While the key producers Enzo and Julian appear passionate about creating a community of fans around the project, they have left the marketing and social media plan to Executive Producer Ahmed Salama at DLSHS, so unfortunately when I met with Enzo and Julian a couple weeks prior to the shoot they seemed hazy about what is planned in this area.
I’m kind of against totally outsourcing something as important as marketing and social media, especially when your business model so relies on word of mouth. It’s no doubt useful to have a consultant determine the strategy, and even oversee it, but I think the filmmaker really has to know what is going on, especially in the case of social media, which works best coming from the horse’s mouth.
I emailed their contact at DLSHS asking for a chance to meet up, or receive more information about the marketing, and my query went unanswered. Hmmm.
[ Edit: Ahmed at DLSHS gave me a call just now and explained that he hadn't received my email, and apologised for the lack of response. Poor guy has a nasty case of bronchitis, has been off work, and - for the cynical - you can't fake that kind of raspy cough down the phone line. I hope he gets better soon.
Ahmed also clarified a point I'd misunderstood when I originally wrote this post: Ahmed is an Executive Producer on the project, DLSHS is investing a lot into the marketing of The Tunnel, and as such they are working as a core part of the team rather than as an 'outsourced' service (as I earlier described it) ]
No, I'm not miffed about this lowly blogger being ignored, but I am puzzled that the company in charge of promoting the project doesn't even mention The Tunnel on their website...
[ Edit: Ahmed at DLSHS gave me a call just now and explained that he hadn't received my email, and apologised for the lack of response. Poor guy has a nasty case of bronchitis, has been off work, and - for the cynical - you can't fake that kind of raspy cough down the phone line. I hope he gets better soon.
Ahmed also clarified a point I'd misunderstood when I originally wrote this post: Ahmed is an Executive Producer on the project, DLSHS is investing a lot into the marketing of The Tunnel, and as such they are working as a core part of the team rather than as an 'outsourced' service (as I earlier described it) ]
No, I'm not miffed about this lowly blogger being ignored, but I am puzzled that the company in charge of promoting the project doesn't even mention The Tunnel on their website...
So, they might have an amazing strategy that I just don’t know about... however, from an outsider’s perspective:
Their story has received good coverage online amongst film and horror sites and also in the Australian trade press. That’s a big tick!
A production diary blog keeps people up to date, scores another tick.
Twitter & Facebook are set up (606 followers & 530 likes so far) so two more ticks.
Room for improvement
However the social media & blog usage are very 'me me me.' That's when all they do is talk 'The Tunnel', while these forms of communication are best for creating a dialogue.
As Sheri Candler and Jon Reiss would say, work on an 20:80 rule - where you only talk about yourself 20% of the time max. If people follow your project on twitter or facebook, they don't want to be spammed every time there's a media mention - but they will be happy to put up with all of that if you're offering them value 80% of the time.
What to talk about the rest of the time? Well, that will depend on who your audience is - something I'm not sure these guys have nutted out beyond the horror film vertical. Talk should be about things your audience will be interested in, whether that's other horror entertainment news, or something else they would follow. [I will talk more about this in another post later this month.]
I also don’t see The Tunnel doing anything to really harness that community of people, the people who are funding the project. If you bring people on early, you need to have a solid strategy to manage them, turning them from a $1 payment into your biggest fans who will both evangelise the project and convert to purchasing more than the base level. Looking at what Starwreck/Iron Sky have achieved simply by inviting the crowd to participate...
I would love to see The Tunnel harnessing the crowd’s creativity and participation on some level. That might mean a poster or t-shirt design competition, the chance to be an extra on set, or something themed to the film. At the very least, there needs to be more dialogue. The blog and social media are doing a good job of reporting where the project is at, but they’re not really stimulating conversation or building a two way relationship.
While they’ve sold 10,261 frames so far, which is a good result for crowdfunding, I imagine a fair proportion of that would be people who know them already or are Australians interested in supporting our local industry, and to raise the full $135,000 they need to go one big step further to convince many many perfect strangers that the film itself if worth investing in, even if it is only $1. I think that is infinitely more difficult to do without a proper two way relationship.
Overall, it feels like a bit of a disconnect is happening, and perhaps it’s that stuff that falls between the gaps when you outsource some stuff but not others...
For example, Enzo and Julian’s production company is called Distracted Media, but there is no link from that website to The Tunnel website (nor is there a link from The Tunnel website to any of the production partner companies).
And while you can go from The Tunnel website to the blog, there is no link I can see from the blog back to the main website that sells the frames - the blog is essentially yet another different website.
For a strategy that sells itself on simplicity, this is a good way to simply lose people while they were in the middle of exploring the website!
They also break the number one rule when it comes to promotion: they don’t have a digital media kit of any sort.
Digital Media Kit
Bloggers and journos are busy people, and you need to make their job as easy as possible by sharing the content you want them to spread. That means easy access to quality stills, artwork, video, logos, and facts of the project, all in one place accessed with one click.
However, with The Tunnel I had to go to vimeo to get the embed code, search Facebook to find posters & photos, and while I know they are already shooting I don’t know things like who the actors are...
In fact, I’ve seen more of the facts by reading other people’s blogs and articles (presumably from receiving a press release), rather than the official website!
I must admit that some of the gaps in the plan make me wonder whether they are in fact more intent on creating a “buzz” than necessarily carrying through with the stated $135k business model in entirety. Elements of their story do, in fact, make a good 'story'.
Why do this? It makes sense to generate buzz to pressure the distributors or financiers they’re already in talks with into giving them a better deal, or scoring a deal with someone they haven't talked to yet. Let's not forget that filmmakers such as Fede Alvarez have landed multimillion dollar deals off the back of a highly viewed Youtube video.
A strategy of creating buzz for a desired pickup is not in itself a bad move. It's a perfectly viable option worth considering by indie filmmakers strapped for cash.
However, it does mean walking a more traditional path than The Tunnel is letting on with the crowdfunding story.
N.B. I should point out, this 'buzz' strategy is pure speculation on my behalf. There are plenty of over eager indie filmmakers who dive in and make things up as they go along, which leaves someone like me sitting on the sidelines to make observations or jump to conclusions about lack of planning and what not.
The Tunnel may in fact be entirely genuine about fully funding the film via crowdfunding. I just don't understand how that can be the case if they are already shooting the film with only $10,000 of their $135k budget in hand.
In summary
I am excited that an Aussie production is striking out into unknown territory with crowdfunding and torrent release. The Tunnel is far more innovative in raising finance, talking to the audience, and distribution than most films are. The strategy outlined behind the $135k Project business model is to my mind every bit as viable as the crowdfunding plans of other features, such as The Cosmonaut, Iron Sky, and the Age of Stupid - with equal parts opportunity and obstacle within the plan.
- Tell stories that are achievable on a tiny budget
- Pre-sell frames to cover the production costs (low price, low risk, nice & simple)
- Get the biggest audience possible by releasing for free online
- Upsell a proportion of the audience to purchase dvds / merchandise / tickets
- Negotiate traditional distribution as a last port, after the film has proven itself, and retain non exclusive self distribution rights so the filmmakers can still distribute direct to audience.
Crowdfunding is still an experimental form of raising finance, and there is no 'one' way of doing it. The measure of success of this type of model can only be properly reviewed once a number of films have raised the money, made the movie, and been released in a sustainable manner. Increasing numbers of filmmakers are now trying it around the globe, but it will still be a number of years till we'll have seen enough complete the whole process to make judgement.
As Enzo said to me about crowdfunding The Tunnel:
"This is definitely something we'll understand better in postmortem."
Having said that, I would agree with Jon Reiss when he says that the best proven value of crowdfunding [or crowdsourcing] to date is in the advance building of a dedicated fanbase.
That is why I am disappointed that The Tunnel hasn't made better inroads when it comes to engaging the audience, giving them the opportunity to be involved beyond purchase of frames, and creating a strong dialogue amongst fans.
It is however early days, and they may unroll a stronger social campaign closer to release of the film - or they may find themselves with backers who help with a more traditional awareness drive. Good on them for giving it a go.
[Edit: Ahmed has since talked me briefly through their plans, and there is much more to come. I note that perhaps one benefit of using a dedicated marketing company such as DLSHS is that they have built a custom platform for monitoring and promoting the campaign through social media, bloggers, and influencers. I don't know how this compares to a paid-for-service such as Radian6 or TruCast, however it is no doubt beneficial to have someone on your team who uses these tools and strategies on a day to day basis.
Coming from the point of view that I do, I consider their approach still a bit 'traditional' in their focus of marketing efforts around the November torrent release. Ahmed's thought is that it is still early days, and they'll hold off till they have more material to share, so they have maximum impact when they need it the most. They have also been in talks with torrent sites so that when the film is released they'll have it promoted heavily to those communities, who is their target market. This is all sound reasoning for a film marketing campaign, and stands a good chance of success.
However, my thought is that the minute you invite people in via crowdfunding, you are instantly in 'campaign' mode, and need to have strategies in place to keep them interested, involved, and talking for the duration up to release.
Overall kudos to them though : let's not forget this is a small budget film, they are smartly targeting the torrent community to gain maximum downloads (their goal) which should help their ability to monetise the film in other ways via merchandise sales and licensing, and even having a social media plan puts it in front of most Australian films. I am looking forward to seeing how this goes.]
[Edit: Ahmed has since talked me briefly through their plans, and there is much more to come. I note that perhaps one benefit of using a dedicated marketing company such as DLSHS is that they have built a custom platform for monitoring and promoting the campaign through social media, bloggers, and influencers. I don't know how this compares to a paid-for-service such as Radian6 or TruCast, however it is no doubt beneficial to have someone on your team who uses these tools and strategies on a day to day basis.
Coming from the point of view that I do, I consider their approach still a bit 'traditional' in their focus of marketing efforts around the November torrent release. Ahmed's thought is that it is still early days, and they'll hold off till they have more material to share, so they have maximum impact when they need it the most. They have also been in talks with torrent sites so that when the film is released they'll have it promoted heavily to those communities, who is their target market. This is all sound reasoning for a film marketing campaign, and stands a good chance of success.
However, my thought is that the minute you invite people in via crowdfunding, you are instantly in 'campaign' mode, and need to have strategies in place to keep them interested, involved, and talking for the duration up to release.
Overall kudos to them though : let's not forget this is a small budget film, they are smartly targeting the torrent community to gain maximum downloads (their goal) which should help their ability to monetise the film in other ways via merchandise sales and licensing, and even having a social media plan puts it in front of most Australian films. I am looking forward to seeing how this goes.]
Hi Luci,
ReplyDeleteInteresting analysis of the project on the whole. I usually don't make a habit of jumping onto blogs to comment when they are picking apart our project, as I feel it tends to come across unnecessarily defensive.
Having said that, there are a couple of things that I feel should be pointed out in clarification of some of the points you've made.
We have, for example, sourced extras for the film via social media - from our Facebook fans in fact.
We are, as you point out, a low-budget production. Unless we want people to work for free (and we don't), that pretty much means a small team, and that extends to the social media aspect of things. We do engage with our Twitter audience, for example, by talking about and retweeting crowdfunding related articles, analyses (like this one) etc. However, we still have a movie to make, and in the thick of production, something has to give - and in this case, we'd rather spend a little more time making sure we deliver a movie we can be proud of to our fans.
It's also worth pointing out that our campaign is a much longer lead than most movie projects, and so we need to pace ourselves. Nothing worse than giving everyone everything at once, then having radio silence for 6 months until release.
Many of the things you mention are most certainly part of our plan, but all take either time, or money, or both - neither of which we have much of now that we are in production.
I'll stop there, before we get into 'defensive' territory, but thanks for spending what has obviously been a lot of your time dissecting www.thetunnelmovie.net :)
I look forward to reading more of your thoughts and those of your other readers on the project.
Enzo.
Hi Enzo, thank you for commenting here :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely: working with minimal resources, you're doing a great job, and far more than most films do.
My aim isn't to pick your project apart but rather to look at the strategy from an 'ideal' perspective (something none of us can honestly live up to) in the hope to learn as much as we can.
Working low budget, it's easy for us to drop balls, so by looking at many projects and comparing what does and doesn't work, over time we might be able to pick patterns that identify which balls we can afford to drop versus which are essential even from an early stage even on a low budget.
It is difficult to know the answer until the film has been completed and released - however, if I only look at films in postmortem, we miss the evidence or 'trail' from the early days, which, honestly, for low budget filmmakers, is the bit we need to see.
For example, it is valuable for me to look at the Tunnel and go 'maybe they should do x & y' as a hypothesis, and then when the film is released without those elements and does just fine, we can learn that x & y are not so necessary after all!
But if I didn't think about it and write about it then there would have been no analysis and rather than us learning I was wrong there would be no lesson.
Thanks for the additional information, it's very much appreciated :)
All the best with The Tunnel. I look forward to being able to do a more conclusive overview after release - when we'll have a better idea of success.
btw, I do find it incredibly inspiring that you're jumping in and getting it made, breaking new ground here in Australia. Makes me feel a bit lousy for sitting on the sidelines trying to make up my mind about the 'best' way, but also I'm invigorated to start putting my learnings into action on set rather than just on pixels.
Many thanks, Luci
I'm really enjoying your thorough commentary of crowd funded films, Luci. Keep it up. It's great to read Australian filmmakers taking an active interest in alternative film funding and distribution models. After all, it's our responsibility to our financiers and our audience.
ReplyDeleteHi Luci, really nice post about crowdfunding movie projects. Great inspiration!
ReplyDelete