Kickstarter officially launched roughly one year ago, giving Canadians with an idea a unique way to raise funds to bring their concept into reality. Kickstarter, for the uninitiated, allows creators to raise funds by offering different perks to the people who support their idea. These rewards are completely up to the creator to develop, and up to the person to pick which level of support (and what reward) they want put their dollars behind. To date, there have been 3,609 campaigns launched on Kickstarter in Canada, with many achieving their necessary goals. Today, we are highlighting five different Canadian Kickstarter campaigns…
The Switch – A Fantastic Transgender Comedy
The Switch is a planned television series that they describe as a “transgender, magic-realist comedy, one that delights in pushing the envelope and in holding a queer and quirky mirror up to our own lives.” The series already has broadcaster commitments, grants, and tax credits to put the show into production, but it needed to raise an additional $50,000 to do the show correctly. With production slated to begin in February 2015, the show is hoping to see a Canadian debut in August of next year, followed by a US release in September. The first of its kind, The Switch (at the time of writing this) has already been fully funded, meaning we can likely expect this Vancouver-based television series to hit the screens in 2015 as projected.
ADVERTISEMENT |
Jotun
Indie video game developers have been well served by using Kickstarter to bring their visions to reality. Jotun, developed by Will Dube of Montreal, offers users an opportunity to play in an action-exploration game for both PC and Mac. The game features unique 2D hand-drawn art, epic boss fights, a randomly generated world with puzzles, a great story, and an amazing musical score. Jotun expects to be available for backers in September 2015. To make it happen though, it needs to raise an additional $10,000 or so on its $50,000 goal.
Heisenberg Tiles
Breaking Bad has inspired many different products over the course of its 5-season run, and the latest is this magnetic set of the periodic table. The Heisenberg Tiles feature 118 periodic elements built out of durable green acrylic with a rare earth magnet backing to stick to your fridge or other magnetic surface. A full set will cost you $25, and additional colours can be unlocked including ginger, red, yellow, blue and pink – with Breaking Bad-themed names. At the time of writing this, the campaign is fully funded so you can support them with the confidence that you will definitely be getting a set!
ADVERTISEMENT |
DIY Lovebot
You have probably seen the Lovebot around Toronto at some point. For a while now, Lovebot has made appearances as concrete street art across the city. Now, if the campaign is successful, you will be able to have your own 5-inch Lovebot at home. The Lovebot isn’t just a toy, but an intended movement to spread kindness. There is so much more that can be said about Lovebot, but it would be better to go check out the campaign yourself and get your own Lovebot for $40 of support!
Gone Tomorrow
Syndicate Seven is an award-winning film production company looking to bring their feature film, Gone Tomorrow, to life. With a budget of $100,000, they are hoping to raise $30,000 through Kickstarter to help them make this film a reality. They recently brought in Oscar nominee Terri Tatchell (of District 9) to act as a script consultant to ensure the quality of the movie. As a recent winner of the 2013 Rising Star Award at the Canada International Film Festival, Gone Tomorrow will be their first full feature-length film to hit the screens.
What have been some of your favourite Kickstarter campaigns to date? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @ViewTheVibe.
ADVERTISEMENT |
