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crowd funding
  • peternappeternap

    I've been doing videos for years, photography since 72, but always under contract. I've been gathering footage for my first indie Doc. For 3 years and I'm about to put it together. I've been reading about crowd funding but to be honest, I'm at the age where a lot of the industry is difficult to understand.

    First question is, what do the contributors expect to receive. Second, has anyone here used crowd funding. Thanks in advance.

  • 10 Replies sorted by
  • MckiniseMckinise

    Many people assume you can just put up a project and the masses will flow to it. That is typically untrue. There are so many projects now that it is possible to have a project launch and end without many of your potential donors ever seeing it.

    These days you have to do most of your work before the project even begins. You must seek out the people who will be interested in what you are building and get them to be the vehicles that deliver your message to the masses.

    If you are able to empower 10 users to bring one person to the table and each of those people donated $10 you have $200 to begin your campaign. Not a lot, but think larger. What if you could reach out to 100 people that you know are passionate about your project? And what if each of those people brought at least one other person?

    The most popular donation is $25. What can you offer that is so compelling that your passionate partners will jump to lend you a hand financially and more importantly, though recruitment?

    There is no one answer as to what they want. It is all dependent upon what you are building and what your audience would like to take away from it.

  • peternappeternap

    Thanks! That pretty much covers it. I've already paid most of it and the rest like distribution is still being considered. I'll get it finished first, then worry, about the rest.

  • DrDaveDrDave

    I've done several of these and you just never know what you will raise. Most of the donors want something like a clip, a perk, a backstage pass, but you really never know. There's a bunch of stats that you can look at which will tell you to aim for $8,000--that's not enough for a film, obviously, and there are some people who pulled in a lot more. You will need a short pitch vid that is compelling.

  • jleojleo

    Crowdfunding Bible/ Free download

    http://www.crowdfundingguides.com

    Funds from the Madding Crowd: Raising Money through the Internet

    http://www.documentary.org/feature/funds-madding-crowd-raising-money-through-internet

    Forbes: Crowdfund Secrets From An Expert../

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2014/04/25/crowdfund-secrets-from-an-expert-who-raised-1-5m-in-6-consecutive-campaigns/

  • peternappeternap

    Thanks guys, it's helpful.

  • DrDaveDrDave

    I advise weighting against most online advice. The platform has progressed to the point where there is a sea of open mouths begging for crumbs; therefore, you have to do something different to be noticed. Reading through a few hundred projects will certainly give you some ideas. One thing that stands out is the subscriber base, if you have 20,000 subscribers, followers, whatever on the combined networking platforms, you have some room to branch. What Mckinise says above is really true, but if you can build your subscriber list to critical mass, that's another ballgame.

  • alcomposeralcomposer

    Crowd funding for technology gadgets works fantastically. It is the nature of the beast. Hipsters sitting at their laptops cashed up after all the money saved from not buying razer blades love supporting the newest tech fad. Most of the time the only way you can get the new 'thing you wave your hands in-front-of' is to make a pledge and get the product in return.

    Art is totally a no-go for these platforms. As you have to offer additional services to people that make pledges. This takes time and money from your already bad bank account- which is the reason why you are doing this at all.

    Thought experiment 1:

    roboCAT: superCats brings you the new robotic cat ball: roboCAT with brush-less gyroscopic ball momentum- programmable with the free superCats app. Users can program their own unique cat entertainment routines, or allow machine learning to learn your cats unique play style. Support our project by pledging $150. Your support will allow us to get a Chinese company to mass produce 500 units- complete with PCB - Gyro - Wifi - and 3D Printed physically modeled enclosure. You will receive one of the FRIST roboCAT's as our way of saying thankyou.

    Thought experiment 2:

    Cats Life Documentary: superCats brings you a new film about life from your cats perspective. We will be attaching GOPRO's to 1000's of hosehold cats and collating this into a film. We need support to purchase GOPRO's, Hard-drives for all the gopro footage, blu-ray disks etc. We also want to make the film available for purchase online for $5. Any pledge greater than $150 will receive a signed Blu-ray collector package- with bonus footage, and a one-on-one meeting with the director of Cats Life, free Cats Life toilet paper, and free cats life paw warmers.

    You tell me what project you want to work on.

  • babypandababypanda

    i just stumbled on a film on youtube that had a kickstarter campaign so here it is in case you're interested. not sure how much he raised. the quote below the video mentions the perks you get for supporting the film. and he has over 42 000 subscribers on his youtube channel. not sure if he's a well-known filmmaker and he had done previous work.

    I'm making a documentary about Sriracha! And you can be the first to see it, plus get your name in the credits, by supporting the production!

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Someone made successful crowdfunding company?

  • MorningManiacMorningManiac

    The Sriracha docu was made by Griffin Hammond who used to run the Indy Mogul youtube channel (a channel aimed at beginning and indy filmmakers). He explained all about his documentary and the kickstarter campaign on the channel, which ensured that a lot of his subscribers put some $$ in.

    From memory I think he mentioned that the key to his success was to build a following first, and then start crowd funding. This makes sense. I see a lot of people I have never heard of asking for money, if their idea is amazing then I may put some money in but otherwise I will not. If it's someone I feel I know and like and I have confidence in his/her abilities to pull it off then I far more likely to contribute.

    Another reason that Griffin Hammond was successful is that apparently the topic (Sriracha) has quite a large following. So when he got the word out about his plans, he attracted some money there too.

    Anyway, he documented the whole process on youtube, it's well worth checking out if you want to start a crowd funding campaign.

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