More and more movies are finding alternative avenues to get funding in recent years, and Kickstarter has been a brilliant way for many filmmakers to help build a paying audience. The Hit Squad is one of the latest projects to do so, recently beginning its Kickstarter campaign to help fund the final stages of the film.
Writer-director Chris Blundell and co-writer Jordan Fuller were able to previously raise ,000 through crowdfunding to get the movie to the stage it’s at now, in a completely independent environment.
The teaser trailer below boasts some pretty impressive artwork, featuring 8-bit pixel art within a 3D environment. And the results looks to be rather awesome.
“The Hit Squad is an animated comedy movie about a washed up 80s synthpop band trying to get one last hit record to save their studio. The movie is a tale of sex, skullduggery and synthesised music following sex-addict Roddy Stones, East-End thug Frankie Miller and brain-damaged Charles Whitecastle as they get one last shot to win back their fame, fortune and recording studio.”
The campaign is seeking to raise a further £5,000 (approx. $7.5k) to help see the film through to completion. As usual, there are various levels at which you can pledge, and various benefits for doing so.
Pledges start for £1, which will see you get a thank you credit at the end of the movie. Then we move up to £9, which also results in an HD download of the movie and soundtrack, estimated in October 2013.
£29 will buy you all of the above, plus a signed special edition copy of the film on DVD. And from there, we go upwards with benefits including T-shirts, Blu-rays, special VHS editions (this is an ’80s homage, after all), scripts, becoming an extra in the movie, and executive producer credits / sponsorships.
The film has lined up some cameos from as-yet-unannounced celebrities from the decade, and we should be hearing more on that soon.
The aim is to have the film released in cinemas, on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download, all on the same day. New models have recently been built and developed, and consequently proven to be successful, with Netflix’s House of Cards serving as an excellent example.
Whilst we’re naturally not expecting studios to do the same with their movies any time soon, I’d love to see the window close even further between theatrical and home entertainment release dates.
A release date naturally remains to be announced, but the aim is to have production completed by September 2013. And if all goes well, the Kickstarter campaign is set to be delivered the following month.
For now, I shall leave you with the teaser trailer for the film, to help get you in the mood. And if this is something you’d love to contribute to, in any of the aforementioned pledge levels, then you can head to the film’s Kickstarter campaign here.
[yframe url=’www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIpxceQWgxg’]
