stained the eroded. A quiet returned. I packed up and began walking back to the car and a low slung sun over Abbey Country hid below the hoodoos as I left the park, hungry and tired. I sprung for an actual motel room that night.
We are at best temporary visitors to any and all lands but some more than others. This remarkable expanse of Jurassic sandstone and triple digit degree days are the punctuation marks in a life of mediocrity and traffic and arguments. The world can be at its most primal and violent in the desert and I for one will always appreciate the gallows humor of the desiccation that it creates and maybe even holds dear. Life feels too short to be so quiet and too long to hold true grudges. We are not also made of stone.
I hope all are doing well.
s.
10/19/23
Hello, I hope all are doing well. A few recent updates of note. First, we recently had a great 60-70% eclipse here in Bellingham. It was cloudy and rainy up until the moment it began. Clouds literally parted for it and then enveloped the world once again the moment it ended. Photos below of the fun morning in a dog park with my family. In other news, I have been uploading some short videos to Youtube. You can view the one of Elise below. In other news, through strange ways of searching, I discovered that one of the tracks from “Avocationals”, my 2019 record with Tom, was featured in a nice short film about surfing in Iceland. Link below to watch. The music throughout is great and the cinematography throughout is fantastic, as to be expected by Chis Burkhard. Well, thats about it in terms of an update. s.
10/07/23
Hi! I hope all are well. Embarking on quite a few neat experiments as of late. I have also released a track that I recorded in Banff, AB back in 2018. It used my modular on the side of a mountain in a place a modular has probably never been... I mean, there was snowpack just 100yd away. Pretty spectaular setting for such wild ideas...
And here is the Buchla looking all ready for its CCTV closeup. I wonder what for???
s.
10/01/23
Hello. Here are a few short videos I have been making using the resources of our studios.
And here is a photo of part of the setup... Just part of it. :)
Hope all are well.
09/25/23
Hello! I thought everyone would enjoy a small glimpse of what I have been working on here at OLS.
Video experiments, old monitors and cctv cameras and filtering old sci-fi films through hyper digital nonsense!
I hope all are doing well. s.
09/15/23
The Webshop is now closed and most of the line sold out very quickly indeed.
Thank you to all those who bought pieces and supported the plan.
Up next... Do Buchla’s play well with handmade piezo pads? Next at 11.
09/13/23The inaugural Birthday Edition Sale went incredibly. 1/3 of the selection sold out in a few hours. Not a ton of tiem left before the shop closes.
Check out whats left here: seancurtispatrick.bigcartel.com
I am very proud of the work and the album. I have been told that it is good for autumnal forest walks... While it isnt streaming anywhere (and wont be unless it leaks) you can eithe rbuy a pot to get a download code /and or read the liner notes via the bc embed below...
A few photos from the sale below. So crisp!
s.
09/06/23
Ribbons of Light - My new album. Out on 09/10/2023. Available exclusively with the Pottery ‘Edition Sale’ on the same day.
It wont be streaming and it wont be sold alone via bandcamp, until someone torrents it. Link here to purchase one of 39... seancurtispatrick.bigcartel.com
Check out some of the presentation boxes that the pottery comes in below.
See you on sunday.s.
08/05/23
Hello everyone.
Just a quick update.
Be on the lookout for a webshop update on 09/10/23.
Until then... Be well.
s.
07/15/23
Hello everyone!
I hope all are well. Things are good in our life. I thought you all would like a small update on our studio space.
Clean shelves, clean minds... Things, as always, are brewing.
Bye!
s.
07/06/23
Hello all that read this page. I refuse to apply Google Analytics to my site as I think we all have a bit-too-much Google in our lives at this point and that I would rather be paddling down the stream of my own ignorance than know this page is reaching zero people or over-doing it because thousands read it weekly… I literally have no idea so that makes updating this easier and kind of mysterious.
So, a few exciting things have happened in that last month.
First, my parents moved to town from the other side of the country and it has been fun to live near them again. They have even been playing around in the studio and have been making a few pots. The student has become the teacher. Only when you get old are you allowed to say that... (I am now actually old)
Second, Elise and I have been on some great hikes and I brought the “good camera” for the occasions.
Third, the ceramics studio is really humming now. I finished glazing fifty new pieces over the weekend. I know that isn’t a truly herculean amount, and I have done more in a single sitting prior to that, but it is in our own space and we have a lot of control that I previously didn’t. We are entering that “oooh, that didn’t work out well” phase in the glazing, where some come back pretty patchy and awful but this upcoming firing will be a real cracker…
I can feel it.
Fourth, Our new garden has been growing very well. Little harvests of bits and pieces have already begun.
Fifth & final, I am in the planning stages for a nice art sale around my birthday, on the tenth of September. I haven’t totally put my finger on what it will entail just yet, but it will be pretty special and I am hoping will be a reoccurring sale into the far future. Each year will be an edition of my current age, thusly, this year will be an edition of 39. Next year, 40. And so on till I’m dust.That’s a pretty good update here.
I hope all are doing very well and having a wonderful summer.
s.