FILM LONDON PUBLICITY FUND FOR BLACK FILMS

We're about to present our first couple of reports in the Durban and KZN Film Industry review to the DFO and KZNDED. As part of this slate of activities, we've begun looking at some of the most innovative and dynamic programmes used by Film Commissions and Film Offices around the world, which could perhaps be introduced in SA to change the dynamic for locally made movies.



Here for instance is a fund operated by Film London to promote and increase the impact of Black film exhibition in the city. It provides funds specifically for additional publicity and marketing support, in order to both raise the profile of Black film talent, broadly defined, and attract larger audiences, from across all communities.

Examples of fundable activity might include:
• employing a professional PR company or individual
• a targeted advertising campaign in the press, radio, print or online
• enhancing the PR and audience potential of an event by inviting a film-maker or film-makers to attend
• innovation in online marketing
• adding venues to an existing screening programme
• cross-fertilising an event by bringing in another artform, for instance adding a live music element to a film screening event
• creating and running an ambassador or similar community outreach scheme.

The Fund supports additional promotional activity only and really hopes to enable Black film exhibition activity to ‘punch above its weight’ in the capital’s crowded media market. In South Africa, where local films struggle to maintain a cinema presence and often sink without trace after a week, I thought this was pretty cool.

Blogs on Independent Filmmaking (2)

Michael D Sellers is a former CIA operative whose credits include 18 films since 1991. He is also CEO of Quantum Releasing, which as of 2008 handles worldwide distribution for approximately 50 films. A quick look at his blog site and I found interesting nuggets on issues such as the need for “marketability” versus “playability”. All useful stuff to know when building your production. Here's a snippet:

First, if you think about it — a film has to in the first instance sell itself as an idea. Meaning — we all go see a movie because the idea of that movie is attractive to us. That’s “marketability” — the ability of a film to attract an audience into the theater. The most common aspect of markeability is cast — if you have a Brad Pitt movie, it’s marketable by definition because it has Brad Pitt in it....



At the indie level, festival acclaim comes into play, and reviews count, a MySpace buzz matters. But in analyzing the film from this aspect — the entire point is to answer the question, “Can the film attract moviegoers into the theater”?

”Playability” is the analysis of what happens to that audience once they are in the theater. Never mind what got them there — what is their experience once they sit down and watch the movie. How well does the movie “play”? Will it generate favorable word of mouth? Will it catch the fancy of reviewers?

Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of online Social Network giant Facebook yesterday announced that the site attracts more that 150 million active users, almost half of who visit the site daily. Zuckerberg said:

If Facebook were a country it would be the eighth most populated in the
world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria

There are Facebook users on every continent, even Antarctica, and the site that is accessible in 170 countries and territories functions in 35 different languages. And the beauty of this tool that opens access to information, education, training, markets and networks with 150 million other people? It's free.



There are already a couple of SA film sites online - Does South Africa Have a Viable Motion Picture Industry? may be one topic you'd be interested in following. Perhaps a similar discussion group should be created for the discussions taking place about Durban?

Cross Marketing

One of the challenges - and opportunities - facing local film makers is how to capitalise on the various revenue streams thrown up by your production. One of the most impressive application of cross-marketing I have seen was the National Geographic series Africa, which cross-promoted the tv series with glossy coffee table books, maps, music from the series AND music inspired by the series, a travelling photographic exhibition, a website where one could buy arts and crafts from the places visited by the show.......





And as if to remind me, the NOLLYWOOD Exhibition runs at the Michael Stephenson gallery in Cape Town from January 15th. Above is a photo from the exhibition.

Photographer Pieter Hugo became increasingly intrigued by the hyperactive Nigerian industry, that produces over 500 films a year. Hugo compiled a list of the iconic images and scenes that had attracted his attention. However, initial attempts to photograph on actual film sets failed to capture the intensity of the situations and he decided to take his interpretation of these staged realities into another realm by assembling a team of actors and assistants......

There's more at the Michael Stephenson Gallery website.