"Amateur" Filmmakers making feature films

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SplinterX

Hello everybody

I´ve seen a lot of amateurs making feature films. By amateurs i mean independent enthusiasts who don´t really make a living out of filmmaking. Some of them even invest a good amount of money in their projects, wich 99% of the time have everything to fail.

Now, my question is: If you´re an amateur, isn´t much easier to market a short film than a feature?

I mean, who´s gonna watch a low budget feature by a unknown director? A short is actually easy to promote and get people to watch it, since most of the time it is just 5 or 10 minutes. And plus, it can cost a lot less money to produce. I´ve watched hundreds of low/no budget shorts, but not features. And i can say the same for everyone i know. And i´m not talking about movies who actually end up in theaters.

You can show your feature on festivals, and if it wins a big one, it might get some attention. But otherwise, who´s gonna watch it? Who´s gonna buy it?

This is a sincere question.
 
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SplinterX said:
Hello everybody

I´ve seen a lot of amateurs making feature films. By amateurs i mean independent enthusiasts who don´t really make a living out of filmmaking. Some of them even invest a good amount of money in their projects, wich 99% of the time have everything to fail.

Now, my question is: If you´re an amateur, isn´t much easier to market a short film than a feature?

I mean, who´s gonna watch a low budget feature by a unknown director? A short is actually easy to promote and get people to watch it, since most of the time it is just 5 or 10 minutes. And plus, it can cost a lot less money to produce. I´ve watched hundreds of low/no budget shorts, but not features. And i can say the same for everyone i know. And i´m not talking about movies who actually end up in theaters.

You can show your feature on festivals, and if it wins a big one, it might get some attention. But otherwise, who´s gonna watch it? Who´s gonna buy it?

This is a sincere question.
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Yeah, I don't buy into the logic you're espousing, because it doesn't match my real-life experiences. WAAAAYYY more people have seen my feature film, much more so than any of my numerous short films. And I haven't even officially released it to the world yet (save for a very limited theatrical release).

No dis-respect intended, but I can't help but feel like your question is coming from a place of inexperience. How many short films have you made? And who are you "marketing" them to? For most of us, it's pretty much just friends and family who watch them. Nobody buys short films.

For me, unless you're strictly doing this for fun, the only question you need to ask yourself is what path will best help you reach your goal of being a professional fill-in-the-blank. For different filmmakers, both short films and no-budget feature films have proven to be a stepping-stone to greater things. This much is not opinion, but fact.
 
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Yeah, I don't buy into the logic you're espousing, because it doesn't match my real-life experiences. WAAAAYYY more people have seen my feature film, much more so than any of my numerous short films. And I haven't even officially released it to the world yet (save for a very limited theatrical release).

No dis-respect intended, but I can't help but feel like your question is coming from a place of inexperience. How many short films have you made? And who are you "marketing" them to? For most of us, it's pretty much just friends and family who watch them. Nobody buys short films.

For me, unless you're strictly doing this for fun, the only question you need to ask yourself is what path will best help you reach your goal of being a professional fill-in-the-blank. For different filmmakers, both short films and no-budget feature films have proven to be a stepping-stone to greater things. This much is not opinion, but fact.
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Your experience doesn´t change the fact that ANY of the people that i know is MUCH, MUCH more prompt to watch a 5 minute short than a 90 minute indie made with a 3.000 dollar budget by an unknown guy. That´s a fact in my world. Maybe not in yours. I´m not gonna dispute that.

Everyone that i know watches a short movie once in a while. They have no problem doing it. It´s only 5 minutes. But a feature? I´d say that most of the people that i know never watches a film that doesn´t have a decent sized production behind. And i´m not talking about blockbusters. I´m talking about movies that weren´t made for 3.000 by a filmmaker wannabe. They don´t even watch stuff that goes directly to DVD, unless it´s a popular title, like Child´s Play.

Most people don´t even watch movies that much. They spend more time watching random videos on youtube than movies. Sometimes i have an hard time getting a friend of mine to watch a popular feature, let alone something that was made by a wannabe.

And i give you a simple example: I´ve been trying for months to get two friends to watch The Dark Knight Rises. They haven´t watched it yet. And i don´t even know if they ever will. But if i show them a short? They will watch right away. Understand what i´m saying?

If you don´t have much money, i do believe that a short is the best way to get a good number of people to know your art.

This is my experience. And even though nothing is as black and white as we might try to paint, i would say that even on this forum most people will agree that, in general, it´s way easier to get someone to watch a short than a micro budget feature.

If you have a difference experience, good for you. But i´ve never said there were no exceptions.
 
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jax_rox said:
I'd especially love to see examples where small-time films about Dentists have made more money than Hollywood films about homeless people, simply because Dentists have more money than homeless people..
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I don't think we're going to find data on this since most small indie films don't get micro marketed down to this level of detail (they usually don't get marketed at all). But take a gun toting dentist -- if I had such a character in my film, this opens social media activity avenues to gun nuts AND dentists -- a sizeable market I can't reach now since there's no guns or dentists in my film.

In case you're wondering, I'm estimating half of the revenue from my film has come from social media activity thus far and most of the future revenue will be triggered by further activity. I'm also waiting for one more piece of the distribution puzzle to fall in place.
 
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While it is true that good marketing can make a bad film successful, I do still believe a good film will find its audience, assuming the filmmaker does the minimum requirement of submitting to festivals.
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It'd be so nice if this was in fact the case. It may just be a choice of words, but good isn't good enough anymore. Out of the 5000+ movies made this year, how many good ones did you watch? How many good ones did you never see because you didn't know they existed? I don't have either number as it's hard to quantify how much/many you 're not aware of.

Your experience doesn´t change the fact that ANY of the people that i know is MUCH, MUCH more prompt to watch a 5 minute short than a 90 minute indie made with a 3.000 dollar budget by an unknown guy. That´s a fact in my world. Maybe not in yours. I´m not gonna dispute that.

If you don´t have much money, i do believe that a short is the best way to get a good number of people to know your art.
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I've been reading through your posts. I even understand and agree with some of your points, but I suspect for far different reasons.

You asked earlier isn't it easier to market a short than to market a movie. Yes it is. The younger folk appear to be way more likely to see a 5 minute video that's gone viral than a movie. It's also normally cheaper to market a short than it is to market a movie.

The question ignores the benefit difference between the two mediums. If you successfully market a short, what do you get? If you successfully market a feature film, the benefits of financial gain are pretty obvious to most. Yes, you can get some money from your share of advertising revenue of a short going viral (how much has the most popular video on youtube made its owner? - I believe the answer is $2 to 2.5mil). Wonder how it compares to the financial benefit James Cameron made from Avatar, the most financially successful feature. Anyway it's all apples and oranges.

One question to leave you. Excluding shorts from people you personally know, without going back to rewatch it, who made the last short you watched? Who made your favorite short that you saw this year? If they don't know me as a filmmaker, has there really been a benefit from marketing and giving away your short for free? Food for thought.
 
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Sweetie said:
It'd be so nice if this was in fact the case. It may just be a choice of words, but good isn't good enough anymore. Out of the 5000+ movies made this year, how many good ones did you watch? How many good ones did you never see because you didn't know they existed? I don't have either number as it's hard to quantify how much/many you 're not aware of.
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You're probably right about the word "good" because it's undefinable in this context. I guess the only solution is to make a film so exceptional they can't ignore you.
 
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sfoster said:
i tried many times but couldn't get any my friends to watch "the man from nowhere"

so damn hard to get someone to watch a movie!
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This made me laugh. I have experienced this phenomenon as well. Why are friends so reluctant to watch movies we recommend to them?

I watch at least 1 movie per day and have been doing so for about 5 years, so I jump at the opportunity to watch one that someone else liked enough to mention to me that I haven't already seen.
 
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