Unit 3 - M1 - Justifying content, distribution and marketing methods

Trailer

One way that I can promote my short film is by producing a trailer to sell the product. The trailer will be made after I finish filming and near the end – if not the official ending – of the editing process of the product. It should entice the viewer and target audience to go and watch my short film because of the snippets of video and information I will include in it. The trailer should be approximately 90 seconds considering that its only a 10 minute short film and more than that timing, it’s likely to tell and reveal too much to the audience. The things that I’ll include are the name of the actors, the name of the director/screenwriter, some narration or text because it’s going to be hard to properly interpret what the movie is about just from the film clips. It’ll also need a due date for it to come out.

Teaser

A teaser is some very small snippets of videos from the film to tell the viewer what the product will contain. The snippets aren’t meant to big enough for the viewer to decipher the possible outcome of a scene as that’s the job of the trailer and the teaser comes before the trailer. This will be released after all the film has been shot and likely just before – or at the start – of the editing process. Teasers traditionally are just there to get people talking about a product about their speculations and hopes. The teaser generally shows off some characters and the name of the product and they aren’t too detailed with the film information. Traditionally 30-40 seconds long, mine is likely to be 10-15 seconds long to ensure I don’t reveal too much information. When uploaded to social media or a platform like Vimeo and YouTube it can gain a wide range of attention from potential audience members, especially since it can easily be shared and sent around.

Posters

Although they are slowly becoming dated, I think this is a great way to gain a bigger buzz for my short film. A poster can reach more people domestically than other methods, because if placed in the right public place where you know you target audience will pass e.g. in front of a university and a high school if students are your target audience – you are likely to make people come and see your project and they are likely to watch the thing. Because the poster can’t tell what the tone of the film is going to be, I need to put as much detail into it, this includes the title and slogan of the film as well as pictures of the actresses and the location in the background. The colours I use are the only indication of the tone of the movie that the reader will have so I’ll use darker shades of primary colours like red and blue to match the setting I’ll be filming in and also some green to contrast the red and to indicate the contrast the two characters. I could also have the characters on opposite sides of the poster facing each other to symbolise the conflict and the difference between the characters and their opinions.

Social media

The easiest and the cheapest way to promote anything, social media promotions can reach a wide range of people over a wide space which can create a global buzz. Although this isn’t likely for a product as small or as short as mine, it will get more people interested in watching the film. I will be posting pictures and videos of production on social media to keep people informed and interested in the film as the process goes on. Similar to what some big movies like Central Intelligence did, I’ll try and capitalise the relationship between the cast and crew by posting the videos which show off nature of the film. I know my actresses don’t have the same star power and popularity of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or Kevin Hart but the people that do see it should hopefully like the chemistry between us and be intrigued by what we are filming. If so they’re likely to watch the film.

Distribution
I would use the New Yorker Films as my distributor as they are the company which released the film "My Dinner with Andre" which has a very similar premise to my film and was one of the films that influenced the idea. The distributor was founded in 1965 and is still going strong thanks to its purchase by Aladdin Distributors. New Yorker Films would be perfect for my film because they have a history of making simplistic and impactful films, which is what my film is and marketing them very well to a wide audience.

Suitability
I think that this film will impress people of my target audience because of its simplistic nature and through provoking and deep messages that are layered through the duration of the film. The length of the film isn't too long, even if I think that some lines of dialogue and sections of it make the film feel like it's dragged out a bit more, it does it's purpose of informing people of differing opinions on topics that can be hard to talk about in a civil manner and this educational factor allows the film to be successful. It is set out in the form of a drama, which can be seen with the use of shot angles, dialogue, setting and structure of the story as it follows Todorov's theory with and Equilibrium, disruption, recognition, repair and then a new equilibrium.