We have a lot of fans and supporters – people who really want us to succeed! Well, we want to be successful ourselves too of course! But we need to be realistic as well. Doing a serious feature film with this scale just means we should allocate a serious budget as well.
Several people asked for announcing to extend the campaign. That’s something we seriously consider. And here’s a way you can make it sure it happens:
Note that credit-only donation pledges also count as Supporters! A Bronze sponsor counts as 3, Silver as 7 and Gold as 20.
We’re all fully committed to make this campaign and Blender Cloud a success – whatever the campaign outcome is. If we can’t do a big feature together, we just do something smaller.
-Ton-
(PS1: people who pledged can withdraw the pledge anytime, or ask for refunds).
(PS2: via PayPal we can refund without costs up to 60 days after payment).
I think you guys need to be serious and add 30 days to the campaign.
agreed but I think there is some limitation with paypal being able to refund in 60 days
personally, I was seriously considering retracting my payal payment and swapping it out for a pre-payed cloud membership or large pledge anyway.
Way to go man,every push get us closer.
Seriously though. The pre-payed cloud membership is a way better deal. I did the paypal $224 film credit but it didn’t get me access to the blender cloud. that’s kind of silly, but then again it was one of the first methods they were able to think of to accept money for the project. The newer way is much smarter and it’s only $25 more. Plus, like you said, every little bit helps.
I’m thinking about swamping as well. How do you request a refund if a payment was made through paypal?
send an email to … cloudsupport -at- blender.org
So was I.
I think the campaign lost a lot of good pledges in dns outage yesterday.
Would it be possible to plan the script and production in a way that it can be started as a shortfilm and then extended scene by scene for as long as you have money?
Or in other terms, start working on the full feature even if you currently don’t have enough money to complete it, starting with the most essential scenes and then fleshing it out as you go.
Since the production time is so long, perhaps you could get the rest you need during the course of the production. And if you don’t, you call it a day, edit the footage you have, and get a film ranging from anywhere between 15 to 90 minutes.
I.think that Gustav’s idea is awesome. I’m pretty sure that people will want to join the project and Blender Cloud when the see what you guys are making, even if you still don’t have enough to make the full 90 min movie.
Agreed.
I think this script could easily be split up into multiple parts, with all the scene/universe changes. Part 1 would be a GREAT way to promote the rest of the film. We might even wind up with a huge budget for the last part! One can hope.
It’ll also allow multiple, smaller opportunities for credits, since each part would have a credit roll, allowing a late donor to at least get a credit in the last part. Arranging the credits will be tricky when it’s put up all together with the credits at the very end, especially with those folks who supported multiple parts, but that can be worked out.
The number one drawback is that not all of the studios would be working at the same time, since they have their own specific scenes. One of the huge goals of Gooseberry is collaboration, and only a fraction of the studios would be working at a time. Still, if it’s a trilogy, that’s still 4 studios at a time plus the Blender Institute. A two-parter might even keep all the benefits of both approaches, with 6 studios plus the Blender Institute working at the same time.
We wouldn’t be able to do any steps all at the same time, like music production and maybe even voice acting, so that could increase costs, too. Thankfully, the movie is already produced similar to a TV show, with everything in a part of the story done together(in this case, a studio doing everything in their chunk of story), that this may not be too big a factor. They certainly weren’t planning on doing all of the compositing for the movie all at once, that’s for sure.
Let’s see how this week goes – but i feel a very positive and optimistic vibe :)
I don’t have the exact numbers but nothing really happened for the first 20 days, so this would be just about doubling the collection period – if we assume a linear progression you would get to ~6000 people and done on the start up funding. Throw in some good marketing and it might be doable, especially if you can convince a big news website to roll with it.
One thing I was thinking the other day – it might help to give exact details of what will be available regarding the films development on the cloud. There is a group of people who really like ‘making off’ documentaries, and they may pay up, even if they don’t care about Blender, if they get enough content via the cloud to get the equivalent. Something like promising x minutes of ‘making of’ video to be available on the cloud each week – e.g. record the dailies of each studio and also cut together a weekly summary. I’m sure there are specific ideas bouncing around already, probably better than my off the cuff one, but I think potential sponsors may be interested in such details – that is a one of a kind offer after all, and I don’t think enough emphasis has been given to the value of such an in depth production experience, particularly to students who want to go into film. (New thought: Student discount?)
oh bts videos
Yes! Extend the time! :]
I cannot do my pledge:
500 internal server error
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error and was unable to complete your request. Either the server is overloaded or there is an error in the application.
Bug got fixed – the issue was that redoing a pledge while already having an account, in failed. Any error: mail cloudsupport at blender.org. We help within day.
Ton
I think you are jumping the gun
the first Campaign is not over by far!!
you need to put together an intense finish to this firs campaign!
1) you need to make some more appearances like the one “ask me anything”
maybe some live stream video or something like that.
2) you need to call out all the established blender websites and ask them to make a support campaign among its subscribers ( Blender cookie, Blender Guru etc world wide)
3) most important you need to call out all the 3D Blender Users Worldwide this is the time to put your money were your mouth is (for each user!)
this is for the benefit of all
If 3D Blender truly has a community raising this money should not be any problem at all.
IN A COMMUNITY EVERYONE BENEFITS… BUT ALSO EVERYONE HAS TO CONTRIBUTE!!
The REAL and the REST or the “Contributors and non contributors”
Make a new avatar or user picture template
the contributors will have a 3d blender logo on their avatar or user picture
This way we all can see who really contributes and who is all talk!!!!
Make a map of user contributors something like the map of the gooseberry project studios around the world
This way you can see witch part of the world contributes the most and call out each region as needed.
SAY IT LIKE IT IS!
Ton you have give us all 3d blender users a superb 3d suite!!
Now its the time to ASK US ALL to give back a little!!!
Ton
you need to ENGAGE US ALL change your tactics and language
be a LEADER tell us what to do.
3D Blender has MILLIONS of Users but so far not even 10% have pitch in
this should be an embarrassment for us all 3d blender users!!
Note: I have not yet contributed but I WILL FOR SURE.
In many ways I already do this, but behind the scenes too.
The worldmap we already have! Check the
http://cloud.blender.org/gooseberry/ frontpage, the 4th tab.
Anyway – I see this campaign as a fair deal. A contract between me and the world out there. If enough people support this idea, I make something crazy happen. If not, then we don’t.
\o/
I hope it gets more time. You should also consider tranlsating the project pitch to other languages. I’m sure there’s a lot of people outside the community who would love to jump into this, if they could read what the project is about. I think the community can help out with this, we just need to get organized!
Another excellent suggestion. The French, Italians, Polish, German, Spanish… Even Chinese!
Don’t forget to spread the word out of the Blender community: https://opensource.com/life/14/4/interview-ton-roosendaal-blender
I totally agree with a traduction of the project pitch page.
Why ? Because i have a (french) blog were i translate a lot of english news and documentation, especially the Blender Fondation’s week-end meeting note and every release notes.
And a lot (i said, a lot) of people read that translations. They are many people in France who don’t speak english at all, or who can’t make the effort to understand what Gooseberry is. That is the major part of my website’s traffic.
Another example: some french guys did an interview of Mathieu Auvray (our national director ^^), in french. I published that interview. And my traffic exploded !
So, do a translation please ! For the project page, and also for the subscription page if possible (that’s very complex for non-english speakers, you know).
If we can help to do that, it could be fine ^^.
Note to Gooseberry team: Thank you for this project, it is just an awesome and beautifull project. Make us an amazing film, with Blender. That is just magic.
I support you all the way !
An announcement in french [fr] https://linuxfr.org/news/blender-annonce-le-projet-gooseberry-de-campagne-de-dons-pour-film-libre :)
Feel free to copy and share, spread the word !
I can not believe that real platforms are still not even considered here.
That and a real campaign video with an actual spoken pitch (seriously, check out videos of successful campaigns and compare) could make all the difference.
The assumption that the daily visitors of the website are enough was simply wrong. What is wrong with getting some exposure elsewhere? Just the fees they collect?
You can read about the pros and cons for doing indiegogo or kickstarter here;
/gooseberry-campaign-launched-we-need-10k-people-to-help/
In short:
– This campaign is about people to support us first. Money second.
– We need to do this via subscription model – getting 2.5M at once would not work
– No animation film ever made more than 200k or so.
– With the current result, we’d rank #4 best funding movies ever on indiegogo.
– I already do crowdfunding since 2002 – indiegogo looked at we did, not the other way around :)
I’ve made an announcement on a free software-related website, and people were surprised not to be aware of it earlier.
I don’t understand why there is so few communication outside of blender-fans communities. What about the communities of other opensource programs involved ? What about GIMP ? Krita ? Inkscape ? What about the communities of opensource audio software ? Those software will appear in the credits, it will be some advertising for them too, so why don’t they communicate about it ?
Now what about Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons ? They will benefit the project too, plus Jimmy Wales is a great supporter of Gooseberry. Why isn’t there anything on Wikinews yet ?
:/
The campaign is just now starting to get visibility in the media – BoingBoing and Gigaom reported on it. The interview by opensource.com is federated to many Linux and FOSS news sites. If this continues, we might very well hit 3000+ supporters by Saturday and then it’s viral sensation time ;)
Just an opinion. Don’t you think that the way you’re announcing is a bit restrictive? I mean, only blender users are hearing about this project. Although it might be a great thing specifically to the blender community, the final movie is of interest of anyone who likes animation movies. I think that there would be many more pledges if it was announced out of the community, in kickstarter or something.
I don’t think going for a Big Bang subscription success is smart.
A lean startup / steady growth approach is better for that.
For the movie Kickstarting makes sense. The exposure would help with the subscriptions over time.
A 3-month-subscription and a 1-year-subscription reward would fit into the concept nicely as well.
The video would have to be a lot better than the existing one, though … then history would not necessarily be an indicator for how much money it can make on IndieGoGo or Kickstarter. Better look at other successful projects to see what they do right, not just at other animation film projects.
Blender really suffers from the isolation. It seems to be for an in-crowd only … that impression gets hardened by this campaign.
Why don’t give you give someone who donates 45 EURO a film credit. One of the problems of the compaign is that you guys are aiming for big money funders. If you make more smaller pledges possible with interesting options, like giving someone access to a development blog with videos or signed T shirts. You would raise more money. I would love to get a film credit for 45 EURO. I would love to see the development. You could to a private webinar with the creators for someone who pledges. There are several options to make it more intesting. Let David show some concept art etc…
I think it would be worth considering using the funding you get with this initial campaign, then allow people to continue donating after the deadline. You’ll have the funds to get the project started and as new features are added to the Blender Cloud, it might seem more appealing to more Blender users.
Also, if you keep the promo train running during the production, focussed on not only the Blender Cloud, but with constant updates from Gooseberry, I think more people will jump on the train. To see a feature length animated film being created while it’s in production is invaluable, even if you’re not a Blender user.
I have written a rundown of my impressions and thoughts about the Gooseberry project. It is not meant as a advisory for the team about how to do things (or not). It is but a collection of reactions I had on my experience – as an outsider to the blender community that has had his problems with getting an “insider” years ago and never dared to retry.
Until now. Thanks to this project’s outline.
This is what is starts. If you are interested in my thoughts, follow the link below. Again, it is not a critique, not an advisory, just the offer of some thoughts:
I accidentally stumbled over a project named “Gooseberry”, a somewhat vague plan about doing a “feature film” using open software. Cool idea, I thought, most “big screen feature films” that get published are not for me, so why not put my money where my mouth is and support everyone who is trying for a different approach?
I did. I booked into the whole thing without thinking much about the political statement I was making or the value for money I would get. It was like buying an indulgence, having been disappointed by “the industry”-level movies and just wishing that others, who think like me but actually do something about it, would take my money and make something cool.
Then I looked into it and here is what I found – and what I feel about it:
My thoughts about that Blender thing. Gooseberry.
As say in my country : “Men say – men do.” Extend campaign! )))
WOOO HOOO
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !!!!!
We did it!!!
We reached the 3000 supporters mark to get the extension!!!
Thank you all kindly for your support.
Together we will create history.
And a big thank you to Ton!
This made my day!
I’m so exited!!
WOOOO!
It’s good but it’s not finished, we must now find more friends which can fund to reach 500,000$! :)
It seems I’m the 3000th…
…or not, because after pledged, I have not found how to pay. The site has only said “thank you”, but I cannot pay, and the site did not even tell me that I have something waiting.
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