You might think that a collaborative film project chronicling the Occupy movement is the ideal project for crowdfunding, but with two weeks to go on their Kickstarter campaign, filmmakers Audrey Ewell & Aaron Aites are less than halfway towards their modest goal of raising $17,500.

On its face, the case of 99%--that's the name of the film project that includes collaborators from across the United States capturing and working with footage from more than a dozen cities--seems like a lesson in timing. As Ewell says herself in a recent blog post:

...donations to OWS itself dropped off markedly after the first heady days. Plus, with the otherwise lovely Christmas season turning potential funding into slippers and iPads, crowdfunding has been no picnic.

Another key obstacle that could be standing in the way of recruiting donors to the cause, according to Ewell, is that they're already pledging many of their dollars to another cause--the Occupy movement itself. In a little more than 3 weeks, the project has collected 168 backers and just shy of $8,500.

Ewell says they've tried to use the traditional tools, offering some premium perks for donors--and they've got some pretty nice perks, like some signed works from musicians Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) and Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips) thanks to Aites' connections to the industry. But they're also trying a new tool and applying it to crowdfunding for the first time.

The tool is Constellation.tv, an online movie theater with an integrated social experience. Ewell says they're planning to use Constellation to screen some of their footage online in hopes of ginning up enough of a boost of interest in the project to meet their funding goal before the clock runs out. She says they agreed to be the first to try the platform out as part of a Kickstarter campaign:

Although reluctant to divert our attention while in the thick of making the film, we think there’s a place for this in our fundraising strategy...  it is a chance for our backers and others to see some of the material we’re working with, and to talk to us as we’re shaping the film.  It’s a chance for us to get some feedback, build our audience, and possibly even meet new backers.

The Constellation screening is January 7th at 7:30 pm EST and features 45 minutes of footage. Ewell says the ticket price has been lowered and half-off codes will be available for Kickstarter backers, as well as free codes for all 75 filmmakers involved to be present.

 - Eric Mack is a contributing editor for Crowdsourcing.org. He also currently contributes to CNET. In the past, his work has been featured by NPR, Wired, the New York Times and other outlets. You can contact him at eric.mack AT crowdsourcing DOT org. Find him on Twitter and Google+. Also be sure to follow Crowdsourcing.org on Twitter.