ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

6 years, 5 months ago - Tommy Winchester

Hi Alwyne,

Sounds like the film is getting a good reception - nice work!

I think it's conventional wisdom for the video to not be available online. Festivals that you're submitting your work to might not accept you if they found a link to the video online.

If you want to share your work (but privately - so that it won't appear on any google search) - I'd recommend making a passworded Vimeo video.

Good luck!

Tommy

6 years, 5 months ago - Alwyne Kennedy

Cheers, Tommy. That's the little push I needed to set about making sure it can't be found by searching. I should have started out that way.

6 years, 5 months ago - Yen Rickeard

Yes, festivals often want to be the first (and sometimes the only) place where your film can be found. You can put it out to the public when all the excitement is over, and there are no more festivals or chances of selling your film. Vimeo with password is good for letting your cast and crew see the results of your work.
It can sometimes work well if they are allowed to show a (say) 10 sec trailer on their own website, blog, etc, esp if there is mention of the festival(s) it is showing at. Anything longer than that may cause aggravation.
Good luck with it!

6 years, 5 months ago - Louise Marie Cooke

Some festivals do accept shorts that are publicly available online, some don't. You just need to do research and read the T&Cs for each festival and weigh up the pros and cons of having your film online, ie if developing it into a feature having a lot of plays on YouTube of the shoot can be used as a selling point.

6 years, 5 months ago - Alan Fleet

Hello Alwyne, I agree with Louise, the more views you get the better it will be for your feature plans. From my own experience, despite winning four awards for one film, I know I wasted too much time and money on festivals. Since I uploaded the films to my YouTube channel, one has had over 2,700 views and another over 1,900 views, far more than ever happened through festivals. Good luck.

6 years, 4 months ago - Mark Jepson

Hi Alwyne, the vast majority of film festivals are quite happy to accept short films that are already online. But do check the T&C for each festival you have entered. I also have a short in the Starburst Festival (with a few more entries to go) and will be making the film available online next month. When you decide to put your film online I'd recommend building up some anticipation on social media by having a release date and using your festival selections to promote interest. If you are looking to get some serious viewing stats, then you might want to look for a suitable third party to host your film on Youtube. Good luck!

6 years, 4 months ago - Glyn Carter

Hi Alwyne - festivals are increasingly relaxed about their selections being available online. Although I think US festivals are more precious, on the whole. You do have to look at the terms of each festival. For myself, I generally avoid festivals that stipulate it can't be available online.

I don't know who these festivals think they are helping, demanding exclusivity, because it's very unlikely anyone who was minded to attend their festival will decide not to because they can view the films online. It certanly doesn't help filmmakers.

Online distributors are different - they pay for exclusive online rights.

Producers can still publicise their films and themselves. Whether a film is available for free viewing online or not, it makes sense to make a trailer or teaser to help this.

I'm glad Indweller is doing well!

6 years, 4 months ago - Alwyne Kennedy

Thanks everyone for your responses. All very interesting and valuable.

6 years, 4 months ago - Caroline Bottomley

Hi Alwyne
Here's a really insightful post from Short of the Week you might find useful https://www.shortoftheweek.com/news/be-everywhere-all-at-once/
best
Caroline

6 years, 4 months ago - Alwyne Kennedy

Thanks Caroline. I'll certainly give it a read later on today or tomorrow.

6 years, 4 months ago - Alwyne Kennedy

Thanks again, everyone.

The lead actor in the short won Best Performance at the Starburst Film Festival. Not bad considering she was only 13 when we filmed. This is her here: https://starburstmagazine.com/filmfestival/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/indweller-1.jpg

Caroline, today I finally read the post you supplied a link to - a very informative article. I didn't read until now because I was kind of putting things on hold until I'd finished writing the feature version. I finished the feature version script a few days back and it turned out nice, I think. I'll be seeking an experienced producer for it. I self-funded the short, but I couldn't fund the feature, and I'm sure I would suck at raising funds myself.

The lead actor in the short won Best Performance at the Starburst Film Festival. Not bad considering she was only 13 when we filmed. This is her here: https://starburstmagazine.com/filmfestival/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/indweller-1.jpg