New incentive: Donate, and get a sneak peek of the film!

The short version: Want to get a sneak-peek of the footage I’ve shot for SOLD’s documentary? Make a donation of at least $10 to The SOLD Project, and you will receive a link and password to a super secret video of some of the clips we’ll be using in the final documentary! Be sure to select “Make this donation in someone’s name” and enter “Jedd Goble: Thailand” so that they know where to direct the funds.

Still frame from the new video. Shot in Chiang Mai’s red light district.

New equipment

Editing setup in Chiang Rai … lots of hard drives!

Shortly before I left for Thailand (more info about my trip here), after I had already planned out the trip details, we realized that SOLD didn’t have enough hard drive space to import all of the footage I’m going to capture, since HD video takes up gigabytes and terabytes of space. We scrambled to find a solution, and settled on a RAID, which is a stack of several hard drives that backs up your data in such a way that if one of those drives fails, all the data is safe. Since losing the footage would defeat the whole purpose of my trip here, SOLD purchased a four terabyte device that would provide enough space for my seven weeks of filming.

In addition, I brought along four other hard drives of varying capacities, some of which I owned and some of which SOLD had left over from other projects. This will allow me to leave a copy of all the footage here in case something happens in transit on my way back to the States. All this, along with my tripod, took up an entire large suitcase, and weighed over 70 pounds. I’ve been lugging that suitcase through airports, up hotel room stairs, and onto songthaews for the past week and a half. But I’m thankful we’re able to back everything up redundantly so that none of my work will be lost.

New fundraising campaign

Arcticroc 4T 4-Bay Tower RAID System, so that all our footage is safe and sound.

Unfortunately, though, the purchase is a significant expense for SOLD, at about $700. This is in addition to the plane ticket they purchased for my trip, putting the total expenses at $2200 (yikes!). So far I’ve raised $1310 of the $1500 for my plane ticket, and I’m so thankful to everyone who has contributed.

The funds that SOLD spent on this new hard drive were originally intended to go toward their child prostitution prevention program. And I’d like to keep it that way, so I’m setting a new fundraising goal to reimburse SOLD for the money they’ve spent. It’s very ambitious, aiming to raise an additional $900, but I know that there are people out there who share my passion for social justice, and want to see this film rally more supporters to the cause. If you haven’t yet contributed to SOLD, please consider doing so, even if it’s a small amount.

New incentive

Still frame from the sneak-peek video. Shot at SOLD’s student resource center in Chiang Rai.

Just before I left I promised to make a personal video for each donor. These have been a lot of fun to make, and have also served as a way for me to share various parts of my trip with everyone back in the States. But with this new fundraising goal, I’m also offering an additional incentive to those who donate at least $10. An e-mail was just sent out to everyone who has contributed so far containing a link and password for a special sneak-peek of footage from the first week. But we’re not releasing this publicly, since many of the clips will be used in the final film.

[The thank-you snippets I’ve posted have all been shot with my little iPhone camera, but, of course, footage for the documentary is being filmed with my professional HD camcorder.]

I’m pulling out all the stops and trying to make donating as worth your while as possible. If you choose to contribute, not only will you be my favorite person in the whole wide world, but you’ll get your own personal thank-you video and a sneak-peek of the upcoming documentary. Visit The SOLD Project’s donation page and be sure to select “Yes” next to “Would you like to make this donation in someone’s name?” In the text field, type in “Jedd Goble: Thailand” so that SOLD knows where to direct the funds.

Again, thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so far. I feel so blessed to be here doing this work, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to use my skills for such an important cause. Kob khun khrap!