I still think it's better to wait until you can use proper screen. Go to mom and dad's, a friend's house, save your pennies for Black Friday...something. Movies just aren't nearly as fun without the proper setting, and that means a big picture and good sound.
GH1 Can a dvx member compete against a hollywood film?
- Thread starter Indyreel
- Start date
I still think it's better to wait until you can use proper screen. Go to mom and dad's, a friend's house, save your pennies for Black Friday...something. Movies just aren't nearly as fun without the proper setting, and that means a big picture and good sound.
Make it free. Outside of that, I don't think you can do much.
mdifilm
Well-known member
A few thoughts.
You can't compare your indie film with what Hollywood can do in the area of VOD sells, for them, they can rack up a bit of $ but for an indie filmmakers, marketing is all the key, a lot of leg work would have to be done before you get to sell a lot, and that may, at the end of the day, sitting down doing your spreadsheet, and adding the cost of your marketing campaign, you would realized it may be too much doing it yourself and need a sales agent to push it for you. And when you know which sales agent to approach, you would never lose money but rather gaining slowly based on territories that's been sold.
You have to be realistic when comparing your movies to Hollywood, by studying the market and trend and seeing what is the best that would work for you, not easy but it's feasible when you find that niche/angle/formula that works best. If you are going to follow what the big studios do with their marketing, unless you have the equal amount of resource as they do, you wouldn't be able to do so. So, be realistic and understand what is the 'worst case' your film (in this case, product) can do to break even at least and go from there.
In regards of pirating, I know it's sweat and money that has been spent on your film, as would any filmmakers here would, but worrying about pirating on a film that has limited Hollywood ties (big named actors, etc) would be a waste of energy... In fact, I would say you should be happy, although it isn't bringing you $ but it has been pirated, that means you did something right that people are interested to pirate, that means you are gaining new fans, that means it is a marketing success. Hence, use that at your advantages instead of worrying about piracy. There is no 100% proof way to protect a film unless you don't release it.
If you want to compete, then you need to market, get the movie out to critics, to reviewers, to festivals, to sales agents, to win awards, to have it all over so the more people are seeing it, which will 'connects' you as a Hollywood made film and the more chances will come, if this isn't selling, it would help to guide you to the next project and may help you sell more next time. Just like many products, companies do send out freebies to people for them to test the product, treat your film as a finished/polished product that you want to sell and market it as such.
You can't compare your indie film with what Hollywood can do in the area of VOD sells, for them, they can rack up a bit of $ but for an indie filmmakers, marketing is all the key, a lot of leg work would have to be done before you get to sell a lot, and that may, at the end of the day, sitting down doing your spreadsheet, and adding the cost of your marketing campaign, you would realized it may be too much doing it yourself and need a sales agent to push it for you. And when you know which sales agent to approach, you would never lose money but rather gaining slowly based on territories that's been sold.
You have to be realistic when comparing your movies to Hollywood, by studying the market and trend and seeing what is the best that would work for you, not easy but it's feasible when you find that niche/angle/formula that works best. If you are going to follow what the big studios do with their marketing, unless you have the equal amount of resource as they do, you wouldn't be able to do so. So, be realistic and understand what is the 'worst case' your film (in this case, product) can do to break even at least and go from there.
In regards of pirating, I know it's sweat and money that has been spent on your film, as would any filmmakers here would, but worrying about pirating on a film that has limited Hollywood ties (big named actors, etc) would be a waste of energy... In fact, I would say you should be happy, although it isn't bringing you $ but it has been pirated, that means you did something right that people are interested to pirate, that means you are gaining new fans, that means it is a marketing success. Hence, use that at your advantages instead of worrying about piracy. There is no 100% proof way to protect a film unless you don't release it.
If you want to compete, then you need to market, get the movie out to critics, to reviewers, to festivals, to sales agents, to win awards, to have it all over so the more people are seeing it, which will 'connects' you as a Hollywood made film and the more chances will come, if this isn't selling, it would help to guide you to the next project and may help you sell more next time. Just like many products, companies do send out freebies to people for them to test the product, treat your film as a finished/polished product that you want to sell and market it as such.
Well, here it is... the official announcement... "Dark Disciple" will be available on January 15 on Amazon. If you guys like it, please let others know!!!
Thanks,
Allan C.
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CustomerGH4
Well-known member
In my honest opinion: YES.
1) Hollywood is just mass produced crap. The only interesting films were in 1999. For example Matrix and Fight Club. (Btw, Matrix stole a lot of shots from Ghost in The Shell including the green computer text.)
2) The best american films are always Indies imo. Examples: Clerks, Reservoir Dogs etc. (Btw Reservoir Dogs stole a lot from Ringo Lam´s City on Fire.)
3) The more time passes the more Hollywood just reboots film series (Spider-man), or makes remakes. OR makes their own version of other films (Old Boy, Departed etc.) So yeah, no originality.
If you want good cinema check out European films like Lola´s Run, Amelie etc.
And if you want good action check out Asian films like John Woo´s The Killer, Hard Boiled etc Or The Raid from Gareth Evans (who is from Europe). Or hell, even Australians MAD MAX ROAD WARRIOR, notice how good the Road Warrior was and how much the third movie sucked which was a collaboration with USA sucked?
Btw new Mad max is Australian film and its gonna rock.
Bottomline, dvx can compete with Hollywood, because Hollywood is brain dead cinema.
BTW to the topic creator, you have a possibility to earn more by yourself than when letting hollywood distribute because they always steal the money from creators. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting#Examples
1) Hollywood is just mass produced crap. The only interesting films were in 1999. For example Matrix and Fight Club. (Btw, Matrix stole a lot of shots from Ghost in The Shell including the green computer text.)
2) The best american films are always Indies imo. Examples: Clerks, Reservoir Dogs etc. (Btw Reservoir Dogs stole a lot from Ringo Lam´s City on Fire.)
3) The more time passes the more Hollywood just reboots film series (Spider-man), or makes remakes. OR makes their own version of other films (Old Boy, Departed etc.) So yeah, no originality.
If you want good cinema check out European films like Lola´s Run, Amelie etc.
And if you want good action check out Asian films like John Woo´s The Killer, Hard Boiled etc Or The Raid from Gareth Evans (who is from Europe). Or hell, even Australians MAD MAX ROAD WARRIOR, notice how good the Road Warrior was and how much the third movie sucked which was a collaboration with USA sucked?
Btw new Mad max is Australian film and its gonna rock.
Bottomline, dvx can compete with Hollywood, because Hollywood is brain dead cinema.
BTW to the topic creator, you have a possibility to earn more by yourself than when letting hollywood distribute because they always steal the money from creators. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting#Examples
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What excellent insight!
Like myself, many indie producers put YEARS of work into their projects. That means depth . . . (something that most Hollywood films pretend to have). I truly believe you will find that "Dark Disciple" is one of the most impressive "Cop Thrillers" you've ever seen. Not only for the incredible action sequences, but also for the "depth".
John Lissauer, my Composer, worked on the film "Se7en" and had this to say after screening my film "Allan, I've seen 5 million dollar films that don't have the art direction of 'Dark Disciple.' "
- Not bad for a -50K film eh? That's why I love DVXuser. We help each other go so much further!
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Polaroid22
Well-known member
Well that is true, but that is just how it works. All big league directors have been nobody's, and they worked their ass off to get where they are now. Enter and win short film festivals, and work your way up.
As others mentioned there are a ton of other options out there now. If youre stuff is good you can sell it. Vimeo on demand, netflix,...
Well how did the other nights go? First night are probably all your friends/family/collegues/cast/crew that are present. To be honest I did not like the trailer as I am not liking the cinematography, acting or the sound design or even the typography credits. I am not trying to be a buzz kill, you are making stuff, that is great, so just gave out some area's that you could improve on.
Cheers
We beat "Dracula" on our second night. In fact, our second day was even bigger than the first. The following day, Sunday, did excellent as well.
35MMdirector
Member
@Harry Pallenburg - Vimeo now supports Euro and USD.
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First run - theaters; then VOD or online (sometimes legally, sometimes not); then on DVD's; then on TV; then on cable TV in eternity, then online via Netflix or Amazon.
What has changed over the years is the ratio of movie viewing on these various platforms. Obviously, the online viewing is stepping up big time lately.
In the past 4 days my youtube trailer suddenly got over 8000 views. Wish I knew what I was doing right! All I did was mention that it was on VOD and put a link on it. www.darkdisciple.vhx.tv