Animation &Independent Animation &SpornFilms 07 Mar 2012 12:15 am
Kickstarting Poe
Many of you know that I have been working hard developing an animated feature built to tell the biography of Edgar Allan Poe. Lots of artwork has been drawn, storyboards developed and shot as animatics, voices recorded, test animation done.
Well it can’t be held down anymore. The art is literally bursting out of the box ready to go forward, and I’ve made the decision to use a Kickstarter Campaign to raise a small and reasonable amount of money to complete a few minutes of Final animation.
We want that opening two minute teaser done, wherein young Edgar is dragged from theater to theater by his squabbling actor parents as they perform up and down the 1820s East Coast. They fight, perform, separate and ultimately Poe’s mother dies as the three year old sits watching the last theater, in Richmond, VA., burn to the ground, leaving him an orphan at the film’s start.
The Burning of the Theater in Richmond, VA.
This was the theater in which Elizabeth Arnold Poe,
mother of Edgar Allan Poe, was acting shortly
before her death in December 1811.
Then we have over 20 minutes of animatic that Master Aimator, TIssa David (age 91) has produced for us. We want to turn a couple of these sequences into the final animated version, rather than loose animatic.
In short we want the film moving forward, and this seems the most honest way of progressing.
I hope we will get support of the industry and our friends and those out there who will see a good investment.
We’re offering many perks from Posters, to DVDs to T-Shirts to actually getting your caricature in our animated feature. It’s all in good fun, and it’s a strong attempt to get a movie started.
Please take the time to check out the Kickstarter page, and if you can contribute anything, thank you. If not, tell your friends. It’s the friends and the friends of friends who will help us move forward.
And.please forgive me, I’m going to be raising this post until we finish up the campaign. I’m desperate to get POE in motion. Pure hard sell to come.
on 07 Mar 2012 at 4:48 am 1.Mark Sonntag said …
Count me in, I’m going to be doing the same soon for short film. Good luck.
on 07 Mar 2012 at 9:38 am 2.Mark Mayerson said …
Good luck with this, Michael. I’ll be blogging about it and making a contribution later today. I know how much you’ve wanted to do a feature and I know how much I’ve looked forward to seeing you do one. I hope this is the beginning of something wonderful for you.
on 07 Mar 2012 at 10:34 am 3.David Levy said …
Great idea to launch the Kickstarter campaign. Can’t wait to see the finished animation!
on 07 Mar 2012 at 11:46 am 4.Stephen Macquignon said …
Done!
on 07 Mar 2012 at 3:27 pm 5.The Gee said …
You mentioned some things beyond the subject of the film that I think are really good. I’m sure the story is interesting and that you will make something really good. So, best to you on it.
Promote the heck out of it, smartly and creatively.
on 07 Mar 2012 at 3:42 pm 6.John Celestri said …
My very best wishes to you, Michael, on raising the funds!
on 07 Mar 2012 at 5:36 pm 7.Matt Jones said …
Tweeted !
on 07 Mar 2012 at 5:44 pm 8.Elliot Cowan said …
Good luck Michael.
It’s a strange business but if you know lots of folks you can make it work!
on 07 Mar 2012 at 6:55 pm 9.Mark Sonntag said …
Actually if you need help with boards or layouts and I have time let me know.
on 07 Mar 2012 at 6:59 pm 10.Brett McCoy said …
This looks fantastic, very dark and moody as it should be…
on 07 Mar 2012 at 10:08 pm 11.Justin said …
Paypal option? I don’t need a reward, would just like to make a contribution to the project.
on 07 Mar 2012 at 10:43 pm 12.Thad said …
It’s about time you asked for something from your readers considering the treasures you’ve shared with us over the years. Good luck, Michael.
on 08 Mar 2012 at 12:30 am 13.Dustin Grella said …
Sounds great! Can’t wait to see what comes out!
on 08 Mar 2012 at 10:07 am 14.Nick Cross said …
Good luck with this Michael! I contributed a meager sum, hopefully it helps! The more animators making their own independent features the better I say!!
on 10 Mar 2012 at 6:02 pm 15.Michael Sporn Needs To Kickstart An Animated Film on Edgar Allen Poe | The Animation Anomaly said …
[...] Needs To Kickstart An Animated Film on Edgar Allen Poe By Charles Kenny On March 10, 2012 · Leave a Comment var addthis_product = ‘wpp-264′; var addthis_config ={“data_track_clickback”:true,”data_track_addressbar”:false,”ui_508_compliant”:true};var addthis_options = “google_plusone,facebook_like,twitter”;if (typeof(addthis_share) == “undefined”){ addthis_share = [];} // Independent animator and widely respected blogger, Michael Sporn announced on Wednesday his plan to use Kickstarter to fund a feature-length film on Edgar Allen Poe. Michael is hoping to raise $21,500 and in the space of only a few days has manged to raise almost a quarter of that! [...]