Distribution and Marketing for Student Films

Marketing a film, even a short film, is comparable to waging a war. Both the enemy and the prize being the audience, and it is the audience that must be enthralled and won over. The first part of that battle is understanding who the audience for the short film is, and in what manner the short film will be distributed in order to reach that audience. 

For a majority of student films, the general method of distribution is via YouTube or Vimeo, with the marketing of the short being by way of word of mouth and the student’s social media base. To truly market a film, whether a short or feature length, a social media campaign that is not based solely on the of word of mouth of fellow students is needed. While paying for someone to market your film is out of budget for most student films, the process behind it is to generate interest in an idea. With high budget features, this is evident by the bombardment of new trailers and promotional materials released on a near daily basis. 

With the accessibility of the internet, while not reaching the glamour status of Hollywood when it comes to marketing, a dedicated student can generate interest in the film during the production by creating a presence for it in social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and YouTube.

This social media presence, if established early on, will generate enough interest in the film that, when distributed, either for free or if sold, will have an audience (even if not enough to reach the crowds that a Hollywood budget marketing scheme would bring in) that will be beyond that of the student’s social circle. And, if the following becomes dedicated enough, the short film will continue being seen and accumulating views (if on Vimeo or YouTube) and being shared (if on Facebook or Tumblr) and interest in the creative team behind the short will rise. 

The most common case is, especially with emerging filmmakers and indie films, the audience will be other filmmakers (as well as family and friends). This isn’t an audience to be ignored, rather, it’s one that should be embraced because not only will it provide the most exposure but it will provide the most opportunities due to the establishment of who the creative team and filmmaker are, and, what they are capable of. 

For distribution of the short, there are a wide variety of options, with the first decision being whether or not the plan behind the short is to sell it or distribute it for free. The choice behind that will determine on which platform the short will be released. Netflix and Amazon, being two of the biggest and prestigious streaming services, have services for which they release short films and a percentage of the sales (50% in the case with Amazon) goes directly towards the creative team behind the short. 

YouTube, as well, if the creative team has a large enough following and dedicated audience, with more than a 1000 subscribers to the channel, may receive payment via advertisements that are viewed before the video thanks to the YouTube Partner Program. 

Selling a movie to Netflix, though, is considered by many in the world of indie filmmaking to be the sure fire way to positive exposure. With Netflix, there are two ways in which a filmmaker can make a deal with the streaming platform. The first being the traditional film festival market from where Netflix approaches the filmmaker if they are interested in the film. The second being that the filmmaker works with an agent that has a relationship (such as Distribber) with Netflix. In order for either of these deals to occur, the film needs to be of high production vale, with traditional publicity and a large following. If none of these are fulfilled, the odds of entering in a deal with Netflix that does not have the filmmaker at the short end of the stick financially, is rare. 

Amazon, on the other hand, is filmmaker friendly in that it pays the filmmaker a percentage for every time that the film is streamed. Hulu and iTunes are also alternatives to the previous mentioned platforms, and, there are even filmmakers who choose to ignore the platforms and deliver the film to their audience on their own terms.

As well, the usual scenario in releasing a film (to prevent piracy) is to release it first on Amazon (since it is a transactional video on demand platform) and then the film is released on platforms such as Hulu (which operate on a advertisement support) or subscription based platforms like Netflix (which only happens if the film makes it onto the Netflix database).

There is also the matter of distribution happening thanks to the short being screened at a film festival, with investors taking interest in the film, with it then being released either on a wider scale with a professional marketing scheme or the short is remade on a larger scale. Though, this is not always the case with film festivals in regards to short films and those produced by students. 

Works Cited

Brubaker, Jason. "Why Amazon Film Distribution Is Awesome!" Filmmaking Stuff. Filmmaking Stuff, 20 July 2015. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Brubaker, Jason. "Sell A Movie To NetFlix." Filmmaking Stuff. Filmmaking Stuff, 09 Dec. 2016. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

"DIY Digital Platform Distribution Platforms." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 13 May 2016. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Ferrari, Alex. "Amazon Video Direct: How to Make Money Selling Your Film." Indie Film Hustle. Indie Film Hustle, 11 Feb. 2017. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Garland, Kim. "Write, Direct, Repeat: Marketing Your Short Film, Part 1." Script Magazine. Script, 26 Jan. 2016. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Zeke. "Get Your Independent Movie on Netflix: What You Need to Know." Student Resources. New York Film Academy, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Gorochow, Erica. "The Future Of The Short Film Amid New Distribution Options." Creators. Creators, 5 Apr. 2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Greenberg, Julia. "Netflix and Amazon Offer Indie Filmmakers Hope (And Lots of Money)." Wired. Conde Nast, 28 Jan. 2016. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Kamkolkar, Nikhil. "Why I Chose Amazon Video Direct to Self-Distribute My Film." No Film School. No Film School, 25 May 2016. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Soliday, Cassie. "10 Ways to Successfully Promote Your Short Film." 10 Ways to Successfully Promote Your Short Film | Animation Career Review. Animation Career Review, 26 July 2012. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Tanner, Josh. "Attention, Filmmakers: 5 Tips for Making and Distributing Your Short Film." IndieWire. IndieWire, 27 May 2016. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Moral Rights and Authorship in Film

The creators of copyrighted works are often recognized to have moral rights to the work. Within these moral rights, coming from the French droit moral, is the ability granted to the authors of controlling the fate of the works they have created. This right is the connection between the author and the work, it is a connection that is personal rather than monetary, it’s value being merited on it’s personal worth to the author. Within these somewhat intangible rights are the rights of attribution, the right to have the work published under a pseudonym or anonymously along with the right to the integrity of the work. These rights, though, are not tied to any economic rights within the normal copyrights and are such that even if the copyright rights are given away to another party, the original author still remains in control of the moral rights. 

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works formalized aspects of modern copyright law, having introduced the concept of a copyright existing the moment that a work is created in an tangible form (a document or recording) instead of the necessary registration to be allowed copyright ownership. It’s creation, as well, enforces that the signatory countries of the convention recognize the copyrights of citizens from the other signatory countries. The fair use of copyrighted works in broadcasts or publications is allowed within these signatory countries. 

It was the French writer Victor Hugo who instigated the Berne Convention, having been influenced by the French ideal of droit d’auteur (right of the author) which was the French copyright law in the 18th century. A contrast to the Anglo-Saxon idea of “copyright”, their philosophies are intrinsically different. The Anglo-Saxon concept was, as previously stated with what copyrights usually deal with, concerned itself with the economic aspects of the created work while the French concept concerned itself with the philosophical and moral aspect of the created work. Under that belief of droit d’auteur, the copyrights for works of the arts are automatically applied the moment that the work is in a tangible form. 

Before this, the copyright laws of each nation was only applied to the works published within those countries, elsewhere, they were fair game. After this convention, copyright was regulated at an international level.

After the Berne Convention, five other treaties regarding intellectual and copyright laws came into place to protect all aspects of the aforementioned laws and rights. Most, if not all, of the countries in the world are participant to these treaties, including the Holy See and the European Union. A large amount of these countries consider moral rights to be inalienable, unlike the transferable economic rights, these creative rights cannot be waived nor given away. 

It is these laws that protect the expression of the personality and philosophies of the authors of the created works. These are the laws that are the best friends of film makers and directors, especially when they are justifying the ownership of their creative work. In fact, it is film makers that have been the most successful in protecting their creative work. An example of this is the famous case of Turner Entertainment Co. v. Huston, CA regarding the attempt to colorize “Asphalt Jungle”, a black and white film that the production company colorized after the the creator’s death. The heirs of the creator’s attempted to prevent the colorized version to be broadcasted on French television on the basis that directors and scriptwriters claim the authorship of the work by the sole fact that they created it and fixed it into tangible form.  Poetic justice being that it was the Cour de cassation, one of France’s courts of last resort, that ruled in the favor of the creator’s heirs and solidified the strength of the claim of moral rights. 

Yet, the powerful claim of moral rights has yet to reach the U.S., the copyright laws within the U.S. are varying due to the different views of what art was. In fact, it was members of the film industry that argued against the protection inherent within the laws of moral rights. It was argued that film were the property of the studios and producers, and, although, the Director’s Guild of America fought that position, the studios won. This battle was won on the basis that those rights prevented any possible investment in the creation of films. 

It is the position that prevents any possible protection to be guaranteed to any filmmaker whose movie is produced in the U.S., there is no promise that the work will not be distorted through editing or any other manner. Monty Python has successfully sued against ABC for just that reason, through the heavy editing of three of their episodes, the broadcasting company had so changed the content and nature of the work, that, the work was no longer what it had been meant to be, being an implicit act against the moral rights that Monty Python was owed as the creators. Although the comedy team, and others, may have won against the infringement upon their rights, there is still no protection within the U.S. regarding the moral rights of filmmakers and other artists. Although we are in the 21st century, we are still following laws from the 18th that are focused on economics rather than philosophy.

Works Cited

Ardito, Stephanie C. Legal Issues - Moral Rights for Authors and Artists. Legal Issues - Moral Rights for Authors and Artists. N.p., 2002. Web. 25 May 2016.

Mas-Guidnal, Julia. The Motion Picture Industry: Critical Issues Concerning Moral Rights and Authorship | JOLT Digest. JOLT Digest RSS. Jolt Digest, 31 Dec. 2011. Web. 26 May 2016.

Rosenblatt, Betsy. Moral Rights Basics. Moral Rights Basics. Harvard, Mar. 1998. Web. 25 May 2016.

Waiver of Moral Rights in Visual Artworks. Waiver of Moral Rights in Visual Artworks. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 25 May 2016.

Film Aesthetics

The application of aesthetics within film, to me, is a prime example of philosophy. It is philosophy at it’s finest, a experiment into what it is that the human mind is attracted to and repulsed by, essentially, what makes the human mind tick. Art is what has separated humanity from the variety of other species that inhabit the Earth, and film encompasses nearly all, if not all, the fields within the world of art. It is music and rhythm, sculpture and fashion, it is art itself. And through art, that is how humanity is to be understood and it’s true face discovered. 

Having said this, aesthetics within film are as varied as there are philosophies and periods of art. There is a philosophy behind each style, a reason for why this was placed so and why a specific color is prominent within the film or scene. Nothing is without reason, it is organized chaos, just as human emotion and thought is organized chaos. 

Within these styles of organized chaos and distortions of beauty, there is the concept of Ma within East Asian cinematography, a single moment in time which encompasses nothingness and everything. It is rarely used and appreciated by Western audiences, for the thought of a moment of nothing within a film is pointless and without purpose, serving little reason to propel the story and feel of the film. But that is the aesthetic, a single moment in time in which nothing occurs which propels the story or the feel of the film, yet, in truth, it has. These moments without seeming purpose are within the world of film due to the philosophies of Asia, of Buddhism and Shintoism, in specific, Zen Buddhism. It is a moment of escape and peace within world of chaos, a moment of organized chaos in which everything has it’s purpose and said purpose is revealed, a moment of simply being. 

Ma, this concept of a moment in time, that is my preferred style of aesthetics within film. A simple elegance where you do not need 120 minutes of sequential action and physical turmoil to deliver beauty to the eyes of a viewer and invoke an emotional response. Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahara are two such propellers of this movement who have heavily inspired me, their Studio Ghibli films invading Western film culture with the concept of Ma with mythical and dystopian films that touch upon upheaval and destruction with peaceful moments of nothing, of moments without hate and despair and equally without love or happiness. 

There are Western films that touch upon these concepts, the first that come to mind being Equilibrium with Christian Bale and UltraViolet with Milla Jovovich. Within both films there are heavy Eastern influences within the cultures and societies presented, least of which is not the concept of moments of nothingness. Both films are minimalist in the sense of a Zen garden, there is nothing that is not needed, there is purpose behind each movement and each placement that may not be obvious at first, but is after enlightenment has occurred. Dark purple against a background of stark white in UltraViolet, the white following the Eastern belief of white being a color of death and mourning, and in Equilibrium, blood splattered white against a background of lifeless stone grey are examples within the film of the Eastern sense of there being only what is needed, only being said what must be heard with layers and layers of depth.

Aesthetics within film is as varied as the cultures within the world. The concept of it is being rather fitting to be studied in a class of anthropology or philosophy since aesthetics, especially in regards to cinema, is what shows humanity for what it is and how to understand humanity.