From Kevin Napier
Near account: weeblespruce.near
Created and finished between May 1 - September 1
Target address: weeblespruce.near
Target amount: $1700
We want to build a “narrative city” called Hyde City, a slightly mysterious place where users connect to it through an interactive map online that has “Places of Interest” – a one or two sentence description of an event that happened there (i.e. Sheriff Ganz was shot here in 1932, Marcus Polk and William Egret were finally married here in 2019). Each place of interest has a story – some stories are simple, told through a fake “website page” or found “newspaper” while others are more involved – everything from a “fake podcast” to a produced audio/visual piece with a narrator, actors, visuals. Stories will take place in various era’s of history (modern day, future, even all the way back to prehistoric times). For the launch, a few stories will be provided to get the audience interested and provide some context to the city. After that, the sale of tokens will unlock the stories.
With seed money, we will create a website for Hyde City, the interactive map, two written stories (i.e., fake newspaper, letters, etc.) and two “produced” stories – audio stories with supporting visuals using art, illustrations, or photography from a Mintbase artist.
Each story will be self contained, yet with elements that connect to other stories (characters, places, events). Over time various connections and relationships between tales will be revealed. The audience will also get hints about the larger story of the city – where is it exactly? What kind of government exists (for example, we find out there’s a fomenting revolution)? And what is unique about Hyde?
TIMELINE/FUNDS/MILESTONES:
Stage 1
Create website, map and 20 points of interest (including images and copy) – 2-3 weeks
Costs:
Website Building (internal) - $0
Interactive Map creation - $200
Stock photos / Illustrations (for points of interest on map) ---- $200
Stage 1 subtotal: $400
Stage 2
Start the creation of two ten minute fiction podcasts with visuals. Pre-production and production of the podcasts in this stage. – 6-8 weeks
Costs:
Script development (internal) - $0
Production Casting/rehearsal/recording
Both Podcasts: 5 actors – ($100 per actor) – $500
Stage 2 subtotal: $500
Stage 3:
Final stage includes post-production, sound design and production of 2 videos – 4 weeks
[Theory behind this funding area: the pay is low but we believe in paying creatives something, as well as offering them a share of revenue.]
Costs:
Visuals Editor/motion graphics - $200
Writer/director (internal) - $0
Sound designer/editor - $200
Musician - $200 (feature and promote their store)
Artist - $200 (feature and promote their store)
Stage 3 subtotal: $800
Total requested amount: $1700
How does the project benefit the NEAR and Mintbase NFT ecosystem?
The idea is to create a narrative world where an audience is brought into the NEAR and Mintbase NFT ecosystem and, through the stories, enticed to stay. Specifically, people can purchase tokens for the stories they want to see – thereby funding the creation of the stories and give people a reason to re-engage again and again. Furthermore, we want to create our stories in collaboration with artists and musicians on Mintbase – offering direct links and exposure to their individual Mintbase stores and a percentage stake in NFT sales of the individual stories. Also, as mentioned earlier, once we get the basic infrastructure set up, we want to fund the future production of stories through NEAR NFTs. One of the goals of this project is to create a true revenue sharing model for creating and producing narrative content – the sound designers, actors, editors, cinematographers, musicians, writers, directors, etc. share in the revenue from the piece (with complete transparency through the use of blockchain).
We’d also love to do a podcast listening party in the virtual world – somewhere like cryptovoxels. The listening party can include a small treasure hunt for items that are part of the Hyde City and/or mentioned in the podcasts and other stories. It’d be a way to attract people who have crypto already and can become buyers of the NFTs.