Comments on: dave chimes in

By: André Hedetoft

André Hedetoft — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 16:46:29 +0000

It’s simple.
1. Create a movie worth talking about.
2. Create it in such a way so the creation itself is worth talking about.
3. Step back and learn and engage in the conversation.
The fact that we are having this conversation right now makes for an unusual creation process and that makes for something worth talking about.
As for a private screening. I’d love to come! I live in Sweden though but maybe you got a spare sofa for me?
André Hedetoft
Movie-geek
Just created a game where you get to play with my real life over at http://www.andrehedetoft.com in the quest to turn me into the obvious geek movie director!

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 22:04:44 +0000

spot on Hugh — we need to see the movie before we can start talking about it. Private screening and geek dinner sounds good (perhaps with some facilitated [but not focus-groupy] discussion) and will result in some blogging and flickr exposure I’m sure.
How about also sending preview copies on DVD to bloggers on request or making the film available for (bittorrent) download?

By: Nia

Nia — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:36:52 +0000

On recommending movies: I never, ever recommend movies. I’m too scared of people trusting my choice and then hating the movie. I’d recommend books, writers, places, anything except movies. I know I’m not the only one; I think people like me think that there’s something particularly horrible in being inflicted two hours of bad cinema, a sort of sensory deprivation torture reminiscence…
I dare you to change this habit of mine

By: Greg Furry

Greg Furry — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 11:37:15 +0000

Hugh — where do I get the larger version of this for my wall. I live in a neighborhood of helicopter parents.
gf

By: Willie

Willie — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 06:01:40 +0000

Amen. Good piece.

By: Shazz

Shazz — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 01:32:45 +0000

Building on Cherkoff’s comment … I think it’s very important to first focus on the effect the film will hopefully have on moviegoers and not focus on the tools (sex, death, weirdness, suspense, etc.) which are employed to evoke the viewer feelings.
At the end of the film will the (target) viewing audience be bemused, happy, agog, hopeful, confused, nostalgic, exhilarated, mystified, sad, …? When this is determined (can be more than one feeling evoked), I would then think of the ‘tone’ of the film (ironic, funny, mystical, atmospheric, irreverant … ?) and then I would bring these two elements (outcome and tone) together to build a representative tagline about the film and its potential impact on the viewer.
have fun

By: Craig Fratrik

Craig Fratrik — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 01:24:21 +0000

Here's the Cuban link.

By: Brian Clark

Brian Clark — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:58:59 +0000

»We, as a production team, have to figure out what that “something” is.
Right.. extract the primary audience benefit.
You were a copywriter, right Hugh? You’re good at that.
It doesn’t seem to me that Madison Avenue messed you up in that regard.

By: John Dodds

John Dodds — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:55:49 +0000

The something is the possibility of not wasting their time in the future seeing a bad movie, reading a bad book etc.
True word of mouth is not an amorphous thing, it is the aggregation of words of mouth from specific individuals whose opinion is trusted by the recipient. These individuals make the recommendation to you perhaps to boost the esteem in which they’re held but primarily I believe to enhance their social network and receive reciprocated advice in the future so that when they have to make a decision on how to spend their valuable free time, they make a more informed decision than one based on hype.
Mark Cuban uncovered a whole slew of ideas of varying quality when offering a job in exchange for marketing ideas for his cinema chain. There were something like a thousand comments as a result and many covered the idea of “incentivising” the audience to spread the word. I wasn’t convinced that any would actually change people’s behaviour but it might be worth having a read of the suggestions.

By: Tuur Demeester

Tuur Demeester — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:48:59 +0000

There is a school near Washington that is all about pulling yourself up by the bootstraps: children between 5 and 18 are wholly responsible for their own education - choose every day what they will undertake. And all the rules of the schools are democratically voted in the weekly meeting. Someone has made a movie about this school (called Fairhaven). The catch-phrase of the movie is "this movie is for everyone who ever went to school and imagined something better". Well, it's no lie! here's the trailer: http://www.newamericanschoolhouse.com/trailer.htm

By: Hugh MacLeod

Hugh MacLeod — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:30:45 +0000

I concur with Cherkoff…

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:28:16 +0000

Hugh; most art is about sex or death or both.

By: Peter Jinks

Peter Jinks — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:13:41 +0000

Hamlet on a Hot Tin Roof

By: James Cherkoff

James Cherkoff — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:08:56 +0000

And so, my fellow film makers, ask not what your audience can do for you; ask what you can do for your audience.

By: Craig Fratrik

Craig Fratrik — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:30:27 +0000

It is very unusual to get this perspective on a product. It could be in 3 months this whole conversation looks silly because the movie has completely taken of based on its own quality. I do not think the people involved are expressing themselves well. As deannie and Hugh say, I recommend movies to my friends because I think they will like them and they will appreciate me more because I was the one that recommended it. You can call this social currency if you like, but _you_ can’t pay me for this. As people farther up might have refered, if it deep enough, I also appreciate someone with whom I can discuss it.
So, the content creators have made something they like, and everyone they’ve shown it to likes. They wonder how to get from here to a hit. What you should be worried about is trying how does random person A: 1. hear about it, 2. see it. Then, assuming the movie is good, he will do the work to recommend it to person B.
I know nothing about 2, but my best idea for 1 would be to send copies to bloggers who are well read and respected, trying to extract some guarantee that they will not put the movie all over the internet. You have to have a personal connection with them before you send it so that they take it seriously, and so that you have confidence they won’t put it all over the internet. I started reading Hugh from Scoble, so he pops into my mind as such an example.
You want your blogger to be able to ask you if they can send it along to another blogger they know and respect. You have to be careful so that it doesn’t get too far removed, because then it will get put all over the internet.