Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Project Introduction


This report concerns a project undertaken by volunteers working with the Film Festival Marketing Project for the Florida Film Festival.

Each team was assigned a film that would screen at the Florida Film Festival. Working with the Festival staff, and the various filmmakers, the volunteers were responsible for the guerrilla marketing of the films.

Our team included Tyler Flores, Marcos Ortega, and Lauren Rauch. We were assigned a narrative film entitled See Girl Run. The filmmaker was Nate Meyer and the actors were Robin Tunney, Adam Scott, and Jeremy Strong.

The following is a report on what we attempted, what we accomplished and, most importantly, what we learned.

Synopsis


Emmie realizes that her current relationship isn’t enough to keep her from wondering “what if...?” about her high school sweetheart, Jason, who continues to live in their quaint, coastal Maine hometown, perpetually in pursuit of becoming a renowned artist. On a whim, Emmie treks up to Maine to find Jason and discover if who he is now could reignite her life. 

The Filmmaker

Nate Meyer, Director. Originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, Nate graduated with a degree in film from The North Carolina School of the Arts. After receiving his degree, he moved to New York where he earned his Masters in Acting, to be a director. His last project, Pretty in the Face, won the Special Jury Award at the 2007 Florida Film Festival. It also won awards at the Nantucket Film Festival, New York VisionFest, and Sarasota Film Festival.

Production and Festival Circuit


"See Girl Run" is Nate Meyer's second independent film following "Pretty in the Face".   The film was shot in Portland Maine where Nate found an open and supportive arts community, as well as the perfect backdrop for his irst film.   After Nate's first movie he felt the need to film there again in order to truly take advantage of Maine with a more robust production.

Production mirrored their pilgrimage to Maine as the initial week took care of care of the New York portion of the film.  Location owners in New York can charge filmmakers exorbitant prices while getting permits, and finding production vehicle parking. Even getting bathrooms can become a monumental task there.  Once the first week was over, moving the production over to Maine proved to be much easier on the cast and crew.

"See Girl Run" made its world premiere at SxSW 2012, and has since debuted at the River run international film festival, Boston's independent film festival, Sarasota Film Festival and of course the Florida Film Festival where it has been met with sell-out crowds and rave reviews.

Marketing at the Florida Film Festival


At the Festival, the most important part of our marketing plan went in to play: the face-to-face contact with festival attendees. We showed up early on opening night at Regal and were able to hand out a huge portion of our flyers. We scattered ourselves between the theatre and some of the other storefronts in the immediate area. People had questions because of the huge crowd gathered for the premiere of Renee, giving us a unique opportunity to explain the Festival and our film to a large group of non-festival folk.
The day of our first showing, we arrived after lunch at the Enzian, although our film was screening at Regal later that night. Our plan was to hit those unique moviegoers who are already predisposed to attending in the afternoon, which we knew we would need for our second screening. We hid a huge number of our frogs around the property (see appendix), and the response was immediate- we were and still are quite pleased with how they were received by the general public. It later became clear that our efforts that afternoon had paid off as we saw several of these people at later screenings. The rest of that afternoon we spent at Regal up until show time. 
About 15 minutes before the screen lit up for the first time, the nice people at the ticketing table responded to my question regarding the number of tickets still available with a succinct, “Two.” Those quickly sold and most of the tickets held in reserve for VIPs up until showtime were sold as well.
The next few days we went back to the festival in ones just to keep our presence felt, hit it hard on Wednesday with the frogs and flyers, and again were pleased at the great turn out.
We freely admit that we were aided in our efforts immensely by the respective fan bases of Robin Tunney and Adam Scott. In terms of our online presence, our twitter, while active, did not seem to be the driving force behind the attendance. The official FB page, maintained by the filmmakers, did seem to garner some awareness. For sure though, a strong local push makes all the difference in the world.
And rubber frogs.

Calendar


Week One – February 23 – March 1

  • ·      Watch Film (2/27/12)
  • ·      Develop marketing strategy

Week Two – March 1 – 7
  • ·      Create Google Docs file for all marketing materials

o   Group contact information
o   Film information
o   Specific details for marketing plan
  • ·      Contact Filmmaker

o   Offer a budget?
o   Any particular angle they prefer to approach from?
o   Interview, quotes, etc.
o   Permission to create original artwork?

Week Three – March 7 – 14
  • ·     Create Twitter
  • ·      Create Tumblr


Week Four – March 14 – 21
  • ·      Meeting on March 20th

o   Emailed Nate
-Re SxSW
-Marketing tools
o   Came up with tweets
o   Contact Anthony Scalco
-New York Knights Radio Show

Week Five – March 21 – 28
  • ·      Meeting on March 21st

o   Email Aida regarding SxSW postcard
o   Begin to develop flyer concept

  • ·      Create Facebook event
  • ·      Meeting on March 22nd

o   Research printers
o   Repurpose postcards
  • ·      Interview people on first love/first heartbreak
  • ·      Meeting on March 26th

o   Order frogs


Week Six – March 28 – April 4
  • ·      Meeting on April 3rd

o   Final touch ups on flyers
o   Create Final Report Template
o   Draft radio spot for New York Knights Radio
o   Design “tags” for rubber frogs
  • ·      Print flyers and other marketing tools
  • ·      Distribute guerilla marketing goods to local businesses/locations


Week Seven – April 4 – 11
  • ·      Distribute guerilla marketing goods to local businesses/locations


Week Eight – April 11 – 22
  • ·Meeting on April 12th
    • Assemble frogs
    •  Discuss plan for festival
  • ·      Attend Festival 4/13, 4/14, 4/17, 4/18
    • Hand out guerilla marketing goods



Appendix

In the time leading up to the festival we contacted fellow UCF student and New York Knights Radio host, Anthony Scalco, who, after hearing about the festival and the synopsis of the film was delighted to announce it to his listeners.

Along with creating postcards to hand out at the festival locations, as well as other non-affiliated sites, we tapped into the main character's frog obsession and the little kid in everyone. Our rubber flying frogs, tagged with showtimes, were a hit with all age groups.

Here are some photos of the marketing tactics utilized on-site at the festival:
Tyler pulling in shoppers at the Winter Park Village


Hanging out on the tables at Eden Bar


Frogs in the Restrooms

Mickey loves Frogs (and See Girl Run!)


Frogs in their Natural Habitats!


We had the pleasure of spending some time with the writer/director duo of Dog Years, Brent Willis and Warren Sroka. The pair was happy to help promote See Girl Run:

Selection Panel Member, Brian Quain, before the Q&A with Nate Meyer:

Brian and Nate taking questions from the audience during the post-screening Q&A:

After the Q&A, Tyler and Lauren got to spend a few minutes with Nate discussing the project:

Nate and a pleased movie-goer (who we wrangled from our Saturday outing):