Project Solicitation Station/Kickstarter HQ - You can ask for Invites, too!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Project Solicitation Station/Kickstarter HQ - You can ask for Invites, too!

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gohuskies: Oct 23, 2010; I spend a lot of time making posts to justify why I'm not a self centered shithead that just wants to act like COVID isn't a thing.

ufarn posted:

My humble suggestion is to include as low as a $1 tier, because people sometimes don't want to donate, if there isn't a tier low enough for it.

FWIW, one of the best practices of political fundraising is that $3 is the best "small donation" to offer. Small enough that people think "I can do that no sweat" but large enough that it actually adds up. They did testing of the range between $1 and $5 and found that a $3 ask raised the most money. Not sure if the best practice applies over to a Kickstarter, but food for thought.

# ? Apr 2, 2013 01:50

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# ? May 18, 2024 05:41

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

ufarn posted:

Start by making some image banners of the papers/news services that have quoted you below the video.

How about something like this for showing how widely I've been quoted. This is just some of the organisations

And how are these for pledge levels?

quote:

$3 Thanks for your support.

$10 Feature your name on a page of thanks.

$25 Feature your name and a link to your Twitter account, blog, or website at the top of the page of thanks.

$50 Have a blog post dedicated to you or an individual or organisation of your choice, including a link. 20 spots

$100 Have a blog post dedicated to you or an individual, including a banner, as well as a note of personal thanks sent from me to you. 20 spots

$250 Have a video blog dedicated to you or an organisation of your choice, with a dedication at the start and end of the video 20 spots

$1000 An executive producer credit on every video I produce, as well as a letter of personal thanks. 5 spots.

I'm also thinking of putting together a sample video blog for the Kickstarter as well, to give people an idea what to expect.

[edit]I've also redone the script for the video, changes highlighted in bold

quote:

I'm Eliot Higgins, also known as Brown Moses of the Brown Moses Blog.

For the past years I've been blogging about a number of subjects, but I'm best known for my work on the conflict in Syria and the UK phone hacking scandal. With this campaign I hope to raise enough money to take the blog from being a hobby I do in my spare time to a full-time job.

Recently you might have seen or heard me in a number of television and radio appearances, including CNN, Channel 4 News, and Dutch NOS TV, which came about after a profile of my work in the Guardian newspaper here in the UK. While these articles focused on my work on arms tracking in the Syrian conflict, in particular the use of cluster bombs and arrival of Croatian weapons in Syria, I've written on a variety of subjects, both in relation to the Syrian conflict and the UK phone hacking scandal.

What I think has made my blog so successful is my ability to gather information from a wide variety of sources, bring it together, and produce useful information about important news events that would have otherwise been overlooked. While CNN or the BBC might tell you about a base that was over run in part of Syria I can look at the videos coming from that event and tell you the weapon used, what was captured, and the significance of the event in the wider context of the conflict.

With Hackgate I've put together a series of articles on various aspects of the story, including a series of posts titled "Hackgate for Beginners", detailing some of the more complex ins and outs of the scandal, as well as having a regular blog contributor who regularly writes about the latest events while I'm busy with Syria.

With Syria I've not only documented the use of cluster bombs and arrival of Croatian weapons, but I've also covered other aspects of the conflict, including war crimes, sectarian violence, propaganda from both sides, the escalation air war, including the use of incendiary weapons and increasingly powerful bombs, as well as many other topics.

Aside from the work I do on my blog I also spend a lot of time talking to journalists, activists, and NGO members, and advising them on arms used in the conflict, something I feel helps create a deeper understanding of the conflict as it unfolds. Another part of my work has involved creating a database of cluster bomb use in Syria with Human Rights Watch, something that will eventually be made available to the public.

What I hope to do with this fund-raiser is collect enough money to dedicate myself to the blog full-time. This means more posts, deeper investigation, and hopefully a wider variety of topics. My work focuses on extracting useful information from the vast amount of information posted onto social media and other open source information, so focusing my efforts onto this full time with allow me to work through more of that information and produce more material.

Being able to focus my attention on the blog full-time will also allow me to start putting together video blogs making sense of the vast amount of information that's posted online in a format that's makes the most of the huge number of Youtube videos posted online everyday from Syria.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you are able to support my work now and in the future.

Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 11:15 on Apr 2, 2013

# ? Apr 2, 2013 10:54

ufarn: May 30, 2009

Brown Moses posted:

How about something like this for showing how widely I've been quoted. This is just some of the organisations

Exactly what I was thinking about.

Here are a couple of articles I've collected over the years on making Kickstarters:

* http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/shortening-the-maximum-project-length
* http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/trends-in-pricing-and-duration
* http://craigmod.com/journal/kickstartup/
* http://carlos.bueno.org/2012/03/rocking-kickstarter.html
* http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2088298 (academic paywall)

# ? Apr 2, 2013 13:15

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Here's my first draft for the Kickstarter:

quote:

The Blog

I started the Brown Moses Blog one year ago really for my own entertainment, writing about topics I found interesting, and about those little bits of information the mainstream media always seemed to miss. As I kept writing I gained more and more followers, and started to collect more and more important information on the topics I focused on. Soon I was writing guides to the UK phone hacking scandal, uncovering the use of cluster bombs in Syria, and uncovering a wide range of information that would have otherwise been overlooked by the traditional media using a variety of online sources.

The Brown Moses Blog has now become a highly respected source of information on both the UK phone hacking scandal and the conflict in Syria, with the following being just some of the news organisations that have mentioned me and my work

But you don't just have to take my word for it, here's some quotes about my work from the world of Hackgate, the Arab Spring, and social media

quote:
There is no finer citizen journalist than Brown Moses. Attention to detail, a flair for collaborative investigation and a passion for news drive this site. I'm a regular reader.
- Tom Watson MP

quote:
Brown Moses is among the best out there when it comes to weapons monitoring in Syria. He'd be the first to admit that he is obsessive compulsive in his attention to details. He gets his facts right, and has become an indispensable resource.
- Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch's emergencies director

quote:
Brown Moses is the kind of blogger who gave bloggers a good name - dedicated, persistent and accurate. There is important information which has reached the public domain only because of his extraordinary efforts
- Nick Davies, Guardian journalist and author of Flat Earth News

quote:
Eliot Higgins' Brown Moses blog has become an essential resource for my reporting of the Syria crisis. Over the past year, Eliot's dogged commitment to filtering social media coming out of Syria has led to a string of exclusive stories that any reporter would be proud of. Until recently, Eliot was journalism's best kept secret. His work is invaluable and deserves to be supported so that it can remain in the public domain and freely available to all.
- Stuart Hughes, Senior Producer, BBC News

quote:
What Brown Moses has managed to achieve is extraordinary. When people speak of a free press, they should use his example. In the tradition of the 18th Century pamphleteers, it's as if one guy on a laptop has managed to create his own news channel or newspaper. On two crucial issues of our time, the Syrian civil war and the hacking scandal on Fleet St, his site became a go-to place for other journalists in search of insight. On a story I know well - the labyrinthine investigations around News International - he's a fast and reliable source of stories you often won't get in the mainstream press.

Trusted by some well informed sources, Brown Moses still keeps his objectivity. He may not be neutral - after all you can't be neutral over whether facts matter or not - but he's always fair and impartial, separating news and from comment, and keeping comment free from wild speculation.
- Peter Jukes, journalist, writer, author of The Fall of the House of Murdoch

quote:
As I very much have a layman�s view of military affairs, I am happy a blogger like Brown Moses has the knowledge to put the flow of arms to Syria in the right perspective.
- Jenan Moussa, Reporter for Arabic Al Aan TV, Dubai

quote:
Eliot provides an incredibly valuable complimentary service for human rights investigators like Amnesty International and journalists researching the use and misuse of weapons. In the last Amnesty International report on Syria we referenced Eliots work highlighting the use of ballistic missiles against civilian areas - the Syrian authorities� actually denied using such missiles, so it was good to have Eliot's documentation to help counter that. His monitoring of dozens of YouTube channels from activists, armed groups and Pro government elements is extremely labour intensive so he should be commended for his diligence and eagle eye.
- Krisytan Benedict, Campaigns Manager, Amnesty International UK

Why Kickstarter?

The Brown Moses Blog is something I've always done in the spare time I get between work and looking after my daughter. Usually I get a few hours each evening to sit down and really focus on the blog, and a big part of that looking through around 450 Youtube channels belonging to activists, civilians, and armed groups in Syria looking for anything that stands out.

What I'm hoping to do with this Kickstarter is to turn the Brown Moses Blog into a full-time job rather than a part-time hobby. Being able to spend my entire day working on the blog will mean more information gathered from a variety of sources and more posts on the blog, giving a deeper insight into the subjects I cover on my blog.

As a result my second goal is to begin producing regular videos exploring different aspects of the Syrian conflict, using my vast archive of videos to put together informative videos, along the lines of this interview I did with ITN's Truthloader

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHFOs-s4bho

The fund-raising target I've set is enough to keep me blogging full-time for the next six months, with money raised beyond that allowing me to blog for longer, purchase better equipment and software to work with, and to take advantage of offers and invitations my current budget prevents me from taking up.

Who am I?

In recent weeks there's been a spate of articles about me and my work, so here's a selection of those articles for those of you who want to know more about me

Guardian - How Brown Moses exposed Syrian arms trafficking from his front room

Channel 4 News - Brown Moses: the British blogger tracking Syrian arms

CNN - In his living room, blogger traces arms trafficking to Syria

Deutsche Welle � Interview with Eliot Higgins

Here's some articles in languages other than English

NOS TV - Britse blogger stort zich op Syrische wapenhandel (Dutch)

Radio Netherlands Worldwide � Brown Moses � A Reliable Source Of Information On The Weapons In Syria (Arabic)

Sky Italia - Siria, il blogger che racconta il lato oscuro della guerra (Italian)

Vercernji List - Kako sam otkrio da Hrvati šalju oru�je u Siriju (Croatian)

I've also got a couple more quotes on the way, including Andy Carvin, so that should give a good range of people. Any suggestions?

# ? Apr 2, 2013 13:46

ufarn: May 30, 2009

I guess you could include some of Jay Rosen's tweets for journalistic klout.

Maybe you could include some of them in your promo video as well.

# ? Apr 2, 2013 13:54

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

Brown Moses posted:

And how are these for pledge levels?

I would change the your wording of the executive producer credit. I would put a time limit on it (through the end of 2014?). This lets you go back to the well if you need to later on.

quote:

I'm also thinking of putting together a sample video blog for the Kickstarter as well, to give people an idea what to expect.

This is great if you can pull it off with a lot of polish. If you can't pull that off, then it's best to show nothing and let the audience imagine how it will look (better in their heads for sure). So a DSLR, a few lights, and a nice looking location. The same goes for your pitch video: people will absolutely close the browser if they see shaky handheld cellphone cam footage.

# ? Apr 2, 2013 18:22

ufarn: May 30, 2009

I would include a reminder in the lowest pledge tier that you also get access to backers-only updates.

I often pledge $1 just to know I contributed, and I still get a tangible reward in the shape of backers-only updates.

# ? Apr 2, 2013 18:37

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

I would change the your wording of the executive producer credit. I would put a time limit on it (through the end of 2014?). This lets you go back to the well if you need to later on.

Good thinking, I expect there to be a few changes in the next 6 months.

quote:

This is great if you can pull it off with a lot of polish. If you can't pull that off, then it's best to show nothing and let the audience imagine how it will look (better in their heads for sure). So a DSLR, a few lights, and a nice looking location. The same goes for your pitch video: people will absolutely close the browser if they see shaky handheld cellphone cam footage.

Well the Truthloader gives an idea of what I'd be going for. Because I've got such a big archive of clips I can easily put together a video that's all clips with narration, so no need to worry about it for that.

With the Kickstarter video all I've got is a HD camcorder, and will probably just film it at my kitchen table with videos edited over the top. If that just looks poo poo should I just abandon the Kickstarter video and focus on the rest?

ufarn posted:

I would include a reminder in the lowest pledge tier that you also get access to backers-only updates.

I often pledge $1 just to know I contributed, and I still get a tangible reward in the shape of backers-only updates.

That's a good idea. I've updated the pledge lvels

quote:

$3 Access to Kickstarter backer updates.

$10 Feature your name on a page of thanks.

$25 Feature your name and a link to your Twitter account, blog, or website at the top of the page of thanks.

$50 Have a blog post dedicated to you or an individual or organisation of your choice, including a link. I reserve the right to exclude offensive organisations or individuals 20 spots

$100 Have a blog post dedicated to you or an individual, including a banner, as well as a note of personal thanks sent from me to you. I reserve the right to exclude offensive organisations or individuals 20 spots

$250 Have a video blog dedicated to you or an organisation of your choice, with a dedication at the start and end of the video. I reserve the right to exclude offensive organisations or individuals. 20 spots

$1000 An executive producer credit on every video I produce until the end of 2013, as well as a letter of personal thanks. I reserve the right to exclude offensive organisations or individuals. 5 spots.

Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Apr 2, 2013

# ? Apr 2, 2013 18:49

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

Brown Moses posted:

With the Kickstarter video all I've got is a HD camcorder, and will probably just film it at my kitchen table with videos edited over the top. If that just looks poo poo should I just abandon the Kickstarter video and focus on the rest?

The video is the most important part of your pitch. You can't spend too much time and effort on it. If you can't get good results, hire someone to make it for you. Your first concern is getting eyes on your campaign. Your second concern is getting them to convert to donors. Nothing accomplishes that like a polished video where you connect with your audience and get them to feel like they're a part of your project.

# ? Apr 2, 2013 20:00

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

The video is the most important part of your pitch. You can't spend too much time and effort on it. If you can't get good results, hire someone to make it for you. Your first concern is getting eyes on your campaign. Your second concern is getting them to convert to donors. Nothing accomplishes that like a polished video where you connect with your audience and get them to feel like they're a part of your project.

I'll see if any of the various film-makers I know are willing to do it for expenses and food.

# ? Apr 2, 2013 20:19

Twisted Perspective: Sep 15, 2005; I've come to see you...

Brown Moses posted:

I'll see if any of the various film-makers I know are willing to do it for expenses and food.

This is a little nit-pick but I'd put the quote from Amnesty International first. They're the guys with the biggest clout and you've got them listed last.

# ? Apr 3, 2013 00:16

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

I've bumped him up, I'll leave Tom Watson at the top as he's probably the most well known individual, and I want CBRNe World at the top to get the attention of industry types. Here's a preview of what I have so far
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1278239551/219840965?token=6237fc8e

[edit] I've managed to get the help of a experienced professional for the video, so I've got pretty much everything I need in that regard.

Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Apr 3, 2013

# ? Apr 3, 2013 11:24

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

Brown Moses posted:

I've bumped him up, I'll leave Tom Watson at the top as he's probably the most well known individual, and I want CBRNe World at the top to get the attention of industry types. Here's a preview of what I have so far
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1278239551/219840965?token=6237fc8e

I've never been a fan of your avatar on these forums. I reallllly hate the cropped version on KS. I can't explain why, but it makes me queasy.

Along the same lines, put some serious thought into what your KS icon will be when it's displayed in a grid of other projects. Some folks won't even read the title and short blurb of the project if the icon doesn't grab them. For people browsing the site, it's your first chance to bring them in. For physical products, you want it to be a sexy product shot. For films, it should be an image that is evocative of the film. If there was a way to sum up your whole project in a 300x200 pixel frame (or whatever it is), what would it be?

Finally, it might be worthwhile to contact other KS campaigns that deal with your topic and see if their donators might also be interested in your project.

[edit] I've managed to get the help of a experienced professional for the video, so I've got pretty much everything I need in that regard.
[/quote]

That is fantastic news.

# ? Apr 3, 2013 18:46

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

I'll find some alternative icons. I basically got an infinite amount of images of war from Syria, so I'm sure I can find some appealing ones.

I've also been asked to head a meeting about the situation in Syria at the BBC on Monday just before they do my video, so that gives me even more of a chance to get the Kickstarter publicity.

# ? Apr 3, 2013 19:02

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

I'm using this image now

Which looks like this in the preview

Seems interesting to me, but then I'm interested in green tubes of all sorts.

# ? Apr 3, 2013 19:52

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

If I'm setting up a Paypal account for this Kickstarter should I use the personal or business account?

# ? Apr 3, 2013 20:05

ufarn: May 30, 2009

Brown Moses posted:

If I'm setting up a Paypal account for this Kickstarter should I use the personal or business account?

Be careful with that stuff. You may as well give them a call to talk about it, since PayPal have been known to shut off accounts that receive a surge of donations.

EDIT: Looking at the draft page (which needs some commas and colons, I think), the quotes don't work very well as-is, I think. Perhaps you could include them as some slightly better-looking images, which would allow you to do something more interesting with their appearance?

EDIT: I've created a rough draft that you can use to enter your text. After that, you press RUN, and the text gets formatted in a fancy way, which you can then take a screenshot of. You can tweak the CSS to your own liking, if you want.

http://jsfiddle.net/8tBxL/15/

ufarn fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Apr 3, 2013

# ? Apr 3, 2013 20:29

ufarn: May 30, 2009

Hell, it probably is worth a second post, so BM and everyone else see it and don't try to make their own graphic: http://jsfiddle.net/8tBxL/15/.

ufarn fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Apr 3, 2013

# ? Apr 3, 2013 21:37

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

ufarn posted:

Hell, it probably is worth a second post, so BM and everyone else see it and don't try to make their own graphic: http://jsfiddle.net/8tBxL/15/.

That's really fantastic, thanks.

# ? Apr 3, 2013 21:44

Twisted Perspective: Sep 15, 2005; I've come to see you...

ufarn posted:

Hell, it probably is worth a second post, so BM and everyone else see it and don't try to make their own graphic: http://jsfiddle.net/8tBxL/15/.

This is amazing and I don't even need it.

# ? Apr 4, 2013 04:11

ufarn: May 30, 2009

Twisted Perspective posted:

This is amazing and I don't even need it.

Thanks.

I guess everyone with a project requiring testimonials of any sort can now benefit from it.

# ? Apr 4, 2013 11:56

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

ufarn posted:

Thanks.

I guess everyone with a project requiring testimonials of any sort can now benefit from it.

Yep, just updated it with those quotes and now it looks awesome

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1278239551/219840965?token=6237fc8e

# ? Apr 4, 2013 17:32

ufarn: May 30, 2009

Brown Moses posted:

Yep, just updated it with those quotes and now it looks awesome

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1278239551/219840965?token=6237fc8e

Yay!

Much better.

# ? Apr 4, 2013 17:42

Earth vs Gamera: Sep 16, 2009

I've started a new project, a horror/musical inspired by 70s and 80s grindhouse cinema. I've been an independent filmmaker for years and have assembled a great crew for this project. Plus, our casting director has been in touch with some really good names to help this movie sell. Check it out for more info. Feedback is always great, too.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1344561985/house-of-the-blood-sisters

# ? Apr 5, 2013 00:23

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Brown Moses posted:

Yep, just updated it with those quotes and now it looks awesome

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1278239551/219840965?token=6237fc8e

Something up? I can't access the KickStarter.

# ? Apr 5, 2013 03:33

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

BonoMan posted:

Something up? I can't access the KickStarter.

A journalist put the preview link in an article he wrote, so I've had to disable it.

I should get some great coverage, the NYT's Lede blog will be covering it.

[edit] Okay, he took the link down
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1278239551/219840965?token=8b106797

Just the video to go now, unless there's more suggestions to improve the Kickstarter?

Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 09:01 on Apr 5, 2013

# ? Apr 5, 2013 08:42

ufarn: May 30, 2009

It needs some commas here and there. More important, the short description doesn't say anything about the project for people who aren't familiar with your work; it's basically "donate to Brown Moses's Brown Moses blog, because Brown Moses".

Emphasize the journalistic aspect, and how this is something novel and unique instead. "Hell one humble blogger prove that an independent journalist can make a big difference" - or something, maybe.

I would also add something like "project description in a tweet" in 80-100 characters, in case people want to tweet about your project.

# ? Apr 5, 2013 10:26

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

How about "Making sure an independent blogger stays independent and producing more great work."

# ? Apr 5, 2013 17:47

ufarn: May 30, 2009

Brown Moses posted:

How about "Making sure an independent blogger stays independent and producing more great work."

"Help an independent blogger with a proven record produce more investigative work, and stay independent." or something like that?

Has the benefit of

* Giving people the impression of helping out and "saving journalism" - people on Kickstarter love being saviours
* Reinforcing your credentials - you're not some schlep with a Kickstarter
* Specifying your area of work and expertise

ufarn fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Apr 5, 2013

# ? Apr 5, 2013 17:58

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Yeah, that sounds much more enticing. Writing this has also made me realise I'm loving useless with commas. I've thrown some in where I think they should be, but god knows. Maybe my first stretch goal should be a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Visiting the new BBC building on Monday to record my video. Once that's done I should be good to go, even got The Lede saying they'll post an interview with me about the Kickstarter the day it's released, can't ask for more than that.

Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Apr 5, 2013

# ? Apr 5, 2013 18:04

ufarn: May 30, 2009

Pretty sure the quality of writing by many journalists out there is airbrushed by the saintly editors working there.

I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas Friedman wrote his columns in crayon.

# ? Apr 5, 2013 18:15

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Here's the script for the video, trying to keep it short and to the main points

quote:

I'm Eliot Higgins, also known as Brown Moses of the Brown Moses Blog.

You may have only just heard about my blog recently, but for the past year I've been writing about both the UK phone hacking scandal and the Arab Spring, in particular Syria.

When I started the Brown Moses Blog I had no idea that it would become the trusted source of information it's now become, and with this Kickstarter I hope to take my work even further.

For me the blog has become a way to document things that have otherwise been overlooked by the mainstream media, and this had led to me uncovering stories that might have otherwise been missed, including recently the supply of weapons purchased from Croatia to the Syrian opposition by the Saudis, a story of international significance.

I've also written extensively on the UK phone hacking scandal, and many areas of the Syrian conflict, including the escalation in the conflict on both sides, as well as being the first person to identify and write about the use of cluster bombs in Syria.

With the money raised from this Kickstarter I hope to turn the blog into a full-time career. This means more time to investigate stories, more content on the blog, and a new series of videos explaining different aspects of the Syrian conflict.

So far I'm aiming for enough money for six months of full-time work on the blog, but more money means I can purchase better tools for my research, work full-time on the blog for longer, and produce even more content.

Thanks for your time, and I hope you can support the Brown Moses Blog now and in the future.

# ? Apr 5, 2013 19:21

ufarn: May 30, 2009

Remember to embed or add a link to the transcript for people who won't be able to play or hear the audio.

# ? Apr 5, 2013 19:24

CaptainViolence: Apr 19, 2006; I'M GONNA GET YOU DUCK

My first Kickstarter of my own is live!

How We Sung the Blues is a short film in which a wedding acts as a catalyst for a young man's reconciliation with the past.

I'd love to hear any thoughts on improving the campaign and any general advice. I've been following the thread for quite a while, so I know how invaluable everyone's guidance can be (especially Jalumibnkrayal).

CaptainViolence fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Apr 7, 2013

# ? Apr 6, 2013 21:06

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

CaptainViolence posted:

I'd love to hear any thoughts on improving the campaign

Linking the campaign is a pretty good start.

The video looks and sounds excellent. You explain the project and what the funding is for. I think the goal amount is humble and realistic. A 20 day campaign is risky and I like it. The middle portion of a campaign is basically a waste of time anyway, so why not condense it?

But some things did stick out to me. In your video it sounded like you introduced yourself by a different first name than your KS account and the name on the script. I thought maybe the person in the video was your twin brother. Not a big deal obviously, but it distracted me from the early parts of your pitch. Also, I was hoping to see a wedding invitation as a reward, but I don't know how much those cost to produce.

In the end I think the major hurdle is that it's a dramatic short film. That's probably the toughest nut to crack when it comes to film fundraising. They're everywhere and they don't feed into any one niche. You've got a Montana-centric production, so if you can leverage that into more support I think you've got a shot.

Do you have a marketing plan for driving more traffic to the KS page?

# ? Apr 7, 2013 05:24

CaptainViolence: Apr 19, 2006; I'M GONNA GET YOU DUCK

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

Linking the campaign is a pretty good start.

I forgot that timg tags kill links. Fixed now!

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

The video looks and sounds excellent. You explain the project and what the funding is for. I think the goal amount is humble and realistic. A 20 day campaign is risky and I like it. The middle portion of a campaign is basically a waste of time anyway, so why not condense it?

Definitely why we went that direction, good to hear that we're not crazy!

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

But some things did stick out to me. In your video it sounded like you introduced yourself by a different first name than your KS account and the name on the script. I thought maybe the person in the video was your twin brother. Not a big deal obviously, but it distracted me from the early parts of your pitch. Also, I was hoping to see a wedding invitation as a reward, but I don't know how much those cost to produce.

I'm definitely going to bring the name thing up to the director again (I'm the cinematographer/producer). Him using two different names was borne of an IMDb issue* that got resolved just before we shot the video, and I wanted to just make it all consistent to avoid this kind of confusion exactly. Plus wedding invitations are a good idea, I'll bring that up too.

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

In the end I think the major hurdle is that it's a dramatic short film. That's probably the toughest nut to crack when it comes to film fundraising. They're everywhere and they don't feed into any one niche. You've got a Montana-centric production, so if you can leverage that into more support I think you've got a shot.

Do you have a marketing plan for driving more traffic to the KS page?

Yeah, dramatic short films are so prevalent (and not always well done) so that's definitely why we decided to work the Montana angle a little more.

Most of our marketing right now is getting the word out via interviews and posters in the surrounding communities that will play up the Montana-made angle that people around here seem to love. We've also been getting our friends to post about it on Facebook, but there's always KS stuff going on over Facebook so we're definitely not counting on that to do too much.

Is there anything else we should look at doing? Most of the Kickstarters I've been involved with previously weren't big on the marketing aspect, so it's something I know really helps but don't have much experience doing and I'm just sort of diving into it.

Thanks so much for the feedback!

*he was sharing an IMDb page with a porn star for a while so he started going by his middle name to avoid confusion

# ? Apr 7, 2013 19:56

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

Brown Moses posted:

I was hoping for some advice on a crowd-funding campaign I plan to start soon. Bit of back-story first:

You launched on Indiegogo with flex funding?! Egads, what happened? KS have a problem with your campaign?

# ? Apr 16, 2013 18:01

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Yes, Kickstarter rejected it, but I've raised over �1000 of my �6000 target in the first two hours, so it's their loss.

# ? Apr 16, 2013 18:04

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

Brown Moses posted:

Yes, Kickstarter rejected it, but I've raised over �1000 of my �6000 target in the first two hours, so it's their loss.

Your earning potential on a flex funding IG campaign is massively reduced. I'm not hopeful you'll even be able to reach your modest goal. Oh well. I guess you still have that $5k promised donation coming in, so you'll be very very close to meeting your goal when that lands. Good luck.

# ? Apr 16, 2013 20:37

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# ? May 18, 2024 05:41

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Yeah, it sucks, I'm hoping to sell some of the advertising slots I've got at the top level, already sold some advertising before now, so hopefully that'll be attractive to some companies. I've also got The Lede blog on the NYT and Canada's Globe and Post publishing an interview about me and the fundraiser in the next day or two.

Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Apr 16, 2013

# ? Apr 16, 2013 20:42

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Project Solicitation Station/Kickstarter HQ - You can ask for Invites, too!

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