Feedback please! mySpace, Screener DVD: Flatland The Movie

Ladd

Ladd

Hey Everyone -

As many may know from another thread, which I can now not find, I've been dabbling in a mySpace marketing campaign for my animated feature film "Flatland." The plan was to make a profile for the movie, and each of the characters in the film. The characters would respond "in character" in a cute way, leaving comments and sending messages as if they actually existed - in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

After about a week of modest effort, I have managed to gather roughly 10,000 unique "friends" for all the characters and the movie. The campaign consisted of myself and my crew (er, wifey) sending out friend requests to people we thought likely to have read the book that the movie is based on, or would be intrigued by the movie's concept. We sent out about 200-300 friend requests per day. Several characters have broken the 1000 mark.

I gave the campaign a rest for a day and still am getting about 1 or 2 friend requests per hour, per character. Some of this is spammed friends, but a lot arenot, based upon some of the comments and messages that the characters get. "Loved the book!" "When's the movie coming out?"

So my plan is this.

1) Take a month (or two or three) to wrap the film up.
2) Have the crew (er, wifey) continue the campaign in earnest while I do so.
3) Sell a "pre-distribution collector's item screener DVD" of the movie to people online, announcing it to the friends when it's available.

I plan on burning the DVD's myself, using printable DVD's (for a nice professional look), etc. Costs for me would be about $2 a DVD. Would plan on selling it for, say, $10.00.

One thing I am wondering about - is there a good company I can use to get a decent shopping cart system to sell the DVD, that will take credit cards, paypal, etc., so I don't have to mess with that end of it?

Thanks! Feedback and holes in the plan would be much appreciated.
 
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Very groovy discussion this has blossomed into. To also throw my wrench at the machine...

It's interesting, to think that in each country, there is a fragmented market, and within that, genres and preferences (and all that) further fragment those potential customers. So to me, I think of it like a video game- take Pac Man. You're a ghost, Pac Man is a competitor with more money and brains (which there always is), and those little dots are customers. Now, you've got to scoop up all those dots before the Man. The problem is because they're all over the place, while you concentrate in one area, the other dots are gone before you know it. Like, when you clear half the map, and leave two dots- it's such a waste to go back later. Otherwise, you end up wasting your time, chasing every little dot in the end.
But then there's those big dots, which make the bad guys run away. Those are the "high concepts" and "virals", the "Little Miss Sunshines". When you get those big dots, all the little dots are yours for the gobbling.

Bringing it back to real life, instead of focusing on finding customers, we should be looking for IDEAS that will cause the audience to find YOU. So, you gotta get a concept so pumping, that it causes everyone to talk about it. A lot of people try to cash in on existing "brands"... you know what I mean- Ray, Walk the Line, The one that just didn't get best picture (whatever it's called), the 9/11 movies, that Karla Homolka movie that got quashed... there'll probably make a Robert Pickton flick (Canadian serial killing pig farmer with a score of 49). If they do, I hope they give the lead to Daniel Stern. I think he'd do a great job, and it'd stir up a real interest.

ANYWAY, you have to find ideas that DRAW an audience, instead of trolling for bottom-feeders. I know that's not really a solution, but it's a way of looking at it. Just keep digging during your screenplay phase, make an incredible, dyn-o-mite-in-the-water high concept like filmy and clive talk about, and then release it, targeting those big dots: prestigous film festivals, big city premieres, art communities, colleges, etc.
There's an indie cinema in Toronto that automatically gets your showtimes published in the local papers. It's buried in the back, so you have to suppliment it with other methods- posters, viral video, web blitzes, blogs and bloggers, press... and just plain going out and meeting people, and telling them to see your movie. I actually went to see one short film (paid $8!) because the director was outside the theatre, and told me about his movie... why not?

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Next time, I'll be more brief. Whew.
 
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Another Update

I may have been premature in my pessimism (and isn't pessimism always that way?)

Sales have started to pick up. While not amazing, they're increasing.

I've had offers to review the film from several different well-established outlets, which may assist in publicity further. Hopefully they won't be too harsh.

I've also had a very interesting offer to showcase the trailer on a well known video sharing site. More to come on that if it materializes.

A press release which I sent out on the 25th also made some headway: press release

This has given me inspiration for more press releases which may get wider exposure. I am considering using a paid service to distribute it to media outlets.

I hope these are tidings of good things to come. I'll report back later.
 
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Spatula said:
Bringing it back to real life, instead of focusing on finding customers, we should be looking for IDEAS that will cause the audience to find YOU.
Click to expand...

Very good post... and I think you're dead on. Well, to a point.

There've been plenty of great movies that have failed to "make it" simply from lack of exposure. You could make the most wonderful movie in history, but if you stick it in the closet and don't tell anyone, it's not going anywhere. History is also filled with great films that have managed to find an audience from some "outside the box" PR - such as Richard Rush's "Stunt Man," for instance.

Perhaps I should rename the thread to something like "Real World Experiments in Marketing and PR" If I knew how to rename it, I would...

While I'm at it, I'd also suggest some basic core assumptions for the thread:

1) You've already made a good film that has some measure of appeal to an audience of some type;
2) You're now trying to promote it as cost effectively as possible without producer's reps or any of the other trappings of Big or Little Hollywood because
3) You are time rich and cash poor.
 
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Why don't you try and make a viral video around the concept of your film's theme, and try and release it on the internet video channels? Maybe hold a "secret" screening or something. Something that emphasizes the appealing part of the concept, but feels more like entertainment than an ad. It's harder on Mypsace than Youtube, because Myspace is such a corporate pet, but there's a lot of tertiary video aggregators out there gobbling up content and feeding it to niche audiences. You just have to make a promo that will cross those markets with a mass-appeal type of dealy. Ain't that the rub?
 
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Yeah, the mySpace video thing was a bit of a mess for me - lots of people like the trailer there, but whenever I try to push it and promote, they slap you down and flag you as a spammer. They want the spotlight for their Fox films, I think.

Working on the viral videos now. I've been promised a feature highlight on a well-known video sharing site - would be very awesome if it comes through.
 
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20 DVD sales, 1,613 views, 101 comments. 11:30 PM & I'm hitting the hay.

YouTubeFrontPage02.jpg
 
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It was a very strange story and a one in a million. I don't know if I have permission to say, so I gotta be mum on it for now, but I will find out if I can say how.
 
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I'm doing some research on the most recent successful viral campaign that preceeded the release of the DVD "The Secret". A key factor in their success is that they took months to release the film eventhough it was ready to go, so that they create a huge momentum, like teasing an targeted audience with clips, and making some noise in places where people are interested in their theme. The DVD sold in the hundred of thousands in just a few weeks, no theatrical, all webbase media. AND THAT HUGE SUDDEN DEMAND BECAME A SUBJECT OF ATTENTION IN THE REGULAR MEDIA, ATTRACTING EVEN MORE DEMAND FOR THE DVDS.

More on this soon.
 
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