Nothing New Under the Sun

The Story

Welcome to the
life of Sophie
Crowther.

Soph, as she's better known in her remote village nestled in the hills of North Wales, is an ageing woman, chubby (but only as of late!), with eyes that frown but crow's feet that smile. Alas, tales from better days. For Soph is now a lonely woman, a dying woman, and what's worse… She's lost her beloved baby goat, Yabu.

So begins her investigation. She adopts the investigative methods of her heroes: Holmes, Marple, Poirot, Drew and sets out to solve the mystery armed with a tape recorder, a wooden flute, and an increasingly unreliable memory. She interviews suspects. Catalogues clues. Constructs elaborate theories. Measures footprints. Maps fields with coloured yarn. And slowly becomes convinced that the answer is hiding in plain sight.

But investigations rely on evidence, and evidence relies on memory. What if the lead witness is increasingly unreliable? What if the story itself is full of holes? As Soph's search grows more desperate, the mystery of a missing goat becomes something far larger: a surreal search for meaning in a modern world shaped by loneliness, repetition, and the ticking clock of mortality. This is the tale of her final days.

Join Soph on her existential investigation in Nothing New Under the Sun.

Visual Language

Three Motifs.
One Descent.

Integral to the story are three stylistic motifs that mirror our search for meaning. These will feature prominently in the production, editing, and sound design of the film.

Rhythm

At times in life "the game is afoot" and we are "in sync" with our life purpose. This will be shown quite literally. Our actress matching the pre-recorded score's rhythm like a music video.

Looping

But days blur and become weeks and months. And soon, the redundant nature of our lives creates habituated behaviors devoid of meaning. We will see this in repeated scenes and frames within frames within frames.

III

Decay

And still the clock ticks on. The looping becomes noise. Our rhythm begins to waver. Loops will break suddenly, Soph will slowly fall out of rhythm…Decay, static noise, and death await.

Marketing Strategy

The Meta-Narrative
Lives Beyond
the Screen.

Marketing Begins with Yabu

Our beloved baby goat gets social media accounts managed by a viral content team — amassing a devoted following of Yabu lovers before they ever know what film they're about to love.

The Missing Goat Campaign

When Yabu goes missing in the story, the audience experiences it in real time across social. Concern and curiosity become the on-ramp to the film.

200 Indie Film Partners

Exclusive content seeded across 200 of the largest indie film communities on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram — building a pre-release audience of exactly the right people.

Instagram

yabu

soph_c

jung_sch

yabu_the_goat

Somerset, England

···

12,847 likes

yabu_the_goat Morning fog and fresh grass. Life is good 🌿
#babygoat #farmlife #goodmorning

3 hours ago

The Team

The Filmmakers

Stefan van de Graaff

Writer · Director · Marketer

Stefan is a London-based director who most recently made the psychological horror One of Us starring Kit Connor. Prior to that, he made the microbudget film Simmer, which HBO acquired in 2020. He has EP'd several short films. He was also a co-founder of the digital marketing agency Chamber Media that has driven over 1B views and was acquired by a PE firm in 2021. His work and revolutionary marketing approach has been featured on Inc.com, No Film School, Adweek, and more. He is the founder of The Jung School.

Raquel Baldwin

Producer

Raquel Baldwin grew up in a small farm town in Iowa. She started her career dancing in the Rockettes Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular in NYC. She was part of the 20th Anniversary Broadway cast of Evita, and roller skated in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express. She moved onto producing TV & Film including One of Us, I Can't Be Sorry with Lauren Cohan, and Home, directed by Robert Machoian. She's the EVP of Production at Chamber Media where she's been since 2018. Raquel is the proud mother of two daughters.

Katie Dolan

Producer

Katie Dolan is a producer from Wales with 15 years of experience in film, music, advertising, and documentary. As Head of Black Dog Films — the Ridley Scott Creative Group's content division — she led the company's move into feature filmmaking with Undergods, funded by the BFI and nominated at the BIFAs and Fantasia Film Festival. Her work with artists including Dua Lipa, David Bowie, Beyoncé and Billie Eilish has earned awards at Cannes Lions, D&AD, and the BRITs. She is the founder of Bad Cat, producing fiction and documentary with the BFI, Ffilm Cymru, Film4, BBC Films and Amazon Prime.