Marketing Strategy

Generally, short films are marketed through film festivals and because budgeting is usually an issue, makers of shorts don't tend to have the funds to market their films to a great extent, and especially not to the extent of feature length films. Therefore, the marketing must be able to reach the target audiences successfully and cheaply. And so, the most typical form of marketing for shorts are post-cards. These post-cards are similar to film posters, only on a much smaller scale, and as they can not be advertised on billboards or magazines like mainstream films due to a lack of funding, they are typically handed out at places where there is likely to be the target audience. For example; festivals, night clubs, youth clubs, film stores, etc. Often shorts are aimed at niche audiences, and so the post-cards will be issued at niche places, for example film festivals, film schools.

For our short film Toast, rather than make a film size poster, I am going to make a postcard as this is the most common form of marketing for a short. During the planning process of the postcard, I am going to sketch a few design ideas for it, focusing on what will attract the audience, and intrigue them. Also I will focus on portraying, artistically, the overall tone of the film, symbols, and the main features of it. I don't want to give too much away, and so the images will be minimal, and just enough to cause the audience to want to learn more about the film.
These postcards will be issued at schools, and advertised in media and film classrooms, focusing on film enthusiasts, and people who are generally interested in shorts. The cost of this strategy should not amount to too much, and should only cover the printing and processing of the postcards themselves.

The other ways of marketing short films are submitting them to film festivals, which some cost no money at all, and others cost a small amount. This gives your film the opportunity to be seen by film enthusiasts, directors and producers, and also promotes the director/writer etc. Another strategy is the Internet. There are several sites which air short films such as IFILM.COM, ATOMFILMS.COM, and UNDERGROUNDFILM.COM. These sites, much like film festivals, also give you the chance to promote your film and your work.

If we were to enroll our film to a Film Festival, the most appropriate would be the London Independent Film Festival, as it is the most local festival, and open to independent films.

Post-cards
Having consulted with producers form the short film industry, we have been advised that the conventional film poster is replaced with more direct marketing in the form of a postcard. Miss Becky Knapp has given us examples which we have analysed.
Through research into existing short film post cards, I have found that the majority are typically made up of gritty colours, and the title is normally the main attraction of the poster - standing out and always present on a post card. Most short films don't reveal much about the films content, (ref film poster analysis) and with this information in mind, I have attempted several poster ideas, with the aim of targeting an audience consistant of people within the film industry, in order to showcase my talent. The main issues with producing this postcard is budgeting, however I aim to attract film enthusiasts.
With this idea, I was aiming to portray the idea that Amelia is buried behind her work, and also create a sense of mystery and intrigue, in order to drag the audience in. I chose to use a plain black book to convey the idea that not only is Amelia hiding and buried beneath her education, but that her life has become plain and uninteresting. I placed her elbow above the stack of books to indicate her reliance on her education to keep her going, as in the film, it is her endeavors to become successful that gets her up in the morning to continue her stressful routine.
The information the poster gives, is just that the film has some relation to books - work - school.
At the bottom of the poster, I have included information about the Director, the production team and the cast, and mentioned the fact that it is a short film.

With this idea, I wanted to maintain the idea of schooling, as it is the main theme of the film. I included the toast in this idea as it is a recurring motif of the film, and also obviously has visual relevance to the title. You can see that several of the book spines are University prospectus's, therefore targeting an audience of young adults who are also during the process of applying for university's. Therefore I am attempting to attract not only people within the film industry in order to showcase my talent, but I am also attempting to draw in a specific audience of particuarly young adults within this industry, who can relate to our films messages, and therefore get furthur in touch with 'Toast.' The other books are A-level exam text books, most noticeably, Hamlet, which insinuate themes of academia.
Again, at the bottom I have included the same information about the production team, cast, director, and the fact that it is a short film.
What I like about this shot in particular, is the simplicity of it, as it reveals the basic theme of the film which the story revolves around, but doesn't reveal too much. As the film is naturalistic and realistic, I wanted to the poster to convey this, so by using a simple, realistic image - an image that young adults in education can relate to - I want to capture the attentions of our target audience. The placement of the image of a stack of books in front of a plain white wall, implies the blankness and dullness of Amelia's life, and the contrasting vibrant and colourful books portray the business and importance of her education.
In both ideas, I have used Courier New font, because it gives off the impression of formality and there is nothing about it that particularly stands out, like Amelia, who blends into the background. I experimented with other fonts, for example; Lucinda Handwriting, which is an italic scrawl. I thought this could represent Amelia's femininity, and also relate to handwriting, which in hand refers back to schooling.
Here are a few sketches of my other poster ideas;

These two sketches focus on Amelia's eyes - which open and close the film (the film begins with the image of Amelia opening her eyes after awaking in the morning, face smeared with mascara). The positives of using this image are that the main theme of the film is poignantly portrayed via Amelia's eyes - the portals into her state of mind and her feelings. The fact that she locks in her feelings and emotions, is silent during the majority of the film, and her emotions are portrayed wholly through her eyes. The negatives of using this image are that it may ruin the impact of the opening of the film, and therefore not have as great an impact, as the image is expected. The font in the first image is Lucinda Handwriting - a neat, feminine italic scrawl, which portrays Amelia's femininity and presents the idea of writing and school work.

In this first idea, three main motifs of the film are evident; Amelia's mascara ridden eyes, the stack of books, and the toast. Each of these images are seen on a repetitive basis,

reflecting the routine of her life. The fact that the book Amelia is reading here is large, also emphasises how she is hiding away from her life, her friends, her boyfriend, all in an attempt to do successfully in her education.

In the second idea, we see Amelias feet surrounded by books which have cascaded out of her bag. I used this image because it reflects a low point in the film for Amelia, (when a student barges past her and knocks her bag onto the ground). This shot is just a few scenes before Amelia breaks down. The image of lockers in the background give the audience an idea about where the film is set, and what age the main character is, and therefore at which stage she is in her life.The books would be brightly coloured, and the lockers, carpet, and Amelia's trousers/shoes, would all be dark, grim colours, suggesting the dark time in Amelia's life in which she is burried under her academic efforts, and the books although symbolising too much for her to handle, the bright colours also symbolise the point that her education is her only escape away from the life she is living. The font for both of these images, I decided would again be Lucinda Handwriting, illustrating the idea of school work and handwriting - we see Amelia writing a lot.

The back of the postcard should mirror those of existing short films, here are two examples;

On the top left hand corner, in bold font is the title of the film, and beneath it, in slightly smaller bold font is noted the director and the producer, and next to this in a different colour, the year in which the film was made. Beneath this, in a lighter and smaller yet font, is a breif synopsis of the film. At the bottam left hand corner, is a paragraph in the same font about B3. Down the middle is generaly a line, and in this case a phone number and email address for B3. on the bottam right hand corner, are logos of the films sponsers and funders, for example the national lottery, B3, The Arts Council, and British Council.
Here is the back of my postcard. After completing it and comparing it to existing postcards, I decided that the font was too large, and so I re-sized it, trying to remain within the conventions of existing postcards.

This is my final product.