Welcome to Fund This, a new column here at Tubefilter. Each week, we’ll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or any other similar crowdfunding sites. We’ll tell you what the series is all about and explain why it is worth your money. Do you have a project that’s currently being crowdfunded? Contact us to let us know and we may feature it in upcoming installments and check out previous installments right here.
Project Name: Player Piano
Asking For: $60,000 on Indiegogo
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Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $1,075
Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 42
Description: Player Piano is a web series that combines pop culture, classical music, and intricate set design. In each episode, pianist Sonya Belousova arranges an iconic anthem from a TV show, movie, or video game, and director Tom Grey surrounds her performance with an elaborate production based on that franchise.
The series began as Cosplay Piano, a web series on Stan Lee’s World of Heroes YouTube channel, where four videos combined to draw 1.5 million views. Four months ago, Belousova and Grey jumped off that success by launching their own channel, where they have release three new episodes. The latest installment features the main theme from Tetris.
Belousova and Grey want to make more videos, so they’ve turned to Indiegogo, where they hope to raise the money the need to continue their productions. They laid out their plan in an adorable pitch video, which was shot at YouTube Space LA and tells its story through cue cards. On the cards, Grey and Belousova explain that their productions sometimes cost tens of thousands of dollars. “That may seem like a lot,” read the cards, “but it’s a shoestring compared to most productions.”
Should they get the funds they need, Grey and Belousova will launch at least five new videos. “We can make any kind of music,” explain Grey and Belousova, “from arrangements of soundtrack themes, to popular songs and pieces, and heavy metal, gangsta rap, mariachi, [and] gypsy jazz, to original compositions.”
Creator Bio: In addition to Cosplay Piano, Grey has directed several other series on World of Heroes, including an offbeat news series called Mask & Cape. Belousova is a world-class pianist who doesn’t always play in costume; here she is performing Shostakovich at a concert hall in Moscow.
Best Perk: As part of its Indiegogo campaign, Player Piano is giving away the custom-built pianos used in its Tetris and Akira videos. If you’ve ever wanted a bright red, neon-lit instrument in your house, entrance into the Akira sweepstakes is available at the $15 level.
Why You Should Fund It: Belousova’s performances have all the energy, verve, and technical proficiency of a Piano Guys video, and Grey’s productions are inventive enough to make Lindsey Stirling proud. Player Piano only lacks one thing those channels possess–it doesn’t have a big subscriber count. Player Piano is going to be a very popular YouTube channel very soon, but in order to get there, it needs a push. The bombastic Tetris performance should be enough to win over any potential donor. Give it a watch, and you’ll be convinced.
