Aspiring Filmmakers and Bill Watterson
I think this project is really interesting:
Dear Mr. Watterson
An independent filmmaker wanted to make a film about the impact that the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" had on his own life, as well as on the lives of so many others. He set out to make a documentary film about the strip, by compiling people's stories about how the strip affected them. The documentary is meant to serve as dedication and thanks to the strip's author, Bill Watterson.
The interesting thing is that the film is being funded by people "pledging" whatever money they can afford to contribute to the film's budget. If you pledge $35, for example, you'll get a DVD copy of the film. Pledge $125, they'll include you in the film, either through a photograph or something else you produced. If you pledge $1000, you get credit as an associate producer of the film. (There are five of those slots, and they're sold out.)
This is a whole new way of getting funding for a low-budget film: create interest in the film through the Internet and social media, and offer anyone the chance to make financial contributions to the film, perhaps in exchange for some non-monetary compensation. The web offers independent filmmakers the change to leverage the Internet's "architecture of participation". Suddenly, we can all be producers of a low-budget film we want to see.
More importantly, notice that it forces filmmakers to find a movie for an audience, instead of trying to find an audience for a movie. It's very expensive to do the latter. Think of how much the creators of Dear Mr. Watterson are going to save by not having to spend big on advertising to get the word out about the film.
They hoped to raise $12,000 by March 15th, 2010. At the time I'm writing this, it's still a month away from the deadline and they've gotten almost $17,000.
Dear Mr. Watterson
An independent filmmaker wanted to make a film about the impact that the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" had on his own life, as well as on the lives of so many others. He set out to make a documentary film about the strip, by compiling people's stories about how the strip affected them. The documentary is meant to serve as dedication and thanks to the strip's author, Bill Watterson.
The interesting thing is that the film is being funded by people "pledging" whatever money they can afford to contribute to the film's budget. If you pledge $35, for example, you'll get a DVD copy of the film. Pledge $125, they'll include you in the film, either through a photograph or something else you produced. If you pledge $1000, you get credit as an associate producer of the film. (There are five of those slots, and they're sold out.)
This is a whole new way of getting funding for a low-budget film: create interest in the film through the Internet and social media, and offer anyone the chance to make financial contributions to the film, perhaps in exchange for some non-monetary compensation. The web offers independent filmmakers the change to leverage the Internet's "architecture of participation". Suddenly, we can all be producers of a low-budget film we want to see.
More importantly, notice that it forces filmmakers to find a movie for an audience, instead of trying to find an audience for a movie. It's very expensive to do the latter. Think of how much the creators of Dear Mr. Watterson are going to save by not having to spend big on advertising to get the word out about the film.
They hoped to raise $12,000 by March 15th, 2010. At the time I'm writing this, it's still a month away from the deadline and they've gotten almost $17,000.