FilmmakerIQ.com » Marketing http://filmmakeriq.com Thu, 24 May 2012 17:51:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Everything can be Viral http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/04/everything-can-be-viral/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/04/everything-can-be-viral/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:39:45 +0000 John P. Hess http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=11588 Its the ultimate goal – the dream of marketing. Going Viral is what everyone strives for but no one really has a handle on. Here are a few examples of pieces of the production puzzle that can be used to get your audience to become an active participant in your film’s marketing.

Filmmakers need to be cognizant of the fact that anything they prepare in the very long lead-up to their productions is a potential piece of content that can be leveraged in the overall mission of engaging their target audiences.

I remember attending a discussion in Montreal by Six Pixels of Separation author Mitch Joel about how he may very well have been the very last journalist to have interviewed Nirvana headman Kurt Cobain, and how – in those days, with the help of desktop public and Word files – newspapers were assembled manually. He remarked how if he’d just kept his interview and liner notes from the interview from back in the day they’d be worth well over a tidy sum today which he could have flogged on eBay.

Humorous? Maybe not. There was a lesson in what Joel was saying: don’t throw anything out or underestimate the power of the work you’re doing in the leadup to your ultimate end point. Because you never know what has the power to engage and electrify an audience. You also can’t accurately predict what bonus materials audiences will ultimately pay for, oftentimes more than the picture you’re attempting to market itself.

So what are some of the contents you might think about pressing into service – extra-diagetic contents, stuff “outside of the main picture” – as part of your overall marketing thrust?

PMD For Hire | Read the Full Article

]]> http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/04/everything-can-be-viral/feed/ 0 Coming soon! The evolution of movie trailers http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/02/coming-soon-the-evolution-of-movie-trailers/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/02/coming-soon-the-evolution-of-movie-trailers/#comments Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:15:14 +0000 Dennis http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=11067 In a world of hyped-up movie advertising comes one video that dares to tell the truth about the history of coming attractions. David Morgan of CBS News reports.

]]> http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/02/coming-soon-the-evolution-of-movie-trailers/feed/ 1 MPAA “The Don’ts and Be Carefuls” (1927) http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/02/mpaa-the-donts-and-be-carefuls-1927/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/02/mpaa-the-donts-and-be-carefuls-1927/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:41:24 +0000 Dennis http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=10967 In 1927 the MPAA (then called the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America) made a list of what they called “The Dont’s and Be Carefuls.” It contained 11 things that should never appear in a film “irrespective of the manner in which they are treated” (“Don’ts”), and 25 things where “special care be exercised” before being included (“Be Carefuls”).

This was all done in a effort to fend off government censorship. For the most part it was ignored due to lack of enforcement. In 1930 it was replaced by the Hay’s Code which in turn lead to the creation of our current ratings system.

Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, “The Don’ts and Be Carefuls” (1927)

Resolved, That those things which are included in the following list shall not appear in pictures produced by the members of this Association, irrespective of the manner in which they are treated:

1. Pointed profanity-by either title or lip-this includes the words “God,” “Lord,” “Jesus,” “Christ” (unless they be used reverently in connection with proper religious ceremonies), “hell,” ” damn,” “Gawd,” and every other profane and vulgar expression however it may be spelled;
2. Any licentious or suggestive nudity-in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture;
3. The illegal traffic in drugs;
4. Any inference of sex perversion;
5. White slavery;
6. Miscegenation (sex relationships between the white and black races);
7. Sex hygiene and venereal diseases;
8. Scenes of actual childbirth-in fact or in silhouette;
9. Children’s sex organs;
10. Ridicule of the clergy;
11. Willful offense to any nation, race o rcreed;

And be it further resolved, That special care be exercised in the manner in which the following subjects are treated, to the end that vulgarity and suggestiveness may be eliminated and that good taste may be emphasized:

1. The use of the flag;
2. International relations (avoiding picturizing in an unfavorable light another country’s religion, history, institutions, prominent people, and citizenry);
3. Arson;
4. The use of firearms;
5. Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, etc. (having in mind the effect which a too-detailed description of these may have upon the moron);
6. Brutality and possible gruesomeness;
7. Technique of committing murder by whatever method;
8. Methods of smuggling;
9. Third-degree methods;
10. Actual hangings or electrocutions as legal punishment for crime;
11. Sympathy for criminals;
12. Attitude toward public characters and institutions;
13. Sedition;
14. Apparent cruelty to children and animals;
15. Branding of people or animals;
16. The sale of women, or of a woman selling her virtue;
17. Rape or attempted rape;
18. First-night scenes;
19. Man and woman in bed together;
20. Deliberate seduction of girls;
21. The institution of marriage;
22. Surgical operations;
23. The use of drugs;
24. Titles or scenes having to do with law enforcement or law-enforcing officers;
25. Excessive or lustful kissing, particularly when one character or the other is a “heavy.”

]]> http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/02/mpaa-the-donts-and-be-carefuls-1927/feed/ 0 The Strange and Twisted Tale of… The Movie That Grossed $30 http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/02/the-strange-and-twisted-tale-of-the-movie-that-grossed-30/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/02/the-strange-and-twisted-tale-of-the-movie-that-grossed-30/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:04:24 +0000 Dennis http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=10960 Zyzzyx Road is a independent film made in 2006 with a budget of $1.2 million. Even though it stared Tom Sizemore and Katherine Heigl, it is notoriously on record as the lowest grossing film of all time with a grand total of $30 in ticket sales.

Here is Entertainment Weekly’s in depth piece on the strange and twisted events that led to this disastrous cautionary tale.

”What if they released a movie and nobody came?” read the headline. The story, from the scrappy film site CHUD.com, described a truly spectacular failure — a 2006 thriller called Zyzzyx Road that, despite starring Tom Sizemore and Grey’s Anatomy’s Katherine Heigl, had grossed a grand total of $30 at the box office. ”I was mortified,” says Penney, who, as it happens, had written, directed, and produced the movie in question. ”I went, ‘Oh, my God, this is horrendous.’ I’m reading it and saying, ‘Oh, no. Oh, no! This isn’t how it’s supposed to go.’ I’ve been through a lot of crap in my career. I’ve seen so many things. But this movie is like my baby, and it’s being dragged around in the street with people poking sticks in it. It was brutal. It was ugly. I was reeling.”

Entertainment Weekly | Read Full Article

]]> http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/02/the-strange-and-twisted-tale-of-the-movie-that-grossed-30/feed/ 2 TEDxVictoria – Crowdfunding 101 http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/01/tedxvictoria-crowdfunding-101/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/01/tedxvictoria-crowdfunding-101/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:03:11 +0000 John P. Hess http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=10451 Victoria Westcott shares the five simple lessons from her childhood and how they apply crowdfunding, including raising $20k for her first feature film “Locked in a Garage Band”

]]> http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/01/tedxvictoria-crowdfunding-101/feed/ 0 Does ‘Devil Inside’ suggest a new studio-filmmaker relationship? http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/01/does-devil-inside-suggest-a-new-studio-filmmaker-relationship/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/01/does-devil-inside-suggest-a-new-studio-filmmaker-relationship/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:00:13 +0000 John P. Hess http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=10413 “The Devil Inside” topped the box office despite being universally panned by critics and audiences alike. Steven Zeitchik takes a look at this low budget film that had the muscle of Paramount Studios behind it.

“Devil,” an exorcism tale that an obscure filmmaker named William Brent Bell made on a shoestring before a pair of Hollywood producers helped him sell it to Paramount, featured no stars. Nor did it boast any festival-enabled grass-roots support a la “Saw” or “Paranormal Activity.” And critics? Forget about them. They gave the film — which uses the shopworn “Blair Witch”-like found-footage conceit to tell of a woman who travels to Italy to explore the mystery of her murderous and possessed mother — a 7% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Yet the film attracted a constituent base that would make any Republican nominee envious. So robust was its audience, in fact, that “Devil” not only won the weekend with an eye-popping $34.5 million — it became the third-biggest January opening in history.

That would have been an astonishing feat even if the movie hadn’t been so vehemently disliked; as it was, the numbers were even more impressive. (By comparison, the 2009 Cameron Diaz thriller “The Box,” the last wide release to be given the scarlet “F” by CinemaScore respondents, opened only to $7.5 million.)

The “Devil” base was not only strong, it was hidden — so much so that pre-release projections underestimated the total audience by as much as half.

— LA Times Blog | Read The Full Article

]]> http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/01/does-devil-inside-suggest-a-new-studio-filmmaker-relationship/feed/ 0 Cliché Movie Poster Mosaics http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/11/cliche-movie-poster-mosaics/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/11/cliche-movie-poster-mosaics/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:05:24 +0000 Dennis http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=9617 Have you ever noticed that movie posters always seem the same? French film distributor Christophe Courtois painstakingly compiled these hilarious film poster clichés into mosaics.

Here are some of my favorites. You can find many more here, compiled by Christophe Courtois.

]]> http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/11/cliche-movie-poster-mosaics/feed/ 0 How Movie Money Works http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/11/how-movie-money-works/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/11/how-movie-money-works/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:09:14 +0000 John P. Hess http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=9496 In Script Notes, John August and Craig Mason talk about how the money flows in a Hollywood Studio and how a theoretical movie studio can make money even if the last 20 pictures it releases looses money.

Here’s a cheat sheet they created to follow along with the terms:

]]> http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/11/how-movie-money-works/feed/ 1 50 Star Wars Vintage Toy Commercials http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/09/50-star-wars-vintage-toy-commercials/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/09/50-star-wars-vintage-toy-commercials/#comments Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:15:15 +0000 Dennis http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=8911 If you are feeling nostalgic for the your old classic Star Wars toys, look no further because we rounded up over 50 vintage commercials. If you are too young to be feeling nostalgic, get off my lawn and get a job hipster! That makes me think if I still had my old toys I could sell them now and retire. Damn you mom and your garage sale!

The Kenner toy company produced a line of Star Wars action figures based on characters in the original Star Wars movie trilogy. Over 90 unique action figures were produced and sold from 1978 to 1985, during which time over 300 million Star Wars action figures were sold. Although the original Star Wars film had been released in May 1977, Kenner were unprepared for the unprecedented response to the film and the high demand for toys. Therefore, they missed the lucrative Christmas market, but instead sold an “Early Bird Certificate Package” (informally known as the Empty Box promotion) which included a certificate which could be mailed to Kenner and redeemed for four Star Wars action figures as soon as they were released in early 1978.[1] The box also contained a diorama display stand, some stickers, and a Star Wars fan club membership card. Kenner’s success with the Star Wars line motivated creators of other action-adventure movies to market their own action figure line.

Wikipedia | Kenner Star Wars action figures

Image by Solo

]]> http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/09/50-star-wars-vintage-toy-commercials/feed/ 0 Puppets Explain How TV Ratings Work http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/09/puppets-explain-how-tv-ratings-work/ http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/09/puppets-explain-how-tv-ratings-work/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:15:04 +0000 Dennis http://filmmakeriq.com/?p=8837 ESPN working with creative agency JESS3 created this animated short that explains the TV ratings process reminiscent of “Schoolhouse Rock,” meets “Sesame Street.”

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