AaronChicago Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I wanted to see what you guys thought about crowd sourcing for a short film. Is it a dick move, or is it acceptable? I got permission from an artist to use a soundtrack that was unused in a motion picture and it inspired me to write a short story. I'm looking to raise less than $5,000. Strictly for wardrobe, actors, sound guy. I don't know what to offer in the way of rewards other than the film will be free and possibly being an extra in the film.For strangers to donate I figure there has to be a hook, and the hook is I'm laying out the soundtrack first - before writing/shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Crowdsourcing is not the same as crowdfunding. Nothing wrong with either of them, you are not forcing anyone to pay or participate.I don't think it's easy to crowdfund a short film though. There is a lot of competition, you'll need to get your project in the spotlights. I think you won't succeed if you can't show anything. You should have a teaser/trailer or some previous work/films at least and it better be damn good... If the mentioned soundtrack is made by someone like Hans Zimmer you'll probably get away without showing anything. If it's someone nobody really knows, I wouldn't expect people to have much interest in it...Have a look at Kickstarter Movie projects. Plenty of examples that worked out great or didn't work at all. In most cases it's clear why it did work or didn't work.It might be easier to crowd source it. Look for a sponsor for your wardrobe, find some student actors / sound guy that want to work on their portfolio. Or 'pay' it yourself by doing some work for them in return. AaronChicago and Cinegain 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronChicago Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 Yeah so I did mean Crowdfund, but Crowdsource would work as well. I'm not worried too much about failing to raise the money. If it fails, it fails. I just wanted to get an idea of whether or not it was a dick move. I guess it's not if there are many out there.Is Kickstarter a better option that GoFundMe in your opinion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I have no idea which one is better. I hear a lot of people complain about Kickstarter because of the money they take. But I think it has a bigger reach.Either way, no crowdfunding project is going to succeed without getting some attention on external websites or without going viral. People won't just go to Kickstarter and search for a random short movie to spend their money on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronChicago Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 People won't just go to Kickstarter and search for a random short movie to spend their money on.I hope to make enough money one day to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Plagaro Mussard Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 The people who will support your short will probably be your family and friends, you could start with them. I don't see people giving money to others to make films, unless there is some serious return. Not with you or me, but neither with famous directors! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronChicago Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 The people who will support your short will probably be your family and friends, you could start with them. I don't see people giving money to others to make films, unless there is some serious return. Not with you or me, but neither with famous directors!It works with music. I don't see why it wouldn't work in small scale with film. With music it's like you're fronting the $10 cost of the album. If people donate $5 here and there it's like they're paying for the film "On Demand". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zak Forsman Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I crowdfunded a feature on Kickstarter a couple years ago. You'd be surprised what happens when your project gains traction. I'd say i personally knew about half our backers before the campaign started, and had met in person even fewer. We even had two backers that gave $5000 each. One was a complete stranger to me that was browsing Kickstarter looking for movies that offered executive producer credits. The other was a screenwriting student of a friend of a friend. Our goal was $30,000 and we hit that a week before the deadline. The campaign ended at about $38,000, plus I had raised another $10,000 from people who didn't feel comfortable using Kickstarter and preferred to cut a check.I wrote this article for Filmmaker Magazine detailing everything I learned about the process. Hopefully it's useful to you.http://filmmakermagazine.com/32284-the-microbudget-conversation-down-and-dangerous/ Julian and sanveer 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronChicago Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 I crowdfunded a feature on Kickstarter a couple years ago. You'd be surprised what happens when your project gains traction. I'd say i personally knew about half our backers before the campaign started, and had met in person even fewer. We even had two backers that gave $5000 each. One was a complete stranger to me that was browsing Kickstarter looking for movies that offered executive producer credits. The other was a screenwriting student of a friend of a friend. Our goal was $30,000 and we hit that a week before the deadline. The campaign ended at about $38,000, plus I had raised another $10,000 from people who didn't feel comfortable using Kickstarter and preferred to cut a check.I wrote this article for Filmmaker Magazine detailing everything I learned about the process. Hopefully it's useful to you.http://filmmakermagazine.com/32284-the-microbudget-conversation-down-and-dangerous/Thanks Zak, that's inspiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonesx24 Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Old, but good.http://coffeeandcelluloid.com/2010/05/my-kickstarter-experience-the-good-bad-and-ugly/My girlfriend raised about $6500 for a short film script she wrote. She had no previous experience or anything else to show. Her key to success was two-fold: identifying a unmet need in a niche topic of interest and spending 8hrs a day on Facebook or similar building an audience in that niche. sanveer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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