As we come the close of the first week of our Kickstarter campaign, we are very pleased with the way things are going! Currently, our generous supporters have helped us raise $3,469, and we have been backed by 74 people, meaning we are about 10% of the way there!
Now, you may be thinking that since we are a fourth the way through our campaign, being 10% funded isn't that great. However, many campaigns get as much as 50% of their funds in the last week, and sometimes even in the last few days. Because of Kickstarters all-or-nothing policy, when it gets closer to the deadline, people who want to see the project succeed become more willing to contribute. Not only that, but everyone knows that basically everyone procrastinates, so a lot people who plan to contribute, won't get around to it until the deadline is right on top of us.
So all in all, we are extremely pleased with the numbers from this first week!
We want to give another very big thanks to all those who have backed this project thus far! Especially the several generous people who have given over $100. You guys are awesome!
Lastly, we'd like to ask everyone to please take a moment and share our Kickstater on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever other social media you use. Our project has already been shared over 450 times on Facebook alone! This really makes a difference, and even if you can't contribute funds to this project, you can really be a part of it by helping spread the word!
Many people have emailed want to help in any way they can to make this project come to life. Really, the biggest thing you can do (other than contributing of course) is spread the word as much as possible. Share it, Tweet it, talk about it, post it on your own blogs, in forums, and wherever else you do things on the Internet! Together, we can make this exciting new series happen!
Again, thank you so much for the support you guys have given us. We have gotten an overwhelming amount of positive feedback and a huge number of people who are excited to help this show come to life! Thank you!
Monday, March 24, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Kickstarter "Staff Picks"
Today, we discovered that our project has made it onto the official "Staff Picks" list on Kickstarter, meaning that a staff member hand picked our project to be featured alongside the best projects on their website.
This is a big step for Clone Training Center and will certainly help our project reach it's funding goal!
How does a project become a Staff Pick?
According to Kickstarter's FAQ's, "When something sticks out as particularly compelling, whether it’s a really fun video, creative and well-priced rewards, a great story, or an exciting idea (ideally all of the above!), we make the project a Staff Pick."
Already, we have seen donations come from people who have discovered our project from the Staff Picks list. Hopefully, that trend will continue, and we will reach our funding goal!
Thanks so much to all those who have supported this project so far! We cannot do this without your help!
This is a big step for Clone Training Center and will certainly help our project reach it's funding goal!
How does a project become a Staff Pick?
According to Kickstarter's FAQ's, "When something sticks out as particularly compelling, whether it’s a really fun video, creative and well-priced rewards, a great story, or an exciting idea (ideally all of the above!), we make the project a Staff Pick."
Already, we have seen donations come from people who have discovered our project from the Staff Picks list. Hopefully, that trend will continue, and we will reach our funding goal!
Thanks so much to all those who have supported this project so far! We cannot do this without your help!
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Day 1 - Kickstarter
Yesterday, we launched our Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds necessary to make Clone Training Center a reality. We were very excited and a little nervous since this first day would be the moment of truth, and would show whether or not people would actually contribute to our project. We were blown away.
In the first hour we got over $100 dollars in contributions and in the first 24 hours we got $1,406.53, including our first donation of more than $500. We also got over 160 shares on Facebook and a healthy amount of attention of Twitter (@CTCSeason1)
So, first off, we would just like to say "Thank You". Thank you very, very much to everyone how has contributed thus far, and thank you so much to everyone who has shared our project. Social media is a powerful tool and is a huge help to projects like ours, so if you really want to make a difference and help this project become a reality, please share our project with everyone and anyone! -- Especially any wealthy relatives ;)
Again, thank you to everyone who has helped us so far. Without your support, this project would not happen.
A very special thanks goes out to ForrestFire101 for Tweeting our project as well as sharing it on Facebook. Please check out his YouTube channel; he makes some awesome BrickFilms!
In the first hour we got over $100 dollars in contributions and in the first 24 hours we got $1,406.53, including our first donation of more than $500. We also got over 160 shares on Facebook and a healthy amount of attention of Twitter (@CTCSeason1)
So, first off, we would just like to say "Thank You". Thank you very, very much to everyone how has contributed thus far, and thank you so much to everyone who has shared our project. Social media is a powerful tool and is a huge help to projects like ours, so if you really want to make a difference and help this project become a reality, please share our project with everyone and anyone! -- Especially any wealthy relatives ;)
Again, thank you to everyone who has helped us so far. Without your support, this project would not happen.
A very special thanks goes out to ForrestFire101 for Tweeting our project as well as sharing it on Facebook. Please check out his YouTube channel; he makes some awesome BrickFilms!
Copyright and Clone Training Center
Since we launched our Kickstarter, a few people have raised questions about the possible copyright issues involved with our project. Since LEGO® and Star Wars™ are obviously copyrighted, these are valid concerns. However, we have checked and double checked many times with many different professionals, and we are completely within our legal bounds to make a show of this type, and here's why.
According to www.copyright.gov, "Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture." When something is copyrighted, you cannot reproduce, distribute or sell it without the permission of the owner. However, copyright does not protect working products such as a car, or a suitcase. These are protected by patent law. According to the Wikipedia entry on patents, "a patent provides the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention". However, you can show a patented object in a film. Obviously, a movie can show a car or a suitcase without permission from the patent owner. In the same way, we can show a brick or figure made by LEGO®.
As for LucasFilm™ and Star Wars™, we are not actually using anything owned by LucasFilm™. All of the names, characters, places, and events we use in Clone Training Center are original, and therefore, not owned by LucasFilm™. They do own the rights to the Star Wars™ films and everything associated with them, but this is an original story and never once references anything from the films by name.
Lastly, we have been very careful to make clear that our show is not sponsored or endorsed by LEGO® Group of companies, or LucasFilm™. On their website LEGO® says, "A disclaimer should be used when the LEGO trademark appears on a Web page. An appropriate disclaimer would be 'LEGO®is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site'". As you can see at the bottom of this post, we put a similar disclaimer on everything we do, in compliance with their guidelines.
UPDATE: We are also currently working with an attorney to do one last round of checks through everything to make sure we haven't missed anything.
If you have any further questions about our show, feel free to contact us at CloneTrainingCenter@gmail.com
LEGO® and Star Wars™ are the properties of LEGO® Group of companies and LucasFilm™ respectively. Neither endorses or sponsors this blog, the show mentioned in this post or any of its creators or affiliates.
According to www.copyright.gov, "Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture." When something is copyrighted, you cannot reproduce, distribute or sell it without the permission of the owner. However, copyright does not protect working products such as a car, or a suitcase. These are protected by patent law. According to the Wikipedia entry on patents, "a patent provides the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention". However, you can show a patented object in a film. Obviously, a movie can show a car or a suitcase without permission from the patent owner. In the same way, we can show a brick or figure made by LEGO®.
As for LucasFilm™ and Star Wars™, we are not actually using anything owned by LucasFilm™. All of the names, characters, places, and events we use in Clone Training Center are original, and therefore, not owned by LucasFilm™. They do own the rights to the Star Wars™ films and everything associated with them, but this is an original story and never once references anything from the films by name.
Lastly, we have been very careful to make clear that our show is not sponsored or endorsed by LEGO® Group of companies, or LucasFilm™. On their website LEGO® says, "A disclaimer should be used when the LEGO trademark appears on a Web page. An appropriate disclaimer would be 'LEGO®is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site'". As you can see at the bottom of this post, we put a similar disclaimer on everything we do, in compliance with their guidelines.
UPDATE: We are also currently working with an attorney to do one last round of checks through everything to make sure we haven't missed anything.
If you have any further questions about our show, feel free to contact us at CloneTrainingCenter@gmail.com
LEGO® and Star Wars™ are the properties of LEGO® Group of companies and LucasFilm™ respectively. Neither endorses or sponsors this blog, the show mentioned in this post or any of its creators or affiliates.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Posters
We have some fantastic posters available through our Kickstarter campaign. You can get any one of these three posters for only $25
Please check out our Kickstarter and help us make this project a reality. It will not happen unless we are fully funded, so please support this exciting project!
Please check out our Kickstarter and help us make this project a reality. It will not happen unless we are fully funded, so please support this exciting project!
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Welcome! (What is Clone Training Center?)
Welcome to the Official Clone Training Center Update BlogHello everyone! Thanks so much for checking out our blog!
On this blog, we will be giving you an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at what is happening with the development of the new Clone Training Center web series. We are very excited to get things going and will try to update this blog as often as we can.
What Is Clone Training Center?
Clone Training Center is a groundbreaking BrickFilm web series, that will bring together some of the top brickfilmers in the world, all working together to make one, entertaining, high quality series. This first season will feature 6 episodes, each 5-10 minutes in length.
Clone Training Center is set in a fan-adaptation of the Star Wars™universe, and tells the story of two clones, Bridge and Gus. Bridge is a down-to-earth solider who is just trying to make a good impression on his new commander, and Gus is a well-meaning simpleton who often unwittingly causes trouble.
These characters were originally featured in a video that Jordan Johnson (our Executive Producer and Co-Director, and the creator of the Fancy Pants YouTube channel) made in 2009. Since Jordan was far less experienced back then, the video is nowhere near the quality that we will demand of ourselves for the actual series. If you'd like to see the original, you can view it here.
Jordan has made numerous popular videos, including Lego - The Force Unleashed which has over 7 million views on YouTube.
What You Can Expect on This Blog
We will try to update at least once a week, telling you about all the exciting things we have going on. We will post behind-the-scenes photos, and videos (showing you sets, ideas, storyboards, etc.) as well as general information about what is happening as we prepare to begin animation this summer.
We are still in the process of hiring animators and other crew members, and we will post about new crew members and animators as they sign on, so be on the look for that!
Thanks again for checking out this blog! Be sure to follow us to get the latest updates!
LEGO® and Star Wars™ are the properties of LEGO® Group of companies and LucasFilm™ respectively. Neither endorses or sponsors this blog, the show mentioned in this post or any of its creators or affiliates.
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