One of the biggest things that can so easily be overlooked when putting together a Kickstarter campaign is having enough content for promotion during and after the campaign. I’ve learned that you can never have enough done in advance before hitting that go live button on launch day.

When we started putting together the campaign page for UrbX Warriors I had absolutely no idea how much content we really needed. I set about creating header images, product mock ups, reward tier images, thumbnails, all sorts of stuff and it took quite some time to do.

Pre Campaign Content

There’s also the need to show a campaign video, more so when promoting something like a video game where having something people can actually watch is essential. We had a rough idea what we wanted to do but neither of us had the time to really pull out all the stops. We made the most of what we could shoot for the live action section and from there I worked out a way to tie it all together with the in-game video. Oh, that’s another thing, don’t ever underestimate the time it takes to record lots of in game footage, and…the time it takes sorting it into segments for insertion into the main campaign video. Yep it took some editing.

I’ve included the almost final version before it was edited down to the one shown on the campaign page. A version that is tighter and just that little bit more concise.
Here’s the pre-cut down version:

And here’s the final video:

As you can see the video we used was much tighter, thanks to Tony’s Mrs’ for stepping in to do this as I was so bogged down time was running out before we launched.

Social Media Content Post Launch

Once the campaign went live we had to have some content to push on social medai. Having lots of assets already created for the game and the cover art, certainly made life a little easier than having to rely on creating everything from scratch again, but… it was still a lot of work to come up with this videos and get them ready to be used. I think they turned out okay. Only issues is a typo which has been corrected on the static version of the image but the video version for now remains as is.

Campaign Stretch Goals

Now you would think that was it, but no, we needed something to show for when the campaign hit a stretch goal so I went away and came up with this to add to the updates section of the campaign page. Because the video was a short I had to re-save it within the 4:3 frame so it would show correctly on the Kickstarter page.

Final words before I end this blog post

I started making video shorts and advertising reels a few years back specifically for my art shop The Design Droid as I needed content to show off my art prints. Rather than just post images, videos are far more eye catching and can really push the content to a wider audience if done right. I’m not saying I get it right every time but with experience you get a feel for what works and what doesn’t (most of the time). Once an idea takes hold and I have the assets in place, the editing is a real joy. Which leads me on to some tips I’ve picked up along the way.

Who’s your target?

Who and what is your target platform. We live in an age where aspect ratios are literally all over the place, each social media platform seemingly having its own preference and often more than one depending on what you’re posting. This for content creation makes life harder across multiple social accounts, so it’s best to try and work out a common ground and start from there. I prefer landscape video but.. we all use phones and these for the most part are held vertically. So try and work out if your video will work on both, perhaps with some editing… or can be created for just one size. Safe zones are a good idea with a central 1:1 area in the middle and then you can re-edit or crop if need be. I’m no expert so if you have suggestion for best practices let me know.

How long is too long?

Another thing I’ve come to understand is video length. Work out how long you want your video to be, too long and you will lose interest, not long enough and the content is lost before it’s even seen. Oh and of course some social platforms only allow videos up to a certain length for specific things so be sure you know before uploading or parts of your content will never get played. Instagram comes to mind.

Assets, assets assets!

Careful planning of assets can make a video look more professional and polished. When I’m working on a video I will have Affinity Designer open ready for any extra content I need to create. If it’s a game project like UrbX Warriors then a lot of the assets are already available but sometimes extra bits are needed. That also applies to pre-edited video idents for things like an intro or outro. This keeps things consistent and looks more professional.

Audio! And I don’t mean just music!

Audio and Effects are another thing that can really enhance a video. There’s so much free stuff out there to use, but tread carefully as too much can cheapen the end result, sometimes less is indeed more! Also make sure what you use isn’t tied up in copyright issues. Check for creative commons licences and if you can give credit.
Don’t be afraid to add sound effects to draw attention to key points within the video. I did this on some of the UrbX Warriors shorts and it just adds some emphasis while the music plays.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this little insight into what goes on behind the scenes. Please feel free to share this post and if you would like to help support the blog part of this website I do have a KoFi page where you can buy me a cuppa.

Thanks for reading, until next time, bye for now.