Crowdsourcing has been a strong choice for funding projects around the world for many years. Small to large companies, charities, organisations and individuals are able to acquire funding for projects via donations, which has led to ideas that may never usually get to see the light of day form into life changing events, artistic collaborations or even hit films.
With the ever increasing and availability of new, digital technology, vast amounts of talented filmmakers are trying to get their work created and distributed to as many people as possible and although investing into this new technology may be cheaper than hiring or buying traditional filmmaking equipment, other sections of the project may be too expensive to fund by a small amount of people alone. This is where crowdsourcing comes into play and has grown ever popular within the film industry, especially for independant filmmakers alike.
Crowdsourcing however is so much more than just acquiring a budget for free, from people you may or may not have ever met. It's about a group of people coming together, to form a community, who are all interested in creating a project that they can feel linked to or apart of, knowing that without them it could not have been completed. Especially within film, it's seeing the final project on a big screen and the sense of accomplishment that they were involved.
From a filmmakers perspective, it's in about confirming an audience and a fan base during the pre-production stages, before any part of the film itself has been shot. If the story and the project are both strong enough, people will be willing to put forward small or even large amounts of money if they feel the production can reach a certain level or standard. To accompany this, various websites have been setup to help the fund acquiring process at lot easier, allowing filmmakers to obtain a budget online without turning it into a money making scam, thus in turn protecting the investors.
The most notorious and widely used crowdsourcing sites are IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. Both websites run with similar attributes in mind and as mentioned earlier, they both have security measures in place to ensure the utmost safety of the investors contributions. The way these sites work is pretty simple. It starts by creating a page for your project, where you explain in full detail the proposed ideas and outcomes, who is involved, why you require funding and how the project will be undertaken. As this is the internet, it's also usually accompanied by a video, helping the contributors meet the project starter and any other people who are involved, as well as allowing you to explain in more detail what the project entails. You set the amount you hope to raise and the amount of time the sponsor page is running for, as well as reward levels.
Reward levels act as a way of saying thank you to your contributors. By setting these milestones, you agree that for whatever amount of money is donated, that contributor is rewarded with a gift that is related to that particular project. For instance, if someone was to donate £10 to your fund, they would be rewarded with a personalised thank you letter for their donation, yet if someone were to donate £30, the would be rewarded with all gifts from the lower donation levels, as well as higher rated gifts such as a copy of the film on Blu-Ray or DVD and a producers or special thank you credit on the finished film.
It's a tricky method however, convincing people to part with their hard earned money in order to fund a project created by a person they do not know. Your project needs to be strong enough and you need to show you have the correct drive and determination to create something that has the opportunity to go further than just an internet web page where it may receive a couple hundred views. This is why this project, to me, is something that I want to take further than just a university project. Something that can be appreciated by many people, especially by the people who hopefully agree to back my project and make it possible.
I have recently contacted Ryan Koo, who for many years now has run a website called NoFilmSchool. Within the past few months, he has released details of and upcoming project known as 'Man-Child' and by posting a Kickstarter project, hopes to raise and fund his film venture. The project was successfully funded on September 23rd and raised a total of $125,100 ($10,100 more than he initially hoped to raise). Granted, because of the successful website he owns and runs, this may have given him the scope and credibility to fund a project of this stature, but taking key points from his project it's clear to see that his pitch, passion and determination to complete and create this project enabled him to reach his desired funding limit, but also exceed this limit. Ryan (or Koo as he is more widely known) has agreed to participate in an online email interview regarding his crowdsourcing pitch, which hopefully will inspire me to incorporate some of the strengths within my pitch.
Watch this space...
- Adam
Useful links:
IndieGoGo
Kickstarter
NoFilmSchool
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