GRWMC: Funded

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paperlab/giant-robot-warrior-maintenance-crew

Target: $3,000 Pledged:$4,060

Giant Robot Warrior Maintenance Crew (GRWMC) is a comic mini-series (3 issues) that tells the story of workers inside a giant robot - think Voltron or Power Rangers. The concept is fantastic. I grew up watching Power Rangers, and in childhood used to play a made-up collaborative-story-style game inspired by Battletech and the film Robot Jox. Too much information? Anyway, it's great that the intention is to never show the events outside of the robot; and when the battles are taking place the main characters will just be running around the insides tightening valves and what-not.

Apart from the obvious winning premise of giant robots, a major attraction to the project was the sense of personal connection to the creators. They produced a regular podcast, which I haven't seen in any other project, and talked generally about their motivations and personal histories. I'm sure most people on Kickstarter are passionate about their project, but GRWMC creators actually gave themselves a forum to get that across.

Overall they seemed very generous with their rewards. I opted for signed copies of the comics, but it also included rewards from lower down the scale - including limited edition art print and pdf version of the first issue. They announced their intention to post the comics by the end of July. Looking forward to it.

The Last Cosmonaut: Reward

Received: Emailed script and story board.

My first reward! Although it feels more like a teaser.

The script is short, but the director made it clear in the Kickstarter materials that it was going to be more of a visual film. Also there's supposed to be some sort of equation where a page of script equals X minutes of film, and it's going to be quite a short film. The story board is also a quite short, but beautifully drawn.

It doesn't seem appropriate to post any snippets of the materials because the project is in such early stages. I'll definitely be posting pictures of the physical rewards when they arrive though.

The email announced that they were 10 days from starting filming. I'm looking forward to seeing the end product, and it's interesting to follow the filming process.

Finding Vivian Maier: Funded

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/800508197/finding-vivian-maier-a-feature-length-documentary

Target: $20,000 Pledged: $105,042

This is an amazing story, and obviously captured lots of people's imagination considering the huge investment. The short version is that a man bought a large collection of photo negatives at an auction, which then turned out to be of a world-class standard. The now deceased photographer was an equally mysterious character. The project was to create a documentary film about the whole thing.

I nearly pulled out of this one because, to be frank, the person that found the photos seemed a bit dickish. Imagine you were promoting a photographer, for whom you owned 100,000 negatives; is there a reward that seems an obvious choice? Not one print was on offer. If you pledged $5,000 you got tickets to the premier, a DVD, and a published book - all of which could be bought for far less - with the only non-purchasable reward being your name in the credits. Also, despite being inspired by her work, he didn't bother trying to contact her until a year after buying the negatives - only to find that her obituary had been placed the day before. It just seems like he's found himself on the gravy train and wants to maintain a strangle hold on it.

It's likely that I'm being over-judgemental. He did (and continues to) post images from Vivian's collection on a blog. He's also in a complicated position - finding himself as the custodian of an artist's complete works. That's a lot of responsibility.

I'll reserve judgement until I see the film (as if my judgement would matter), and see whether it's a celebration of Maier's work, or an ego trip for film's creator.

I opted for the only reward that met my criteria, which happened to be the entry-level one. I'll hopefully be receiving a spindle from one of the developed film rolls. It's a non-de-script piece of plastic, but will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. It should be ready to go, and so might be the first reward to arrive.

Replacing the "N-Word" with "Robot" in Huck Finn: Funded

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dianidevine/replacing-the-n-word-with-robot-in-huck-finn

Target: $6,000 Pledged: $30,030

The title says it all on this one. Apparently the "N-Word" is too controversial nowadays, and there is a plan to replace it with the word "slave" in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Despite the fact that according to one comment, Jim is called the "N-Word" because he is a freed slave, and so renaming him as a slave undermines his whole character. I'm not sure on that fact since I've never read the book, but it did seem like an attempt to sanitise history.

Anyway, in a kind of protest, the creators of this project will be replacing Jim with a robot - including the illustrations.

My reward will include a hard-copy version of the book and an additional print of one of the illustrations. Since they received 5 times as much as they were asking for, there was a suggestion that the book would now be a fancy hardback.

I'm hoping that this one will move fairly quickly, since the text seems to be at the proof-reading stage. There's still the illustrations and cover design, so we'll see.

The Last Cosmonaut: Funded

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jvanauken/the-last-cosmonaut

Target: $2,500 Pledged:$6,000

This project aims to create a short-film, documenting the experience of one of the earliest Cosmonauts. Apparently several were sent up before Yuri Gagarin, and it didn't end well for some.

The space theme ticked a huge box for me, along with the pioneering spirit and secrecy involved in the story. I also liked the fact that film-maker was planning to contribute 50% of the funds themselves, and conveyed a passion for the story.

The reward included a thanks in the credits (which I suspect might last longer than the film) and an advanced email of the script. It also included a physical copy of the film and, most importantly for me, a signed picture of the cast and crew. Because the pledged funds were twice the required amount, it was announced that every pledger would receive a bonus of a storyboard book as well - which is a nice touch.

Looking forward to seeing the result. It could be a long wait though.

Introduction

Kickstart.com is a very interesting site that allows people to crowd-source funds for their projects. In return the budding philanthropists receive a reward in-line with the amount that they pledged. This blog will document my involvement with that site.

I'm not particularly wealthy, so I won't be contributing huge amounts to masses of projects, hence the 'Junior' part in the blog's title (also a nod to a great song by The Go Team). Thankfully the type of projects listed on kickstarter can usually get off the ground with lots of small contributions from people.

My criteria for picking a project to back will be:

1. A great project. Anything with a interesting background story (or involving space or robots) has a good chance.
2. Decent seeming person. As important as the project, is the person that I'm giving money to.
3. A tangible reward. I'll always aim to pick a reward band that includes a physical object.
4. A reward with a connection to the person/project. Something signed, or a by-product of the project.

The reward doesn't necessarily have to be too impressive; a hand-written thank you note, or an empty paint tin from an art project, would meet the criteria.

I'll be adding blog posts when:

• The time runs out; whether the project was funded or not.
• When I receive a reward.