Thanks to the Indiegogo campaign, I was able to raise up just enough money to crank out another 4 episodes of the show and I filmed them yesterday. Much like the last time, it was a marathon of coordinating a bunch of different people's schedules, lining up the location, and then cranking out all 4 in a single shoot before running out of ambient daylight.
As with any other shoot I've EVER been on, there were a variety of unique challenges that came up that day (like the fact that we had to turn off the heaters in the studio for the sound, so it was freezing), but I am happy that we managed to make it happen and cranked out something that I can be proud of. This shooting felt considerably better than the last one. While I was sick as a dog filming the last four, (and got even more sick after the shooting was completed) this time I was exhausted after the shoot, but overall still feeling good. Furthermore, after having a few months to sit down and observe how the first 3 episodes did (and what people liked/and how they were criticized), going in this time, I had a much stronger idea as to what I was doing, and could carefully write the episodes knowing what works. The working mechanics of the team were excellent and we moved efficiently. Much like the last time (but perhaps even more so) I took a few chances with comedic elements, so we`ll see how people respond to them. In addition to these new 4, I will also be dropping another episode that was meant to be episode 2 (although now it will be labeled as episode 4). I filmed it along with the original 3 that I released before, but wanted to add to it a bit before I posted it.
The five (including that one) that will be released in this run are as follows:
- opposite side wrist grab
- double wrist grabs
- bar scenario 1
- bar scenario 2
- knife defense
The episodes still left to film are:
- rear choke defense
- headlocks and variants
- how to stay on your feet
- defending yourself on the ground & getting back up on your feet
- defense from a mount
- multiple opponent scenarios
While Im really glad that the Indiegogo campaign has gotten me this far, Im still not sure what the future holds for the rest of the episodes. As this has been my first effort at actually producing something, Im incredibly happy and proud that its gotten this far. The first episode is set to break 10,000 hits tonight, and its been less than 2 months since I posted it. Between all of them, my Youtube channel is now getting around 600 hits a day and even if I do nothing else from now on, it will be well over 100,000 views by the end of the year. As far as my campaign goes, even while $475 may seem modest for what I was shooting for, Ive seen some other indiegogo campaigns that never even broke $50. The fact that Ive had multiple people donate $50, $100 or even $200 is just awesome to me. If the funding just isn't there and I can't complete all 15 of the episodes that I originally planned out, then I still can't complain.
This experience has taught me that I can work just as well behind the camera as I can in front of it, and that Im not the only one who thinks that my projects are a good idea. While it is as stressful as I imagined it to be, I really enjoy the process of writing, producing (and acting in) my own projects, and Im sure this won't be last endeavor on this front.
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