Sunday 20 January 2019

Production - Filming Fundraiser Video [Final Push]

As noted in prior posts, we had started a fundraiser [on Kickstarter] towards the end of 2018. The goal was to secure £800 from supporters of the project to allow us to pursue extra filming opportunities that had presented themselves, along with crew food, travel, filming equipment and other miscellaneous expenses. As of writing this, we are just over halfway, at £450 and as Kickstarter is "All or nothing", we needed to make up the difference. I decided the best way to try and secure the rest of this funding was to create a video for my Youtube channel which has over 57,000 subscribers, most of whom are motorsport fans. This should allow us to close on our goal and hopefully hit the target by the end of January.

I spent some time devising a script for this video, allowing all three of us to speak and further show the idea of this project. This video would be set in my room, where I film the rest of my YouTube videos and have a two camera setup. One main W/S on the Sony and a C/U on the Panasonic from 45 Degrees on my sofa. This multi-camera setup will add to the professionalism of our video and allow us to cut around any stumbles or errors. Below is the script that I wrote, which allows the viewer to better understand our project and why we are asking for small donations.


FUNDRAISER UPDATE SCRIPT

1- PTC with B Roll “My name is Alex Baldwin, and since I was a child, I have wanted to be a racing driver. This is a dream that never seemed feasible due to costs, but in 2019 that dream is coming true. In April, I will be taking part in a club level motorsport race in a BMW 3 series alongside my teammate Sam, that's him there.”
“Today I’m going to show you the progress we have made with this project. Thanks to your support we have raised over £550 and we need to reach our goal of £800 by January 26th. So after watching this video, please go to the link in the description and ensure this documentary is as awesome as we know it can be”

2- Title Sequence

3- PTC: “So this project actually started way back in March 2018. I had this vague idea of what I wanted to do for this 3rd-year final major project for university. In reality though, I didn't know how I was going to craft this story” “It developed quickly over the summer and when I arrived back at Uni for the start of our final year” “This is now a story that goes deep into my history and why I am a motorsport fan. I will be understanding what got me into the sport and what has kept me hooked ever since” “You will be able to understand what this dream means to me as I go through the various tasks needed to become a race driver for real” “Things such as a racing license, raising funds - which is what we are asking for help with here, getting the right fitness level as well as a whole host of other obstacles that I need to overcome” “I am starting here as someone who has only ever raced rental karts and in 5 months time, I will have a national race license, have raced a car and would have achieved one of my dreams”

4- PTC: “So as mentioned, this project was conceptualised by myself in early 2018, but this project would not be possible without the help of my best mates and fellow TV Production students Cailan and George. I’m going to let them speak through their roles and then I’ll explain to you what mine are”

5- Cailan explains his role (condensed view of main duties, under 1 min) w/ B Roll/photos as cutaways

6- George explains his role (condensed view of main duties, under 1 min) w/ B Roll/photos as cutaways

7- PTC: “Without these guys, I would never be able to undertake such a challenging subject for this project, so I really appreciate them dedicating themselves to my idea! My roles have been writing the script and being the director. Now as I am the focus of the documentary, it is hard for me to be the director, so I have got all the shots planned and written down, meaning when I am on screen, I will be focusing simply on telling my story. It will be up to the other guys to ensure my ideas and stylistic decisions are captured. Being the focus of the documentary is probably going to be my biggest challenge. You know me from YouTube where everything is a little formal, so being the main contributor in our project will challenge me to become a better presenter in front of camera… Hopefully”

8- PTC (All 3 of us): Answering fan questions about the project

9- Alex explaining we have some incredible contributors, which you will know more about soon!

10- End video all 3 on the sofa, asking for one final push with the donations to reach our goal. Alex starts. George explains the reward tiers. Cailan explains why the money is important (It enables us to do it properly and have all the proper kit and best story-making equipment) Alex ends by asking for help with donations for the final time

11- End screen asking to check out Kickstarter 



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This shoot went well and we filmed this in-depth video about the reasoning for our Kickstarter. We had some issues with the sound which meant that in the edit I needed to record a voiceover and re-record the "Questions and Answers" segment over skype as that part had messed up.

The video can be seen below, it lasted nearly 30 minutes which was longer than expected, but did allow us to properly explain our plans and roles for this project. Thanks to this Kickstarter video, just a few days later we had smashed through our £800 goal. I was very happy that I decided to spend the time creating a whole new video, to ensure we got to this fundraising goal. It now means we can follow up new possibilities going forward, including some extra sequences which I have been thinking about.

Creating this video was a great process as it allowed the whole team to be in front of the camera and speak about how they are involved with the project. This authenticity along with a clear and structured video allowed us to make up the shortfall in money and breeze through the £800 barrier. I am very proud that as a team we managed to raise such a large amount of money. I am very lucky to have a few followers online which allowed this dream to happen. Without the support of these kind people, we would have certainly had to cut corners. Going forward we are sure to give back to our donors, as many of them have selected a reward for their support. These will be sent out at the beginning of March! Overall, it was great to come together once again as a team and produce a video. It allowed us to work together on a mini-project and raise the much-needed funds!


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