Thank you so much for your support!
Thanks to 130 incredibly generous backers, we raised over $4,500 to support the film festival run, produce Multiplex 10-branded USB cards preloaded with the short, and produce some all-new Multiplex 10 webisodes.The Multiplex 10: the Animated Short is now available through Vimeo On Demand and Gumroad, with additional platforms coming very soon! And the Multiplex 10 web series has launched, as well! Head over to the Multiplex 10 YouTube channel to catch up.
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The Multiplex 10 animated short is almost here!
Multiplex 10 is an eleven-minute animated short coming to Vimeo On Demand on January 29, 2018. The short centers around the Multiplex 10 Cinemas and two of its staff: a schlock-loving movie theater usher name Kurt and a film snob named Jason who come to realize they have a little common ground in their shared—but very different—love of film.
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Multiplex 10 was based on the long-running comic strip Multiplex, which was created, written, and illustrated by Gordon McAlpin. Gordon executive produced, directed, co-wrote, animated, and edited the short, in addition to voicing Jason. Producer Dana Luery Shaw (Echo Chamber, Classic Alice) co-wrote the script and voiced Melissa, another employee. The rest of the cast includes Tom Brazelton (Theater Hopper) as Kurt, Aiyanna Wade (Channel Awesome), Javier Prusky (Halt & Catch Fire), and Chris Rager (Dragonball Z). Tangelene Bolton composed and original score, and Ian Vargo worked his magic on the sound. For more about the short film, the cast, and the crew, please visit the Multiplex 10 website!
The production of the short was fully funded by a Kickstarter campaign this past spring, and the short has been completed, save for the production of the 5.1 Surround Sound mix, which will be completed in early January.
This Indiegogo campaign is meant to do three things:
1) help fund the film festival run, digital release, and promotion of the Multiplex 10 short film, in hopes of reaching the widest possible audience. Although the Multiplex 10 short film stands on its own, it was conceived as a pilot for a series, and reaching a wide audience will give us the best possible chance of producing more Multiplex 10 videos.
2) offer a physical copy of the short for existing (and new) backers who want them, and to sell at conventions, screenings, and other venues. And…
3) if we can raise significantly more than the base goal, we can fund additional 2–3 minute Multiplex 10 webisodes, to be released free online. These webisodes will feature Kurt and Jason (and possibly some other familiar faces) talking about a then-current movie or facet of movie culture — for instance, the "Kurt and Jason at the manager's station talking about movie news or trailers" or "Kurt and Jason talk about a film while in the theater" set-ups that will be familiar to Multiplex readers.
Film festivals are expensive!
Submitting a short film to a film festival costs, on average, about $30 — often per category. And higher profile festivals can cost three times that, or even more. (Multiplex 10 is being submitted as a short film, animated short, comedy short, or web series pilot depending on the categories at each festival.) And that’s without factoring in any costs associated with promoting the film at each festival: posters, fliers, press kits, and so forth.
At the base funding goal, we’ll raise enough money to fund the production of a hundred or so USB cards, most of which will go to backers, and then cover the costs of two or three festivals. The more we raise, the more festivals we can submit to and adequately promote the film at. The wider the audience Multiplex 10 gets, the better chance we have of funding additional full-length episodes, or even an entire season.
You asked for a physical copy… Here it is!
Some backers (or potential backers) expressed disappointment with the Multiplex 10 Kickstarter campaign for having very few physical rewards. While we did that to ensure that the project was successfully funded and produced, now that the short is in the final stages of post-production and will be completed, we still have time to offer a physical release.
However… rather than releasing a crappy standard definition DVD or a barebones Blu-Ray that costs a fortune to author and produce, we thought of something cooler: a Multiplex 10-branded USB wafer card with the animated short preloaded onto it. Bear in mind, there is NO menu; the drive will contain ONLY the one digital video file (in 1080p/HD resolution, with a 5.1 surround sound mix and an English closed captioning track for the hearing impaired). Note that the because Vimeo currently only supports stereo sound, this is the only way to get the 5.1 surround sound mix!
But what it isn't is a completely useless frisbee (or landfill) after you're finished watching the short. Once you've added the file to your digital media library, you can wipe the card and keep on using it as a normal USB drive (that happens to have the Multiplex 10 cast on it).
That card will look a little something like this:
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Printed Product Sample – Actual Size: 3.3" tall x 2" wide x .07" thick — Not final art
Help Fund the Marketing and Distribution of the Short
Beyond getting the physical copy of the animated short, if you support our Indiegogo campaign, you’ll help fund its digital release and film festival run, which — we hope — will help us produce more animated adventures with the Multiplex 10 staff.
If you only want a digital copy of the short but didn’t back the original campaign, just hang in there! You'll be able to pre-order it through Vimeo On Demand in the very near future — or simply rent or buy it on January 29th.
We've set the base goal at just $2,000. This covers the production and shipment of USB cards, with a few extras for sale through the Multiplex 10 online store or crew members’ convention appearances, plus a hair left over to cover a handful of convention submissions. Every single dollar we raise beyond the base goal means we can submit to more festivals and promote the film more effectively, so this campaign is really all about the stretch goals, so we wanted to make those as enticing as possible.
Stretch Goals: Multiplex 10 webisodes and higher capacity USB drives!
Any additional funds beyond the base goal will, of course, go to support the marketing and distribution of the short—but thanks to the magic of "volume discounts," we can also upgrade the USB wafer cards to higher capacities, making everyone’s rewards better.
If we reach $3,000, we can increase the capacity of the USB drives from 2GB to 4GB. PLUS, I will add a director’s commentary audio track to the Digital Downloads and USB cards. — UNLOCKED!
At $4,000, we’ll produce an all-new 2–3 minute animated Multiplex 10 “webisode” (to be released for FREE online in 2018).— UNLOCKED!
At $5,000, the USB drives will be increased to 8GB!
At $7,000, we'll produce a second 2–3 minute webisodes in 2018!
At $8,000, the USB drives will be increased to 16GB!
At $10,000, we'll produce three 2–3 minute webisodes in 2018!
And if we somehow manage to pass that goal, we’ll come up with more!
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Risks & Challenges
With three successfully fulfilled crowdfunding campaigns for three printed books and literally decades of print production experience under my belt, the production of this USB wafer card is a much smaller-scale project and should be a breeze. I've already obtained a printed sample from the vendor, and it looks terrific. The main challenge will be to fulfill the USB cards in a timely fashion.
The digital rewards are already completed and will be e-mailed to backers on January 29, 2018.
When Will I Get the Rewards?
Indiegogo backers will receive all of their digital rewards via download links on or before the VOD release date of the animated short: January 29, 2018. The USB card will ship in late January and hopefully arrive around that time, at least for continental US orders. (We'll also send you a complimentary streaming rental code for Vimeo On Demand, so that you can watch it as soon as it's available—just in case your drive doesn’t show up in time.)
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can't contribute, that doesn't mean you can't help:
Thank you so much for helping Multiplex 10 become a reality!
