I am sure some of you have already heard about the project, but in case you don't allow me to introduce to you:
Masaaki Yuasa's "Kick-Heart"
by Production I.G.
The Story
Kick-Heart is a love story between Romeo, a successful pro-wrestler, and Juliet, a nun who lives a secret double-life as a female pro-wrestler. Romeo's secret is that he enjoys taking a beating in the ring, while Juliet feels invigorated when facing her opponents as a wrestler. When the two meet in the ring, the fireworks fly. Their story is set in the colorful backdrop of the professional wrestling world. Will Juliet reveal her true identity to the one she loves? Will Romeo be able to share his secret to the world?
The film is directed by one of Japan's most innovative and original animation directors, Masaaki Yuasa.Why Kickstarter?
During the mid 80’s and 90’s Japanese animation directors, such as Mamoru Oshii, pioneered a new era of animation. Their films inspired animation fans around the world, including many well known Hollywood film directors.
Recently in Japan, its been very difficult for the next generation of innovators to create more artistically driven projects– mainly because of the economic situation in Japan. Most of the focus has been put on creating projects that carry less risk-- such as remakes of older animation projects or well-known established properties.
So we had an idea: What if we use Kickstarter as a platform to connect the fans across the globe who want to see cutting-edge animation, with highly skilled anime directors? By using crowdfunding to help support and promote these talented directors, we can enable them to push the boundaries of anime to inspire others to innovate alongside them.This is a bit of an experiment for us, and we are trying to see if is possible to make these types of artistically driven films with the help of crowd-funding. If this goes well, we would definitely like to pursue more projects like this in the future.
About the Film
Kick-Heart will be a 2D animated short film that will be approximately 10 minutes in length and will be written and directed by Masaaki Yuasa. This film has just recently completed pre-production and layout.
During the campaign, we will be providing live updates during production and backers will get exclusive access to:
- Production Artwork
- Storyboards
- Production blogs
- Interviews with Production I.G staff
The Goal
Our goal is raise a minimum of $150,000 for this project. After the film is completed, we plan on submitting it to film festivals around the world.
Here is how we intend to use the funds:
- Increase the quality of animation
- Increase the overall duration of the animation
- Help offset the current production costs
- Manufacturing costs for backers rewards (Blu-ray,Print materials etc)
- Digital distribution costs for backers downloading the film
- Festival Submission Fees
Staff
Director, Animator : Masaaki Yuasa
Project Consultant : Mamoru Oshii
Character Designer, Animator : Michio Mihara
Color Coordinator, Animator : Eunyoung Choi
Background Artist : Kevin Aymeric
Animation Production : Production I.G
So, what do you guys think about it? This is essentially the first anime kickstarter project and as such a great experiment for both backers as well as Production I.G. and the staff members. I personally think that this is a great opportunity to show support for one of the industry's greatest directors.
Edit:
News coverage on ANN
