Finished several films.. but need help getting them out there!

Derekhhh

Derekhhh

Hi all,
I've finished several short films over the past 5 years... However, I'm always busy with either work or film making that I've never really figured out the way to get my films out there to see.

I've researched websites to promote my stuff on, and found this site. I also put a few of my films on youtube but got maybe 100 views. I created a twitter and facebook and asked all of my friends to "like" me. I've also got a decent-looking website for my films.

So now I'm just trying to build an online fan base, if possible. I've tried film festivals before, but it didn't work for me until now and I can hardly afford submitting to multiple festivals.

So my big question is, how can I get my films out there on the internet, and hopefully build an internet fan base?

I appreciate any help on this!
 
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Take your best short film and submit it to blogs and sites that deal with the genre and ask for a review.

Also, start a blog and site about the genre and advertise your film on it.
 
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Thanks for the tip! I did a google search for comedy blogs and thriller movie blogs as an example, but couldn't turn up anything. I could turn up results about hollywood films.. are you talking about blogs for people who enjoy watching independent work?

Might you or anyone else have any links to such blogs?
 
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Films, shorts and features, and like all art, are products.

You either have to write and shoot a short film product film consumers want, market your short film product, or a cobination of both.

WHY do your youtube videos have only a few hundred views?
Likely, either few people are interested in or impressed with the content or few people know about them.
Also, several videos across five years really doesn't feed the crack rats, and it's those repeat customers that short video hits like The Annoying Orange, Fred, Mystery Guitar Man, and whatever Freddie W's putting out benefit from.

It's just as simple as that.

There is no magic "Just submit your shorts to x.com and ten-thousand people will see it!"
Sorry.
 
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Well, for most indie film makers, they aim for getting accepted into film festivals. I've submitted to a few for each film I made but simply couldn't afford to submit to 100 sth festivals like many people do (I've heard some people submit to 100 or so and get accepted by 8). So I thought I would turn to the internet as method of promotion.

However, no matter how much research I've done on it, I haven't gotten very far in terms of finding the right way to self-promote. Making a film takes such a long time, as you know, and it's thus impossible to deliver quality films on a weekly basis or something for a fan-base. So what can independent film makers do? I'd like some more ideas.

I met one director who had some "marketing guy" friend who helped him promote his 1 film on many websites.. and he ended up getting somewhere around 900,000 views. I think he marketed locally.

(I did find a way to get 50,000 people to see my animated shorts at one point- that was Newgrounds.com. If your animation can win Daily First place and be put on the front page, you'll get lots of views.. but unfortunately at that time I didn't have a twitter account or anything I could link people to.)
 
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Derekhhh said:
Thanks for the tip! I did a google search for comedy blogs and thriller movie blogs as an example, but couldn't turn up anything. I could turn up results about hollywood films.. are you talking about blogs for people who enjoy watching independent work?

Might you or anyone else have any links to such blogs?
Click to expand...

I looked up indie short film reviews and submitted my sci fi short to about 10 sites and then got a review. Not that I got thousands of views from that or anything.

You can also use SEO (search engine optimization) for the films on YouTube. For instance, I dont use the name of my film, I use "Alien Sci Fi Movie" which is a highly searched term. So if you search that on YouTube my trailer comes up on the first page.

You can use the Google Keyword Tool in AdWords to find keywords people search in your genre. If you Google Alien Sci Fi Movie my site comes up too because I used generic search terms for my domain name.

Maybe you can tell I used to do seo and internet marketing before getting into film - and I have been blogging on my royalty free music for years using niche keyword terms that have high search volume and low competition. So my music site is in google for hundreds of keywords. You can do the same thing for films, but I am just getting started at that.
 
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Not to bum you out, but a short film's lifespan is a mere few seconds after final cut unless you put the same amount of time making it into marketing it. Even then, a short film is forever in critical condition on life support awaiting the minute you back off marketing, then it's DEAD.

The moral: Shorts are for honing your skills so you can make a feature (which has a potential $$$ payoff) or find work in the industry.

Good luck.
 
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Thanks for the replies.

I'll try that danosongs...!

I agree to some extend- shorts are for honing your skills and such... though I've read other opinions on some "how to" websites that encourage sticking to low budget 10 minute shorts only... I guess it's all kind of up in the air..

By the way, does anyone think that professional cameras are an absolute necessity for shooting marketable features? Or can one get away with a highly rated HD camera that's only semi pro?
 
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Derekhhh said:
does anyone think that professional cameras are an absolute necessity for shooting marketable features? Or can one get away with a highly rated HD camera that's only semi pro?
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Yes, provided you get good sound. Don't let the gear and tech freaks scare you off. Story matters much, much more than anything else.

If you enjoy making shorts, don't let me stop you, but there's nothing wrong with aiming for a $5,000 to $10,000 feature if you think outside the box and keep gear freaks at bay! :)
 
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GuerrillaAngel said:
Don't let the gear and tech freaks scare you off. Story matters much, much more than anything else.
Click to expand...

And, don't let the story freaks lull you into a false sense of security, how you tell the story matters much, much more than the story itself! :)

I agree with rayw, a brilliant short will essentially market itself by recommendation. What's the benefit of not marketing a short much and getting 100 people who aren't particularly impressed with it, over marketing your film heavily and getting 100,000 people who aren't particularly impressed with it? I'm not trying to be harsh but if you want to get noticed and ultimately want customers, you have to give them what they want and exceed their expectations.

G
 
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GuerrillaAngel said:
Not to bum you out, but a short film's lifespan is a mere few seconds after final cut unless you put the same amount of time making it into marketing it. Even then, a short film is forever in critical condition on life support awaiting the minute you back off marketing, then it's DEAD.

The moral: Shorts are for honing your skills so you can make a feature (which has a potential $$$ payoff) or find work in the industry.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

+1
 
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