Raven's Quickstarter 2019 - the planning

Today is day one of my Quickstarter Planning

I don't know if this will happen - it may fall apart when we get to the budgeting.  It might be something no one wants.  I don't know.  That's why I've decided to try for a Quickstarter.

what is a Quickstarter and how does it differ from Kickstarter?

A Quickstarter is a Kickstarter campaign but smaller.  Here are the rules:

Rule #1  Plan it in three months or less.

Rule #2  Keep the campaign under 20 days.

Rule #3  The funding goal should be under $1,000.

Rule #4  Offer rewards under $50.

Rule #5  Shoot the video in one day.

Rule #6  No PR or media outreach (unless contacted).

Rule #7  No paid ads on social media.

Rule #8  No stretch goals.

Rule #9  Include "Quickstarter" in your campaign name.


I'm meeting with people next week for budgeting.  Then the Quickstarter planning begins in earnest.

Eventhough this idea has been in my head since winter, I haven't done a thing about it.  But today when I came in from gathering mulberry leaves for the silkmoths, I found an blinking light on my phone.  A message from just the person I needed to talk with about this project!  So I declare today day one!

I'm going to need a budget - should have that in about two weeks

I also need a fulfilment budget - shipping and all that stuff.

A video script - um... I'll deal with that later.

some rewards - all under $50.  Should be easy enough.

stretch goals - none allowed so that is easy.

And a write up for the Kickstarter project.

This should be a lot easier than the last one.  Just worried about the video part.  ug.  Hate that.

I like that quickstarter encourages videos made on a phone in a day. Makes it more accessible.

I look forward to hearing more about your quickstarter, and wish you luck with it.

The video is supposed to be shot on a cellphone, right? I'm wondering if maybe Tracy lives near enough and might be able to shoot it for you, if you don't have a cellphone and someone to film?

I STINK at taking videos with my cellphone. It's so hard to keep it steady, and it takes me forever to manage to push the record and stop buttons.

Kate Downham wrote:I like that quickstarter encourages videos made on a phone in a day. Makes it more accessible.

.

Oh dear.  I don't have a phone.  Hope my camera will be okay.

Pretty sure your camera will be okay. They just are trying to keep people from doing all sorts of spiffy digital effects and graphic arts and stuff. They figure everyone has a camera today, so that's the lowest level of technology/quality they can think of. You're camera and video skills probably won't make them think you spent hours in video software making it pretty. I think you'll be fine!

Maybe I can lower the video quality to make it look more like a phone?

I wonder if rule 3 is in US currency?  

r ranson wrote:I wonder if rule 3 is in US currency?  

They were fine with the $1200aud goal of my quickstarter, which is less than $1000 in US money.

Hey Raven, what is the quickstarter for?

James Freyr wrote:Hey Raven, what is the quickstarter for?

I'm thinking about making a wall calendar.  Maybe printing fifty or 100 - if there is enough interest.

But I'm at the very start of the planning phase so I don't know if we will get to the quickstarter or not.  

I met with the printer today to discover if my idea is possible.  

He showed me a sample of one done a few years back which is EXACTLY what I want (only a bit different)!  They can even source the envelopes to exactly fit it.  Thus saving time and money.  

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in other news, I attempted to make a video today.  Since this project is tiny, I want to make a video that requires as little editing as possible (editing costs money since I don't know how to do that).  This is my attempt:



I don't like the way I um and um, and hesitate.  
I don't like the sound of my voice, but it wasn't as bad as normal.
background noise is terrible.
I sound like some sort of stoned person, but really I'm just over tired and excessively nervous.  

I do like the part where I want to share the seasons on the farm with my friends.

I think there's some good stuff we could grab for a script.

I doubt I'll use any of this for the actual video, so I'm not counting today as my filming day.  

I kind of got nervous for a while so I started talking about flowers.  Blame my short attention span.  

I don't know how to edit away the part at the end.

I want the video to be under a minute long.  I wonder if we cut off bits and added music... maybe...???



Actually, the more I think about this.  I shouldn't be putting any energy into the video yet.  I need to know my budget.  If that works, then I need to get the calendar ready to print.  Then focus on the quickstarter.  

I think that the video is great.  I didn't notice the ums, so it's not a big deal, and I like the way you ended it.  I think you're ready to go and you'll improve as you go, just like anything else.  

I was listening for the ums and I didn't hear a single one.  Nor any hesitation that wouldn't be expected by a quickstarter type videographer.  There were times you moved the camera a bit fast as you walked around the end of the garden row.  Overall it was great and your voice was perfect.

Does anyone know how to make a gif picture that moves?  I was thinking of making a calendar image, and the pages turn to a few of the different pictures.  Not sure how to even start doing this or how to describe this.  

You're talking like making a little flip book, right? When I was a kid, I had a few books that had little pictures in the corner that--when the pages turned fast--made it look like the bird was flying or the flower opening.

A gif is just a series of pictures that show one after another, much like a flip book. The more complicated gifs have LOTS of pictures and so look like videos. The simpler ones only have 3 or 5 pictures.

I don't know how to use programs to make an actual .gif. But, if you have a series of pictures, just put them in order on your calendar, maybe in the bottom right corner, and they should give the gif effect when flipped.

Raven, I finally got a chance to listen to your video. As always, your voice is beautiful. You have a cultured, calm voice that is just lovely. Is that a bit of British accent I hear? Anyway, lovely voice. And, I only counted two small, unnoticeable "um"s (I'm usually notice "Um"s and find them glaring, but yours were very small and unnoticeable and only spotted because I was listening for them). I think, if you want, you could record it again just to remove the bits where you ramble a bit. But, the rambling isn't bad--it sounds conversational and authentic. And, since your voice is soothing and lovely, it's not annoying. You can get away with a lot because you have a great voice!

I can make an animated gif. AND I can edit video. So, you know . . . I'm your girl!

I'm with Nicole on this, your voice is lovely Raven...warm and calming.  Made me want a much longer video.  We are our worst critics.

The quote came back.  We're within the price range I expected.  It looks like we can keep going!  woot!  

My next step is to get more estimates and to see where we can keep the price down.

The envelopes (packaging) are 0.15 each which is better than I can buy in the store.  

I'm looking for a template for the day parts.  I saw a really great calendar at the printers that is exactly what I like.  So the template might already exist.

I'm also going to take the mock sample - a blank booklet - to the post office to see what the shipping would be.  It should be small enough to go letter mail which will keep things down.

There's a significant difference between 13 and 14-month calendar.  Enough that I'll go with the 13-month.  But since I'm not selling this in the stores, the back page is mine to do with as I please so that gives me an extra page to paly with.

I'll know more when I have the shipping and other estimates, but at a very rough guess, I would need to sell at least 100 at about $15 plus shipping to make this work.

The questions I'm asking myself are
... is there enough interest to sell that many?  
... can I create a high enough quality product?  
... are my pictures good enough?
... do people really care what I do on the farm?

The budget came in a bit high.  But I'm thinking to set the goal low to keep it under the quickstarter limit and I'll toss in some of my own funds to make up the difference if we don't get overfunded.

Although it would be lovely if we could sell 150.  That would break even!  

If we sell more than that, then it will go towards buying a DSLR which I will use for next year's calendar which has a very exciting theme I think you're going to love!

Exciting news, I'll be working with Tracy again!  She's fantastic!  But to keep people-costs as low as possible, I want to do as much work as I can while she's finishing up her other projects.

Something I want to get your opinion on: Page 13


I can make this Jan 2021, or I can make the squares smaller and it can be Jan and Feb 2021.  Which would be more useful to you?

Both Jan and Feb for me.

Both for me too, as long as there's room to write something in the dates...

Since it's not going to be sold in the stores, we also have the very back page for writing notes, addresses, next year's important dates, and stuff like that.  'though I was thinking to do one of those mini 2021 calendars on the back page as well, so we can get an idea of what the shape of the next year looks like.