Media Info:

Contact: Leslie Poston and Amy Greenlaw from Film POP!

Website: http://filmpop.tv or http://nhfilmfestival.com/

FILM POP AND NH FILM FESTIVAL, PORTSMOUTH, NH – Film POP! is pleased to announce that it will be working with the Festival this year as a Media Partner, and will lead and execute the online promotional efforts and strategy of the 10th Annual New Hampshire Film Festival in 2010.

“We are very fortunate to have Leslie and Amy of Film POP! onboard for NHFF 2010,” said NHFF Executive Director Nicole Gregg. “Film POP!’s expertise, experience and creativity in new media will help the New Hampshire Film Festival continue to bring greater exposure to high-quality independent film.”

This year marks the Tenth Anniversary of the New Hampshire Film Festival. Portsmouth’s film community members have been dubbed the future “Sundance East” by local news outlet Experience Magazine. This highlights the caliber of films and attending filmmakers each year, as well as the thriving local film community. Past Jury members include Ann Cusack, and Board members include renowned filmmaker, writer and director Chase Bailey and producer Mark Constance. The festival has been attended by actors such as Cusack and Brett Cullen and has also been home to such phenomenal films as Shooting Beauty, Food, Inc., The Sensation of Sight, and Burning Plain.

Film POP! has many exciting things planned for the New Hampshire Film Festival this year, including geolocation tie-ins, local business promotion, transmedia cross over, and Google Earth integration. Film POP! has several other tricks up their sleeves to surprise attendees of the festival as well. From events, films, meet and greet opportunities, festival tie ins, product placement and so much more, the Tenth Anniversary of the New Hampshire Film Festival will be celebrated in style, on and off line.

Film POP! is the brainchild of Amy Greenlaw and Leslie Poston. Between them they bring decades of experience in film, video, television, music and marketing to the table. You can reach Leslie via Twitter at http://twitter.com/leslie or email at leslie@filmpop.tv. You can reach Amy via Twitter at http://twitter.com/girlgamy or email at amy@filmpop.tv. You can also follow the New Hampshire Film Festival news on Twitter via http://twitter.com/nhff or through Film POP! on Twitter at http://twitter.com/filmpop. Film POP! will be joining Vital Design on the New Hampshire Film Festival marketing team, long time print and traditional media outlet and web design firm for the festival.

It’s incredibly difficult to tailor a talk or panel to a room evenly divided between the more advanced users and the social media “noobs”. I like to think I do a good job, but I know I leave as frustrated as my audience when I’ve spent an hour or two trying to address both sides of the coin. Our workshop we offer via Film POP!, educational things I do like PodCamp NH and classes and seminars via Uptown Uncorked do address the issue,  but only a few people at a time.

Learning how to take the temperature of the room at the start and how to read the crowd as you go helps a bit as well, but even then you have half of the room who thinks you’re going too fast dispensing information (and this while your discussing the basic trifecta of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and not even scratching the surface of the much cooler more advanced stuff), and the other half who craves more detail, more help – more meat.

My call to action in this post for event planners: make a conscious effort to offer two tracks for your attendees if possible: 101 and Senior Thesis, so to speak. Then take it a step further and really screen the folks in each. Don’t be afraid to gently suggest to someone that they may want to attend the other workshop or session based on their knowledge level or skill set. I know social media is all about helping each other out, but at some point that comes with a cost for the more advanced folks in the room as every discussion devolves to answer simple questions.

My call to action for speakers and teachers in this space: let’s make our own tracks when the event planners don’t do it for us. If you want to teach advanced tools, and you have a room of advanced level folks ready to learn that includes  a few 101 level students, set the time up to reduce questions (offer to take them at the end, for example) and allow yourself to teach to the advanced level. If a 101 level student wants to insert a question that will veer the discussion off course, gently remind them that questions will be at the end – don’t allow them to derail the discussion for others. Then at the end, offer to help them with their questions between sessions or over drinks at the after party. If, on the others hand, your room is full of beginning social media stars, teach to that level, and make the same offer of a more in depth discussion to the handful of advanced users who may be in the room.

If you are speaking or educating in this space and are careful with your time, aware of your audience and perceptive, you can make a room of mixed knowledge attendees happy. It just takes care and practice.

Think about it: if you are considering making a feature length film, it costs money. If you are operating on a short shoestring, finding $100,000 (or even $10,000) to make your dream project will be one of your biggest hurdles. Finding a few hundred dollars (or in the case of many – a few willing friends to work for free) to make a trailer could be much easier.

It’s a little backwards to think of making a “trailer” first, isn’t it? And for the reluctant, sites like this one do accept short films as well, so you could do what Crooked Lane (client) did and make a short that will later become a (wholly different) feature. But I’m thinking out of the box here. Making your trailer first, in the true spirit of the site, also forces you to hone your vision for the full film.

By using a pre-production trailer, made before the rest of the movie, you get an audience viewed storyboard. You can then track the competition and see how your film is meshing with potential audiences. If your film isn’t gelling with people, it will let you know you may need to go back to the script, the set, the character development, actors, etc long before you spend hard earned money producing your vision, increasing your chances of success down the line.

Can you use this concept to run a trailer on your site? Of course you can, and Amy and I encourage people to do so to raise awareness about their film. But running a trailer on your site alone and not including various contest sites like this or content sites like YouTube and Viddler has a few side effects. The first of these is in type of eyeballs. These contest sites draw people who want to play, to watch a few videos to kill some time, and who may not be out there looking at or for film sites. That sounds startlingly like a random movie theater audience, doesn’t it? Think of how much better that will be in getting word out about your film to the non-movie buffs as as the film lovers who seek out new film content online.

The second is in number of eyeballs. It may take a while, using concerted efforts, to build up a following on your web site or blog. That’s fine, fans should be nurtured. But sites like this Trailer Wars and others could bring more numbers of people watching your trailer – doubling up your efforts and having the trailer in more than place will increase your chances of success.

The third is implementation. Implementing a voting system on your site can be a pain in the butt for some people. You can have people vote by commenting, retweeting, sharing on social sites, or if you can afford a web designer or have a willing web smart friend you may be able to make a voting system like these sites have, but all of the solutions can be cumbersome (or cost money). Why not use someone else’s system as a means to your end?

Looking at sites like TrailerWars, you can see the potential of using them in your arsenal. What could the information gleaned by putting your content there do for you as a filmmaker? How would you use it?

(Not for reuse or sale, © Film POP!)

SXSW Film: “Social & New Media: The Cheaper Film Promotion Alternative“

Leslie Poston (Uptown Uncorked, Film POP!, Twitter for Dummies Co-Author), Amy Greenlaw (Film POP!), Chase Bailey (“The Libertine”, “Crooked Lane”) and Mark Constance (“Terminator 3″, “Being John Malkovich”, “Losing Jerry”) will discuss promoting independent film. Long gone are the days of small budget Independent films toiling in obscurity. Just like small businesses, Independent Films are embracing Social Media and New Media technology as a low cost way to promote their films. Come listen to our experienced panel discuss new ways to grab eyeballs for your project. VOTE FOR THIS ONE HERE. Get others to vote and comment by sharing this URL: http://bit.ly/sxswindie

SXSW Interactive: “Online Presence: Asset of the Future“

Leslie Poston (Uptown Uncorked, Film POP!, Twitter for Dummies Co-Author) and Jim Keenan (Avaya, A Sales Guy) will be talking about the near future, and how your online social presence will become a must-have asset, a life-long living resume that will determine your success in relationships, careers, education and more. It will break down barriers and create unheard of opportunities – if you leverage it well. This panel is based on our upcoming book: “Online Presence: Asset Of The Future” and will involve statistics, case studies, methodologies and a lively Q&A component. VOTE FOR THIS ONE HERE. Get others to vote and comment by sharing this URL: http://bit.ly/sxswasset – THANK YOU

SXSW Interactive: “Self Hate Isn’t Sexy: Gender, Race & Tech“

Leslie Poston (Uptown Uncorked, Film POP!, Twitter for Dummies Co-Author) is joined by Rakiesha Chase (Social Butterfly Experiment) and other panelists TBA to discuss how gender and race opportunities are two recurring themes in technology. Are we part of the problem, or part of the solution? This panel is about moving beyond the usual “we’re oppressed” quagmire discussion and into real, workable solutions, starting with ourselves as individuals to effect change in tech and social media. VOTE FOR THIS ONE HERE. Get others to vote and comment by sharing this URL: http://bit.ly/sxswsexy – THANK YOU

Please note: we are competing against nearly 3000 other panels for votes. SXSW is a popularity and interest driven contest. Every vote and comment really does matter. Please feel free to tell your friends, your colleagues and the universe about this post and about these panels, and get out the vote. We are excited to go to SXSW with these bright ideas, but we can’t do it without YOUR help!