Nothing New Under the Sun

The Story

Welcome to the
life of Sophie
Crowther.

Soph, as she's better known in her remote village of northern Wales, is an aging woman, chubby (but only as of late!), with eyes that frown but crows feet that smile… Alas, tales from better days, for she is now a lonely woman, a dying woman, and what's worse… She's lost her baby goat, Yabu. This is the tale of her final days.

Through the story, the always-analytical Soph adopts an investigative approach to her search for her missing goat, inspired by her favorite fictional detectives (Holmes, Marple, Poirot, Drew). But can such a search ever be an exact science? And what if the lead witness in the investigation, ourselves, is increasingly unreliable — with a story full of holes, a memory that falls apart with each passing day?

In this allegorical dark comedy / mystery, we follow Soph on her desperate search for Yabu, her descent into madness and we ask the question: where can we find meaning in this world? A world fraught with mental illness, choked by loneliness, colonized by media...

Join Soph, as she investigates for answers 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 most recently made the psychological horror One of Us starring Kit Connor. Prior to that, he made the microbudget film Simmer, which was sold to HBO in 2020. He wrote the book for the show Sherlock the Musical and 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.

Michael Whittle

Composer

Michael Whittle is a composer based in LA. He received the VSO Award "Excellence in Music Composed for Film" at MNFF and Best Original Score at VEFF. He film scored the groundbreaking music for One of Us, as well as Disposal (Hulu/20th Digital), Vineyards (1091 Pictures/FAM4), and Sealed with a Kiss (Vimeo Staff Pick/HollyShorts). The Vermont Symphony Orchestra performed his original score in the summer of 2023. His solo project will be out on Slow Signal Records (The Orchard/Sony) later this year.