Michael Davis is making Blast ‘Em Up, an animated sci-fi follow-up to his 2007 live-action feature Shoot ‘Em Up, starring Clive Owen. The project’s Kickstarter campaign launches today.
The dedicated writer & director shared with Animation Magazine what he’s learned creating his dream project:
Your Mistakes Are Your Style
My art school instructor professed this. Here’s an example: The South Park guys can’t draw. They embrace their weakness by designing simple characters. This makes audiences focus on their strength: irreverent dialog.
I’m animating Blast ‘Em Up all-by-myself. I’m self taught. I can’t do realistic CGI, but I don’t want cartoony characters as my film is for adults. I carefully exaggerate my characters — eyes, height/size of bodies, etc. — so they’re unrealistic, but not cartoony. With Photoshop TOPAZ plugins, I make character diffuse maps painterly so there’s no expectation of realistic rendering. Now, I can focus on what I do well. My live-action Shoot ‘Em Up featured wild, inventive action much like sight gags in Looney Tunes. I’m putting the same creative, crazy set pieces into Blast ‘Em Up.
Crowdfund Outside the Box
I’m launching a Blast ‘Em Up Kickstarter campaign. There’s a challenge. How do I promote it with all the noise? From Instagram to TikTok, everyone screams “look at my brand.” I‘ve recruited 13 movie geek YouTubers to support me. I’ll be a guest on their shows talking up the film. Their collective 2 million subscribers can discover Blast ‘Em Up and they’re the perfect audience who’ll like it and back it. Using affiliate marketing tool KickBooster, I’m giving a percentage of the crowdfunds to my YouTuber partners as an incentive and thanks.
Here’s the take away from this: You gotta do something different to get noticed.
Defeat the Robots
Or in this case, AI. The Kickstarter algorithm rewards success. A campaign reaching its $50,000 goal in its first 24 hours will be promoted by Kickstarter (added to the “Projects We Love” list) instead of a project raising 280,000 of a 300,000 goal in the first day. The algorithm prefers projects that quickly meet their fundraising goal over campaigns that raise tons of money fast but have not yet reached their crowdfund target. You outsmart the AI by setting a low goal to fund fast. You raise the money you really need with “Stretch Goals.”
Brand Names: The Name of the Game
Audiences like films that are “the same, but different” which explains sequels doing well. They also like characters they know, for example, Sherlock Holmes. With known brands, audiences don’t have to think as much to decide if they want to see a movie or not. I considered an animated Shoot ‘Em Up sequel but didn’t want to haggle with the studio which owns the rights. I’d written a sci-fi script Lighspeed and turned it into Blast ‘Em Up by adding more blaster action. Fans of my previous film know Blast ‘Em Up is a follow-up.
Apps-solutely
New applications that speed up animation are constantly introduced. I’m using motion capture, but not with mocap suits. They’re too clumsy to put on, synch, etc. Recently, an app called MOVE.AI came out which lets me motion capture performances with multiple iPhones. It’s fantastic. Watch out for new tech.
Voice Talent Is Gold
Don’t use yourself, your friends or amateurs to voice characters. They stink! Spend money on experienced voice actors. They’re amazing! If you can’t afford recording performers individually, I’ve had success recording multiple actors all at one time — radio play style.
Moderate Expectations, Not Great Expectations
I’ve written and directed six independent features. Finding distribution is hard. Unless you have a star, most distributors won’t pick up your movie. It’s not that they don’t like it. It’s because audiences gravitate to something they recognize — not just the brand but the face of a star. I have Kickstarter stretch goals to raise funds to hire stars. Great if it happens … Meanwhile, I have moderate expectations. My goal is to crowdfund enough to pay myself to make it.
When completed, the film won’t have any costs to recoup. So, if I am offered distribution with little or no compensation, I’m still a winner. I had fun animating.
Book Smart Is Street Smart
I refer to these books when writing and rewriting scripts: The Anatomy of Story by John Trudy and Writing for Emotional Impact by Karl Iglesias.
YouTube Universe Is Your University
Whenever I need to learn how to do something, I find the answer in a YouTube tutorial — from learning crowdfunding strategies to creating motion blur in After Effects.
Audible
What could be better than listening to audio stories while animating a story?
The Blast ‘Em Up Kickstarter launches today (May 14) visit the campaign page to support the project and learn more at blastemup.com.
