"The Encyclopedia Game", An honest and humorous film on Wikipedia Options

[DiotimaPhil]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/172554...-on-wikipedia-v

The link above is to a kickstarter.com campaign for a film I have been working on with the cooperation of many here at Wikipedia Review, entitled "The Encyclopedia Game."

I have been researching this film for over a year, in an attempt to construct a humorous but intelligent look at the hidden side of Wikipedia (the obsessive editors and admins, the edit wars and extended conflicts, and the culture generally) by way of exploring the phenomenon of Wikipedia vandalism.

"The Encyclopedia Game" is not an informational documentary or a film essay, as earlier films on Wikipedia have been. Instead, this is a quirky, character-driven documentary that raises important issues while at the same time dealing with some extremely humorous stories and personalities. The tone of the film will be very light, but the subject matter will penetrate deeper into fundamental questions about truth, authority, community, and identity.

Although I believe that this is a film with potentially wide appeal, there aren't many who understand Wikipedia well enough to see that potential. After all, everyone uses Wikipedia, but few know what Wikipedia really is like, which can make fundraising quite difficult.

And that is why I am asking for your help. Already this film would have been impossible without the contacts I have made through Wikipedia Review, but I am hoping you can assist further by helping to promote our fundraising effort.

We must raise $60,000 by 11:59pm eastern on the 5th of April in order to move forward with this project. To accomplish this goal, the project will likely have to go viral, and establish an appeal beyond the inner-circle of Wikipedia and its critics. So, in addition to making a pledge yourself (as little as $5 will get you a download of the finished film), you could really help out by spreading the word to anyone you know who might be interested, particularly journalists or bloggers who can bring our project to a wider audience.

Thanks again to everyone at Wikipedia Review for being so helpful and taking this project as far as it has come. With your help, this fundraising campaign will be a success, and there will finally be an accessible and entertaining film that takes an honest look at the hidden world of Wikipedia.

Here are some relevant links:
Kickstarter (most important!): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/172554...-on-wikipedia-v
Film Website: http://www.encyclopediagame.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EncyclopediaGame
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/EncycloGameFilm or @EncycloGameFilm
Google+: https://plus.google.com/105391706559835687866/posts

[Wikifan]

The reason I wouldn't call it begging is because my request is really an offer.

how did you come to 60,000 budget?

This post has been edited by Wikifan:

[DiotimaPhil]

The reason I wouldn't call it begging is because my request is really an offer.

how did you come to 60,000 budget?

The actual budget is higher, but we decided we didn't want to go higher for the Kickstarter, since it is all-or-nothing. Total costs, if we do the scaled-down version of the film, will range between $75-80k. This amounts to roughly $15K for equipment, $10K for incidental pre-production expenses (I have had to do some travelling over the past year to track down leads, etc.) and $50-55k for travel and logistics for production itself. We are a three man road crew, enabling us to have two cameras at all times, while I go back and forth between running discrete audio and being in front of the camera to tell the story. We have 3-5 core contributors whose stories will make up the bulk of the film, and 12-15 secondary contributors are needed to offer context/perspective on the stories of the core contributors. These folks are located all over the globe. Three continents so far, and we are still considering others, so there is going to be a lot of travel associated with this film. And sending three people with a bunch of equipment all over the world gets costly pretty quickly.

$60,000 is actually our low-end target. We have identified 53 contributors whose input is desired, and to be able to film them all will cost approximately $200,000. We obviously would not be able to include all 53 contributors in the final film (which we hope to keep to an accessible 90 minutes or less), but the idea is to use the best footage for the film, then edit and release the rest as bonus material.

So, that is the basic break-down of our budget. You may notice that we haven't included anything for crew pay. That is because the whole team is committed to making this project a reality, and we are willing to give our time up for it. We just need a little help covering the additional costs.