The Cold Open·Rough Cut·480p Working / 1080p Final
A 5-episode mini-series
We are leveraging AI to tell the stories our sons and daughters need to hear. The cold open is finished. Help us fund the rest.
The Ask
Noboru is a five episode mini-series with a target runtime of 50 minutes, roughly ten minutes an episode, and two additional seasons in the works pending funding. The scene above is proof that one filmmaker with a new set of tools can put this on screen. The greatest need, by far, is the cost of generation itself: every shot is designed, generated, reviewed and rerun until it is perfect. Scoring, sound and the 1080p finish follow, but generation is the engine, and that is what you are funding.
Two Ways to Fund It
Contribute directly to the generation of the media itself: a direct hand in bringing the story to life.
Give on GoFundMeA small monthly amount for early access, behind the scenes, and backstage access to the development of the series.
Join the PatreonDo either, or both. Each has a substantial and meaningful impact on bringing this project to life.
Or Share It
We understand not everybody is able to support this project monetarily, but there is one thing you can do that makes a huge impact: share this project with anyone and everyone you think might be interested.
Why This Exists
The characters our kids watch help form the people they become. Boys who grow up watching men keep their word, protect the weak, master themselves and stand their ground learn that those things are possible and worth wanting. Girls who grow up watching capable men learn what to expect from the men in their lives and what to refuse.
The heart of a young man is made strong by hearing hundreds of stories of great bravery.
Traditional media has no interest in giving them that. It offers a neutered masculinity and condemns capability, strength, honor and the protection of the weak as problems to be managed. It leaves boys and young men without heroes to aspire toward and emulate.
Studio budgets come with studio control: propagandized messaging designed to cultivate compliance and apathy.
Free of the studio but restricted by the budget: too often B quality, uncompelling work.
The quality and the control to tell meaningful stories: high caliber visuals, an inspiring payoff.
By leveraging generative technology, we can produce at studio quality for a fraction of studio cost, at a speed that cuts no corners. Your funding does not buy another alternative to low quality media. It buys high caliber production with profound, meaningful and good messaging that highlights the character qualities we as a nation once aspired to embody.
The Story
A legendary swordsman, long past his prime, is called upon to escort a hunted boy to safety while dangerous men close in around them.
Be wary of an old man in a dangerous profession.
The Characters
Every character starts as a full reference set: faces and figures designed, refined and locked before a single frame is generated, so the same person can hold a close-up in episode one and a goodbye in episode five.
剣誉守静He is not looking for a fight, and he does not lose one
An old farmer who used to be someone else. He keeps his word, protects the weak, masters himself and stands his ground.
The series meets him twice: in his prime, and many years later.
昇勇望The boy the series is named for
A boy on the run, with more behind him than a boy should carry.
Noboru means to rise. The series is his rise as much as anyone's.
闇慾殺A ronin with no master and no cause but his own
He is not misunderstood, and he is not redeemable. He is what a man becomes when he serves only his own appetite, and the story lets that be dangerous.
偽謀毒The hand behind the hunt
A grieving mother in public. Something else in private.
The father whose death set it all moving
Noboru's father, the ruler of the village. The story begins at his funeral.
A friend from Hayato's other life
An old companion from the years when Hayato's name meant something, and a warm place to stop on a long road.
影刃銭A working killer in plain grey
Patient, unremarkable, easy to miss on a road. That is the point of him.
追迅刃
A quieter kind of danger
The second blade on the trail. His face is still in design.
Young, gifted and eager to prove himself
A swordsman in his prime who has heard the old stories his whole life, and would rather build a name than collect a fee.
The Series
Each episode is a full arc with its own hook, rise and cliffhanger.
A hunted boy stumbles onto a quiet mountain farm, and the first assassin discovers who the old farmer used to be.
The road hardens an old swordsman and a frightened boy into something like family, while a second killer closes the distance.
The road ends at an old friend's door, where the stepmother's lie has arrived ahead of them.
Nearly wordless: a wounded old man reads the ground, chooses his moment, and takes back what was taken from him.
A young swordsman hungry to kill a legend finally stands before one, with everything the road built hanging on a single stroke.
About the Creator
Movies were a fundamental part of my growing up. The characters on the screen helped form my sense of right and wrong, of conviction, of what a man could be. As the father of six, four of them young men, it has never felt more important or more urgent to put stories in front of our children that inspire them to lead upstanding lives and to be people of strong character.
As a creative, it has been a lifelong aspiration to write those characters and tell those stories. With the rise of AI, it has never been more tangible for regular people to bring these narratives to the screen.
Your support means the world to me. Thank you for taking the time to read this. To everyone who supports this project or the ones that follow, I hope this work is genuinely uplifting and serves to form character in you and your children.
Wes
Fund the Series
You have seen what one scene looks like. Five episodes are written and designed. The only thing between this page and the finished series is production, and that is what your support buys.
The People Behind the Project
Character Design
A. Grace
J. Cole
S. Alexander
L. Elliot
Story By
K. Breann
W.C. Harvey
Directed, Designed & Edited By
W.C. Harvey
Footage Generated In
Seedance 2.5
Music Generated In
Suno
Updates
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Support Noboru
A few dollars a month, and you watch the series come together with the behind the scenes as it happens.
Join the Patreon