Pre promoting a short film

L

lawcrens

Pomoting a short film before release

Hello,

I am working on an animated short film and I was wondering would it be a good idea to promote it on social media with a trailer before release. The initial plan was for it to be promoted and released the same time on vimeo, sometime Q2 2015 but someone suggested promoted it early. I should have enough rendered footage to compose a trailer later this year but I was thinking that might be a waste of time and money. Any feedback will help.

Thanks
 
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I'm currently working on an animated feature and I would actually recommend you do this. For my project I had 2 teasers made and 2 cut scenes which were adapted from the script. They aren't amazing bit as far getting the animation across I think they worked well.

If you do go with making the trailer I'd suggest putting it up anywhere you can. Youtube, Vimeo, daily motion etc. Don't know if you already have a facebook/twitter etc. etc. sign up to them. I guess the point I'm trying to make is the sooner you start promoting and get a teaser 'out there' then it gives you more time to build a larger fan base
 
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Sweetie said:
It's not a bad idea. It will give you benefits for your release if you have a strategy to keep those viewers engaged.
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Suggest you put strong emphasis on Sweetie's recommendation... "have a strategy to keep those viewers engaged."

People have really short attention spans these days. I'd start brainstorming ideas *now* to blog or simply post to FBook, etc. as you head to releasing the full short. More that just updates on your progress. Items of interest that pertain to your short film, that sort of thing.

Best of luck!
 
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Thanks for all of the suggestions. I do have one other question. Besides social media and word of mouth, does anyone know other successful way to promote an upcoming short?
 
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lawcrens said:
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I do have one other question. Besides social media and word of mouth, does anyone know other successful way to promote an upcoming short?
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Also try going beyond broad social media on the internet...
- Use a particular software in making your short? See if there's a company website that will accept notices/uploads of your film.
- Is your film about a specific subject? Same thing as above, find their website(s) and become a member.
- Do you use a special, retro, unique style or technique? Use it to search for marketable audiences.
- Brainstorm all the groups of people that would be interested in your film in some way. Now, find out where *they* view films.
- If it seems like all this can add up to a lot of hours of work, you're right! Just don't let that stop you, get help if you can.

Best-

kjones
 
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lawcrens said:
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I do have one other question. Besides social media and word of mouth, does anyone know other successful way to promote an upcoming short?
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All of what Kjones said. Also, google any and all media outlets in your area, see if any of them would be interested in a local film maker (how successful that would be in LA is beyond me, outsider of LA you may get more luck).

How are your customer service skills? see if you can set up a table at the local mall or Walmart and talk to random people walking by. May work, may not. Did you do any film courses in a college? See if the student paper wants to write a story on an Alumni. See if you can do some sort of promotional talk ect at their student union (don't know if you have them in American uni's??)

but as alot of people will tell you, it's a uphill battle but worth it.
 
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lawcrens said:
The trailer would be 30 seconds and the short is around 6 minutes long
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if the short film were something like 20 or 30 minutes i think a trailer is a reasonable idea. That's a big commitment for someone on the internet to spend 30 minutes watching something unknown.

But for 6 minutes.. idk. you might have just as much trouble convincing people to watch your trailer as you would the film itself.
 
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