I think there are two spectrums to successful Kickstarter videos: Over the top really well done quality videos, and super low budget (read: $0) iMovie videos that show sincerity.
Anywhere in between that and you come off looking like a scam.
That is a good point. I helped with a kickstarter for a fusion project. Our budget was low but we hired some marketing people who spent about $6000 putting together a video for us. It wasn't great but it was the best we could manage. We got a ton of comments about how scammy we looked, including from many of the project's long-time supporters.
(Luckily it didn't hurt us too badly, we raised $180K.)
I'm in the same boat: I almost never watch the videos. However, I've also run a Kickstarter of my own and, while researching it, found that videos make a huge difference.
We're both HN posters, which puts us in a pretty small demographic. :)
I have two close friends who are professional filmmakers, Sari Gennis and Ted Arabian. Sari was the animation director for Ferngully, her sister was my boss' girlfriend back in the day.
I met Ted in high school, when he and I both played Roman Soldiers in Jesus Christ Superstar.
However I plan to make most of the video myself, but then to have Ted edit it. Real Soon Now I'm going to make a storyboard from digital still shots, then an improvised voice track, then I'll transcribe the voice track into text and edit it down to where I think Ted could get it to fit into three minutes.
My plan is to produce a quality video but with some very humbling imagery. Consider that a homeless fellow here in Portland, not long ago said to me "Some of they people I find sleeping on the street, they tell me they used to make six figures".
I find lots of software engineers eating at soup kitchens and sleeping in homeless shelters.
It's not exactly like my computer employer index is going to find them jobs, but that if I can make it easier for most people to find jobs, then everyone will benefit.
Consider that a homeless fellow here in Portland, not long ago said to me
"Some of they people I find sleeping on the street, they tell me they used
to make six figures".
I find lots of software engineers eating at soup kitchens and sleeping in
homeless shelters.
Not surprised. I remember having a conversation with a homeless panhandling ex-software engineer in front of the NYC Tower Records store (original one on 4th & B'way) almost 30 years ago. He claimed to make over $500/day panhandling and, from his style, I believed it.
Yes. He really either used to be a programmer or was faking it extremely well!
