Hello inhabitants of the ghost chain! I thank you all in advance for reading over my vault proposal below and considering the value it adds to our beloved ecosystem.
Many of you likely know me, as I am no stranger to Fantom. Some of you have even met me (and my wardrobe of ponchos) IRL, as I’ve attended most of the conferences in the past year.
- Some of you have seen the teaser trailer for my in-development documentary series on FTM artists.
- Others may be collectors of my art, which has frequently sold on PaintSwap and through the Tombheads Auction House.
- Perhaps recently you’ve seen the highlight video from Quantum Miami that I shared on Twitter, which has amassed over 15k views in less than a week!
Some examples of my NFT work on Fantom
I live in Los Angeles and specialize as an editor + motion designer for film and TV. I have maintained my presence in the FTM community throughout the bear market, and I’ve recently been giving a lot of thought to how I can help motivate new builders to come to Fantom. The recent announcement of the gas monetization program inspired the idea I wish to present, as I sense that rebates and subsidization of needed services can be a more effective motivator to deploy here (as opposed to a no-strings-attached bag of cash)
THE PROBLEM
Visual branding is one such needed service, as are promo/explainer videos with strong aesthetic appeal. The problem is that many teams cannot afford to hire a talented designer early in their project’s development, so they resort to templates from Envato when making their graphics and educational videos (if they exist at all). No doubt, these templates are impressive and cheap, but they are used by millions of people. Chances are high that your hype or explainer video will look nearly identical to several others – cutting corners in this way might lead users to ask themselves whether your project takes shortcuts in other areas (like your code).
THE SOLUTION
What if builders came to know Fantom as the chain where they could focus on their code security, while custom graphic/video needs would be handled with no funds out of their pocket? This proposal
seeks to make that a reality, and while the scale of this request should be considered a proof of concept idea, I believe it has the potential to become an ongoing thing if there is demand for it. Ask most people what DeFi needs most, and quality education is likely to land somewhere high on the list. A glance around other chains has shown me that no other ecosystems are subsidizing the cost of
graphic design and video production for dev teams.
THE SPECIFICS
Fantom has seen an influx of new useful projects, many of which remain unfamiliar to the “OG” crowd. I propose the creation of ten(10) custom explainer videos (one per project), each between 60-90 seconds and using high-end custom graphics. If your branding and visual aesthetic is already well established, I will match the look – otherwise, we can explore new art direction together. If a new (or improved) logo is requested, I can help with that too. Most of my work is produced using a combination of After Effects and Cinema4D. If approved, a community vote will be held to determine which 10 projects would most imminently benefit from this service.
- It’s a win for Fantom as a whole because it elevates the level of visual design across the ecosystem, gradually ensuring no worthwhile dApp is overlooked because of a lackluster visual presentation. I’m on a mission to rid Fantom DeFi of low-effort art!
- It’s a win for developers because it’s one less thing they need to spend money on in getting their product launched. Focus on your code, and I’ll give you an elevator pitch worthy of being pinned to your project’s Twitter/Discord!
- And it’s a win for the community, which can benefit from increased peace of mind and confidence in your project. Fantom’s 1/1 NFT scene already has a strong reputation; the DeFi scene needs that too.
TIMELINE
Taking revisions into consideration, each 60-90 second video would likely take about one week to produce. This factors in time spent searching for appropriate music – or in some cases, having custom music composed! Steven Vinyl has been a frequent collaborator of mine, and his name should be familiar to many in Fantom. So, this proposal equals approximately 10 weeks of work.
FUNDING
This proposal requests 50,000 FTM, dispersed over 2 months so as to keep the ask reasonable and allow other proposals to benefit from the vault’s growing treasury. This equates to 5,000 FTM per video (about $3000 USD/each at the time of writing). I have been closely monitoring the vault’s accumulation since launch, and it has been generating approximately 3,000 FTM per day. At this rate, the funding request should be completely replenished in approximately 16-17 days at no cost to anyone involved.
Over time, I hope this proposal (if it gains traction and continues with additional rounds) will lead to a comprehensive library of ecosystem explainer videos, aimed at showing developers that their efforts will be supported to the fullest on Fantom. I welcome any thoughts or questions – feel free to engage with me on Twitter, where I am always active!
Twitter: @0x_aspenth
Discord: Aspenth #9615
