Channel 
Contributing $ 10
Solidarity Pottoka
Included in the credits of the documentary.
> 24 Co-financiers
About this project
A documentary film about the affiliative behaviour of horses that eliminates the concept of dominance in equine social life. Collaborate!
Show list of needs
Task
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Minimum | Optimum |
|---|---|---|
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Script
Script writing by Lucy Rees
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$ 4,158 | |
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Edition
Visualization and selection of material
Preparation of the script of editing
Professional editing of the documentary
Recording of voice over
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$ 4,054 | |
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Shooting of the Documentary
Filming tasks, direct sound recording, direction.
Professional shooting for a month.
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$ 4,158 | |
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Goteo's commission
Fee of 5% of the total collected by Goteo.org
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$ 156 | |
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Grading
Colour-grading of the documentary.
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$ 3,638 | |
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Sound post-production and original soundtrack
Professional sound design and soundtrack
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$ 3,119 | |
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Graphics
Design of credit titles and motion graphics
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$ 1,559 | |
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Translation and subtitling
English translation and subtitles for people with hearing difficulties
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$ 1,247 | |
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Distribution of the film on DVDs
DVD recording and distribution.
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$ 1,247 |
Infrastructure
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Minimum | Optimum |
|---|---|---|
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Transport
Gasoline costs and tolls
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$ 520 | |
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Lodging and diets
Lodging and meals during the shooting time (one month).
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$ 1,040 |
Material
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Minimum | Optimum |
|---|---|---|
|
Professional equipment
Rental of complementary audiovisual material (filters, lenses, microphones)
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$ 832 | |
| Total | $ 14,917 | $ 25,728 |
Necessary
Supplemental
General information
The rock star Pintxo, the feminists Eki and Ispi, the elegant Ekain, the lady Arbela, the young Txito, Gau, Erbi, Indar among many others...
They are pottokas, an ancient Basque breed of horses, which since 2010 have lived in the public forest in the North of Extremadura (Spain) without any type of human handling. For more than 10 years Lucy Rees, ethologist and writer, has observed and studied this population. It is her ethology project that reveals the social bonds and behaviour patterns within an equine population. The special focus of this research is the affiliative behaviour and possible character definition of wild horses.
No one knows these animals better than Lucy. Who prefers to live in that area and who prefers another, who associates with whom, who is a good friend, who is a good mother, who is loyal, who needs even more freedom... Following the observation of pottokas and taking notes about social relationships and interconnections between members of this equine population, Lucy has a unique journal of field research. Notes About Horses is a documentary feature film that reflects the most interesting conclusions made by Lucy so far that change the paradigm of the human interpretation of equine behaviour.
Ethology... What is it?
The domestication of horses began approximately in the year 5000 a. The birth of ethology as a science that studies the reason for animal behaviour is attributed to the 1930s of the 20th century. Equine ethology was created even later. Although the term ethology derives from the Greek ethos meaning "character" and -logia meaning "the study of", equine ethology has not attempted to study the characters of horses up to now. Leo Tolstoy was probably the first to describe the feelings of the horse in his The Story of the Horse written from the equine point of view. However, it was not enough for changing the way of human relationship with these animals based on the erroneous perception of the nature of equine behaviour. The horse must be studied and observed in its natural environment in freedom to reveal the mystery and the reasons for its behaviour.
About Wild Pottokas in Piornal
Wild Pottokas in Piornal is a scientific and personal project of the equine ethologist Lucy Rees that began after having studied horses in the wild in different countries on several continents. The synchrony in the movements, absence of hierarchy and dominance within the equine groups. This is what Lucy concluded. Such revolutionary results had not been recognized by the scientific community until recently. However, these important data have to contribute to the necessary change in the bases of human-horse communication and, consequently, of horsemanship techniques. The brilliant idea of disposing of the wild horse population in Europe for scientific purposes makes Pottokas Salvajes in Piornal the most exceptional project in the European equine ethology scene. Having closely analyzed the lives of wild horses, Lucy has written several books. The last one, Horses in Company, describes the social aspect of equine interconnections. Many small details are reflected in the work of this outstanding study written in popular language to bring theoretical knowledge to a wide audience. The unique opportunity to observe the pottoka population for more than 10 years leads Lucy to some conclusions about affiliative behaviour. How do they communicate with each other? How do they play? Do they help each other? What do they know about friendship? Do horses fall in love? Can the horse be melancholic? Romantic? Enthusiastic? There are many mysteries in equine behaviour, but there are even more notes in Lucy's field research journal. The stories chosen for Notes About Horses will be focused on friendly social behaviour that could sensibilize humans by facilitating the construction of empathy towards equines.
Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign
The main motivation of this project is the contribution to the change in the paradigm of interpretation of horse behaviour, eliminating the concept of dominance within the equine bands. From the Instagram @notassobrecaballos_lucyrees that I manage I see the response of persons who are interested in horses. So many people appreciate Lucy's methodology, her knowledge, her unique vision of the equine world. It almost becomes a duty to document her reflections about wild horses and record her conclusions made so far about her pottoka population.
Notes About Horses is aimed at all people who want to understand horses better, at all people curious about equine nature, all who want to discover the new concepts of equine ethology and to learn more about the friendly behaviour of horses. Our project will also be of interest to those who are looking for alternatives to the ideas of dominance in animal behaviour and want to know more about societies where the key to survival lies in mutual aid and peaceful coexistence.
Many of us already know that the transformation of human-horse communication and the well-being of domestic horses must be based on the study of equine ethology. With the support of our project, you help spread these ideas to make them reach the widest public. Do you join our band?
Why this is important
Why study the natural behaviour of horses?
One of the important points of the practical application of equine ethology studies is to improve the riding system that is based on many human errors in the interpretation of equine behaviour. If the paradigm of this interpretation changes, then the riding system could be changed, avoiding unnecessary cruelty and providing well-being to domestic horses. The main objectives of the documentary Notes About Horses is to offer a better understanding of the affiliative behaviour of the horse, to create more empathy towards these animals while respecting their way of being. In the end, to improve human-horse communication must be built on an understanding of true equine nature.
Our main objectives:
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To document and to share some of the conclusions of a unique scientific investigation with audiovisual media, that is to say, to make the documentary Notes About Horses from the script to the link to the film. The shooting would be in the month of April-May 2023, the editing part would take the summer of 2023 and the post-production part will be done in the first months of autumn. By the end of 2023 the documentary will be ready.
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To share the process of filmmaking on social networks. We will mainly use our Instagram account @notassobrecaballos_lucyrees.
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To distribute the film. Considering the educational nature of this project, the final destination of the film should be a free online platform where anyone interested can watch it. We would like to be able to make physical copies of the film and offer them to training centres, riding centres and other places that specialise in working or studying horses.
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To sensibilize humans to equine natural life and its affiliative behaviour.
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To improve human-horse communication by changing the paradigm of human interpretation of equine behaviour.
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To acknowledge the contribution of Lucy Rees in equine ethology.
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To enjoy the process.
As you see we have very clear objectives and we can achieve them as long as you support us in any way you can. Opening the financing of the project to the public makes us believe not only that the value of our work is shared, but also that there is a community of people sensibilize to horses that is the engine of necessary change in the equestrian world. That is why we launched this crowdfunding campaign inviting you to participate in the making of the documentary. The financing of the first round of the campaign is essential to produce the film in its most basic version. For the second round we leave the things that are part of the post-production of sound, colour grading, graphics, translation and transcription of the documentary, recording of the DVDs. For all these tasks we will hire the professionals of the sector.
Infinite thanks from us for spreading the word, sharing our project on networks, emails and etc. Only with your support we will be able to make this documentary. THANK YOU!
We are two people: Lucy, the wise of the equine world and Ish, the wise of the audiovisual world. A couple of years ago we got together to create an educational series and here you can find it published on Vimeo on Demand:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/etologiaequinalucyrees
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/domaequinalucyrees
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/biomecanicalucyrees
Some quotes from what people are saying:
"I think the videos are beautiful and I think it's a very good way to re-update La Lógica del Caballo"
"Hello! I'm already watching the videos and they are great!!!"
"Hello Lucy Rees, thank you very much for sharing this wonderful work on ethology, I am fascinated by your videos and the relationship with nature that you have..."
"I am from Venezuela and I am interested, in the past I was able to do courses with Lucy, she even came, I doubt there is another one like her"
"I'll look forward to them. Thank you!"
Creating the series we have well defined the particularities of the working process together, which gives us the possibility to restart the filming process immediately. We know the territory, the climate, the population of horses to be filmed. I have become familiar with the protagonists of the film and they recognize me, always with the camera in my hand. All this will help us in recording the audiovisual material necessary to transcribe Lucy's notes into images and sounds creating the film together.
Lucy Rees is an ethologist, writer and horse trainer. She has observed horses in many parts of the world, expanding her knowledge of natural equine behaviour. In 2011 Lucy began her personal scientific project in the north of Extremadura: raising horses in semi-freedom to be able to observe them here in Spain. She currently gives seminars, courses, workshops and clinics in Spain and Latin American countries.
Alla Ish Shadrova, I am an independent documentary filmmaker. I studied cinema in Barcelona. In 2017 I created my audiovisual production company kinoismos that focuses on projects that stand out for their social and innovative value in their way of realisation. I give workshops of direct filmmaking for teenagers.
To learn more about us, we invite you to visit our websites:
https://lucyrees.com
http://allashadrova.com
Social commitment
Educational
We believe in quality education, ethical and free from marketing mainstream research. We fight for the acceptance of new ideas in the scientific world that transform previously established knowledge. We believe that knowledge should be accessible to each curious person who wishes to broaden their vision in the topic they choose.
The Pottokas Salvajes project in Piornal supports the life of terrestrial ecosystems by offering biodiversity to the territory of the pottokas' habitat.
Sustainable Development Goals
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Quality Education
Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development.
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Life On Land
Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss