Wrapping Your Brain Around Marketing

Let's paint a scenario...

You've been working endlessly on your newest film for the past two years. The shots look fantastic, your audio was mixed by a serious professional, and your actors nailed their performance. Through all the blood, sweat, and tears (also known as pre-production, production, and post-production) you finally have a beautiful film that you're especially proud of.

Awesome.

But now what?

You just spent thousands of dollars putting this thing together. But how are you going to make that money back? And if you're lucky enough, make a profit?
Well, this is where marketing comes in. That's right, marketing... that thing you thought only business and IMC majors had to worry about. And unlike the normal three-step production process, marketing and sales is something that spans the entire filmmaking process. Here's a helpful diagram to illustrate:
(sorry for the eye-squinting sized text)

In case you can't read it, the diagram suggests that the moment the development process starts, it's time to start thinking about how the film will be marketed. In other words:

WHO is going to watch your film?

&

HOW will you make them remember it?

A recent article on nofilmschool.com highlighted six points that were stressed as part of a panel at IFP Week entitled "Wrapping Your Brain Around Marketing". These points (which I've summed up into four) can help insure your film is a success when you're finally ready for it to be viewed by the public.

1. Stay on Topic

It's important to remember that your film is not just a singular product but more like a brand. With every piece of production material, there has to be a sense unity between it all. In their article they use the example of the the "Super-Size Me" poster:

Other good examples of posters that exemplify their film include "Her" and "Pulp Fiction".

Even without knowing any concepts of design you can tell these posters give an accurate, and most importantly memorable, depiction of their film. But it's not just about having a poster. Which brings me to their next point:

2. Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

From wide shots to production stills, having additional content can save you that sinking feeling when you're deep in editing and realize you don't have enough content in terms of coverage. They also recommend having a professional photographer on set for at least a few days to capture behind the scenes material which can be used for promotion and possibly even poster ideas. Once you have all of those extra pictures though... be careful with them. If your lucky enough to have your film featured in a magazine, they will want exclusive photos. Having professional, exclusive content can make or break the promotion of a film. 

3. Distribution

So you've got your great film and pretty poster but now it's time to move on to the serious part. Interestingly enough though, they don't ramble on about how hard it is for your film to be shown at a festival or featured in a movie theater. Instead they mention the rapidly growing market of video-on-demand (VOD) for documentary filmmakers. 

Films that people don't want to go see in movie theaters are the very ones they want to watch at home on their Mac, Kindle, Xbox, or whatever they use to watch films at home these days. Watching epic films at the movie theater will never loose it's charm, but for indie and doc filmmakers VOD might be the way of the future. 

4. Funding

Let be real. Having professional posters, pictures, and a distribution plan is great, but how the hell are you going to afford that? Money does not come from thin air, and I doubt you have enough money in your pocket to create that dream project. Thankfully though, raising money is easier today then it ever was!

These crowd-sourcing fundraiser websites have paved the way for thousands of independent films. They stress in the article that a filmmaker has to take advantage of every resource available to them – that includes the "old-fashioned" email list and yes, even that cold hard phone call.   

The main point... (tl;dr) is that marketing is not an extra task started after the film is created but part of the entire filmmaking process. It starts in the earliest parts of the development process, and finishes well after the film is released. 

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The Place Beyond the Pines

A few days ago I was finally able to see The Place Beyond The Pines, a movie I had been trying to watch all summer. While the movie was visually stunning, well-written, and above all else beautifully shot, other aspects, such as how the film was marketed and how the themes were presented, are what really took me by surprise. I was expecting the whole movie to revolve around Ryan Gosling, a red herring presented to anyone who had seen the preview. The film's depth ended up spanning over three generations with Gosling killed within the first third of the total running time, something I found to be rather unexpected. But it was a smart move if you ask me. Over two thirds of the film are about something related but completely different than Ryan Gosling's character. I can only imagine how many teen girls were distraught after finding this out. The movie contained three mini plots within the main plot, each one with a beginning and end, and each one expressing a totally different theme about life, vengeance and passion. In an era of witless hollywood movies, it was quite refreshing to see a storyline as complex and unique as this one. However, I do have an issue with how in-your-face the themes were presented. For example, it was quite obvious that Bradley Cooper's character had to deal with a looming cloud of regretfulness after murdering Luke, which will most likely never be eradicated by his success, yet there was a fifteen minute scene of him describing his feelings to a psychiatrist. It was both boring and redundant. There are other examples of this throughout the film both big and small, but overall the film was one of my favorites this year, and it is without a doubt one of my favorites in the father/son genre.

It's the Muppet Movie!

It's time to play the music. It's time to light the lights. It's time to meet the Muppets in the Muppet movie tonight!

I just got back from watching The Muppets, the first Muppet theatrical released film in twelve years. In the film Walter, a Muppet himself is the world’s largest Muppet fan. Along with his human brother Gary played by Jason Segel and Gary’s girlfriend Mary played by Amy Adams they must raise 10 million to save the Muppet Theater from Tex Richman. But before they can do that they need to reunite all of the Muppets who have since parted ways and are all over the world. Overall I really enjoyed the film that has the heart warm message that everything is better when you are with the people that you care about.

The first thing I liked about the film was the meta jokes calling attention to the movie the characters were in. For example when reuniting the gang they realize that this could take awhile and that we should probably cut to a montage. Instantly a montage begins until we see all the Muppets assembled into the car. One of the Muppets, Rowlf, then asks how come his story wasn’t included in the montage because he thought his was very interesting. The film then cuts back to the group waking him up from a hammock and asking if he wanted to join them, which he quickly answers yes. Other meta-references were to the songs that were supervised and written by the hilarious Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchrods. Characters would reference how they were tired from doing an earlier song and dance number. Other times like when The Muppets meet with Tex Richman and he raps them a song about how the answer of giving them the theater back is no the Muppets said a simple no would have been good enough.

Long before the movie came out I was excited to see because of the great marketing behind the film. In the months leading up to the movie they created numerous spoof trailers and posters of popular films with the Muppets as the stars. These included a spoof of the romantic comedy genre with a film called Green With Envy, a parody of The Hangover Part II called The Fuzzy Pack, and a parody of the upcoming David Fincher film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo called The Pig with the Froggy Tattoo. Other films parody included Green Lantern (Being Green), Paranormal Activity (Abnormal Activity), Puss in Boots (Fuss in Boots) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Breaking Prawn). By drumming up anticipation with these funny and successful parodies of popular movies ticket sales should be high for a movie that already has a loyal fan base and already stellar reviews.

Overall the movie was a great and sweet story perfect to watch with your family this holiday weekend. In one related note very much like the plot of the movie of bringing the Muppets back for a new generation, NBC has recently announced this week that it is currently working on a new sitcom with the Jim Henson Company. “The New Nabors” will explore the humorous repercussions of a human family living next door to a puppet family. If it is anything like the movie I am sure the world is in for quite a treat and for the Muppets to bring everyone, as they say, the third greatest gift of all: “laughter.”