In 2008, Wilmington Coastal Boxing was established as a city-sponsored boxing center by coaches Lyle Booker and Deryll McCaskill. Over the last four years, the nonprofit, sponsorship-funded and volunteer-maintained gym has been a crucial part of the of downtown Wilmington's revitalization as an after-school, "keep kids off the street" type of program. "Outside of the gym, both coaches are easygoing and friendly. They're as likely to joke around with their trainees as they are to offer advice or motivation. But when it comes down to boxing and the personal virtues it can instill, they take their work very seriously" (Bill Donavan-Star News). Both coaches say boxing changed their lives, as youth, to where they became humbled and were taught discipline and respect. Today, the coaches pay forward they're lessons and values to the kids, in hopes that they turn out to be gentlemen as well.
As for the film, it will focus on the history of the two coaches and the present careers of several kids who train regularly at Wilmington Coastal Boxing. By creating a parallel between the coaches lessons/stories and the kids careers, the film will broadly show how mentors are crucial to kids and young adults lives. Furthermore, the film will specifically observe how these relationships were built through boxing.
Treatment:
The film will be a combination of observational cinema, interviews and found footage. We will film the kids throughout the semester as they train and prepare for their "championship" which is the Azalea Festival Boxing Tournament on April 14th and 15th. There are also fights scheduled prior to the festival, so we plan to show the progression (or digression) the kids will make in boxing and life up until that point.
Most of the footage will be shot on the Cannon 60D, 7D and Nikon D5100. However, if we raise enough money we would like to shoot on 16mm film as well. With the 16mm we would use it for our intro or credit sequence most likely. But if we have more funds than we thought, then we could use it for filming the Azalea Festival matches or the interviews.
The sound design will be critical, especially when it comes to the sounds of boxing (hitting, shuffling, grunting, etc). Having the proper mix will really help the pace of the film.
Target Audience and Distribution:
With the film being sports related, the audience I will be targeting will be sports fans and athletes, especially that of the young adult male population. As far as distribution, I will be submitting to festivals that favor to short, sports documentaries. Along with submitting to festivals, I will also be submitting my film to multiple funding programs so that I can expand the film into a feature length documentary.
Funding Strategy:
For the production part of the project, the needed funding will be minimal. For any film that we buy and get processed, we plan to pay out of pocket. For cost of festival submission, however, we will utilize a funding website such as “kickstarter” to raise money (once we being shooting and putting together clips to show donors.
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