It´s impossible to say anything about priorities unless you describe your project and resources as detailed as possible.. what kind of film do you want? What is it about? how many friends are you? do you have experience with people bailing out? Where will you shoot? Aside from a camera; what equipment do you have / what equipment do you need?

I have not done any Kickstarter projects and I can only talk from substantial amounts of other kinds of applications (+ substantial amounts of no-budget projects) - but the fact that you have to ask about priorities is sort of worrying for me ; if you have a clear overview on your project it´s much easier to convey your idea and what you want money for in a short ad on Kickstarter.. You have to persuade people that it is a good idea to invest in your project; not just tell them to give away money to "our first feature film".

I think first you should watch lots of no-budget films. Many filmmakers start shooting having in mind a Hollywoodian style, however they haven't millions of dollars in their sockets...having a low budget film "culture" will help you to find a cheap but original solution for a scene. You can watch for example Man bites dog, Guy MAddin's films,Schlingensief's films...

@CRFilms - Here's the link to our Kickstarter and the video. I wanted to make the video a bit more personal and convincing (like @RRRR said), but I was pushed for time, plus the director and actors are in LA and will be flying here to Nashville for the shoot. Our idea was just to get 500 people to give $5 which would give each person a digital copy of the film. $2500 isn't much but we're all doing this out of our own pockets and are needing to cover costs.

http://kck.st/OjXT2L

One cool thing is that the director has a friend involved in Sundance, so we are trying to shoot and do post production in time to submit. Which is an incredibly quick deadline, I know :)

Keep on going independent men!!! im also making my own movie. Takes time even if you have the money.

Here i give you 10 min of footage from my film. The audio is not original dont pay attention and turn down the volume. Keep on going, and remember money is important, but more important is your will to end what you begin.

i hope you get some inspiration from this. Rember takes time, but its ok.

+1 for what @RRRR said about planning. I don't know who said it but its something like "filmmaking is 90% planning, the rest is following through with some improvisation of course" ;)

+1 for what @brianluce said about sound. Getting good sound is not that costly any more. Don't cover mistakes with music etc... monitor when you record and work to get the mix you want.

Also, feed your crew. A hungry, tired crew may cost you everything in the end. Pizza delivery gets old, have some friends or moms make some fresh soup/sandwiches each day. Keep water and juices on the set/locations, not just coffee.

Having done a few low budget projects and a kickstarter to fund one of them, I have some insight for you.

I didn't care for kickstarter much. They took a huge percentage out of our money and then forced us to use paypal to receive it, which also took a huge chunk. They weren't very forthcoming with this information in the beginning. Make sure you read the superfine print 10 times.

As for the budget, use it for your set, wardrobe, etc. It's no use trying to get the best picture or lighting if your set looks fake or doesn't work for your scene. Use some of it for craft services for sure, but one thing we found was to buy good foods, not junk food. Junk food slows people down and makes them tired which just makes the shoot go behind schedule and makes the days a lot longer. Don't buy things you don't need or won't consume. You'd think this is common sense but there are a lot of things that you think you need but will never use. For each person it's different, but make a list and really think hard about what you can cut. We begged, borrowed and called in favors for a lot of stuff which saved a ton of money. Also, when trying to find favors or help, NEVER promise percentage of profits or part ownership or anything like that. It's just not acceptable to lead people on like that.

Find more than enough people to help out. You'll want more than enough because a lot of people flake out the day of shooting, have emergencies, get lost, etc. Find runners, grips, whatever. Most people don't really need to know much, you can instruct them on the fly. One thing that is imperative is either find a single person that is absolutely reliable or be that person for someone else. You'll end up leaning on each other a lot more than you can imagine. You'll also be sure to work together in the future.

As for shooting, make sure you have backup batteries and also backup AC power for the camera. You'd think that you'll turn the camera off and conserve battery and that another battery will charge while you use one, but it doesn't actually work out that way, you'll get off task, you'll waste time, you'll reshoot scenes until that battery is dead a lot faster than you imagined, and usually before the other battery is charged.

Lighting, try to use the sun as much as possible. Get a stack of white foam core boards and paint one side of them silver. Get a big bead board too. Sometimes you can get this foam in the insulation aisle of Lowes or Home Depot. Get double screening from the screen aisle too, this works well in place of scrim. You can get white rip-stop nylon from a fabric store, sew together a bunch of sections to make a big diffusion panel that you can hold over your talent to knock a lot of the sun down for a much cleaner shot.

Always have a rain plan, especially if you are shooting outside. Extra tarps, evacuation plans, etc.

And the #1 rule, plan a lot more time than you actually think you'll need. Most people try to cut the schedules really close to save time and money, but I can guarantee you that you'll need 25-40% more time than you think. You'll change your mind, the weather won't cooperate, something will break, people will be lazy, etc.

I second the comments concerning sound and lighting. Poor sound is too often the hallmark of low budget productions when it shouldn't be. I find I can tolerate less than perfect camerawork if the sound is good however there is little more frustrating than witnessing great imagery being let down by crap audio.

@jakepowell I like it. After reading your description of the film and then watching trailer, I got a good feel for what the film might be, and would definitely be interested in watching this film. Thanks for sharing.

@jrd re post it? even if it is i would be interested in hearing it. i would definitely be interested in entering it to festivals and distributing it in some way. probably online distribution. - i confess i have no experience in this, i just think its my ambition and passion to do this properly. by properly i mean it actually becoming business as well as pleasure and creativity. @matt_gh2 thanks for the kind words, please note this is not footage from a film it is very quick tests and not a real trailer by any means . more a mood board. and my way of seeing if i think i can actually be competent enough to produce work that looks and feels authentically cinematic.