Crowdfunding Pitch Videos [How To Make Yours Stand Out]

If you’re a filmmaker and you’re crowdfunding your short film, then you need to make a killer pitch video. It’s as simple as that.

However, it’s not something to be ashamed of. A good filmmaker should never pass up the opportunity to learn more about their craft. Certainly, when it comes to making them money for their short film.

And a great pitch video does exactly that. Ultimately, the success of your crowdfunding campaign depends on how good your pitch video is.

Why Do I Need One?

Statistics show that a crowdfunding campaign is at least 4 times more successful with a great pitch video. Therefore, as this is your area of expertise, why wouldn’t you maximize on using your skills to help generate more crowdfunds?

The fact is, you only have a limited amount of time to capture your audience’s attention. They are more likely to just go straight to watching a video and decide from there if they want to help fund your short film.

So, without further ado, here are some top tips on how to create a killer pitch video.

Keep It Short

We’ve all heard the expression ‘less is more’. Likewise, with crowdfunding videos, this is key.

Ideally, 1-2 minutes is the right length, so you will probably need to edit, edit, and edit again to say everything you need in that amount of time. In an age when you’re competing to hold people’s attention amongst so much other content on the cyber highway, you cannot afford to waffle on.

Make An Impression That Lasts

Hopefully, by this stage, you’ve researched other crowdfunding campaigns, particularly those for short films. Furthermore, you watched their videos.

If not, down tools and do that right away before you even begin to script your video. Pick a great pitch video and ask yourself why it is good. Is it because;

• Firstly, do they have imagery that draws you in?
• Secondly, are they doing something unique with the way they’re telling their story?
• Thirdly, is it because you’re engaging with those behind the production when they talk to the camera?

Chances are, it’s a combination of all three of these things. Therefore, you must make your video interesting, engaging, and visually appealing.

Location, Location, Location

To clarify, you don’t need a fancy, costly studio setting to film your pitch video. But you should select your backdrop wisely. Equally, don’t settle on shooting in your bedroom with lots of distracting mess in the background; pick a place that fits your narrative. Alternatively, get yourself a cheap, large roll of plain white or dark cloth/card and hang it behind you. If done well, no one will ever know.

Needless to say, your location should be somewhere with good sound quality and not be noisy. Especially as you’ll be filming yourself or a key member of your production talking to camera.

David Lynch believes a good film is 50% visual and 50% sound. So, it’s just as integral to make sure your audio is just as slick as your imagery.

Show Your Audience Who You Are

Audiences want to engage and connect. In addition, they want to feel emotionally charged by whatever they’re watching. Whether that be funny or sad, draw them in with what affects them emotionally. For example, one way to do this in your video is to show your face.

However, you may not feel comfortable in front of the camera, even though you’re extremely confident behind it, especially if you have to speak!

Therefore, get around this by just using BTS footage of you doing what you do best – say as a Producer or Director – and have someone else do a voice-over to explain the project and introduce you.

What Should You Include?

Finally, I’m going to share with you the 8 key ingredients that should be in every killer crowdfunding video:

1. Context – explain what the film is about
2. Visuals that intrigue – these could be artistic visuals that you create for the pitch video, b-roll or actual shots from your film (even storyboard frames if they’re illustrated well)
3. Talk directly to the camera – ideally, the Producer, Writer, or Director should do this
4. How the funds will be spent – tell your audience what you’ll use the money for
5. Use cutaways – however, don’t repeat footage too many times
6. A great voice-over – this is just as vital as a good quality sound mix
7. Music soundtrack – you can purchase some cheap, good quality stock music
8. Don’t forget to ask kindly for pledges – explain how to pledge and what rewards are on offer

Here are a few great examples:  

Wrapping Up

To conclude, there are many resources out there to help build a great crowdfunding campaign. Remember to do your research first before you get stuck in.

Crowdfunding is such a good opportunity to raise funds for your short film; you don’t want to miss out because you didn’t do your homework beforehand.