Edit: We've made a few changes to the plans outlined here since launching our campaign, most notably we're now running for 48 days (which changes our release schedule for the webisodes) and we added a new perk in the form of Desmond and Jake's business card.
By Torey Haas
On January 1, 2013 we will officially launch our Indiegogo campaign for Invasion of the Undead, our first feature film (for more info check out my previous blog post here). To say I'm both extremely excited and nervous about the campaign is an understatement; while we did shoot the Kickstarter video for our friends Pillage & Plunder last March, MonsterBuster has never launched a crowd-funding campaign of its own, and consequently we're giving it all we've got to help make this movie a reality. Here's what we have planned:
• Our main campaign video features interviews with me and our four main cast members (Greg Garrison, Dylan Schettina, Marie Barker and Nathan DeRussy) along with test FX footage of the movie's many creatures and recreations of a few pivotal moments from the story. Hey, MonsterBuster isn't going to do a video that's just talking heads...
• Each week of the campaign we will also release a 3-4 minute webisode that introduces one of Invasion's three central characters (Allison, Jake and Desmond) and provides some backstory to the events of the film. Some characters from past MonsterBuster movies make an appearance as well, so now is definitely the time to catch up on our YouTube Channel (shameless plug I know, but hey, I'm proud of all of our movies).
• We will premiere the official poster for Invasion during the campaign; I don't want to say too much about the design just yet but if you're a fan of '80s movies it's pretty much going to blow your mind.
• Finally, there will be several other shorter videos released sporadically throughout the campaign such as a blooper reel (you don't know how hard it is to do an Indiegogo interview until you actually sit down and try) and interviews with the actors for Invasion's supporting roles as we cast them (we're still very much in the midst of casting and other pre-production tasks).
While I think crowd-funding websites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter are great, I personally have mixed feelings about using one because I've never been one to ask for money. However, we definitely need funds to make a project as ambitious as Invasion, and while I'm not expecting (or even planning for) the entire budget to come from Indiegogo, we certainly need some help in this regard. Given my own mixed feelings about asking for money I'm trying to make as many perks as possible tangible items so that you're physically getting something for your money apart from my eternal gratitude; if you're willing to take a risk and donate money to a small independent horror film I want you to make sure you at least get something cool out of it. The following list and price brackets are tentative but they will give you an idea of what you'll receive if you decide to back Invasion:
$1 - Every dollar helps, and for even this small amount you will receive a mention in the 'Special Thanks' section of Invasion's credits. Yes, I realize that this contradicts what I just said about tangible perks but come on, you're getting your name on a feature film for only a dollar!
$25 - In addition to the above reward (all rewards are cumulative) a donation of twenty-five dollars will get you a copy of the film's poster and a signed glossy of the Invasion cast member of your choosing. I'm predicting Marie and Nathan will be the most popular because she's adorable and he's going to look awesome in full make-up and wardrobe; check out the concept art for his character below if you haven't seen it already:
$50 - Fifty dollars gets you a signed special edition DVD/Blu Ray combo pack of Invasion once it's complete. We have a lot in the works for the special edition- we've already begun shooting extensive behind-the-scenes footage for the planned hour-long making of documentary, and there's one bonus feature we're working on that to my knowledge has never been offered on a DVD or Blu Ray before. I won't say any more for fear of putting my foot in my mouth, but if we pull it off it will blow your mind more than the poster, particularly if you're into classic video games (which are a huge inspiration for Invasion, but that's another blog post).
$100 - This is the perk I'm most excited about. In addition to the above rewards a donation of one hundred dollars will get you a unique Invasion of the Undead lobby card to commemorate the individual scene in the movie that your donation helped make possible. Check out our prototype lobby card with images from the FX tests below:
The final design will most likely change, but each lobby card will nevertheless feature four screenshots (one large and three small) from a different scene in the film. I was inspired by NoFilmSchool's Ryan Koo and his Kickstarter campaign for Man-child for this perk- he offered the unique frame sequence that each backer helped fund as the perk for his different reward levels, and I just think that's an awesome idea because it really commemorates the difference each backer makes on a small indie film. As to why I chose to create a lobby card, it just seemed like a perfect fit for a retro '80s inspired-horror film like Invasion. That and and lobby cards are just plain awesome- seriously, why don't theaters use them anymore?
$500 - At this reward level you will receive a prop from Invasion, specifically one of the articulated stop-motion "Sons of Z'athax" creature heads designed by Brian Hardison and sculpted by Tricia Gaulesky. If you've seen First Date you know that we created Freaky Dad by compositing a stop motion head onto the body of of an actor, and that's exactly how we plan to create the Sons of Z'athax in Invasion. We're still putting the finishing touches on the first puppet head for the main Indiegogo video, but you can see a photo of the work-in-progress along with the concept art below:
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| Belle, our first Son of Z'athax, desperately needs some teeth... |
On the chance that we get more backers than we have puppet heads (which is certainly possible since we only plan to make 3-4 of these things) I will personally cast and paint an exact reproduction from the same molds used in the movie; if a year from now I'm losing sleep casting multiple creature heads to send to our amazing backers I will quite frankly consider myself very blessed.
$1000 - Our final reward level will get you all of the above plus an executive producer credit on Invasion, an invitation to our exclusive cast and crew premiere in Atlanta, Georgia, and the option to have your likeness immortalized in a family portrait hanging in Allison's mansion in the film. This portrait will be featured in a close-up shot establishing the mansion near the beginning of the film, and I'll work with you directly to get the images I need to make this happen.
I tried to approach our rewards from the point of view of a fan- i.e. what are the things I would like to receive if I supported a film- and I hope you agree with me. If you have a cool idea for a perk or any other suggestions feel free to drop me a line at torey@monsterbustentertainment.com- like I said earlier this is our first Indiegogo campaign and I certainly appreciate the advice! If Invasion has captured your interest like I hope it has, please consider following us on Facebook since we will be posting more information and screenshots from our different Indiegogo videos regularly throughout December in anticipation of our campaign launch on January 1st.
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