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
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