I'm Cary Weldy, the Executive Producer, Director, and Writer for my feature documentary film, The Science of Ink, which is now in production.

My experience in media began in the early 1990s, when I ran marketing, advertising, branding, and PR for Fortune 500 companies such as GE and Ashland. As a major advertiser, I knew how profoundly colors, images, words, and number of impressions impact our behaviors and life experiences.

But the game has significantly changed. Since 2000, emerging technological innovations have brought an exponential increase in the amount of art and information we absorb every day. 

This avalanche of color, images, symbols, and words is much closer to us, where we now hold art in the palms of our hands, decorate our clothing with it, and infuse it into our skin.

Today art’s impact on our lives is now dramatically greater  than even 10 years ago.

Consider the new alarming statistics about how art and information is affecting our lives:

• In the UK, 50% of 7-year-olds own a cell phone. That number reaches 90% by age 11.
• The average teenager spends 9 hours a day on social media.
• A study found that 19% of teens in 2015 used electronic devices 5 hours or more, and those teens were 70 PERCENT MORE LIKELY to have suicidal thoughts or actions than those who reported only one hour of use.
• Researchers also found that people using 7 or more social media platforms were THREE TIMES more likely to suffer from anxiety than those using zero to 2 platforms.
• Today, anxiety is the NUMBER ONE HEALTH CRISIS IN AMERICA, affecting nearly 40 million American adults, with Millennials reporting the highest anxiety levels. 
• In 2018, record numbers of college students sought help for anxiety and depression.
• The CDC reported that from 1999 to 2017 — the same time period that media exposure skyrocketed with children — suicide rates among boys increased 74%, while rates for girls TRIPLED. In many states, suicide has now become the #1 cause of death among teens.

 

This Film is Fresh, Original, and Groundbreaking

The Science of Ink is a groundbreaking experience for both the inked enthusiast and non-tattooed person alike. This will be the first documentary feature film to explore how art around us influences our reality — especially in our new electronic, media-driven world now in the palms of our hands. Recent research about colors, shapes, symbols, lines, and other elements of art on our TV screens, handheld devices, clothing, tattooed bodies, and walls at home and work tell a unique, engaging story that has not yet been told.

I’ve been haunted by the words of Oscar Wilde, who wrote in 1891, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” For the past seven years, I’ve researched hundreds of studies about art and how it literally changes our relationships, finances, mood, and health in both beneficial and disturbing ways. With my extensive background in corporate media and now armed with more than 300 studies supporting this premise, I have become a leading expert in the subject of how we indeed become our art.

The film is not intended to demonize any particular kind of art or tattoo, but rather to address “cause-and-effect” phenomenon, where science demonstrates how various elements of art tend to produce specific outcomes — whether we are consciously aware of them or not.

The crisis of art and information has reached pandemic proportions, and NOW is the time to tell this urgent story. 

Timing

We are currently in production, with about 20% of the full-length feature film completed. We are targeting a completion date of December 31, 2021, with a running time of approximately 90 minutes for the finished film. I'm especially proud of my talented crew and team who has deep experience in producing TV and film for nearly every network and streaming platform in the world.

We are targeting global distribution for this film, including domestic and international theatrical release, domestic and international TV broadcast, video-on-demand (VOD)/streaming on Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, or a similar platform, and throughout the airlines.

What We Need

I and a key donor have invested 100% of the funding to date to conduct the research and produce this important film. Your help is needed now to finish the film. Our goal is to raise a round of at least $45,000 to complete production and post-production.

The additional funding raised will be used to:

• Film approximately 8 to 10 additional interviews of industry experts, health professionals, art aficionados, tattoo artists, and inked enthusiasts.
• Record the remaining voice-over (female's voice) for the film.
• Complete post-production, including editing, music and graphics/B-roll licensing fees, sound mixing, animation, subtitling, and other ancillary costs.

I'm thrilled to announce that this film has just been named a finalist by TWO major grant programs from the TV and film industry!! Sign up for our email newsletter on our website to receive key updates on the film.

Also, I'm especially pleased to announce that we have received fiscal sponsorship with From The Heart Productions LLC, our partner whose 501(c)(3) status will provide all donors with a tax deduction for their gifts.

If we exceed our funding goals, the additional monies will be used to:

• Help market and distribute the film internationally.
• Create strategic partnerships with organizations such as the Child Mind Institute and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which advocates much lower cell phone usage by children and young people. The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year, and 1 in 4 car crashes are caused by texting and driving, affecting teens more than adults. We will launch co-marketing campaigns to lower cell phone usage aimed at addressing the soaring depression and mood problems in kids and teens, building awareness as to the dangers of WIFI/microwave frequency radiation, and promote safety in hands-free driving.

Risks & Challenges

The biggest challenge we have in completing the production of this film is fundraising. I and my team are accomplished in producing and creating award-winning TV and film, so raising the balance of needed funding is the largest hurdle we have to accomplish at this point.

Each of our team members has been tasked to reach out to their networks and garner support. As you probably know, producing documentaries is usually a labor of love that demands more from the production crew and marketing team than the typical film or TV show.

Everyone one of my team members works extraordinarily hard. I pride myself in hand-selecting not only the most talented and hardworking people in the industry, but those with high levels of creativity, tenacity...and most of all, heart. We love what we do, and that passion also helps us overcome the inevitable challenges we face along our journey. Each one of our crew members truly enjoys working with each other on the team, which makes our efforts fun and more productive.

Other Ways You Can Help

• Get the word out and make some noise about our campaign. If the message and urgency of the crisis that especially our stressed children face moves you, then your help in sharing The Science of Ink with your circle of friends and family and to ask for their contribution, however great or small, is vital.
• Share our campaign on social media with your peeps using the We Did It tools!
• Visit our website at TheScienceofInk.TV and join our email newsletter so we stay connected with you! Also send us a note on our "Contact Us" page and tell us how you think we can make this film better.
• Follow us on our new social media by clicking on the links below and "follow" us to see developing news, invitations to screenings, and other special events about the film:  
  • Facebook 
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Why I'm Producing This Film...and a Sneak Preview!

I've spent seven years researching how art impacts our lives, including interviews with dozens of tattooed people to see the connections between their inked images and their life experiences. As I dug deeper into the statistics and research about how colors, shapes, images, symbols, words, and proximity to the images and words dramatically affect our relationships, finances, mood, and health, I was blown away.

The soaring amount of the art and information that bombards us each day is alluring, but problematic in a number of areas, producing stress, severe health problems, and challenges in relationships, money, and mood that bring many of us to a breaking point.

On behalf of my talented team, I'm thrilled to present to you the following clip of the film...keep scrolling down the page and ENJOY!  

And send us a message on our website with your thoughts on the film. We want to hear from you!

With gratitude,

Cary Weldy

Executive Producer, Director, Writer — The Science of Ink

Managing Member, Golden Spiral Productions LLC

Check out our fabulous "THANK YOU" PERKS for our donors: