The Complete Online Filmmaking Reference - Film Distribution ...

Film marketing buzz
Getting attention for your film
At every stage of the feature filmmaking process you need to be thinking about how you are going to sell your
masterpiece and taking the appropriate steps.
I've included a page in each section of the filmmaking lessons on what sort of activities you should doing to
spread the buzz.
Film Development Buzz starts before you've even written the script.
Preproduction Buzz makes the right people aware of what you are up to.
Production Buzz keeps spreading the word at the same time as you are gathering the important marketing
materials you will need for the final assault.
Postproduction Buzz begins to get the word to the people who will help you sell your film.
Once your film is done everything needs to come together to get your film sold and in front of audiences.
Marketing plan
For any size film--no-budget short or blow-out feature--an important first step should be creating a marketing
plan. What do you want to happen to this film after you make it? The marketing plan will probably include a film
festival strategy. I'll talk more about this later but there are two things you can do right now to get the ball
rolling.
1. Set up a web site to promote and track the progress of your film.
2. Set up an account at Without A Box so you can track and enter festivals.
Set up your film web site
Get yourself a domain and a site host to put up your web site. If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask
around and find someone who does and that you can talk into helping you handle the details of getting set up and
putting up a few pages of info about your film.
On the website you would typically put the poster for your movie, publicity photos, info and pictures of all the
people involved, a synopsis, a blog, the trailer, etc.
Lots of kids in high schools and colleges have set up web sites. It's not hard to learn how to do it yourself once
the site is set up and you have a few basic software tools.
A word of advice: don't put your site on a service that lets you set up for free. The people who host the site will
stick obnoxious banner ads and other distracting stuff on your site that looks very unprofessional. Spend a little
money to get your own site so you have complete control over it.
This site you're viewing is running on iPowerWeb. It was recommended by a friend and I've have been pleased
with them. For less than $100 for a year you get your own domain name
(www.MyGreatFilmProductionCompany.com) and the huge capacity and bandwidth you will need to host your
film's trailers. There are many other web hosting companies and the competition keeps the price down.
iPowerWeb is probably the biggest hosting company, has been in business for years and has a good track record.
I recommend you just sign up and get the process started because it takes a little while to create a great looking
web site and it will be a vital part of your publicity campaign later on.
Product Reviews
HostGator.Com HostGator has the top rated website hosting and you can't
beat the price. When it comes time to host your movie's trailers you'll
appreciate the storage compacity and bandwidth of a professional site host.
You know you've been wanting to have your own great web site. What are
you waiting for?
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