Blogging About Your Film Project

[cameronchapman]

I'm a blogger by trade (seriously, it's how I earn my full living), and so of course I'm blogging about my upcoming film projects. Now, I know the kinds of things I can blog about that would interest other filmmakers, but I really want these blogs to entice (potential) fans, too. And trying to come up with post ideas that would appeal to people who watch movies or web series is a little more challenging than coming up with post ideas for other filmmakers (I don't think most fans care what kind of camera I'm using or the focal length of the lens or how I still can't get my sound gear working properly, which I finally figured out is because the mic input on my recorder is defective ).

I've come up with a few ideas, but I was thinking this might be a great place to share ideas for post topics that you think might be of interest to indie film fans, rather than just other filmmakers. I think there's some definite overlap, too, because there's so much mystery that surrounds the making of a film and moviegoers are interested in how it's done to an extent.

I know how important it is to build up a fan base, so I'm starting now for the web series I'll be releasing next year and the feature that will be released the year after (but filmed next winter). I'm also going to be crowdfunding both of these, at least in part, so getting the word out now is important.

Here are some of the post ideas I've been toying with:

- Music for the film/series
- General status updates (short and sweet, so that they don't bore people)
- Meet-the-crew/Meet-the-cast type profiles (haven't done any of these yet because I don't yet have a cast or crew for anything...)

That's about it...

If people want to offer up other ideas, I'm happy to keep a running list here in the first post. Then, if you're stuck for blogging ideas, you can check here for some inspiration.

Additional ideas from the thread:

- Opening up the actual script to my niche audience in "episodic" format, allowing them to comment and become excited (or dis-interested) in the material.
- Posting a series of poster concepts to the niche audience, allowing a voting process to influence the final outcome
- Involving the facebook fans and followers in the casting process, or showing who we're casting and posting their reels.
- Ground campaigning: we're going to create post cards with artwork and the website/facebook URL, spread them around at shops where the movie would be well received, to attract people who would never stumble upon it otherwise.
- blog about similar projects (big or small) That are going on that are going the same route as yours.
- things going on in media that have some connection to your project help

 

[directorik]

Excellent point for discussion.

I'm a filmmaker and I get bored quickly when I read about the
camera and the lens and the audio gear. I don't become a "fan"
based on tech. Of course I'm not interested in the mystery that
surrounds the making a film but perhaps non-filmmaker are.
However, there is so much behind-the-scenes info available to
non-filmmaker that I wonder if people still find it mysterious.

I love on set stories. Since I am fascinated by crowd funding I
would be interested in reading about a project that works. I'm
thinking this topic would be interesting on a movie fan site as
well as this site which is mostly filmmakers. I look forward to
reading the replies here.

 

[don patterson]

I agree. Would like to hear what others here on indietalk are doing while in pre or production or post on projects. About to take the leap on two projects myself, (start production in Feb., 2012).

Would especially like to hear what others have experienced on Kickstarter, (and other such funding sites), you know, the pit falls and such. On the set stories too. Hey, unless I am out shooting -- I check Indietalk while I am writing and editing. I read a lot here. Talk a lot one on one when I can. By phone and E-mail.

Lot of good people on this site. With great information on a wide variety of subjects.

 

[ngoforth]

The problem with blogging (tweeting, facebooking, etc-ing) during the production process is that the finished product is so far out. Unless you have some method for cranking out a few scenes in near- finished form DURING the shoot, the reader is just going to have to imagine what's going on. Non-film folks don't get the long process involved, and may become bored with constant promotion.

Note that famous actors promoting their films don't appear on Letterman until the movie is in the theaters (or close). They are probably having to think two movies back and make us believe it was yesterday. That's a good actor.

I was thinking about this topic the other day, and wondered about effectively delaying posts by... some number - 6 months, maybe, on an indie - so that the release date is closer, so that there will soon be clips available. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has tried this.

There's a guy on FB that I may un-'friend'. He posts repeatedly trying to get his 'Likes' up, yet he's not shot a foot/second/KB of real material yet, that I know of. He thinks (I asked) that it'll help in promoting the film, but I don't see how. The finished film is at least a year, probably two, down the road. I'm getting tired of the non-updates.

 

[Kholi]

t surrounds the making of a film and moviegoers are interested in how it's done to an extent.

I know how important it is to build up a fan base, so I'm starting now for the web series I'll be releasing next year and the feature that will be released the year after (but filmed next winter). I'm also going to be crowdfunding both of these, at least in part, so getting the word out now is important.

Here are some of the post ideas I've been toying with:

- Music for the film/series
- General status updates (short and sweet, so that they don't bore people)
- Meet-the-crew/Meet-the-cast type profiles (haven't done any of these yet because I don't yet have a cast or crew for anything...)

That's about it...

If people want to offer up other ideas, I'm happy to keep a running list here in the first post. Then, if you're stuck for blogging ideas, you can check here for some inspiration.

I kept a two year blog of my first feature process on another site, it's still standing and I add to it every so often, just haven't put up much because I'm waiting to finish up some stuff and get the feature out before I start posting/blogging on the sales and distro, festival process.

Most of it's actually not tech related, and experience related. I documented a lot of what I felt I learned and what's going to be important going forward, and there's a huge discussion on distribution etc there. Part of that documentation was the entire Kickstarter process, the mistakes we made even though we succeeded and tips for others who want to do it.

The thread runs rather long, but is filled with actual information and content. So far, my producing partner and I have done two kickstarter seminars in Vancouver and one in LA, we need to upload the videos/talk from those.

I think that indie film enthusiasts and not necessarily filmmakers are interested in hardships and such, things that make it more than just "someone's lil' movie". Humanizing the process, is what it is.

To get more people interested, outside of even that community, here're some things I'm doing this time around:

- Opening up the actual script to my niche audience in "episodic" format, allowing them to comment and become excited (or dis-interested) in the material.
- Posting a series of poster concepts to the niche audience, allowing a voting process to influence the final outcome
- Involving the facebook fans and followers in the casting process, or showing who we're casting and posting their reels.
- Ground campaigning: we're going to create post cards with artwork and the website/facebook URL, spread them around at shops where the movie would be well received, to attract people who would never stumble upon it otherwise.

The biggest one, though, is that I'm going to be pinching pennies to afford an iPhone 4S so we can attempt a daily or weekly behind the scenes upload (which may be an interview, may be what we're shooting, etc) to a YouTube and Vimeo channel so that people can watch it come to life.

It'll be unedited, just shoot and upload.

It may be tough to do that, because there's only so much a small crew can do, but I really want to try.

ANyway, those are just thoughts and ideas that I came across while planning this second feature. I also realize that I'm going after a niche audience from the get-go, so the ideas are stronger, that arena, than they would be for a broad product such as something that's just horror or just comedy or just sci-fi.

We're also not kickstarting the next one, want to fulfill the duties of our last campaign before we go at it again.

 

[cameronchapman]

The problem with blogging (tweeting, facebooking, etc-ing) during the production process is that the finished product is so far out. Unless you have some method for cranking out a few scenes in near- finished form DURING the shoot, the reader is just going to have to imagine what's going on. Non-film folks don't get the long process involved, and may become bored with constant promotion.

Note that famous actors promoting their films don't appear on Letterman until the movie is in the theaters (or close). They are probably having to think two movies back and make us believe it was yesterday. That's a good actor.

I was thinking about this topic the other day, and wondered about effectively delaying posts by... some number - 6 months, maybe, on an indie - so that the release date is closer, so that there will soon be clips available. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has tried this.

There's a guy on FB that I may un-'friend'. He posts repeatedly trying to get his 'Likes' up, yet he's not shot a foot/second/KB of real material yet, that I know of. He thinks (I asked) that it'll help in promoting the film, but I don't see how. The finished film is at least a year, probably two, down the road. I'm getting tired of the non-updates.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of constant updates on FB or other sites about projects that are still in just the planning stages. I have FB pages set up for the feature I'm going to do next year, and one for the web series I'll be doing this winter, but haven't done anything to promote either one (in fact, the feature one isn't even published yet). I get annoyed with constant "like my page" updates, too, and do them infrequently (maybe once a month or so).

Another reason for blogging so early, though, is that both of these are going to be crowdfunded, at least in part. So raising awareness early is important if I want to get more than just friends and family to contribute (and I'll need to for the feature if I have any hope of meeting my goal). I need to get word out to the few thousand followers I have online early, so that by the time the Kickstarter campaigns start, they already know what I'm talking about.

It's helpful, too, to have a blog or somewhere else you can point people if they want more information on the production. I'm aiming to update the blogs at least once a week through the process, and then the blog for the web series at least will also serve as the main hub for watching episodes once they come out sometime next summer.

I kept a two year blog of my first feature process on another site, it's still standing and I add to it every so often, just haven't put up much because I'm waiting to finish up some stuff and get the feature out before I start posting/blogging on the sales and distro, festival process.

Most of it's actually not tech related, and experience related. I documented a lot of what I felt I learned and what's going to be important going forward, and there's a huge discussion on distribution etc there. Part of that documentation was the entire Kickstarter process, the mistakes we made even though we succeeded and tips for others who want to do it.

The thread runs rather long, but is filled with actual information and content. So far, my producing partner and I have done two kickstarter seminars in Vancouver and one in LA, we need to upload the videos/talk from those.

I think that indie film enthusiasts and not necessarily filmmakers are interested in hardships and such, things that make it more than just "someone's lil' movie". Humanizing the process, is what it is.

To get more people interested, outside of even that community, here're some things I'm doing this time around:

- Opening up the actual script to my niche audience in "episodic" format, allowing them to comment and become excited (or dis-interested) in the material.
- Posting a series of poster concepts to the niche audience, allowing a voting process to influence the final outcome
- Involving the facebook fans and followers in the casting process, or showing who we're casting and posting their reels.
- Ground campaigning: we're going to create post cards with artwork and the website/facebook URL, spread them around at shops where the movie would be well received, to attract people who would never stumble upon it otherwise.

The biggest one, though, is that I'm going to be pinching pennies to afford an iPhone 4S so we can attempt a daily or weekly behind the scenes upload (which may be an interview, may be what we're shooting, etc) to a YouTube and Vimeo channel so that people can watch it come to life.

It'll be unedited, just shoot and upload.

It may be tough to do that, because there's only so much a small crew can do, but I really want to try.

ANyway, those are just thoughts and ideas that I came across while planning this second feature. I also realize that I'm going after a niche audience from the get-go, so the ideas are stronger, that arena, than they would be for a broad product such as something that's just horror or just comedy or just sci-fi.

We're also not kickstarting the next one, want to fulfill the duties of our last campaign before we go at it again.

Great tips. I'll be blogging my Kickstarter process for both projects. The web series will have a fairly low goal (less than $5k), but the feature's will be much higher (I'm guesstimating at least $30k, but I haven't done a final budget yet). I'm actually viewing the web series Kickstarter campaign as a practice run for raising more money later on.

I like the idea of quick production videos on a weekly basis or whatever. I may try to do something similar with the series (which at this point is looking like it will have a relatively relaxed shooting schedule, with 3-4 pages/day and only a handful of locations over the whole season).

I'm going to add your topic ideas to the first post.

 

[GuerrillaAngel]

I blog for the purpose of branding (not just my films but other related media). The topics that get written for the blog vary from politics, social issues to filmmaking. I have to tell you, even though I've a lot of filmmakers in my audience, "filmmaking" posts are the least read and least shared of them all. I'm having far more "viral shares" when blogging about social issues and discrimination than filmmaking.

I'm thinking filmmakers are a pretty independent bunch of know-it-alls by nature therefore strictly filmmaking blogs will never be the hot ticket in town.

 

[DeJager]

Never blog about politics and your project together... you will alienate people and eliminate potential fans if you are too polarized. Especially if you are ragging on one political party all the time and/or the 1%. If a potential investor looks into your stuff and sees your crazy-ass comments about certain political parties then they may say "forget it".

 

[cameronchapman]

Never blog about politics and your project together... you will alienate people and eliminate potential fans if you are too polarized. Especially if you are ragging on one political party all the time and/or the 1%. If a potential investor looks into your stuff and sees your crazy-ass comments about certain political parties then they may say "forget it".

Definitely good advice! I try not to talk politics too much in public, and am even somewhat careful on places like Facebook. You never know who you might offend, and you have to ask yourself if voicing your opinions are worth potentially alienating people who might otherwise want to help you out. Of course, this doesn't apply if you're someone like Michael Moore, where your opinions are your films.

 

[Kholi]

Never blog about politics and your project together... you will alienate people and eliminate potential fans if you are too polarized. Especially if you are ragging on one political party all the time and/or the 1%. If a potential investor looks into your stuff and sees your crazy-ass comments about certain political parties then they may say "forget it".

Feel the same way. I can't see the value in it, either. Unless it's a topical film, but it should coincide with your project in that case and you're probably already talking to the people who agree with you, anyway.

What you can do, though, is blog about similar projects (big or small) That are going on that are going the same route as yours. Various reasons for that, some are obvious like crossover fans and interest.

Also, things going on in media that have some connection to your project help.

 

[GuerrillaAngel]

Never blog about politics and your project together... you will alienate people and eliminate potential fans if you are too polarized. Especially if you are ragging on one political party all the time and/or the 1%. If a potential investor looks into your stuff and sees your crazy-ass comments about certain political parties then they may say "forget it".

On the other hand, a "political" post I made the other day garnered some 2,750 or so ("branded") hits from 38 shares while (I'm guessing now) the highest ever for a film-related topic was about 35 hits, perhaps 2 shares. At the bottom of every one of those "hits" was a link to buy a pre-release DVD of my film.

In a way, if you've a "crowd pleaser" contemporary film, a boring blog may be what you need. But in my case, due to the themes of my film, I've already excluded one entire political party from my market!

I refrain from Crazy-Ass comments though.

 

[DeJager]

On the other hand, a "political" post I made the other day garnered some 2,750 or so ("branded") hits from 38 shares while (I'm guessing now) the highest ever for a film-related topic was about 35 hits, perhaps 2 shares. At the bottom of every one of those "hits" was a link to buy a pre-release DVD of my film.

In a way, if you've a "crowd pleaser" contemporary film, a boring blog may be what you need. But in my case, due to the themes of my film, I've already excluded one entire political party from my market!

I refrain from Crazy-Ass comments though.

That may be true because political posts seem to draw a lot of attention but just think of how many potential fans/viewers/pledgers you may have lost because of it?

It's sad to say but I've deleted many people from Facebook because of their political posts. Particularly the ones that post threatening/viscious/hurtful things about one political party or another. It's not needed. I would chose not to invest nor buy a DVD from a filmmaker who has opening attacked a group of people because of their political affiliation.

 

[cameronchapman]

That may be true because political posts seem to draw a lot of attention but just think of how many potential fans/viewers/pledgers you may have lost because of it?

It's sad to say but I've deleted many people from Facebook because of their political posts. Particularly the ones that post threatening/viscious/hurtful things about one political party or another. It's not needed. I would chose not to invest nor buy a DVD from a filmmaker who has opening attacked a group of people because of their political affiliation.

I've also hidden and/or unfriended people on FB because of political rants. I link to political content occasionally, but never to stuff that attacks others. Civil political discourse is one thing (and something I love), but all too often even civil posts turn into mud-slinging and name-calling.

But just because you're not posting about politics doesn't mean you're stuck with boring topics. There are plenty of things to have strong opinions about that are less likely to completely polarize your visitors and turn huge swaths of people off to your project, especially if your project isn't directly political.

Even though I have very strong political opinions, I feel like people who constantly broadcast their opinions and rant about politics often come across as just trying to provoke others and start arguments. That's fine if that's your point and your end goal, but if it's not, even if I agree with what you're saying, I'm likely to dislike the way you're saying it (and quite possibly you in general).

 

[GuerrillaAngel]

Let me put it this way, sometimes there is money to be made preaching to the choir.

That said, I keep my bias "quiet" -- its obviously there, however I almost always link to facts as opposed to random shooting from the hip. As for other people's mud slinging and such, yeah, I regulate that.

I generally agree with you guys. Mindless shooting from the hip on blogs gets you nowhere.

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The other thing, with an active blog (mostly appearing on Facebook), I can sort of gauge what my audience would find appealing in my next project(s).

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