Crowdfunding campaign launched and....it's not going well.

shadowstriker86

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Feb 12, 2009
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Ok so I've got this indiegogo campaign goin to finish this film i've been doin for the past year, thought it'd be easy to get a bunch of people to donate $1 a piece so i can finish it. Apparently not. 3 days, 352 views and 6$. Bought adspace for it on facebook, promo'd it on crunchyroll and reddit, now I'm kind of stuck as to where else to put it up at. Thoughts?
 

Batou667

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Sorry to sound cruel but if the view-to-pledge ratio is under 2% then either you don't have a very good product or else you're not "selling" it well enough.

A big aspect of Kickstarter is backer rewards. What are you offering people in return for their donation? A special mention in the credits? A free download of the movie? Early access?

If you've given it all this exposure already and it hasn't got people talking, then maybe that's the angle to attack next. Get word of mouth going. Build hype on social media. Get people discussing it - positively or negatively - on forums where appropriate (probably not The Escapist unless it's a gaming-related film, it would probably be seen as advertising).

Plan B is to fund it solo. Unfortunately that's the route a lot of film makers are going these days. A bit galling when you consider you'll probably be distributing it for free (who buys physical DVDs these days?) but if it gets attention it could lead onto more lucrative things.
 

shadowstriker86

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Batou667 said:
Sorry to sound cruel but if the view-to-pledge ratio is under 2% then either you don't have a very good product or else you're not "selling" it well enough.

A big aspect of Kickstarter is backer rewards. What are you offering people in return for their donation? A special mention in the credits? A free download of the movie? Early access?

If you've given it all this exposure already and it hasn't got people talking, then maybe that's the angle to attack next. Get word of mouth going. Build hype on social media. Get people discussing it - positively or negatively - on forums where appropriate (probably not The Escapist unless it's a gaming-related film, it would probably be seen as advertising).

Plan B is to fund it solo. Unfortunately that's the route a lot of film makers are going these days. A bit galling when you consider you'll probably be distributing it for free (who buys physical DVDs these days?) but if it gets attention it could lead onto more lucrative things.
Pretty much done all that and given some good perk incentives: collectors edition dvd's, limited signed posters, early access to both behind the scenes footage and to the film itself as well as photo's and nods to the people who donated. Put it on relevant forums as well as got some press coverage as well. Problem is that I'm kind of cursed. Whenever I do something "creative" like this, it never gets noticed. But say I do something like fix someones computer (either by software or installing some new tech) people can't help but call whenever they need a problem solved.
 

OneCatch

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shadowstriker86 said:
Problem is that I'm kind of cursed. Whenever I do something "creative" like this, it never gets noticed. But say I do something like fix someones computer (either by software or installing some new tech) people can't help but call whenever they need a problem solved.
I'm not sure this is a useful attitude to have. It's not a curse to not get noticed - most people aren't. Rather, you're lucky if you are.
Most of these kind of crowdfunding things don't work - you have to be right place, right time, right marketing strategy, and right product. Much of the stuff which has been kickstarted might well not have got hyped if it had happened six months earlier or later. To borrow an Americanism - it's a crapshoot.

I'm curious - could you post a link to the project up? Maybe we could give some constructive feedback if we knew exactly what it was. (That hopefully shouldn't get you mod wrath because you aren't promoting, I've asked for context to give you advice.)
 

shadowstriker86

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OneCatch said:
shadowstriker86 said:
Problem is that I'm kind of cursed. Whenever I do something "creative" like this, it never gets noticed. But say I do something like fix someones computer (either by software or installing some new tech) people can't help but call whenever they need a problem solved.
I'm not sure this is a useful attitude to have. It's not a curse to not get noticed - most people aren't. Rather, you're lucky if you are.
Most of these kind of crowdfunding things don't work - you have to be right place, right time, right marketing strategy, and right product. Much of the stuff which has been kickstarted might well not have got hyped if it had happened six months earlier or later. To borrow an Americanism - it's a crapshoot.

I'm curious - could you post a link to the project up? Maybe we could give some constructive feedback if we knew exactly what it was. (That hopefully shouldn't get you mod wrath because you aren't promoting, I've asked for context to give you advice.)
Sure thing http://igg.me/at/ironclad/x/8581788
 

SmugFrog

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Sep 4, 2008
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Do you have the rights to create this project? Part of what may be holding back investors is the curiosity of whether this project may be shut down with a cease and desist if you do not have approval from the creators of the intellectual property being used.

You mention that you and your friends have made many movies and love to do camera work; why isn't any of that shown on the page? What kind of acting ability can we expect? If you could show something from a smaller project you've put together it would help to gain interest in a larger project.
 

Secondhand Revenant

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Um that sounds like you spent more advertising than you got back... not that I know how much ad space costs but just saying. Beforehand maybe try to get support from people you know to spread the word etc. Because if you only got $6 it sounds like you didn't even get much support from friends etc
 

Illesdan

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I have to go with SmugFrog on this one. If you don't have the backing and well-wishes of the creators of Sword Art Online, you, at the very least, will be slapped with a 'cease and desist' order. At the worst, you'll get sued for much more than what money you've raised from crowdfunding.

I would abandon this idea if I were in your shoes. There is a reason Anime is animated, its because you can go totally over the top and everyone gets it because its a cartoon. Try to do a live-action version of an anime, and you're going to get laughed off as Power Ranger rip-offs. No, this has 'bad idea' written all over it.