Are YouTube/Vimeo shorts the way forward?

L

londonfilmmaker

The trend at the moment for indie film makers seems to be the YouTube/Vimeo shortcut. The directors of District , Mama and the Evil Dead remake caught Hollywood's attention through their superb short films being noticed. None had any serious film making CV. These shorts were uploaded to YouTube/Vimeo and word got out.

This, being opposed to the festival circuit where many shorts end up playing niche short film festivals and then being stuffed away on the director's hard drive. I guess the benefit to that route is networking and the opportunity to discuss your film with likeminded people.

Maybe both routes can be taken at the same time. I'm perhaps of the opinion the YouTube route would be better suited to shorts with a gimmick or hook - Mama and District 9 were effects heavy and impressive for amateurs which is probably how they whipped up attention. A short about your grandma's experiences working in a World War 2 era post office probably won't attract that level of attention but could perhaps fit just right into particular niche short festivals.

Opinions?
 
The amount of films being made is larger than ever. There's more and more being pumped out every day, and it's nearly impossible to keep your head above the rest considering there are thousands of filmmakers trying to get their foot into the door. You have to have a great story, awesome production value, and a solid distribution plan + money set aside for distribution and promotion of your film.

If you have a great story, hook the audience, get a bunch of hype started about the project, release it and get it seen by as many people as possible, there's a much better chance of getting noticed - but success is not guaranteed. Going through as many film festivals (preferably known festivals), then releasing it online to a large audience is the best way to go. If you have laurel leaves attached, people will be curious and watch ;)
 
GuerrillaAngel said:
Bottom line: Who is earning back production costs on youtube or vimeo?
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Who is making YouTube or Vimeo shorts expecting to make money back?

And, realistically, there are many who are making back productions costs and whole salaries for themselves and a staff.

A savvy Producer and a good script will enable you to apply for and secure funding, and secure sales - whether that film is a short or a feature; there are certainly ways to monetise a short, just fewer ways than features, and your short has to be pretty damn good.
But realistically, your feature isn't going to make a lot of money unless it's pretty damn good anyway.

I know a guy who made a high quality short, used it to secure funding (as well as tipping in a whole lot of his own money) and he made a gorgeous looking and sounding film with no story that now means he's over $50k in debt.

He could've invested that money into a short, had no debt (or less debt) and perhaps developed a better idea for when he was ready to makje a feature and/or secure more investors because he would've had more experience etc.
 
GuerrillaAngel said:
Bottom line: Who is earning back production costs on youtube or vimeo?
Click to expand...

I think you completely missed the point of the OP's post. It's not a question of how to make money from a short film, but how best to use that film as a jumping-off point to a professional career. And PLENTY of filmmakers have had success doing just that.

To answer the OP's question, I see no reason why you have to decide between festivals or youtube. Seems to me like you can do both.

Although, some of the films that have been so successful have actually been entries in online contests.
 
I think that films that are hits in youtube would be that in film festivals as well.

My friend made a horrow movie and it has been quite a festival hit but it is not in the youtube or vimeo at all.

Youtube is full of shorts and features that have minor views, around 500-1000 hits and most likely those films would not have success in festivals either. So it kind of makes you think that does youtube actually give you a change to be succesfull, I bit hard to me to believe this.
 
You need to correctly market your product for it to prosper on YouTube. I frequently check my analytics to see where my views came from, and less than 1% come from actual search results. If you want your film to be viewed, it needs to be advertised. You attain a lot more viewership from being referred the product, either directly or indirectly. Having good content alone does not mean you'll attain viewership.

That said, there's nothing wrong with posting your content to YouTube and/or Vimeo. You might get lucky.
 
i love the new film makers showcasing on vimeo/youtube..i watch short films all the time on the sites not only for inspiration but to just see whats going on in the mind of other film makers..i do wish it was a more specific outlet for us though..like how Facebook came out and then twitter came out to cater to a specific niche..i wish youtube would branch a sister company targeting film makers and their audience..
 
shushmike said:
...i wish youtube would branch a sister company targeting film makers and their audience..
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That won't 'solve' anything, because: who is your audience?
Your friends?
Reality is that a lot of aspiring filmmakers don't have a large audience (yet).
What you are saying is: I want YouTube or a new channel to get viewers for me.
Reality is that most movies attract viewers thanks to massive marketing. On YouTube or Vimeo some shorts go viral because they are spectacular and or mind stirring.

To come bach to the original question: are YouTube and Vimeo the way forward?
At least those platforms make it easy to show your portfolio. Very handy when you are recruiting cast and crew for your next project.
 
Its not just make a movie and slap it on the stated sites. indie Movie producers need to use it as an opportunity to Market there movie using various other mediums. One way off the top of my head is take a 100 bucks and slap an ad in the local paper ... Just one avenue and link your potential clients/viewers to the Youtube page
 
iggi12 said:
Its not just make a movie and slap it on the stated sites. indie Movie producers need to use it as an opportunity to Market there movie using various other mediums. One way off the top of my head is take a 100 bucks and slap an ad in the local paper ... Just one avenue and link your potential clients/viewers to the Youtube page
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Sounds like $100 you will never get back
 
Lots of good advice above.

To the OP, I'd recommend using YouTube/Vimeo and the festival circuit. Just be aware that many festivals (particularly the big ones) have a whole stake of submission rules and some include the fact that the short/feature must not be released to public channels (YouTube/Vimeo etc) prior. So if you upload your short/feature to YouTube/Vimeo, you'll make it ineligible for the festivals with such a rule.

I have seen the shorts by the District 9 and Mama directors - both shorts were stunningly good. As always the bar for breaking in is very high, and often requires quite a bit of luck too.
 
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iggi12 said:
One way off the top of my head is take a 100 bucks and slap an ad in the local paper ...
Click to expand...

Better to take that $100 and put it towards a Youtube promoted video campaign. Pay one cent per play and that will get you 10,000 views. It may take a while depending on your subject matter (and competition for keywords for that subject matter) but it will get a significant number of people looking at your video who might be interested - and that greatly increases your odds that someone will share it with the people they know, and so on until it becomes a viral hit (assuming the video is otherwise entertaining).
 
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