Kickstarting a Steampunk Webseries

The KickStarter page for “The Lazarus Machine” is now live!

And so begins our drive to build an audience for the project big enough to get it made. Crowdfunding is a wonderfully democratic method of funding, and it means there are no gatekeepers, no one person holding the purse strings and making a call on whether it is worth producing. If enough people want to see it, we can proceed. Simple as that.

The challenge now is making enough people aware of it’s existence so they can make that judgement. So if you’re reading this, please take a moment to let your social networks know about our little webseries. Some of your friends may be into steampunk, or independent film. Some might just like great actors like Timothy West and Sophie Aldred. Some might be keen on unusual music – and the bands contributing to The Lazarus Machine are as varied as they come:

retro-goth Vernian Process

cellist/vocalist Unwoman

anachro-punks The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing

time-travelling raconteurs The Cog Is Dead

crazed chap-hopper Professor Elemental

and the indescribable The Tiger Lillies!

And some of your friends might just like something a bit different 🙂

Whatever the case, please let them know about us so they can decide whether they want to see it for themselves. Thank you!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adaddinsane/the-lazarus-machine

Unleash the Steampunk!

Time for an update on our long-awaited web serial. Things are moving fast now, so I will be posting much more frequently! As a reminder, here is the test scene we shot as a proof of concept – click through to watch the video…

This was a great experience – cast and crew were wonderfully enthusiastic, the CG sets are fantastic, and we’re very happy with the results. Now it’s time to repeat the process on a grander scale to create 8 episodes of about 8 minutes each. It’s comparable to shooting a feature.

The most important news is that the project has a new title. “Winter” has been a great working title, but it doesn’t convey anything about the story. So henceforth the flagship story of the Voidships world will be…

“The Lazarus Machine”.

And we’re going to need more help. We have a KickStarter campaign poised to launch, and a lot of very exciting news to reveal, particularly if you’re a fan of great actors, steampunk music or behind-the-scenes VFX breakdowns. We have all manner of ways to keep track of our progress, and we need you to share our ramblings with anyone who likes steampunk, or independent filmmaking, or science fiction, or good drama:

Email! Go to monstrousproductions.com and sign up to the mailing list.

Twitter! Follow @Voidships or @adaddinsane or @Qixotl.

Google+! Join The Lazarus Machine community.

In fact…check out the G+ community right now for our first casting reveal!