Crowdfunding video tips: script and budget
A crowdfunding video does not have to be expensive, but in two minutes it has to convince a stranger to send you money for something that does not exist yet. Three things decide it: the first ten seconds, the person talking to the camera, and a prototype shown honestly. Below are our crowdfunding video tips from the production side: a copy and paste script with timings, rules for showing a prototype that is not finished, and a simple way to work out how much of your campaign goal should go into the video.
Key takeaways
- Ethan Mollick of the Wharton School analysed 48,526 Kickstarter projects (Journal of Business Venturing, 2014). Holding everything else equal, leaving out a video cut a project's chance of success by 26 %.
- In the same sample, 86 % of projects had a video. A video is not an edge, it is the entry ticket. Without one you simply look unprepared.
- Failed campaigns in Mollick's data raised only 10.3 % of their goal on average. Campaigns rarely miss narrowly. They miss because not enough people saw them, and a video cannot fix that on its own.
- A proven length is two minutes in six blocks: hook, problem, product in action, team, money and rewards, call to action.
- Our rule of thumb: spend at most 10 to 15 % of the campaign goal on the video. For a 20,000 euro goal that is 2,000 to 3,000 euros, roughly one well prepared shoot day.
The first 10 seconds of a crowdfunding video: what to show
Within ten seconds people need to know what the thing is and who it helps, otherwise they scroll down to the rewards or leave. Do not open with your logo, a drone shot over the city or "Hi, my name is Peter". Open with the product in the hands of someone using it, plus one sentence about the problem.
It works the same way as a product video that actually sells: result first, explanation second. If you are making a folding bike, the first shot is someone folding it in five seconds outside the office door. If you are making a board game, the first shot is people laughing around a table, not a box on a white background.
A quick test: play the first ten seconds with the sound off. If you cannot tell what is going on from the picture alone, the hook is not working. A lot of people watch on their phones without sound, which is also why the video needs subtitles.
A 2 minute crowdfunding video script: 6 blocks with timings
Two minutes is enough for the whole story, and most viewers will still be with you at the end. Here is the skeleton. Rewrite it straight into your own project:
- 0:00 to 0:10, the hook. The product in action and one sentence: what it is and what it does better.
- 0:10 to 0:30, the problem. A specific situation the viewer knows from their own life. No market statistics, no "every year X tons are thrown away".
- 0:30 to 1:00, the solution. How the product works, shown on the prototype. Close ups, hands, materials, the sound of the mechanism. This is where most of your footage goes.
- 1:00 to 1:25, who you are. The founder on camera, briefly: why you, and what you have already done. The workshop, the sketches, the early versions that did not work.
- 1:25 to 1:45, where the money goes. One sentence on the budget (tooling, the first production run, certification) and two or three headline rewards. Not every tier, those live on the campaign page.
- 1:45 to 2:00, the ask. What the viewer should do now and by when. Back it, share it, send it to the friend who needs it.
Write the script like you are talking to someone, not like a press release. Read it out loud, and any sentence that leaves you out of breath gets cut in half.
Who should talk in the video: the founder, not an actor or a studio voice
The person behind the project should be the one talking, even if they are not a natural speaker. Backers are not buying a finished product off a shelf. They are buying a promise that someone will actually see it through. Mollick's study found that backers respond strongly to signals of preparation and quality, and the strongest signal there is a person willing to show their face and put their name behind the promise.
From our shoots with founders, three practical tips. Do not memorise the script: talk from bullet points on a card and record every block three times. Wear a lavalier microphone, because viewers forgive a softer image far more easily than bad sound. And talk to one specific person behind the camera, not to "the audience". The best takes happen when the founder explains the product to a colleague and forgets the camera is rolling.
A professional voiceover only makes sense for the product section, and only if the founder honestly does not work on camera. Even then, put the founder on screen at the start and at the end.
Showing a prototype that is not perfect yet: what to show and what to admit
Show exactly what works, and say out loud what does not work yet. A backer who finds out a month later that a shot was faked will not just leave one angry comment. They will leave it under every campaign update.
- Always label a render or 3D visualisation on screen ("visualisation of the final version") and show it after the real prototype, never instead of it.
- If the prototype survives five cycles and then jams, film those five cycles. Do not film a trick that would not hold up in real use.
- Explain the gap between prototype and production in one sentence: "The final version will be aluminium, this one is 3D printed."
- Your workshop, the failed versions and the sketches are nothing to hide. They prove the project did not start yesterday, and they make great B-roll for the team block.
How much of the campaign budget should go into the video
Our working ceiling is 10 to 15 % of the campaign goal. The rest is eaten by rewards, manufacturing, shipping and platform fees, which on Kickstarter means 5 % of the funds raised plus payment processing fees. Here is what that looks like in practice:
| Campaign goal | Sensible video budget | What you realistically get |
|---|---|---|
| up to 5,000 € | 0 to 500 € | A phone on a tripod, a lavalier mic, a window for light, and an edit you do yourself or with a freelancer. |
| 5,000 to 30,000 € | 1,500 to 3,500 € | One shoot day with a small crew, a script, product close ups, edit, colour, subtitles and a social media cut. |
| over 30,000 € | 4,000 to 9,000 € | Two shoot days, a location with people using the product, an animated explanation of the technology, and several short videos for ads. |
In the middle band, expect three to four weeks from the first meeting to the finished video. If you want to know where that time actually goes, we broke it down in how long video production takes. Plan for the video to be finished at least two weeks before launch, because you will also cut teasers from it to build your email list.
If you need to explain technology nobody can see (a sensor, software, a chemical process), a short animated explainer video placed in the middle of the campaign is usually cheaper and clearer than expensive live action.
When to film it yourself, and when a production company will not help
Honestly: if the campaign has no audience, even the best video will not save it. Mollick's data makes this very clear. Failed projects do not stall at 80 % of the goal, they stall at around ten percent on average, and only 3 % of failed campaigns raised even half of what they asked for. The full paper, what makes crowdfunding campaigns succeed, is worth an evening if you are serious about launching. The problem is almost always that too few people heard about the campaign, not that the video was not pretty enough.
So film it yourself if you are running a community project for people who already know you (a playground, an orchard, a school project), if your goal is under 5,000 euros, or if you do not have a list of interested people yet. In community campaigns an honest phone video often lands better than a polished spot.
Consider a production when you are selling a real product to strangers on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, your goal is in the tens of thousands and you have a budget for ads. There the video does a salesperson's job a thousand times a day, and every percent of watch time counts.
If you are planning a campaign video and want to know whether a production is worth it or a good script and a phone will do, drop us a line. We will look at your project and tell you straight. You can see what we do on set on our video production page.
Crowdfunding video FAQ
How long should a Kickstarter video be?
Two to two and a half minutes for a product campaign, while a community project can get away with ninety seconds. The platform does not set the length, your viewers do: if the rewards and the ask do not land before the two minute mark, trim the middle section.
Can I use 3D renders instead of a working prototype in a crowdfunding video?
You can, but only as a supplement and clearly labelled. Backers are funding production, so they want to see a physical object, even if it is still 3D printed. A campaign built only on renders looks like an idea with no work behind it.
Do I need subtitles if my crowdfunding video is in English?
Yes. Many people watch campaign videos on their phones with the sound off, and backers from outside English speaking countries follow burned in subtitles more easily. Subtitles also let you reuse the same cut in social media ads without re editing.
