Outline For Research Paper

Over the past few months, I have been researching the importance of crowd funding on independent films and media specific projects. While I learned that crowd funding, specifically Kickstarter and Fundanything.com sites are relatively new in the publics eye, the theory behind them has been around for decades.

                                                            Table Of Contents:


1. What is crowdfunding?

An indepth description of how crowdfunding works; the basic theory of pledging and rewards. I will also describe the types of crowdfunding websites available. While they may seem alike, most of the popular crowdfunding sites have specific rules that must be followed, which make them ideal for specific projects.

2. How crowdfunding has changed the entertainment business

       While the majority of films produced still receive funding from major film   companies, a small collection of independent films are being funded publicly on crowdfunding websites. I will examine the benefits of crowdfunding as well as why major companies generally pass on the films.

3. The Risks

I will examine both sides of the crowdfunding venture, the investor as well as the project creator and exploit the various risks and rewards. In this section I will also explain how a well planned campaign can benefit both sides, investor as well as producer.

4. The Process

When creating a crowdfunding campaign, there are many avenues to take depending on the project. I will examine in depth the various resources available to me when I created my personal campaign. I will examine other campaigns that were successful and compare them to my own, explaining how my project could have been done differently and received better results.

5. Conclusion

In this section I will wrap it all up, explaining again how important crowdfunding is for the entertainment industry and will give any final thoughts.

Archaeologically digging for funds

Since starting my Kickstarter campaign to help fund a re make of the student film I made, I have realized that sourcing funding, even from pals on social media is quite difficult. I am sure our economy has some to do with it, I mean the film wasn't that horrible, or was it? Either way, I wanted to look back at some of the more traditional means of funding so off to EBSCOhost I went.

 One of the articles that I found quite interesting was from the December 2010 issue of Art Monthly Magazine. The article titled, Filming The Alternative, by Sophia Phoca, tells of several independant artist filmmakers who had to resort to a more traditional funding resource for their projects. Long before crowd funding, most films were produced by private backers who secured the funding in exchange for royalties, which basically secured the monies with the final project as collateral.

 In the article, the author writes about Carol Morley, a filmmaker from the 1990's, who sourced funds from outside of the U.S for her latest film. "Carol Morley, who emerged in the 1990s, directed the autobiographical experimental documentary The Alcohol Years, 2000, but had to turn to UK private funding to make her recent film Edge, 2010. Her producer Cairo Cannon says: ‘The future is uncertain, it always is, but it’s vital to look at all the avenues that can secure funds for a project. Private finance is probably a key component to how artists’ films will get made in the future, and it’s worth looking at local businesses and business people to help secure money and support.’ Giannaris strikes a more cautionary note and warns this approach inevitably leads to less risky work being funded. ‘The problem with the private funding route is that mainly commercial films will be made and there will be no money for films with low box office returns’, and points to the US as a precedent." What this passage is describing is how indie filmmakers need to think outside the box when securing funds for projects. The majority of commercial films are funded privately because the reward is much greater than the risk of an indie film. This is why crowd funding has become such a relevant resource. While there are risks, they are quite minimal because the entire cost is spread out over several investors. 

Digital Ethics

 While working on a film, there are several times when you must question yourself on ethics. For me, on my particular project for this summer, I worked with children while shooting a horror film. I for one, felt that many aspects of the film suffered because ethically I did not want to subject the children actors to gruesome or scenes that could be scary for them to watch. I watered the project down. While I feel that the project suffered because of this, morally I know I made the right decision. In the future while working on projects of this nature, I will be certain to cast according to knot only what the script calls for but also what concepts in editing I may have.

 There are also ethical issues when dealing with sound design and the soundtrack for film. While I have a pretty vast collection of foley sounds that I have collected over the years from working on projects as well as from my recording and producing music days, on occasion I may have to source sounds elsewhere. There are several royalty free sound resources available such as freesound.org, which allow download of user submitted foley for projects under various licenses. With soundtrack selection, there will always be the perfect song for the closing credits that is totally un useable do to copyrights and publishing rights. Sure you can pay publishing to source the song, however it may not be feasible depending on budgets and the overall purpose of the project. So this is where the sacrifice comes in, and another selection is made. There are many very talented up and coming composers and musicians that are looking to be included in projects for the exposure. A great resource for this is actually Youtube, where you can contact the artists direct and initialize communication and create agreements etc.

The most powerful tool in promoting digital democracy

 I think that while we can search for the next big thing in mobile tools and apps or specific programs and websites to help with digital democracy or public awareness, we can not overlook the greatest tool invented... the internet itself. Sure it may seem like a way to easy example, however lets really sit back and think about one resource that has changed the way that humans communicate, research, work or enjoy free time. The internet has changed everyone's lives in endless ways, some for the better and some issues like obesity can be attributed to the internet in a 50 degrees of separation sort of way, regardless without the net, all of our lives would be much more difficult.

 Lets think about the internet and the public personas of politicians for a second. In the past, politicians would campaign on a tour, from town to town, shaking hands and kissing babies. Showing the public how great they are and how the world will now be a better place if we pull the lever next to their name. If we fast forward to the present, we can now see how politicians are not all they say they are. We can use the many elicit behaviors of Mayor Anthony Weiner, whose name suits him so well in a we can’t make this stuff up manner. The internet is obviously not a useful tool for him, or maybe it is. He obviously uses it perhaps way too much!

 Another example of how the internet and the political world can merge, this time a bit more ethical. In 1999 Jesse “The Body” Ventura, whose claim to fame were his feather boas and bright colored wrestling boots and trunks decided to run for governor of Minnesota, his chances of winning were very slim. In fact, while researching him I learned that Ventura received very little press whether it be in print or on television when compared to his Republican and Democratic opponents. Instead, Governor Ventura resorted to the internet, connecting his supporters to his campaign trail in a way that had never been seen before. This created so much buz, that he won and confused even the most scholarly political enthusiasts.

http://web.mit.edu/transition/subs/demointro.html

Crowd Funding and the JOBS Act

 In late March of 2012, President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, also known as the JOBS act; changing the way that small business owners raise needed capital. This is great news for Americans who have a great idea, however have minimal resources available to source financial assistance. Sure, government supplied grant money is always an option, as are small business loans, however with an upstart with little to no available credit this option may not be suitable. Not to mention that grant money is not guaranteed and more times than not the hoops required for the entrepreneur to jump through are endless. In fact, the JOBS act may just be what our country needs to kick the tired economy into overdrive.

 As a small business owner, using crowd funding websites such as Kickstarter.com or Fundanything.com is a refreshing resource that will help showcase a company to a multitude of investors via social media. Using this modern method of networking, a vast amount of investment partnerships can be reached that would have been impossible to achieve inside of the boardroom pitch meetings of the past.

 A very important thing to consider when using crowd funding is that not all sites are suitable for every project or business infrastructure. For example, with Fundanything, a fund raising campaign can be established for just about anything. This seems a bit riskier than other sites such as Kickstarter.com, which have regulations on the type of project that can be funded as well as the rewards to investors. As an example, on Fundanything, there are several campaigns that are searching for capital for various personal medical procedures for humans as well as pets and a few Hurricane Sandy relief groups who will be using the donated funds to administer gift baskets to those affected by the storm in one community. I believe these types of campaigns are not acceptable as there is an acceptable list of categories that a project must fit into. There is also a strict rule against acquiring funding for causes such as Red Cross or other charitable businesses and projects which are searching for funding to help with personal affairs such as funding school, medical procedures or paying other personal bills. Kickstarter projects have a beginning and an end, meaning that it cannot be an open project, so a web series would not work unless it was a determined season length. I personally feel that Kickstarter is probably more successful at achieving results than Fundanything or the various other websites for the simple fact that the regulations make investors more confident that there money will be used for it’s intended purpose and not as a money making scheme.

 While I try to keep my own opinions on politics to myself and am still on the fence with how well our government is handling our economy, I do think that the crowd funding concept is a really big gasp of fresh air to an economy that has been winded for many years.

http://mashable.com/2012/04/05/jobs-act-signed/

http://fundanything.com/en/campaigns/operation-welcome-home

http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines?ref=footer

Kickstarter App

http://www.kickstarter.com/mobile

 While not a major find, the Kickstarter app for iphone is something that I came across while searching for apps on my iPad. With my campaign about to be launched in the next day or two, this app will help me to keep track of my progress as well as answer any and all questions from right within the app. Of course that is on the developing end, for the average user you can search for projects and of course fund them securely.

New Media Artist Review

HOLOVISION

 So I scoured the interwebs, looking for a cool new media artist that not only fit's into the path that I chose for my final project, crowd funding, but also that is revolutionary. Low and behold, I introduce you to HOLOVISION. While technically not an artist but instead a technology being developed by a 3d holograming company Provision 3D Media, HOLOVISION is to me anyway one of the coolest things that I have seen.

 Imagine this, a Star Wars nerd, like myself and probably many of you as well can have a real life Princess Leia hologram in their home. On second thought, it's kind of creepy and my wife would probably frown endlessly as she packed her stuff and left me talking to the good princess, however the thought that the technology to even make it possible is so amazing.

 Think about it in a real world and somewhat more mainstream setting. #d movies can be enjoyed without those crazy glasses that always seem to have a blurry popcorn grease smudge on them. Or the 3d tv owners can enjoy their favorite shows with endless friends without that added cost of the extra glasses, which are a not very cheap.

 The project is currently on Kickstarter.com, and they are a very long way from their goal of $950,000, however the project proves that the technology is available, it just is not cheap. One way that the company is trying to compete for the pledged dollar is by offering many levels of pledging. Starting at just a mere $1 all the way up to individual pledges in excess of $10,000, the project offers different packages of appreciation towards it's funders. Of course the more you spend, the more you get in return, some of the packages include miniature holograms, shirts, invitations to the unveil party and my personal favorite, a life sized hologram of yourself. Of course the minimum pledge is a mere 10 grand and you do not get to keep your virtual twin, however you do get a mini 17" desktop version of yourself. Still pretty cool.

 It seems that like many of the campaigns on Kickstarter, offering levels of funding and direct contact with the developers seems to ease the fear of scams, which are everywhere on crowd funding sites. As I am preparing my own campaign, I intend to keep the lines of communication open and while I do not have much to offer possible funders, I am planning on including various minor roles in the film as my way of saying thank you.