The film will be promoted in as many ways as possible, in order to attract the widest attention possible and ultimately to increase the film’s success. Listed below are the marketing tools which will be implemented at specific times before, during and after the films début.
Film Festivals:
This is an important part of a film’s success, where we can gain the widest possible attention and improve our profile as filmmakers. Due to the film’s expected completion and première screening on the 8th of June 2010, we will be entering the film into those Film festivals which have a closing date for entries after this date. We will choose those Film Festivals that we believe are the most applicable for our films genre and style.
We will need to keep in mind that some festivals will not accept entries of films that have been aired previously on TV or on-line. It will be best to hold off and Premiere the film at one of the A-list Festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Sundance, for maximum exposure and for a possible award. Also if our film is selected into an A-list competition, then other festivals will then invite us to enter their festival and they will pay us, instead of the other way around, so this can make or break our films success.
The following is a table containing details of the applicable Festivals that we will initially enter the film into:
The cost to manufacture the complete DVD ‘press kit’ for the film is $5, so to enter it into each festival this cost will be factored in as well and will be in addition to any postage and entry costs. Entry fees for festivals plus the cost of sending our film is not cheap. If our film is invited to a festival often the entry fee will be waived and the festival may even pay the freight.
Distribution:
We would like to acquire a contract with a distribution company in the near future, this generally is accomplished by grabbing their attention at different film festivals. Our distribution company would then try to sell our film, on our behalf, to TV, on-line, DVD, in-flight, mobile phone content buyers and any other buyers of short films.
Promotional Material:
We will be creating promotional material which will endorse the upcoming release of the film, but it will also be used to promote the film after is initial release. This will include the design of a series of posters, production stills and DVD packaging. The design of all of these materials will share the same design language as each other and also the film. This will need to be completed and distributed before the film’s release. Also for entry into film festivals we will need to finalise a ‘press kit’ for the film.
Broadcasters:
In Australia the key short film buyers are SBS TV, ABC TV and the Movie EXTRA Channel (part of The Movie Network Channel). We would approach each of these broadcasters and try to sell them non- exclusive or exclusive rights to the film, whichever nets us the biggest cash return. Generally we can not sell the film once we have a distributor, as they try to do it on our behalf and because they would own the rights to the film.
Website:
We have set up two on-line Blogs, this one and Thomas Cant's http://tomsanimatednarrative.blogspot.com/ , which will essentially become a ‘making of’ for the film and it will also help to promote the film. We will document our progress and also upload sketches, production stills, posters, DVD packaging and possibly a trailer, and it will also be used to invite people to come and attend the films premiere.
On-line screening:
On-line screening will be a good way of getting our film known, but it does not result in much of a return, in cash to us, so we would rather do this after all other film festival and broadcast opportunities have been exhausted. If we eventually go this way, then we will opt for an upfront fee option rather than to be paid by the download.
This Marketing Strategy will be updated by me when required.
Ari
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