dvxuser and kickstarter

From what I know it's important to have a good run up to it.

Months of forming a mailing list of friends, families, dead uncles & former employers. Everyone.
If you just run at it and click 'Start' then you're pretty much prepped to fall flat on your tits.

Again, just my personal perspective.
 
here's a list of sites/links/resources I've compiled. I have been in the planning stages of doing a project through Kickstarter for a couple years, so some of this 'research' is a bit dated. it probably cannot get stressed enough to a) have a good idea/story/widget, and b) plan your ass off. there are bajillions of projects out there that have failed, bajillions more that have succeeded, and some that have flat out blown away what they hoped to make. I would bet there is no overarching algorithm to determine themes/similarities between the successful ones though. do some more research, look at the projects that have made it, and dissect their every move. However, don't let that get in the way of creating a Kickstarter campaign. Hope at least some of this stuff helps.

Best,
Adam


http://filmcourage.blogspot.com/2010/05/david-branins-crowd-funding-cheat-sheet.html
http://trulyfreefilm.hopeforfilm.co...n-the-secrets-of-her-kickstarter-success.html
http://www.tubefilter.com/2010/06/14/how-to-build-buzz-for-a-web-series/
http://nofilmschool.com/2011/05/cro...tm_campaign=Feed:+nofilmschool+(NoFilmSchool)
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?257438-How-to-crowdfund
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?255490-DOWN-AND-DANGEROUS-a-film-by-SABI
http://nofilmschool.com/2011/09/ten...tm_campaign=Feed:+nofilmschool+(NoFilmSchool)
http://coffeeandcelluloid.com/behavior-patterns-of-kickstarter-funders/
http://coffeeandcelluloid.com/how-to-figure-the-true-cost-of-a-kickstarter-project/
http://coffeeandcelluloid.com/my-kickstarter-experience-the-good-bad-and-ugly/
 
I've run 2 campaigns. Made about 5% of my target each time. Build up a HUGE fan base before you launch, and then quadruple the size of it because it won't be enough. I had a ton of blogs I contacted, but they were all cold-calls so I heard nothing back. The best networking is pre-established organic contacts-- people you already are communicating with BEFORE the project. Friends and family were my only funders both times.
 
I've had a couple successful projects. I think having a previous body of work to show and a substantial existing fanbase (facebook fans, twitter followers, youtube subscribers, etc) will help a lot.

For example, we (not-literally.com) did a Harry Potter video with no budget that got a ton of views and landed us a lot of facebook fans (over 1000). We then asked for $500 to shoot our next video and got $600. We made that video and our facebook fans climbed to over 2600 and over 5000 youtube subscribers. For the next video we asked for $2500, and exceeded our goal and got $5900. We're currently in production on that one, and will be our first shoot with a proper budget, which is nice. :-D



We have also been working our butts off in the marketing department. Attending conventions, (meeting people face to face makes a HUGE difference), supporting other kickstarter projects, re-blogging, retweeting OTHER people's work, networking as much as possible.
 
TheDingo said:
Erik,

Can you post links to your completed projects so we can make some "snarky" comments on your facebook page. :-)
Click to expand...

Yep! No problem, I love spamming links :-D What's funny is "snarky comments" is a phrase used by us a lot... Do you have us bugged? O_o

http://www.not-literally.com/
http://www.facebook.com/NotLiterally
http://www.youtube.com/user/notliterally <-- I recommend Hufflepuffs and Walk of Shame. We made Walk of Shame for $0, and we made Hufflepuffs for $600, which was a challenge. We had a very small amount of time at our rented locations so shooting was hectic.




I've been posting some Production Design stuff for our current project here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...er-Games-Parody-Production-Design-Thread-blog

and here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?292079-Screengrabs-from-Hunger-Games-parody-I-shot-today
 
Been working on a Kickstarter since late-July. Who knows if I'll make it, but planning, planning, planning, and more planning have taken what little time I can put into it. There's tons of way to look at it too that you may never even realize (or simply can't do) until you succeed. One particular concern I've had is in bringing individuals on board to a project with zero credibility, but then you must consider, does having a successful KS add credibility (Or at least sincerity)? Running a campaign to financial success - that is, simply raising the money before production really begins - shows a lot in itself in terms of leadership skills, work ethic, etc, so it has been something on my mind since day one. After all, who am I to cold call/email large companies asking for interviews, right? Well, as anyone here will tell you, that kind of determination is necessary, and so it continues, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't at least hope that the campaign itself will draw people in who previously ignored those emails.

Any thoughts on that, guys?
 
ErikTande said:
I've had a couple successful projects. I think having a previous body of work to show and a substantial existing fanbase (facebook fans, twitter followers, youtube subscribers, etc) will help a lot.

For example, we (not-literally.com) did a Harry Potter video with no budget that got a ton of views and landed us a lot of facebook fans (over 1000). We then asked for $500 to shoot our next video and got $600. We made that video and our facebook fans climbed to over 2600 and over 5000 youtube subscribers. For the next video we asked for $2500, and exceeded our goal and got $5900. We're currently in production on that one, and will be our first shoot with a proper budget, which is nice. :-D



We have also been working our butts off in the marketing department. Attending conventions, (meeting people face to face makes a HUGE difference), supporting other kickstarter projects, re-blogging, retweeting OTHER people's work, networking as much as possible.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this.

I think a lot of kickstarter movies fail because they ask for too much on their first projects. Your goal for raising $500 sounds like a great start.

Also gratz on raising $5900 for your current project.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top