#hotdocs16

What an amazing 10 days I had at Hot Docs! The films, the workshops, and the people were far more incredible than I had anticipated. It became something I see myself doing every year and my goal is to submit a film by next years festival- I like to dream big.

Rosie was honoured at the awards ceremony and as her picture appeared on the big screen, I thought of two things. How happy I was to see her career be celebrated amongst industry professionals, and how incredibly lucky I was to be a member of that audience. She wore her pride on her sleeve that night and watching the festival honour her on top of 5 screenings was a wonderful thing.

It wasn’t so long ago I was posting about opening night! Here we are, already at the night of the award ceremony. What an inspiring week. I don’t think I have slept more than 4 hours a night, and I am so emotionally and physically exhausted that I want to weep while eating some chocolate...but what an inspiring week.

Today Rosie had her last screening at Hot Docs and I am so glad it was Anti-Social Limited. It’s one of my favourite films of hers and it was a perfect way to wrap up my first film festival.

The workshops were amazing and reason enough to come to this event as an emerging filmmaker. Everywhere you go, there is a networking opportunity and I have made contacts here that I would have never been able to in Edmonton. Before coming to Hot Docs and experiencing everything I have, I found it hard to justify the financial expense in order to attend a documentary film festival. If you felt the same way I did, then I encourage you to spend the cash and attend one when you can. Of course, I may still not have experienced it had it not been for Rosie and ID: Productions Inc. This opportunity has been, hands down, one of the greatest events for professional development I have had in my young career.

To speak with so many professionals who are passionate about the same things as you is such an amazing opportunity. I found myself thinking of new ways to structure or approach old ideas, different ways to strategize online campaigns and promotional work for upcoming films and best of all, I gained a huge amount of professional development through workshops and conversation with industry professionals from all around the world.

The good news is, the party isn’t over yet. Tonight is the awards ceremony where Rosie gets to hop on stage and present filmmakers with various awards for their films in the festival. The last 10 days have been full of warm-and-fuzzies watching Rosie get honoured for all of her hard work and seeing her films on the big screen once more. 

One of the most informative workshops at Hot Docs was the Vimeo Micro-Meeting. I hadn’t realized that when it comes to having a successful post in terms of views, I, and so many other were doing it so wrong.

I am going to give you four pieces of advice from the meeting but check the bottom for a link to the Vimeo blog where they will have the entire powerpoint presentation posted for your viewing pleasure. 

1. Load your work to Vimeo.

This sounds obvious and it is but! Vimeo is looking for people who have a history on their site and use it consistently. Load your work, share it, gain views and maybe someone over there will flag you down for a Staff Pick.

2. You can’t expect your work to have online success unless you have a well thought out marketing strategy.

This may not come as a surprise to many experienced filmmakers and nor should it. Although, I did find it very interesting to think about how this could apply to everyday uploads.

If you don’t have a feature film but have a few shorts, or you’re a videographer and have some commercial work you would like to share. Post it all online. I prefer Vimeo because of the difference in quality on other sites but some may say that the best way to get it seen is by embedding it directly into Facebook. Why not do both? Load your work, share it, schedule posts and keep it consistent.

If you are an emerging artist trying to gain some viewers and expand your network, planning out a marketing strategy for everyday posts could be extremely useful. Vimeo told us that even 1000 views can show up on their end and that gets you one step closer to a staff pick.

3. Get a mailing list.

This isn’t so much a tip to getting a staff pick as it is to keeping in contact with people who like your work and might have interest in seeing more. 

Have a website with a mailing list and connect people with information on your upcoming pieces, screenings, and posts of any kind. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to share your videos and films online these days without paying for it. Having a mailing list is a free way to connect with people who subscribe to your site.

4. Identify influencers.

Again, there is no application form you can fill out to getting a staff pick. It is just about posting smart and thinking about when and how you can have the greatest impact with your piece online.

This was targeted at filmmakers looking to help spread web traffic about their films but it could easily apply to an emerging filmmaker trying to spread their name! They used an example using hot sauce, but I am going to use pizza because it’s almost lunch here and I am feeling a little peckish.

If you are making a short about pizza, perhaps call the local pizza place in your city and talk to them about advertising your film there. One of the best ways to drive traffic to your page is word of mouth, so, you might find talking about your pizza short film in a pizza shop highly increases your chance at hitting some higher numbers.

For the full presentation check out:

 https://vimeo.com/blog/category/selling-videos