Promoting
Your Film At Film Festivals
by Glen Berry, Film Underground
For many filmmakers, acceptance
to a top festival is perceived as a golden ticket to recognition and
the elusive distribution deal. Although an invitation to premiere
at a well-known festival is certainly a great accomplishment, it is
also only the beginning of the most critical phase in a harrowing
gauntlet. Entrance into the festival is not a victory by itself, but
rather an opportunity to compete with dozens (possibly hundreds) of
other films for the attention of the festival attendees, media and
distribution agents.
Anyone familiar with the atmosphere of a top film festival knows the
maelstrom of hype that swirls around the events. Internationally known
movie studios, festival sponsors, distributors and dot-coms are all
trying to outdo each other in a desperate fight to capture a share
of the eyeballs. Given the intense competition, how does an independent
filmmaker make himself heard? This is the striking question I took
with me to the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals in Park City;
I studied the guerrilla marketing techniques of the low-budget productions
and noted not only their methods but also the effectiveness of their
from-the-hip marketing campaigns.
DESIGN AND MATERIALS
Consistency is key. Whatever marketing materials you develop should
have consistent themes, colors and designs. Clean designs are so important,
be sure to use white space effectively to draw attention away from
the sense-deadening clutter. Make them professional-looking, and in
color; photocopied materials are a waste of paper and time, considering
the competition.
POSTCARDS AND FLYERS
Another must-do, these handbills are the name of the game. A few volunteers
in the street pressing them into the hands of passersby is a tried
and true method to pursue. Very few festival attendees will refuse
the handbill, which guarantees (at the very least) a cursory glance.
That cursory glance is all the opportunity you’re going to get
so attract interest so provoke a response, challenge the viewer, spark
curiosity! However you decide to do it, make your design strong and
make it simple. Get them to turn that card over and read the when
and where. Contact information should be included, as well as the
now omnipresent URL. Resist the urge to billboard the director or
producer’s name unless it is the selling point of the film.
STICKERS
This is a tempting and inexpensive method for marketing your film,
but it is a riskier method; handbills probably won’t come back
to haunt you, but the stickers will. All it takes is a few malicious
pranksters to plaster your stickers in the wrong place (festival bus,
police car, etc.) and you could risk being on the receiving end of
a vandalism charge, or at least the clean-up fees.
POSTERS
Postering was perhaps the most obvious method in Park City and was
the most common element of any of the marketing campaigns. Standard
US paper size (8.5 x 11) was common, presumably because of exponential
expense of printing anything larger. (However, Disc Makers often runs
a deal where 300 11x17 posters are as low as $99 with a replication
order.) Although distribution of these posters at Park City centered
around the high foot traffic area of Main Street, it was surprising
to note that there were few posted around the other theatres scattered
around the town. Do not buy into the herd mentality of only targeting
the well-used poster boards; targeting other festival locations as
well is often more effective, because you will reach your target audience
(film attendees) and you will not be competing with the vast array
of other offerings. The saturation distribution technique (putting
up many copies of the same poster in the same location), usually highly
effective, could actually be detrimental in this situation. The problem
here is that in order to cover an entire designated poster board,
one must cover up a wide variety of other people’s posters,
potentially putting you at risk of a negative backlash against your
film.
T-SHIRTS AND HATS
These promotional items are a bit more expensive, but well worth the
price. Keep in mind that hats may be more popular than T-shirts, depending
on the climate and time of year. The first item to consider is how
to get strangers to promote your film for you. If you offer strangers
something of value that they can use (i.e., a warm hat at a festival
in the middle of winter, instead of a handbill, sticker or poster),
they will be glad to have it; in doing so, they have become an active
participant in your marketing drive. That T-shirt or hat is part of
a living, breathing human being that is representing your film; it
suggests that this particular film has a fan base and a group of supporters
behind it, that the film has been seen and liked. Imagine seeing twelve
people anywhere all wearing the same item of clothing. Your film,
your cause, your organization – whatever it is, it will receive
attention.
MARKETING TEAMS
This point brings us straight into the effectiveness of dispatching
small groups of people into the street to give away promotional items.
Food and/or candy are welcome items for most people; hot drinks at
a winter festival are very inexpensive and would easily win the goodwill
of festival goers. This may seem ridiculous, but several of the marketing
teams this author encountered at the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals
could readily answer the question “Where and when is this film
playing?” That is the only thing that they should be sure of.
It should be indelibly imprinted in their mind and repeated mantra-like
to everyone they encounter as they press a handbill into that person’s
hand. Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. At Slamdance 2000, the
filmmakers of “A Galaxy Far, Far Away,” a documentary
on Star Wars fanatics, dressed up as characters from the Star Wars
films and gathered in the street shortly before the screening of their
film. One of the subjects of the documentary carried a portable CD
player which was blasting songs from the film’s sound track.
The group of costumed people began dancing to the music, making noise,
having a good time and inviting people to come to the film. This type
of promotion is the most difficult to pull off, but if done correctly
can become an oft-repeated story that will make your film stand out
from the crowd. The only cost is your pride, but your ego is sure
to be more than compensated by a standing room only screening. The
most important thing to remember is that you can make the biggest
splash by not following the crowd. As with all marketing, originality
and creativity are the keys to success. The people in this industry
tend to fall all over themselves in their haste to imitate, so doing
things differently will yield the results you’re striving for.
Glen Berry is an award winning filmmaker, founder
of the Northwest Film Schooland the Editor of Film Underground, www.filmunderground.com.
Contact him atglen@filmunderground.com.
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