Crowdfunding

After working through the script we soon released that we would need quite a larger budget for this film than others we have worked on. We would need a budget for locations, travel, props, dolls, catering….. just for starters!

We discussed different methods of money raising and decided to opt for crowd funding. I researched various different sites that offered crowdfunding facilities and Indiegogo seemed to have the best reviews online and offered Paypal as an option and only took a small administration fee.

I set up a page for our film using a photo of the mouse we are having made for us and shared it daily on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with the rest of the group reposting or retweeting links too.

Then wrote a blog post advertising the campaign and contacted several local newspapers and radio stations to see if they would run the story. UnCOVered agreed to run the article for us.

Guest Blog: Crowdfunding a Student Film Project

 

Lamenting my lost love

Photo credit: Kaboompics

I miss reading. I miss setting aside an hour, or two or three, to fall in love with a good book and explore another world for a while. Nowadays my reading quota seems to be taken up with internet browsing, reading random crap that pops up on my Facebook feed and blindly staring at lecture notes I can’t quite seem to decipher. I mean, technically, it’s still reading, but it’s not quite the same.

So when I recently stumbled across Flash Fiction I realised I could finally have my cake and have time to eat it too! For anyone, like me, who hasn’t heard of Flash Fiction before they’re basically super short stories that pack a serious punch.

From the 100 word drabble to the lengthier 500 – 1000 word short, every micro tale gives you a chance to escape into another world for a brief part of the day. Taking just a few minutes to read, they can be devoured on the bus journey to work placements, squeezed in between lectures or read just before your head hits the pillow.

Amazon are currently offering two collections of flash fiction for FREE on the kindle, so if, like me, you miss reading because life no longer seems to allow you the free time, give them a go. I’ve committed to try and fit in just one story a day. I started last night before bed and surprised myself by reading, not one, but three! If you’d like to try them out for yourself the two collections are available right here:

Toys, toys, toys

Free

£0.75

Free

Free

Free

Free

£0.75

£0.75

£1.00

Free

£1.00

£2.00

Media Production students launch crowdfunding project to finance new film

A group of ten Media Production students at Coventry University have banded together to try and raise $500 to fund a new project, showcasing a mix of still images and cinemagraphs to create an exciting new form of animation.

The project started when the second year students were introduced to Maddy Ryder, a third year Creative Writing student, who had just finished writing a script called ‘The Story of Toys’. Set in the future the script tells the story of one mouse’s struggle through everyday life in an oversized world. Influenced by George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, as well as recent current events; the story depicts a world that has become uninhabitable by humans. Following their evacuation to other planets, the abandoned, now redundant toys find themselves new jobs, not so dissimilar to our own.

“We hope ‘The Story of Toys’ will be a film to make people think as well as to entertain them.”

The students need to raise funds for their ‘cast’; essentially a large selection of toys and a one of a kind handmade mouse toy who will take the leading role in the film, so they have set up an Indiegogo crowdfunding page to try and raise the money required.

“The people and students of Coventry have been amazing helping us with donations. One lady even donated some dolls for us to use as ‘extras’ on set. But we still need to raise more funds and if anyone can donate, or even just share our campaign on social media, we would be most grateful.”

https://www.indiegogo.com/project/the-story-of-toys-animation/embedded/15936160

University students take to the subways of Coventry to hold Urban Photography Exhibition

Last week seven Coventry University students held an impromptu pop up photography exhibition in the subways below Coventry’s infamous ring road.

The second year Media Production students designed the exhibition to show how urban life and nature have evolved to live side by side in the 21st century, and debuted urban scenes from around the local area and Europe.

The images were contrasted against projections of nature video footage that played on the subway’s ceiling and all visitors to the exhibition were provided with headphones and a downloadable soundscape so they could enjoy the sounds of nature as they walked around the exhibition.

The students were greatly inspired by the work of Cork Analogue Photographers who collaborated with Guerrilla Exhibition back in 2011 to showcase their art on derelict shop faces along the streets of Dublin.

Cork Analogue Photographers/Guerrilla Exhibition, Dublin, 2011

A small group of friends and family turned out for the early evening event, on one of the coldest weeks this January, but the students told us the highlight of the exhibition was seeing the reaction of surprised passers by as they walked home through the subways and happened upon the group’s art work.

“Seeing people, at first confused, but then heartened by our work really made the whole project so worthwhile”