The future of Monkey Wrench as a fully animated series.
Added 2024-02-01 17:06:34 +0000 UTCIt’s been exactly one month since Ep 3 of Monkey was released to the public, and as the ever want to be as transparent as possible with indie production it’s time we sat down and had a very important discussion on the future of the series.
So, as we said above, one month has passed from the public release of episode 3, and everything hinges on how well it does.
Below are the metrics for it on Youtube;
Our hope was to have ep 3 hit 500k in two weeks. After 31 days we’re still under 470k views, ad rev as you can see is pitiful and engagement has evaporated. Maybe we set our hopes a little too high?
It’s not all doom and gloom though, this is the first ep to get this many views in this amount of time. Our patreon support has grown by ¼ after the ep came out and our Scratch & Scritch plushies did ok, see attached images above.
So as of now, we have enough money for voices, sound and music for episode 4. Voice recording begins in 2 weeks and I hope to start the animatic for the ep sometime after.
As for the animation portion of production… things aren’t looking too great.
As you should know, animation, especially frame by frame stuff like we do, it’s obscenely time intensive and expensive. For ep 3 we had a rough animation rate of $20.83 per 1 second of animation and the same for clean up with very minimal edits and redos.
Seeing the recent animation pay discourse has honestly shaken us up pretty bad, we had no idea how pitiful our pay had been compared to other indies and we in no way want to exploit anyone for their work on the series.
With both Ash and I putting everything we had saved in Eps 1, 2 and 3 and seeing how below average they’ve all performed and with how little we can afford to pay our animators, on top of burning myself out horrifically doing 3 eps in a row, we’ve sadly had to come to the conclusion that full animation for this series is no longer financially possible at our current support level.
That does not mean we’re stopping production, however.
There are two possible routes we can take;
Route 1; Animatic hybrid.
Over the past week and a half I managed to solo out 5 minutes and 15 seconds of keyframe animation for our recently released outtakes video.
At our current support level I can do the keyframe route for most of the mundane stuff in an ep, and then go into full animation for the ‘good bits’, that way we can pay our animators an actual decent wage. Over time if our support grows we can return to full animation.
Route 2: Kickstart ep 4 for $100k
We have thought about doing a kickstarter type thing to get the $100,000 we’d need for the animation portion of the ep. We want to pay our animators properly for their time and skill and this would be the best route to go if we want to have ep 4 fully animated.
However with our current viewership and engagement with eps 1, 2 and 3 I’m not sure we could hit a goal of $100,000 in the 30 days we need.
Is it a risk worth taking?
What would we do for rewards?
Physical rewards would take money away from animation production and things like animated rewards would take time away from myself working on the ep.
So that’s pretty much where my minds been at these past few days. I’d love to hear your input and thoughts on how we should proceed.
Comments
Omg
Jeffry
2024-07-25 21:41:38 +0000 UTCDamned phone! I also want to mention that the outtakes were a gift that really made my day.
AvariceIllustrations
2024-02-26 08:28:26 +0000 UTCI'd just rather give the money straight to the team, and cut out any middlemen. How do I do that, without someone taking a chunk out of it?
AvariceIllustrations
2024-02-26 08:27:16 +0000 UTCOh, okay
Cushion Sapp
2024-02-05 20:12:14 +0000 UTCThats what the outtakes video was for? It says it right there in the text lol.
Zeurel
2024-02-05 20:07:54 +0000 UTCI'm a little confused about the "Route 1: Animatic hybrid." approach. Specifically with what exactly it is? Would it be similar to like the Adult Swim cartoons like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Home Movies, The Brak Show, etc.? Regardless, the best bit of advice I could offer is to make a short in the Animatic hybrid style and gauge the audience response to it. As for the Kickstarter route, coming from someone who has never did a Kickstarter project before, I think you'd have to limit rewards to something like early access or even bigger mention in the credits. But I don't know if there's a cost to setting up a Kickstarter project or anything, so I can't say if it's a viable route.
Cushion Sapp
2024-02-05 20:06:01 +0000 UTCThere is something about the attractiveness that doesn't quite work, and I'm trying really hard to figure out why. I don't want to make any suggestions about the visuals that involve raising the budget, and on the other hand, everything else would still make you reconsider established stylistic choices. But anyway, here are the problems I see: Right now everything feels like a life-action movie to me, which it should not be, considering the visual style. Try decreasing the average shot span from 4 to 3, and even less if it's an action scene. Try splitting some of the shots if it's not possible due to dialogues. Also, vocal effects often hurt the perception, so use them carefully. And finally, colors convey emotions just like audio. The usual environment of your characters is painted with blue and it makes the mood too relaxed (and maybe even SAD) when everything should be exciting... But don't take my words for grant! There are no rules in art. I'm still stuck in a very early development phase with my own projects (at least original ones) and have many things to learn myself. Hope this was somewhat helpful.
Alex Crish
2024-02-05 11:19:53 +0000 UTCShame to hear how hard you've been working and not being able to catch the traction you need to keep going. Part of what I love about the series is the frame by frame animation you guys have done and I've a lot of good shows catch flack for trying to take the animatic approach and would hate to see that happen hear. I have no idea how much work this would be but is it possible to do some sort of gag a day/side character focus limited comic to keep week to week engagement up and hopefully act as an advertisement platform to better draw attention to the main animations. Maybe flushing out background elements of the world or setting that may not be planed to show up in the show? As for possible rewards to help fund episode 4 the only thing I can think of would be doing rough character portraits in the style of the show although that would likely just add more work then it is worth. Hope you find a solution and no matter what you decide I'll still support you all!
AzazelNerd
2024-02-05 02:28:18 +0000 UTCStill love the content and I will stick by what ever use do all I can really offer is the little funding but hope it helps
Alfie
2024-02-04 22:31:39 +0000 UTCAs disheartening as it is to see it go away, I'm not opposed to see the show go Animatic hybrid. The story so far is fascinating, and I feel like if you get to the end of this project, a bigger and better one is on the horizon. Unfortunately, I'm an outsider looking in here and all I can do is encourage and provide the little bit of funding I can spare. You guys are very passionate and approachable and the messaging of the series has always been two ultimately kind-hearted dudes doing whatever they can to make a vaguely honourable ends meet in an very dishonourable universe. I like that. It's nice, a fresh breeze when it doesn't need a half-baked gag or a 'fuck' every two seconds to pad runtime. You guys know what you're doing, I can tell. Whatever your choice is... It's right for you. And I'm behind you, at least.
Jared Lewis
2024-02-04 02:44:54 +0000 UTCWhy not try the Studio Trigger approach? Very simplified animation in the talking parts but not quite animatic-level to the point of being off-putting.
skelewizard
2024-02-04 02:11:51 +0000 UTCI think an animatic or other limited animation approach would be a good choice. I think epithet erased did an experimental approach and a lot of people really like that series! But whatever you decide to do if you haven't already consult with your team about what path they would prefer to go down.
EmpathyIsCringe
2024-02-03 22:41:39 +0000 UTCAs for any thoughts on the matter I'm a bit worried about the animatic approach. There was another indie animated series called Epithet Erased that got a lot of flack for lacking traditional animation despite having some of the best writing and characters I've ever seen. I also think that the animation if Monkey Wrench's greatest strength so having to cut back on it significantly would suck a lot. From what I've seen it looks like many of the other successful indie animations like Lackadaisy are aware of this series and really like it. I think it would be a good idea to try to get some of there audience to give Monkey Wrench a shot through some sort of cross promotion. Either some sort of short crossover animation or donation livestream. I think it would be best to avoid going the animatic route, but I also don't see kickstarter as a good approach either. I think right now the most important thing is to get more people aware of the series, whether cross promotional stuff, greater social media presence (like on Tiktok though I don't blame you if you wanna stay far away from that can of worms).
Benjamin Nelson
2024-02-03 00:26:44 +0000 UTCDecided to cancel my Paramount+ subscription and instead pitch in here because of this post. Hopefully this series will get the financial success it deserves.
Benjamin Nelson
2024-02-03 00:15:56 +0000 UTCI saw an ask in tumblr, and I really like the idea of doing the animatic hybrids first to get the story going and once the Patreon gains enough supporters, go back to fully animate the episodes, that would be awesome too.
eph1999
2024-02-02 16:51:15 +0000 UTCI'm 100% on board with the animatic route, I love this series but I don't want anyone getting hurt over it.
Ozlantia
2024-02-02 02:40:25 +0000 UTCMy daughter told me about those YouTube live stream where people can use the chat, but where, if they give donations, they can talk to the artist (live) to ask questions. And the time the donator is given depends on the amount of money they give. Also, my daughter has giving herself the goal to talk about monkey wrench all day tomorrow in class so all her friends will watch the show and comment (since she's studying in an art program, surely this will send some viewers your way :)
Carl Rocheleau
2024-02-02 02:16:14 +0000 UTCI won't read the 40 comments, but maybe my own will add a +1 to others. I'll totally give money on a Kickstarter, share the page on my media and everything. As for the rewards, in addition to the special thanks at the end of the episode, you could add little things like one hour "master classes" where you draw and explain your techniques one on one (so you continue your work on the show and answer to the pledger's questions (for example)). You can do a limited pledge with a big cost where the pledger can give a name to a place, a ship, a characters... I'll come back with other ideas if it pleases you :)
Carl Rocheleau
2024-02-02 01:33:26 +0000 UTCI feel kind of guilty for not rewatching the episodes more and not being more proactive when it came to recommending the series to others. I'm a big fan of Tyneen and I know that she plays a role in episode 4, so it was a little bit sad to read that the next episode might not be fully animated. If a Kickstarter campaign is started I will try to donate some money to it. About the rewards for donating, maybe you could do something like: include the donator's Monkey Wrench OC in the background of one of the scenes.
eph1999
2024-02-02 01:32:23 +0000 UTCI'm not sure how viable this is, but if it's possible I personally would take a hybrid approach of the two options. It'd still be an animatic, but a $50,000 campaign on Kickstarter should probably give you enough money to pay the animators decent wages for all the parts of the story where animation would make the most impact, whilst having a higher chance of success then a $100,000 campaign. Alternatively, you could save episode 4 for a later date and create a series of shorts that just last a couple minutes at most detailing funny in-universe situations that various characters from the show end up dealing with at one point or another. If you can only do one, then I personally would go for the animatic option since it sounds like it has the most potential to be a sustainable option in the long term. If you start a campaign on Kickstarter for $100,000 (which I will happily support), there's no guarantee that you'll get the money needed by the time it ends, which will make all the effort you put into it moot. Alternatively, presuming you're able to do so, you could start working on the next episode as an animatic and launch the Kickstarter campaign at the same time. If the campaign succeeds then you can make the episode fully animated, and if not then you'll still have made a lot of progress on the episode while waiting for the campaign to end. Regardless of what you do I wish you nothing but the best and hope that your fortunes change in the near future. You've made an incredible amount of progress so far and I would love to see you take this series to the end. I'll support you as much as I can while I'm able, and while it might not be much, I still hope that it helps you out. Sincerely, Ian Pendleton.
Ian Pendleton
2024-02-02 00:40:40 +0000 UTCFor Kickstarter, perhaps you could do downloadable rewards that wouldn't take much away from animation? Also, I 2nd Shane's comment below about adding another tier below the $25 one.
Haley Rydberg
2024-02-01 22:09:50 +0000 UTCI'd back a Kickstarter for sure. Have you considered adding another teir at $10-$15/month? It could have the benefits as tier 1, it's just be a way to give a little more. I think that full $25 is a bit intimidating for people
Shane Robertson
2024-02-01 20:50:01 +0000 UTCThe hybrid is definitely the best way to go, though I am sad to see it has gotten to this point. For what it's worth you guys are nothing short of inspirational! I suppose not all diamonds can be recognized.
Neo Beo
2024-02-01 19:38:19 +0000 UTCWell, another option is to do shorter ten minute episodes. You could crowdfund the next episode as well, I'd back it. Maybe offer smaller more doable rewards like sketch drawings?
PsychoJosh
2024-02-01 19:17:58 +0000 UTCAnimatic hybrid like the outtakes would be great! Love these characters, love this world, wanna see where it goes!
tonymuyo
2024-02-01 19:16:28 +0000 UTCHonestly, I would say to take the animatic route. The story is already so engaging. Yes, the animation is wonderful and adds a lot, but at the end of the day, you got a story to tell. A lot of people love clean animatics, I have found and It would be so much easier on you and Ash in the long run. You also would get the fair payment worry for the animators more settled.
Shelly Kitten
2024-02-01 19:13:59 +0000 UTCYour honesty and integrity is apparent in this post, and I am confident that you are doing the very best you can. I'll try to make more fanart, and I'll watch the show more, maybe just open it up in the background and play it on repeat. For sure I've been telling all my family and friends about it, but maybe I can host a watch party, too.
Avalon Bernd
2024-02-01 19:11:11 +0000 UTCI love the animation as it is, and I think it demonstrates what adult animation truly should live up to. It's better than a lot of things out there currently, but not enough people are looking for entertainment in the economy as it is. I agree with the comments here that there is not enough advertising, but that would cost money. I'm not sure what you could do, but I would love to see this project flourish. I'd submit a resume for it to volunteer if I wasn't a full time Spanish/PE/Music/Choir/Art teacher. 😂😭 Would pins be a good idea? A redbubble to buy stickers and pins from? You can freely advertise it on your videos and Twitter, and word of mouth and retweets would likely do numbers. Maybe open up a financial option to add background character fan OCS in the background of episodes, and make it a scarce privilege so people get excited? You could do a raffle?
Avalon Bernd
2024-02-01 19:07:41 +0000 UTCI like the idea of the kickstarter. More advertising and a clear goal for fans to reach.
George Shank
2024-02-01 19:04:24 +0000 UTCOr maybe one of that one frame of Kara lunging at the screen at the end of Episode 3 would be a good one too.
Katy Lepetsos
2024-02-01 18:50:46 +0000 UTCI think the real problem here is the lack of attention the show has. It’s a great, high-quality show and I try to help promote it whenever I can. But, how many amazing cartoons throughout the years were cut short simply due to a lack of viewership? I think, more than merch or anything else, boosting the fanbase should be the focus. Try contacting cartoon reviewers like Saberspark to maybe shout you guys out. Maybe you could ask the Vinesauce crew to talk about the show or even watch an episode on one of their livestreams. I wouldn’t want to see one of the episodes have to downgrade into an animatic. I don’t think that would really help. Perhaps, instead, small .5 animatic shorts could be made to help appease YT’s algorithm and give the fans a little “snack” to gnaw on between episodes. And it wouldn’t need to be as high quality as the proper episodes while perhaps adding to the lore of this world or checking in on old characters.
KlutzyNinjaKitty
2024-02-01 18:49:43 +0000 UTCIt pains me to hear that production has taken a toll on y'all. It also saddens me that y'all won't be able to fully realize MW like ya hoped, but your health comes first and I think the animatic style is best for your health. Just know that if you guys ever do the kickstarter tho that I'd help fund it wholeheartedly; no rewards required. The reward is having this beautiful series come to life and being able to see it come to fruition after pining for the story since I was 12. Do the animatic hybrid route and maybe when there's more engagement y'all can make fully animated episodes again (and I mean WHEN, not if).
KayEf
2024-02-01 18:49:17 +0000 UTCSaberSpark has actually mentioned Monkey Wrench before, but he definitely needs to make a video about it, I actually first heard about this show because of him.
Katy Lepetsos
2024-02-01 18:47:46 +0000 UTCThe best stories are carried by their writing - I feel Monkey Wrench would make just as good a watch in animatic hybrid format. It does seem like you'd still need to use additional fundraising methods to get the voice/music you needed though, so some level of crowdfunding may be necessary regardless...
Gemma Bright
2024-02-01 18:46:01 +0000 UTCBro, do what's best for production and your health. Therr is a way to get your vision out there while being solvent. Hybrid animaric would and will work.
Ty
2024-02-01 18:45:08 +0000 UTCAgreed. Monkey Wrench’s main problem is the lack of eyes on the project. Sure, you might have a small dedicated fanbase of, say, 500 people. But they’re never going to be able to fund you the way 1,000 or even 10,000 people could. (Plus it doesn’t help that times are tough when it comes to money.)
KlutzyNinjaKitty
2024-02-01 18:38:43 +0000 UTCI would personally not at all be opposed to a hybrid affair where the juicier story sequences are fully animated for impact, whereas the rest is key-frame purely to carry the story in a visual medium. And I'll be real, I don't think we have the support in numbers to fully fund an episode in the style you've both been trying to carry on. It would likely take a while, and like you've mentioned, the rewards (apart from receiving the coming episode alone) would only consume the time you'd need to produce the episode. I say the hybrid form is a perfectly servable compromise as a means to just tell the story, and if you need to spice it up a bit by making more of a comic-style approach, then hell yeah -- I'm down! As long as the labour for what it's costing isn't also costing you your health! Tell your story! And the people who are here for it will continue to tag along and stay.
Thorogrimm
2024-02-01 18:32:24 +0000 UTCI personally have no issues with animatic style, especially if you mean it’d look like the outtakes, which was fantastic. Nor do I mind waiting while you guys think about it and/or try fundraising or advertising or what have you. Waiting patiently between episodes is the least I can do so you all doing the real work can do it at a sensible pace. While I know the die-hard fans can’t fund it all themselves, you can at least be sure that we’ll stick around no matter what! Hell, I’d still be here even if you swapped it to webcomic format! (You could even take the Homestuck route and do climactic scenes as animatics/animations and I’d be down.) I’ve tried spreading the word about the show a few times but I really feel the limits of my reach, not being an e-celeb or influencer.
Microgravity
2024-02-01 18:30:07 +0000 UTCI think it would be smarter to go the hybrid animatic route for now. The episodes would come out faster (which means we get to see more of the Monkey Wrench story heheheheh) and the decreased workload would help avoid burnout. A Kickstarter for ep 4 might be successful, but then you could be asking this same question again for ep 5 and doing a kickstarter for every future episode doesn’t sound viable. The animatic route just seems healthier overall - better for your mental health, more frequent episodes, and more chances for the series to grow fans as the story progresses.
Liam Fink
2024-02-01 18:24:11 +0000 UTCI'm just an onlooker and only have basic understanding of these topics, so take my word with like a dozen pinches of salt running a Kickstarter campaign is a lot of work and there's no telling how the series will perform financially after ep4. you'd need a shit ton of luck for everything to line up and 'take MW to the next step' (what I mean is stable production). doesn't sound sustainable. I think you recognise that expectations grow when there's crowdfunded money involved. it may just add more pressure to what already is quite an exhausting project for you. The differences between full animation and the key frame style you did for bloopers is massive. admittedly so are the expenses. I adore how MW looks. however, I think it's worth it to sacrifice some of the artistry for the sake of delivering a story. I recall you saying you lot have a 12 ep season in mind. 10-12 ≈30-minute episodes is on par with most cartoons on streamers, right? that's crazy to me. I think that's the best compromise you've suggested. you can convert back into a comic, but that would alienate most of your current audience, and I'm not sure if you're up for that. besides, you've said yourself that animation is more fun. Cheers
Żółw Ninja
2024-02-01 18:21:59 +0000 UTCSorry for the double comment, but for Kickstarter rewards (if you do them), would signed prints of specific frames be a huge deal? I'd put a postcard-sized picture of that one fat bird from ep 1 being menaced in an alleyway on my wall for sure.
Nathan Lee Banes
2024-02-01 18:21:00 +0000 UTCThank you for the transparency. Please don't burn yourselves out. MW's soul is strong enough that it can handle reduced production values. Not giving every frame a million percent effort is okay.
Nathan Lee Banes
2024-02-01 18:17:55 +0000 UTC(This ended up being a long comment, sorry!) Personally, I would be completely happy with an animatic hybrid. I think the style of the show and its occasional use of comic-panel transitions would translate well into this format. This show to me isn't just a technical showcase for animation, but also has very strong pillars in character writing, world building, sound design, and presentation--so replacing the full animation with animatics won't be a deterrent. Plus, I think being transparent with the public audience as to why the show is taking an animatic approach, may help encourage viewers to further support the show to help provide funds for wages for the animators. It's a goal that both the team and the audience can strive for, and so becomes a win-win scenario for both (in theory anyways, I don't work in the animation/tv industry so this is speculation on my part, lol) Animatics would be more sustainable and will allow for gradual growth as relying on a Kickstarter appears to be a short term solution. Gaining $100,000 (or more, accounting for fees, taxes (oh god the taxes), other expenses and such) may work for the next episode, but cannot be a guarentee for the following one, which could cause more stress than usual when looking towards the horizon. Those are just my outsider's thoughts though! At the end of the day, you can go with what feels right and true to you and your team in order to get this story told.
Undertopian
2024-02-01 17:56:51 +0000 UTCIt breaks my heart that this beautiful cartoon and the team behind it are suffering so much just to finish an episode, I want to support you guys in any way I can. People above me have suggested doing a mixture of both Animatic style episodes and KickStarter but instead of having 100k be the goal you but it in half to 50k. Not really sure how that works but I’m willing to support you in whatever decision you make. I love Monkey Wrench so very much and I want nothing but what’s best for it, I think an Animatic style would be cool honestly, but whatever you decide I will support in any way I can.
Katy Lepetsos
2024-02-01 17:49:12 +0000 UTCThe series is really not doing the numbers it deserves. But here are some of my thoughts: -I barely hear about it at all. I think I saw it once somewhere during last year. Which is weird considering I follow a lot of animation related stuff. -Even though I heard about it I've been putting of seeing it for a long while (shame on me!). I think there is a lack of hook for a potential viewer, like a quick and interesting series trailer or furry bait (I want more Kara and I want her now!) -Speaking of hearing hearing. What about advertisement? And I'm not even talking paid ads (though worth considering). I'm talking more activity on social media. Maybe try reaching out to other animation teams to put in the good word. I'm sure they would love to help fellow struggling animation. Or maybe some ask content creators to review the series. I would be surprised if Saberspark haven't heard but he is definitely the guy to talk about animation. And has hell more of a reach. I really hope you succeed. It's a series with great potential and it's criminally underwatched. tl;dr This is business MAKE YOUR PRODUCT VISBLE to potential customers.
Chooper
2024-02-01 17:48:47 +0000 UTCAnimation costs a lot of money and time and I wish this show got more attention and love than it's currently getting (tho I'm happy to see an increasing interest from people). I prefer it to be fully animated, but the animatic approach sounds more realistic and safe. And in the end I would still watch whichever choice you'll make. I really enjoyed the outtakes and am surprised to hear that you did that in just one week! I also have no knowledge how Kickstarter works so I don't know how many risks comes with that... The problem is also that I use Paypal for international payments and Kickstarter doesn't support that...
JoyceW-Art
2024-02-01 17:45:03 +0000 UTCI think crowdfunding episode 4 is the best option for continuing the way the show currently is. You have a large portfolio of what the show is with the first three episodes, and you can have rewards like background cameos like others have suggested. Ultimately, a kickstarter is worth a try even if it doesn't work out in my opinion.
Tenacity
2024-02-01 17:43:52 +0000 UTCI would love if the show got crowd funded to continue with full animation, but with the current engagement the animatic hybrid route sounds more feasible, at least for episode 4. I didn't expect the outtakes to have such good quality, so I have faith the animatic approach with the budget focused on action scenes.
NoxStar
2024-02-01 17:41:13 +0000 UTCI don’t know what risks go with a kickstarter. Can you do an all-or-nothing “you’ll only be charged if we meet our goal” kickstarter? That seems like it would be low risk. I will say that I have had friends approach me, show me Monkey Wrench, and say “Have you seen this?” So from my perspective, it seems like popularity is growing, even without my evangelizing it. (I do recommend it of course, but usually only to people I’m confident will like it.) That said, you have warned us in the past that it might be necessary to fall back to an animatic hybrid. I’m fine with that. I’m also fine with waiting to see if a kickstarter comes through, before a decision is made.
VGR
2024-02-01 17:28:25 +0000 UTCAlso I really liked how the outtakes video looked if that is any consolation
Lily Chambers
2024-02-01 17:27:10 +0000 UTCI think due to how underrated this series is that going the animatic route hybrid path is best. Maybe like what someone else mentioned is crowdfunding for a portion of the funds needed but at the same time that'll be pretty difficult to do for each ep. I just think going the easier route with the hybrid stuff is what will hopefully keep this series kicking. I would recommend looking at what Epithet Erase did in terms of limited animation and the switch to novels and use some aspects of that as inspiration. Despite everything, y'all are the ones that understand th behind the scenes best and truly your judgement is best.
Lily Chambers
2024-02-01 17:26:22 +0000 UTCOh man I wouldn't know how to respond in your situation. I think the best call would be a mixture of both. Do a Kickstarter for half the money 50,000 and then switch the animation styles.
Fire Knight
2024-02-01 17:23:29 +0000 UTCI would be okay with animatic hybrid! You'd be able to get episodes out faster with less money and labor needed.
Asuune
2024-02-01 17:23:29 +0000 UTCI think perhaps a mix of both would be good? The hybrid option would cut down on production cost, crowdfunding is a good way to help keep support engaged and give everyone a visual and tangible goal for their support. A lot of times, patrons and supporters don't necessarily expect a reward when they're just looking to support something that they like. An example if there was a $20 donation tier, I'm getting rewarded by getting the fourth episode, So a thank you In the credits of the show would be just fine.
Ncarni
2024-02-01 17:19:47 +0000 UTCThat is a lot to take in, I think ur decision should be based on not only the well being of yourself but also the well being of others. I will say tho, ppl will pay BIG MONEY to see their ocs in the background let alone be part of the canon, I know I would if I had enough money for that to happen. Overall if u think the risk is worth taking for the kickstarter I would say give it 3 months rather than 1 and if you go the safe route obviously that'll be WAY better for urs and others well being overall.
Sleepy Caramel
2024-02-01 17:18:15 +0000 UTCthe first thing i can think of for the Kickstarter idea is to make fully sure about how everything there would work out. im reminded of a certain Mighty No.9 doing really well and the devs did not know that not all of that money would be enough for what they needed nor would they be getting all of it due to however the hell things work at Kickstarter for how they make money to keep the site running. and as a result everything suffered afterward...
Arc Ray
2024-02-01 17:17:49 +0000 UTCI'm sorry you guys are having such a hard time :(( I think animatic hybrid is the most realistic solution at this point. Good luck and we'll support you no matter what you decide to do!
Schadenfreude
2024-02-01 17:16:11 +0000 UTCPersonally, I want to see you do a Kickstarter for the next episode, and for rewards, I would suggest Background cameos in the episode, since it's looking like the episode might involve an ensemble similar to Episode 1. I would not be opposed if you decided to do the partial animatic route. The way I see it, you got your "Rule of three" out of the way by fully animating the first three episodes out of the way, and thus you can proceed with the lower budget route if you want to. You probably don't want to hear "It's ultimately up to you," so I'm telling you I want to see it fully animated, but I'll be satisfied with partial animatics from here on out.
Jacob Tucker
2024-02-01 17:16:01 +0000 UTCI know I would love to support a kickstarter for one of the seriously best indie animations on the platform, but I love this series enough on its own that I would watch an animatic hybrid as well ❤️
Esther Windt
2024-02-01 17:11:37 +0000 UTCId honestly be okay with a hybrid animatic/animation approach like what you showed in the outtakes. Im also a fan of crowdfunding and think having a reasonable goal can get people interested. 100k might be a hard push if engagement with the series is already "okay" to "meh". Setting it to 60-80k might be more realistic. Rewards are always fun though physical stuff may be an added level of logistics that may take a chunk out of the crowdfund. Running a campaign can be a headache in itself but Id be lying if I said I wouldnt want a Monkey Wrench poster myself 😅
Christopher Wade
2024-02-01 17:10:25 +0000 UTCIt's sad that this series isn't getting more love as it should. I'll support you guys no matter what
Ali Asif
2024-02-01 17:10:16 +0000 UTC
