Hello creators, I’m a filmmaker that is in the process of completing a new short movie.
Check out our Movie Trailer below!
Playing around with Photoshop. Imagining what it will be like on a billboard!
If you like our work, don’t forget to share this post. This article will explain how to get more than just your parents to watch your film and actually get some exposure online! The material that I’m sharing is based on my own testing, observations, conversations with professionals in the industry, and research that I am currently trying out with my own project. I also own a production company and we’ve done work for many well known clients. I hope that you’ll find this information useful.
If you are interested in our film, check out the awesome crew that helped put this together. Be sure to follow them! Make up & hair Valentina Dang, Donna Szeto, actress Lindsay Ogus, audio Andy Wong, 2nd camera Vi, location Ray, gaffer Cuong Phan and PA Nicky Kowsari. Also Lucas Cheong, Matthew Windsor, Jeff Yung, Scott Wilson, Henry Wong, Kevin Yu, Jia Feng, Teva Fourier, Jan Ian Chow and my wife Yue Dan.
How to Get Internet Fame Easily?
I don’t think there’s an easy path for anything nowadays. Everything takes time, planning, and patience. But if you really want it you will succeed at it. So don’t give up and keep pushing forward no matter what happens. Never quit!
From the Film Courage site, they say that before a script is being made, it is best to think of who your potential audience could be. If you know who you’re writing for, then it will be easier to market the film later on to a target group. Here are some tips from Peter Russell on how to write a good script.
Jeremy Robinson, who helped build a home business into a multi-million dollar industry has taught me a bit on online marketing. In order for people to recognize what you do,they have to know that you are really good at a specific task. For example, if you are good at making horror films, then you have to think about what kind of people will be watching your horror film, which websites do those people visit? Where do they hang out? From there, make a connection with them and keep them posted with what you do. Based on some of the videos that I’ve seen from Film Courage and Scott McMahon below are some of the tools that they recommend implementing in a film project to build an audience that will buy your film.
#1) Thought of Self Distribution?
From film festivals to the big screen – Paranormal Activity (2009)
A lot of filmmakers have completed many film projects in the past but have no idea how to distribute their work and actually make a living from it. I never thought of self-distributing my work until recently. I believe it is the future for independent filmmakers thanks to the internet. In the past I had tried submitting my work to festivals in the hope of getting some notice and securing distribution deals that way, but it didn’t work out for me. Don’t get me wrong though, it is a possible path but extremely rare, Paranomal Activity, an indie film was made with $11,000 US in 2009. It screened in film festivals for a few years until Steven Spielberg noticed it and worked out a distribution deal with the creators according to this page.
Entertainment attorney, Mark Litwak explains how difficult it is to get a distribution company to look at your title as they mainly look at: who’s in it, and how much they can make from it. Most of the time, your title will not even be shown in the theatres; it may go straight to DVD or on demand. Some companies give a very small cut to the creator and may take large sums at the beginning for initial marketing costs. There are good distribution companies out there, but it’s best to look over the contract with an entertainment lawyer.
I then looked into how a filmmaker can get their work onto iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix. On demand streaming is becoming more popular. McMahon goes into further detail about distribution, but I’ll sum it.
Amazon is the easiest for getting your work onto their site. They have an online platform called CreateSpace where artists can upload their music, books, and films along with the artwork. Amazon will send back a proof and once it is approved, your work will be on their online store. However, it’s hard to get people to buy your work because it’s buried with thousands of other artists. In order to increase the chances of people wanting to purchase your work, Amazon promotes projects that has a lot of reviews. McMahon explains that if you can get 100 people to write an honest review about your film, Amazon will rank your film higher than a project that doesn’t have as many.
In order to get onto Netflix (features only), Hulu, or iTunes it’s normally easier to go through an aggregator because it may be impossible to communicate with someone in those companies. Aggregators will handle all of the communication and file conversions. I spoke to an aggregator named Distribber and they were really helpful. Be sure to do your own research as there are many aggregators out there and you may want to get an entertainment lawyer to look through the contract. Here is a list of Apple approved aggregators.
Getting onto those platforms can take a few months says Distribber as there is normally a queue. Your work should be at a similar caliber as the films that are on their site. This will increase the chances of a successful distribution deal. Getting onto those platforms can cost a few thousand dollars in conversion and legal fees.
#2) How to Rock #SocialMedia
Use everything you have available to help you market what you do. All the popular social media sites can help spread the word about your project. I’ve seen people post an article once a day or a video a week. The big ones are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Here are a few social media tips that you can use for your postings. Try to build a subscriber list on YouTube. Put a “call to action” or ask people to subscribe at the end of a video. As this list builds, you will create a loyal audience.
Subscribe, follow, or like the people that implemented that same action if you admire their work, it’s a good practice. You can also comment or ask questions to get people more engaged. For example you can Tweet: which sound effect should I use? You would need to post consistently so that your viewers will want to come back for more. Answer their questions, post questions and polls, be interactive.
Talk about trends on social media. If there is new technology that is going to be released in your industry, you may want to talk about it. For example, if there is a new camera, get a hold of it so that you can write a review about the product. Don’t forget the hashtags, it makes it easier for people to find your content. Here’s how to use hashtags.
In order to have a smoother work flow with your postings, you can use this method: if you are doing videos, you can film all your clips in 1 day, then release 1 or 2 videos each month. Keep them informative, and short. If you’re taking pictures on set release them slowly over time, maybe 3 each week. If you run out of content, you can do a “throw back” where you re-post an old picture.
You can try putting together monthly giveaways. You can set it up so that it will increase your followers by using the giveaway. I find that with giveaways, you’re getting a similar group of people every time, they are normally in it for the prize, but it may work for your project. You can also team up with other artists and run the giveaway together. Here’s how to run a successful giveaway.
You should also time your posts according to when the majority of people log onto social media. Think of it like prime time television. For business accounts, mornings, lunch and late afternoons are the best times for posting.
If you’re posting a video see if you can post them on a Sunday night when most people are at home. According to Filmmaker IQ, studies show that the film industry performs better on a single national release date of a film verses a slow release at several cities over time. By using Hollywood’s model releasing your work on a single day will give you the best results. That’s why it’s so important to keep your work a secret until then. But release teaser content to show enough of your work without giving too much away.
Everything that you do each day should be something towards building an audience for yourself or project. Those are some of the tips I’ve learned myself and obtained from Sheri Candler over at Film Courage and from my pal at MyFashAvenue.
Of course, if you have a budget, you can hire a social media agency to do all of the above. However, I’ve learned from personal experience that it’s better to have it done in-house.
#3) Posters & Trailers
I think it’s important to create a movie poster and a film trailer for your project and maybe any other promotional material. It will set the tone for potential audiences and people that maybe interested in getting involved. It will give them an idea of the quality of the production and they may be able to help with marketing your work through their networks.
From previous projects I’ve learned that when releasing a film, it is better to build up excitement by releasing content related to the project over a course of 3-4 months. For example, you can release one of the following materials once per month like a vlog, slide show, trailer, and then finally the feature. Afterwards, you can wind it down by releasing a few exclusives for the people that want more from it. Keep in touch with the group of people that has connected with your project via email so that on your next project you can let them know about it. These are the people that can help spread news about your future projects.
An example of this can be found in the film The Hobbit. You can see that the production released video blogs each month in order to keep the fans in tuned with their project. By doing this, you are able to build a larger audience and keep them wanting more.
#3) Package Deals!
If you made it onto Amazon, congrats! Then, you may ask: why on Earth would someone watch my film over a summer blockbuster hit? Well, maybe you have something more to offer them than just your film. Maybe you can entice them with a free book on a topic they find valuable. For example, if you’re doing a romantic film, you can group together a 2 minute write up about “how to become better at relationships” along with a physical DVD of your film, a funny t-shirt related to the subject matter and a HD digital download copy.
If you can think of something that your audience values and is relevant to your project then the chances of your success will be higher. You don’t have to spend money on it. To create the 2 minute write up, it can be as simple as gathering information online and presenting in a professionally designed pdf package. That information takes time to put together, and someone may want that because you spent the time creating it for them says McMahon.
#4) Email Lists
This subject is on the border line of being spammy. Your objective is to gather people’s emails so that you can create a list of audiences for your current project and future ones, and keep in touch with them. For example, if you have a website you may want to have a widget somewhere on the page to ask people to sign up to get updates about your work. You can go as far as creating a pop up just before the user closes the browser.
There are plugins out there that you can install onto your site to get this working. A popular one is Mailchimp. In order get your audience to join your list, you need to give them something in return for their email. Either 10% off your film, or digital download of a write up you’ve created for example.
Once you have them on your list, make sure that you send valuable information to keep the list healthy. You want to be thoughtful, respectful, and you want to have a plan when you send these emails out in order to reduce the chances of people unsubscribing.
The Journey to Success is Long…
So there you have it, a general outline of what I’ve learned and ideas from professionals I’ve talked to over the past few years. Times are changing and if you want to make it work, you have to adapt to it. I think everything I’ve mentioned is easy to do, but it’s hard to be consistent with it. However, we’re in luck, because the filmmaking process is about team work, so delegate. There’s never a guarantee in the entertainment business, heck there’s no guarantee in life. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do it!
If you’d like to explore more about this topic, research “film marketing,” “the psychology of the human mind,” “how people think about a purchase,” at your local library or University. If you have any production questions, feel free to contact us. And finally without any further ado, check out our trailer below. Keep producing creators, send me your work, I’ll help share it! And like always, happy editing my friends!