Advice on Gaining Exposure

E

Esbifilms

Hi there

Esbi Films is a production team of 17-18 year olds. We've been making films for about 8 years. We've put ourselves out on the internet in various ways (Myspace, Vimeo, YouTube), and we've had screenings in film festivals and have won competitions. However, we're still not gaining the amount of interest we'd like.

Last year we entered a film for YouTube Project Direct and it recieved almost 9000 views in 2 days, but nothing else we've made has come close to that, despite being better films.

Has anybody got advice on gaining more exposure?
Much appreciated

Esbi Films
 
What's your goal with all the wanted exposure?

You say you want "interest" - but that's pretty vague and non-specific. What are you trying to do?
 
Really, we're just looking to have more people aware of us, therefore gain some more reviews and feedback, and have more people visit our main website.
 
Do something shocking.... I know a couple of films who have gotten tons of exposure because they had a prop gun on set and cops showed up thinking it was the real thing and then wham - they're all over the news.....

Given your ages maybe do some sort of prank at school to coincide with the film - nothing too bad to get you in any real trouble, but just enough for people to be like "what was that about?"


Or of course you could go the more conventional route and sent press releases and photos to magazines, newspapers, and websites gear towards whatever genre your films are.
 
Esbifilms said:
Really, we're just looking to have more people aware of us, therefore gain some more reviews and feedback, and have more people visit our main website.
Click to expand...

What draws YOU to the main websites of your
fellow filmmakers?

What is it that get YOU to review and give feedback
to your fellow filmmakers?

How many short films do YOU watch, review and
give feedback to on Myspace, Vimeo and YouTube
each week?

Sometimes looking at your own viewing habits is
a great way to start. I'm sure you watch a lot of
movies on Myspace, Vimeo and YouTube and leave
feedback and reviews so think about what it was
that drew you to those movies.
 
In the vein of what CeraGraves was saying, I once had a classmate from Chapman film school who got his short horror film into Sundance and it was about a scarecrow, and so as a publicity stunt of sorts, he had a friend dress up as the scarecrow from his short and it would get on the shuttles and the buses around park city and just freak people out a little bit. Haha it was a cool idea, and it definitely got people talking!
 
Don't expect much from youtube of myspace these days. They're both kind of on the way out.
You see the thing about youtube is that it's a flawed system. Only the crap gets loads of views. You'll often see brilliant short films on there with only a few views.
I made a really crappy video that I didn't put much effort into, it got over 30,000 views. All the other things I've made have had nowhere even as much. It's just how it goes.
 
directorik said:
What draws YOU to the main websites of your
fellow filmmakers?

What is it that get YOU to review and give feedback
to your fellow filmmakers?

How many short films do YOU watch, review and
give feedback to on Myspace, Vimeo and YouTube
each week?

Sometimes looking at your own viewing habits is
a great way to start. I'm sure you watch a lot of
movies on Myspace, Vimeo and YouTube and leave
feedback and reviews so think about what it was
that drew you to those movies.
Click to expand...

Listen to directorik, he has some solid advice. And so does everyone else that have already replied. I know I'm new here but I wanted to jump in because this is something that I'm interested in (think of the reason I decided to respond to this thread first rather than others...).

I'd like to add to the list of already solid information here. Here's a suggestion: Maybe you could offer a behind the scenes look into the making of some of your movies. How many of you guys look into the special features on the movies that come out on DVD & Blue-Ray? Add some of those vids/pics on your website and other social media networks.

Also for people to be interested in you, you need to be interested in what they say as well, and interesting. Do that by offering feedback and reviews constantly and non-stop to further your branding. The more people see you, the more you stick.

Let us know if that helps.
 
Hang in there

Ya, make more of them. You may get lucky and a buyer at a festival may "discover" your film or something. Its all chance... there's really no magic bullet of exposure methods. I don't know if this is a smart thing to do but you could try sending what you consider your best films to every production company out there... see if they like you. Who knows... sorry I can't give you any more solid advise, you just have to make it through the hard times in order to see the great times, and if you can't brave the heat of tons of unsuccessful activity, then film may not be your field unfortunately. Hang in there and maybe one day one of your films will go viral or something!
 
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Esbifilms said:
Hi there

Esbi Films is a production team of 17-18 year olds. We've been making films for about 8 years. We've put ourselves out on the internet in various ways (Myspace, Vimeo, YouTube), and we've had screenings in film festivals and have won competitions. However, we're still not gaining the amount of interest we'd like.

Last year we entered a film for YouTube Project Direct and it recieved almost 9000 views in 2 days, but nothing else we've made has come close to that, despite being better films.

Has anybody got advice on gaining more exposure?
Much appreciated

Esbi Films
Click to expand...
 
countevil said:
Don't expect much from youtube of myspace these days. They're both kind of on the way out.
You see the thing about youtube is that it's a flawed system. Only the crap gets loads of views. You'll often see brilliant short films on there with only a few views.
I made a really crappy video that I didn't put much effort into, it got over 30,000 views. All the other things I've made have had nowhere even as much. It's just how it goes.
Click to expand...

It doesn't help when sites like MSN or Yahoo come up with stories like "See the hottest youtube trend!! Why aren't you watching it?!!!!" Then you hit the link to find a kitten playing basketball.

But what would replace youtube? (My conspiracy theory, I think Steve Jobs is the process of creating a"youtube" killer site, a film site that doesn't use Flash-remember, it's becoming an "old technology"- and instead the only video formats on the site will be either be H.254 and/or HTML5-you heard it here first:lol:)

But I think the people who you WANT to see your work aren't a part of the 30,000 views, if they go to youtube at all IMO.
 
Basically to gain more exposure you need to do more marketing (viral or ad-based) and get the people who watched your movie to want to promote it (either a contest or promise of a sequel if you hit certain goals).

The issue with youtube is that people watch your clip and then move onto the next one, which is good for trailers or trying to reach a broad audience. But unless your clip is absolutely fantastic and interesting they aren't going to recommend it to their friends. [Note: Generally on youtube interesting=so funny I just shit myself - These are 99% of the video my friends send me, maybe its just my friends].
 
On this subject of exposure and promotion:


Have there been attempts at like a weekly series on the net, like 5 Min shorts that tell a story line, or maybe an "amazing stories/twilight zone" type of deal, with a different story each week? I'm obviously talking as an internet type of thing- I mean web comics work well for comics, what about a film short equal?]

Hey, maybe at the end of the "season", if it gets popular enough, sell it as a DVD.


Yes? No? Out of my mind?
 
I can't think of any of the big ones off the top of my head, but I have seen a lot of cool webseries... actually i'm planning on doing a webseries as my next extended project (if I ever finish the current one lol).

I think that the only problem with webseries vs. webcomics is the cost... webcomics may be time consuming to write/draw but there is not a lot of overhead. With movies, anything more then vlogging is going to take longer and cost more then a webcomic.
 
H.Z. said:
I can't think of any of the big ones off the top of my head, but I have seen a lot of cool webseries... actually i'm planning on doing a webseries as my next extended project (if I ever finish the current one lol).

I think that the only problem with webseries vs. webcomics is the cost... webcomics may be time consuming to write/draw but there is not a lot of overhead. With movies, anything more then vlogging is going to take longer and cost more then a webcomic.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of just five min shorts, and I'm low budget to begin with :). Maybe once a week(I couldn't do once a day I don't think :lol:), just to get the idea out and whatnot, would let me play with ideas.


Then I sell the rights for 1 Million.......sorry...1 BILLION DOLLARS!!! Mwhaahahahahaha:lol:


;)
 
Yeah, i'd def say go for it! especially if you are at a place where you don't really care about making money I think webseries are a good way to get work out there... hypothetically of course, hopefully soon i'll be able to test my own theory
 
directorik said:
What draws YOU to the main websites of your
fellow filmmakers?

What is it that get YOU to review and give feedback
to your fellow filmmakers?

How many short films do YOU watch, review and
give feedback to on Myspace, Vimeo and YouTube
each week?

Sometimes looking at your own viewing habits is
a great way to start. I'm sure you watch a lot of
movies on Myspace, Vimeo and YouTube and leave
feedback and reviews so think about what it was
that drew you to those movies.
Click to expand...

This is the best advice. I think being constantly aware of how you make decisions will help you have a clear understanding of how to really reach your audience. Im still working on that myself because my film is releasing next month and I really need to hit my audience in order for me to make a little profit and pay off some debt!
 
directorik has made similar points in other post, which when I internalize what I think hes saying, reveals to me, that most of us are not givin' as good as were gettin'..

This is best illustrated by asking my self these two questions:


  • How many self produced films did I buy last month, last year?
  • How many self produced films have I reviewed in the last month, last year?

Honestly, my answer, which I think is pretty typical, is approaching 0.
We want OTHER people to be interested in what we are doing, but are we interested in what OTHER people are doing?
 
wheatgrinder said:
directorik has made similar points in other post, which when I internalize what I think hes saying, reveals to me, that most of us are not givin' as good as were gettin'..

This is best illustrated by asking my self these two questions:


  • How many self produced films did I buy last month, last year?
  • How many self produced films have I reviewed in the last month, last year?

Honestly, my answer, which I think is pretty typical, is approaching 0.
We want OTHER people to be interested in what we are doing, but are we interested in what OTHER people are doing?
Click to expand...

I've caught myself on this-I think it's natural. We all want our films viewed (Full Version of Delivery Day is up BTW :lol:), but we really have learn to give as well. It would be nice if we could all agree to buy each other's stuff (Independent Economy? Sorry, wrong website ;)) and support it.

I mean, if something could be worked out with a few of us to say "hey, why don't we put out our stuff on a compliation" or just getting word out. Me being north of the border, we have a growing art movement near where I live, different media, painting, film, sculpture, ectand I'd be very open to work out a kind of "promotional trade" with others: I put your work with my work up here, and I send mine down to you to put on yours", ect.

It is hard to get past the "yea, I'll help you promote....BUT ME FIRST!" mentality....but it's part of who we are I think.
 
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