Pretentious

All of the above make good points. As I read through them this morning, I wondered how important this issue was one way or the other. Looking over the thread, I noticed the mass of extra stuff under every ones name, and again, I twitched with discomfort.

I love the pictures, they work and add a cool element to the overall sleekness of the site. The quotes are just...crap. You are over selling something that doesn't need to be over sold.

This may sound mean, but why should any one care about what Mr. So & So said, unless it is a discussion in the thread along with all of the other comments. The judgement should remain pure until until after the comp., then you can blast the hell out of it all you want. This isn't like going to Cine Quest or Slam Dance. You don't have to sway people one way or the other. You don't have to draw a crowd. All of the films are up for viewing and should all be viewed starting from "0". If not you give into the idea of "hype" which is fundamentally "bullshite". Before you know it, HYPE will be in the forefront, then you will have to dodge your way through the hype, just to get to the good stuff. It's close enough already.

Maybe it is a method that is too close to the Hollywood machine for my taste. All I know is, when I check a poster for quotes about a film, the only ones that I take seriously are the ones that say "winner of".

Let your skills speak for themselves.
 
I think the promotion is great. Its a part of the bussiness. Something we all must learn if you want to do ANYthing in a professional space in the film industry.
 
Tim, point taken but, isn't that up to the ad agency and suits? Unless one wants
full creative control of every aspect of the film itself which is good!

I'm not fighting against it's usage here but, I just wanted to voice another opinion.
 
Inexistence said:
Tim, point taken but, isn't that up to the ad agency and suits? Unless one wants
full creative control of every aspect of the film itself which is good!

I'm not fighting against it's usage here but, I just wanted to voice another opinion.
Click to expand...


Well thats true. but the advertising and promotion is going to get out htere somehow, no matterwhat. on this small scale its up to us to do it.

Honestly, i skipped over Halfway, until i saw the "reviews". then i went back watched it, and loved it!
 
TimurCivan said:
I think the promotion is great. Its a part of the bussiness. Something we all must learn if you want to do ANYthing in a professional space in the film industry.
Click to expand...

spoken like a true scholar. -- I AGREE!!!!
 
I guess Slam Dance is different from Sundance. I sill have A Buffalo 66 Hat and Scarf handed to me by Vincent Gallo (not an ad agency) as well as Blood Guts Bullets and Octane stickers from 1998!

True Hats and Stickers don't say anything about the movie necessarily, unless they have quotes on them, but the goal is the same.

Buy and read Chris Gore's Film Festival survival guide. There's tons of stuff about publicity at film festivals that is the EMERGING filmmaker's responsibility 100%.

Even if you have agency representation from the get go, if you are not famous and don't have some other hook associated with your film you have to do your share of being your own in house ad agency.

Once you are making American Beauty, then yes it's someone else's responsibility, and at that point you will be REQUIRED to participate at least on some level in the marketing campaign that someone else has designed.

Even if you can afford to hire a marketing firm, there's no wat you could afford to hire them to be your on the ground people at the festival, that will have to be you and whomever you with you if anyone.

The BROKEN DVD is a prime example. They didn't even have a film at Sundance, but they went and stuffed their DVD into Roger Ebert's hands while standing inline for a film there. He was less than bananas about the movie but went out of his way to give them a good paragraph of useable quotes to emblazon their website and DVD jackets with. Point of the story is not that the quotes in our signatures have as much meaning as a quote from Ebert, but that that review and the 10's of thousands of DVD's these guys have moved online and their feature deal would have never happened if they, themselves, the filmmakers, weren't the biggest marketing whores of all time - and I mean that in a good way.
 
Last edited:
Matthew B. Moore said:
...Let your skills speak for themselves.
Click to expand...

I second that. It seems like almost everyone is now using quotes and it seems like overkill to me only because I am seeing them so many times... Sure, movie posters and advertisements carry quotes but we only see those a few times before the movie comes out. Imagine if every time you turned the corner, you were hit with those same quotes, over and over and over... Since they're tagged to a person's signature, we're seeing them 10, 20, 30 times a day. I get irritated on myspace when they do those blitz advertisings for a movie or show and I'm seeing the same bit commercial over and over while perusing through pages. It's kind of like that; we're seeing the same quote or series of quotes way too many times in one day.
 
Matthew B. Moore said:
All of the above make good points. As I read through them this morning, I wondered how important this issue was one way or the other. Looking over the thread, I noticed the mass of extra stuff under every ones name, and again, I twitched with discomfort.
Click to expand...
I agree they are getting a tad big and bold and outside the size of allowed spec.s
I guess its being allowed because its to much to police and perhaps there is a bit of laissez faire festival spirit in the air.
Geoff_R said:
...Sure, movie posters and advertisements carry quotes but we only see those a few times before the movie comes out. Imagine if every time you turned the corner, you were hit with those same quotes, over and over and over...
Click to expand...
I think some leeway can be afforded during a festival.
I did the Edinbourgh Fringe Festivalk in 97 - (worlds largest theatre festival 1700 shows in 22 days with 1100 shows a day) and there is no such thing as a lampost or phone pole during that time as they are ground to sky postered and flyered. It's really rediculous and expensive and exhausting to try and keep up with as a participant. As a way of life -- no way -- but during a special event, mildly annoying but a necessary evil, at least there.
 
Advertising is advertising, IMO. I've seen multiple posts now stating that they wouldn't have watched a particular film, had it not been for the quotes.

Sheesh, I'm feeling the pressure to add some myself, as we've even had some good comments in our thread ... but I just don't have the energy right now. :) Simply BECAUSE there are so many of them now, and the fact that I do see the same ones 20-30 times a day, they become part of the background & my brain is quite adapt to be able to filter through them ... like they're not even there. So I'm not sure why others are having such issues with them.

And how do we tell a studio that they're advertising TOO much and it's annoying us? Sheesh, I'm SO sick of seeing SPIDERMAN advertisements at McDonalds, on my cereal boxes, on the TV commercials, in the opening trailers at the movie theater, in the news papers, in posters at various places, on the sides of buses, on top of taxis, on billboards, on the sides of buildings (and the list goes on, and on, and on) ...

How dare they spend all that time, money, and resources to encourage me to see THEIR movie?!

Sure, movies should be good enough that word of mouth spreads, but that's kind of rediculous to hope for in such a short festival, and it's simply not how business is typically operated in the real world. While word of mouth is truly the BEST advertising, and carries the most weight compared to any print/media advertisement, it can take a while for that word to spread ... so when we're crunched for such a short time, with SO many films to watch, and some folks that got a late start into the fest & are possibly not well known around here, why NOT let them post quotes, banners, etc.???

For those who want to be purists just for the sake of making a film, then just make the film. Don't have banners, don't hype it, etc. ... just hope that someone will take the time to watch your film, knowing nothing about whether others like it or not ... then hope that there's enough time that they'll comment in the thread or tell someone else about it, etc.

Bottom line, no matter what the scenario is, there will ALWAYS be a minority who doesn't like it. So for the sake of the festival, community, etc., we should go with the majority. I personally could care less either way ... but I do think it's fun, and has proven to be a VERY useful tool in getting some users to see specific films that would not have otherwise. That in itself is enough reason for me to want to allow and/or encourage the quotes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top