What are some of the best, cheapest most cost efficiant ways to market films. I have the product ready and going. It is just real hard to get it out there to purchase.
Marketing questions
- Thread starter darkest corners
- Start date
well make a blog on blogspot and wordpress and write about your film. try to makes atleast 30 post in 1 month.........
place pictures on blogs.
upload a gripping trailer on youtube, flixter,
ask your friend to place your interview on there blogs (if i like it i can place your interview on my blog www.indie-filmmaking.blogspot.com)
join facebook,orkut and myspace and post pics and blog articles there too.make forums on those sites join a couple of more social networking sites by searching on wikipedia..........make attractive website....i mean a real attractive one not a site with 2 links and google ads.keep it refine from google ads.atelast i dont like that type of film sites where a film is being publicised and google ads are also placed..........
i hope this will create buzz for your film..
place pictures on blogs.
upload a gripping trailer on youtube, flixter,
ask your friend to place your interview on there blogs (if i like it i can place your interview on my blog www.indie-filmmaking.blogspot.com)
join facebook,orkut and myspace and post pics and blog articles there too.make forums on those sites join a couple of more social networking sites by searching on wikipedia..........make attractive website....i mean a real attractive one not a site with 2 links and google ads.keep it refine from google ads.atelast i dont like that type of film sites where a film is being publicised and google ads are also placed..........
i hope this will create buzz for your film..
More Marketing Tips
Post your trailer to YouTube... (I know. I seem to mention YouTube in every post. I promise you I'm not secretly working for them.) But utilize the YouTube trailer on your website. The more views, the better.
I like the previous comments about a blog, etc.
Additionally, if your movie hits some major festivals, you may consider writing press releases and submitting them via the various press related sites. Some filmmakers make the mistake of posting press releases too frequently. As a rule of thumb, don't involve the press, unless your stage of filmmaking is newsworthy. Major festival acceptance could work. Announcing your FEATURE production dates in the Hollywood Reporter and Variety is another. Offering your DVD for sale is another.
Finally, have some postcards and business cards made up. Everything reflecting your movie should have a strong consistency. This is the marketing equivalent of matching you shoes with your belt. (If you didn't know, don't wear brown shoes with a black belt.) That means font, colors, logo and overall tone needs to match.
Post your trailer to YouTube... (I know. I seem to mention YouTube in every post. I promise you I'm not secretly working for them.) But utilize the YouTube trailer on your website. The more views, the better.
I like the previous comments about a blog, etc.
Additionally, if your movie hits some major festivals, you may consider writing press releases and submitting them via the various press related sites. Some filmmakers make the mistake of posting press releases too frequently. As a rule of thumb, don't involve the press, unless your stage of filmmaking is newsworthy. Major festival acceptance could work. Announcing your FEATURE production dates in the Hollywood Reporter and Variety is another. Offering your DVD for sale is another.
Finally, have some postcards and business cards made up. Everything reflecting your movie should have a strong consistency. This is the marketing equivalent of matching you shoes with your belt. (If you didn't know, don't wear brown shoes with a black belt.) That means font, colors, logo and overall tone needs to match.
Trailer
I work in Film and Television Advertising and I have to say the obvious, your trailer is the most important thing to getting people interested in your film. I've worked on dozens of movies that were less than stellar and there is a lot you can do to make a bad movie look good. However, the inverse is also true. You can easily do yourself in with a bad trailer. You need to divorce yourself from the film and look at from a marketing stand point. Often times less is more. Leave the audience curious to see more of your film. SHow the best parts! Also, never use anything that makes your film look like low production value film. (unless of course that look was intended in which case they better get that too). Make sure your stars (if any) make it into the trailer no matter what they mean to the plot. Also, remember the viewer needs to come away with an understanding of what this movie is about. It may seem obvious but far too often trailers come across as overly complex, in terms of plot. The trailer should really follow a three act structure just as your film hopefully does. Although slightly different, it's set-up/ inciting incident 'the hook', then what are we gonna do about it/ journey begins, third is usually raise the stakes and cue all the fun and games montage bringing us out on a high note. Also, unfortunately often times once a film is done you realize it's not exactly a genre most people want to see, but that doesn't mean you can't sell it as a genre that is popular. The idea is getting butts in the seats so they can see your brilliant your film. We've all seen trailers and realized after how it was completely different( for better or worse, it can be frustrating) but the marketing did it's job! That's just a little of what I can think of off the top of my head. Every movie is different.
I work in Film and Television Advertising and I have to say the obvious, your trailer is the most important thing to getting people interested in your film. I've worked on dozens of movies that were less than stellar and there is a lot you can do to make a bad movie look good. However, the inverse is also true. You can easily do yourself in with a bad trailer. You need to divorce yourself from the film and look at from a marketing stand point. Often times less is more. Leave the audience curious to see more of your film. SHow the best parts! Also, never use anything that makes your film look like low production value film. (unless of course that look was intended in which case they better get that too). Make sure your stars (if any) make it into the trailer no matter what they mean to the plot. Also, remember the viewer needs to come away with an understanding of what this movie is about. It may seem obvious but far too often trailers come across as overly complex, in terms of plot. The trailer should really follow a three act structure just as your film hopefully does. Although slightly different, it's set-up/ inciting incident 'the hook', then what are we gonna do about it/ journey begins, third is usually raise the stakes and cue all the fun and games montage bringing us out on a high note. Also, unfortunately often times once a film is done you realize it's not exactly a genre most people want to see, but that doesn't mean you can't sell it as a genre that is popular. The idea is getting butts in the seats so they can see your brilliant your film. We've all seen trailers and realized after how it was completely different( for better or worse, it can be frustrating) but the marketing did it's job! That's just a little of what I can think of off the top of my head. Every movie is different.
Pick some radio, TV, magazines and other media outlets that you think might like to talk about it.
If you don't have any known stars in your movie then you are finding out why it's so vital to have someone famous in it to get it some press. That's one of the musts of filmmaking. Otherwise yours is just one of the 4,000 + movies made every year that gets lost in the shuffle.
If you don't have any known stars in your movie then you are finding out why it's so vital to have someone famous in it to get it some press. That's one of the musts of filmmaking. Otherwise yours is just one of the 4,000 + movies made every year that gets lost in the shuffle.