KICKSTART THIS

Kickstart This: 'Tube' Animation, 'Thanks for Dying' & 'Police Warfare'

by Ben Pearson
April 20, 2012

Welcome back to another edition of Kickstart This, FirstShowing's weekly column dedicated to spreading the word about cool indie projects across the internet. This week, we've got three cool endeavors that need your help to become a reality: Tube an open source animated film, a mockumentary called Thanks for Dying, and an intense-looking video game called Police Warfare that takes much of its inspiration from Michael Mann's 1995 crime classic Heat. As always, these projects are looking for your help to get made, so if you have the ability, please donate and help support independent projects like these three. Read on!

First up, there is the animated film Tube. This is one of the most interesting projects I've come across recently because of the sheer scope of the production - 56 people from 26 countries have come together to work together to bring this movie to life. Another really cool aspect of this one is that all the assets of the production are all digital, the filmmakers plan to distribute all of the individual elements for free online so people can do what they want with them: use them as learning tools, add on to them for a new project, or even utilize them for commercial use. Take a look at their pitch video below:

For more information on Tube, or to help fund the project, visit their Kickstarter page. Director Bassam Kurdali and his international team of co-workers are seeking $22,000 by May 16th, and their goal is definitely within reach.

Next up, here's something a bit different, but certainly worth supporting. We've featured some comedies in this column before, but never anything quite as elaborate as this. Thanks For Dying is a homegrown mockumentary shot in Los Angeles featuring an improv comedy troupe. That may sound pretty run-of-the-mill, but the rehearsal process for this movie was fascinating: the actors actually went out and posed as their characters in public, interacting with real people in coffee shops and parks in order to hone their portrayals into accurate and believable work. Check out their video to see what I mean:

For more information on Thanks For Dying, or to help fund the project, visit their Kickstarter page. Producer Laurence Braun and his team are looking for $10,000 to hit the film festival circuit by May 27th, so help them out if you can!

Finally, for any gamers out there that love heist movies, Police Warfare looks like the perfect combination of the two. Designed by a company called Elastic Games, which consists of people who have worked on Assassin's Creed II, Far Cry 3, Gears of War, and more, Police Warfare is a large scale multiplayer first person shooter that allows you to play on either side of the law. The game looks totally professional, with great weapon and vehicle designs, and it's one that I know I would personally spend hours playing. Rappelling from buildings, setting car bombs on enemy vehicles, controlling armed robotic ground units - it's all there in this game, and this one is going to kick some serious ass.

For more information on Police Warfare, or to help fund the project, visit their Kickstarter page. Elastic Games is looking for a whopping $325,000 by May 18th to finish the project, but everyone who donates at least $15 gets a digital download of the game. Totally worth it.

I also want to point you toward Ethan's post earlier in the week about Plastic Galaxy, the documentary about Star Wars toys. The filmmakers already reached their goal, so I won't feature that fully here, but definitely check out Ethan's write-up because it looks like a very cool project worth keeping an eye on.

That's it for this week's Kickstart This, we hope you liked this round up of projects. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail at BenPears85@gmail.com with any projects you come across in the coming weeks that you'd like to see featured in this column. A lot of these great projects we've highlighted have been because of all your e-mails, so keep those coming and be sure to remember to support independent projects (on Kickstarter & IndieGoGo) if you can afford it. Let us know what you think of these projects in the comments below.

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