#socialmediaarticle

I say 'so far', because this is a type of topic in which my conclusion can change after some time with the coming change of new possibilities in mediums and distribution stradegies through mediums. Although the social media of now, twitter, facebook and instagram connects people from all over the world, it can also be considered a trend of the times. As the social media sites like mySpace and the dutch blog Hyves had lost it's following, so will one day probably social medium trends of today. However, one thing is certain. The necessity to share and for an animator/filmmaker to share their work to an audience. We want and need that stage. That platform. That wall where we put our work on display for the world to see. That essence hasn't changed. Whether it's sticking a poster in public on a wall, or click the share button in facebook, the principles are the same. We want and need exposure. But what can distribution through social media do for an animator? Well, it gives the possibility for exposure, however it doesn't give guarantee. Distributing your animated short takes as much time as making your animated short. By doing the distribution yourself does give you full control, but it can easily become too much to handle.

The following tips also sum up a few simple aspects of my conclusion which I discovered through trying it out, which can help distributing your animated short:

Know what your animated short is about. Know your goal.

When I started, I did know what my animated short was about and that help me start up. But I had no glue what my ultimate goal was for my short. Nor what ultimate goal I wanted to achieve. Without that goal, making a distribution plan is more difficult and prone to mistakes.

Don't ever stick to one medium.

“Never think, I have a Facebook page for my animated short. That is enough”. You need to have at least 3 or 4 of which 2 are popular ones worldwide. People who use twitter hardly uses Facebook and visa versa.

You're an animator. You have the upperhand of the visual splendor what is to be your look.

It takes extra time to do and think about all this. But you always must have a representation that reflects you personally and at the same time your animated short. You art is your style. Your style is your regression point. We don't point at a Rembrandt and say 'Hey, look a Mondrian.'

Connect to the audience. Follow the audience. They follow the trends

What makes social media so appealing is the interaction people can have with the medium. People want to comment on what you do. And of course, would like to receive word back. If you also know the genre of your short, then you can find your audience and connect with them.

Ask around. Your colleges may have the best advises.

There might be more experience colleges around you or have the correct resources to help you. Those colleges can also ask you for help one of these days.

Most important of all and the hardest thing to do; Be honest and true to what you love.

Personally I think it is more important to be watched then to be famous. The reason to paint a beautiful detailed painting is not to sell it to the highest bidder. But to have it seen and/or admired by the majority. With the coming of social media, people tent to want to become famous, because through social media you CAN become famous.

I have interviewed with animators who follow the trends, but they only follow the trends because they like the trends themselves.

Social media is a great distribution tool, and not much more. It has no guarantee. However, my conclusion also is: Don't only stick to just social media. If you want more exposure for you short, you do need to get out yourself as well. Submit your animated short to festivals AND go to them. Meet people. Comment on your colleges on-line. Talk to them in person.

Just to get one thing clear: Nothing is safe online! Perhaps this article is a little bit late in the game, but still very relevant to think about. Internet can be a danger zone. It all depends on how much you share online. However, as a “Human being”, you do still have your rights. In order not to get yourself into trouble, you need to know what your rights are and what not.

  Your rights!

When it comes to your distribution rights and online pirating, we can learn from the mistakes the music industry made and solved. Songs being downloadable for free and easy accessible for the consumer, the artist wasn’t given any money. But on this large topic, I will come back in an another article. Also when making agreements with a third party, have everything in writing. Don’t simply trust vocal agreements. You won’t have any legal rights in your favor if something does happen.

Also make sure you haven’t taken any unnecessary risks when it comes to licenses. Have licenses or permissions that you can prove you have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHl01CyXhNE

  Copyrights!

As an animator, you are also an artist. Know your auteur rights. You copyrights. You can even be insured for things like this. Find out how. What works best for you?

  The Trollers!

That's the big question. “Why isn’t anybody seeing it? I posted it only like two months ago and it only has 32 views? Why?” Well, are you findable? Can people find your movie? Did you share it? And will I be interested enough to see your next one?

You need to be findable on the internet. Your animation needs be ‘googleable’. If it doesn’t turn up on the top search options, then you didn’t think clearly how you become accessible.

Look into Search engines. Google has very helpful tools, like Google analyses,  to help you make sure you can be found online. And the clearer your name or title is(for you project and the files you share), the more social media you use, then you’ll become more “findable”.

  Interactions!

In order to be found on the internet, you need to put yourself out there on the internet as well. You need to be engaging with other animators in order for other animators to be engaged with you!

  “Making a website is like creating a small, deserted island in the ocean that nobody knows how to get to but you. Making a blog to go with that website is like building a second island that nobody knows about.” Bobby Chiu in his book The perfect bait.

In a previous article I talked about ways of distribution and how social media could help you accomplish certain aspects with it. Now the following topic takes a lot a lot a lot of time to keep up and organize. So put your thinking caps on. If you work in a small team, then it would be even best to have one person completely focus on this one aspect. The aspect in which I researched the most: Free social media platform. Now some of you think. Oh, easy peasy. Just add a page on facebook or make an account on twitter and just upload things on there. I thought this too, but discovered it ain’t that easy (it never is). There is a lot of extra material to include with distributing your animated short. It's no secret that Hollywood uses social media in their marketing campaigns. And the marketing companies make the visual attractions of the films their marketing. Unfortunately because of this ocean of social media frenzy, it’s hard to stand out with your little animated short. That’s why having the right tools and strategies can be helpful. Know what I’ve seen is that you don’t have to make a science formula out of it. Just make sure you have a goal you want to achieve.

  Distribution strategy plan

Setting up an plan, begins with knowing your animated short and the ultimate goal you wish to achieve with the animated short. Only then can you actually begin to plan your distribution strategy. But then you might be thinking ‘Distribution strategy is a wide term. What does it have to do with social media?’ Every form of exposure, whether through social media or not, has to be planned carefully in order for it to work even for a little.

  Extra helpful sources:

http://www.filmspecific.com/public/Film-Distribution-Strategies.cfm

http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/independent-film-distribution-tips-a-guide-for-indie-filmmakers.html

http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/movie-marketing-plan-overview/

Social media press kit

Certain things you need to do for social media distribution is equeal with the things you have to do for bigger companies. Like the press kit and publicity strategies.

  Things you need to have written down and taken care of:

– Short Description

– Genre

– Release Date

– Contact Info (Name, Mail, Twitter, Facebook…)

– Company Bio(Personal bio)

Now this is not just for yourself, but for all the social webpages you created. When using social media distribution, you must also steer attention for your animated short beforehand. How much you wish to reveal is your choice. But everybody does it.

Now I’m lending this list from: http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/how-to-create-a-press-kit-for-your-indie-movie/ by JASON BRUBAKER because it give a short and to the point view on what a standard press kit contains:

Cover sheet: The cover sheet is basically the top sheet that grabs everyone’s attention and promotes the hook of the movie. In some ways, it’s sort of like a mini-poster that includes the title, contact info, some good quotes from previous reviews, the same cast and crew credits from the poster and mention of any film festival awards you have won.

Synopsis: You should already have a pretty solid synopsis. If you do, just cut and paste it into the press kit. If not, you’ll need one. So write it.  Some people add action photos from the movie to this page. This is fine, as long as the photos look good.

Photos: Get some journalist friends to check out your production photos. Pick a few that seem incredibly interesting and do a good job of making people want to see the movie. Include them in the kit.

Cast and Crew: This is pretty simple. Just put together some bios of the main cast and crew and include them on the page next to a miniature headshot.

Anecdotes: This is the story of how the film got made. For this, you can write about memorable moments, such as when the camera broke 25 times after traffic delayed the first day of shooting for 13 hours and the lead actor caught fire.

Reviews: If you have any good reviews, include them here.

Credits: This is a page devoted to the full cast and crew credits.

But this is a standard press kit. With animation on the social media you can do so much more and should do much more. As animator you can include the following bits:

Artwork

Screenshots

Production pictures

concept art

storyboard art

Crew pictures

Make use of your qualities as an animator. Don’t be shy to do so either. It makes you keep control over your animated short.

  Extra sources:

http://www.raindance.org/7-essentials-for-a-press-kit/

http://www.bagitmovie.com/press_kit/PressKit_11.17.11.pdf

That's the very first question that must be answered before engaging into a research about distribution through social media. What is the main purpose? Why is it popular today? Now this is purely my own perspective on the subject. I might come back on things after having done more research on the subject. Or if you, the reader, have a different point of view.

Well, before looking at the medium of social media. Let's first look at the source and user, that's us. Humans. People. And we need connections. Not in a professional aspect, but on the emotional aspect. It is said that when we have positive social interactions, we are happier in life. More content, positive and sometimes even healthier. And many of us have that feeling and need to want to become happy. The happier you are, the more people want to know you.

But then we have to look back in history where we already had 'social groups'. Higher and lower classes defined by money, status and types of interactions. The upper classes and lower classes of the past were then the considered term 'social groups'. The social 'society' you walked amongst was very important and uselessly permanent. The higher your status, let's say King, the more people would follow you into battle! But Kings, Queens, Barons and Dukes were born in those societies and it was much harder to climb the 'social ladder'. It's still amongst our current lifestyle today, the difference between the rich and the poor. However, the coming of industry has led to a major swift in social ladders and brought prosperity. The rich can become easily poor and the poor can become easily rich. But on the interaction level, subjects have come together. When you could be rich and stupid in the past. It is was later less accepted in the day. It all had become more focused around intellect. Status alone wasn't enough anymore. Not even money. You need to have something to say. And the knowledge that has been shared openly throwout our century, (libraries, internet, cough* wikipedia) has enriched many peoples lives. Rich or poor. King or Pauper. The smarter you are, the more you have to say that makes sense, the more change you bring, the more people would like to follow you. At least, that's what history showed us.

And then we have the urge to communicate and share our thoughts. We have always sought for connections by reaching out to other people. And when it took in 1714 almost at least 3 days or even weeks to send and receive a love letter from a long distance. Now in 2014, a love text is send within seconds! A 10 pages long email within seconds. Or just a phone call away when the reception is good. But the essentials are the same. Whether it be 1714 or 2014. The desire to connect and the urge to share. Where Ink, paper and the pen were tools of the past. The smart-phone, laptop and social media has become the tools of the present. Where we first put posters an a brick wall, we now post pictures on a digital wall.

And that is the essence of social media. It is a platform, a tool, an empty piece of paper, that we can fill with our personal thoughts, share our experiences and our likes and dislikes. It was based on our urge and desire to communicate and interact with other people, and that's why it has become such a success. Not only an success, cause it has become integrated with our everyday life-style. Cause ask yourself this, can you go without social media for a day? A week? Even a year?

But has the essence stayed the same I wonder? With all the small businesses, big businesses, sponsors and commercial companies making use of it these days as well. Is it still just about interaction between people? Or has it become these days more a platform to try and become famous? Another climb up the social ladder? And as an animator, do I want to be part of it? Or won't I have a choice?

In combination of my animation project, I was not only thinking on what subject I wanted to tackle, but also on how to bring the project to the world. I really wanted to share the full making process of my animation short. Then it came to thought, how does anyone share anything? Well, these days through social media of course. But how does that come about? Where do you begin? And why don't many other people, in this case 'animators', share every detail about their project anyway?

Well, these days we already share information about our lives randomly, for example on facebook, instagram and twitter. Not much me personally compared to others, but I see and hear about it everywhere. I find the blogs, videos, forums and images from certain artists and animators I admire on-line. But what I find is that not everyone focuses on a specific audience? They just put it out there and see what happens. But what most annoyed me was that most animators of animated shorts didn't make their animation more appealing outside of their short or give extra background information (I personally am a real sucker for making off's and audio commentaries.) And this frustration also came about with the work of my classmates, whose beautiful sketches, brilliant concept art, interesting storyboards and skilled pipelines, would never see the light of day after they put their shorts into the world (My classmates will think I give them too much credit, but they are sweethearts like that). And with that, an idea steered for a research project and the questions came. “Why are some creative artists (in this case focusing on animators) so reluctant on sharing their work, while not minding to share a picture of their food, dog or strange mole they found on their ass?” - “And with the change that social media brought concerning the distribution of animated shorts, does success now lie in how many 'likes' you receive?” - “Can social media give people the chance to purely express creativity, therefore bringing people together? Or will corporate companies take over like they always do?(spoken like a hippie)”

Many more questions steered up in me. And so, a research plan was formed. But a research is nothing without a conclusion or a deliverable in the end. Well, I will give you both!

By writing these articles, I hope to slowly come to a conclusion about “distributing through social media” and as a deliverable I want to make a step by step “social media marketing strategy plan for the beginning animator”. Now, I know there is already a wide range of sources full of social media strategies to be found to help people promote or sell their products and so build up their social network. But not specially for the independent animator, which will be my complete focus.

I hereby will also ask you, the reader, to help me a little bit. Share your knowledge and opinions on social media with me. Good or bad. Because I believe in the good sides and bad sides of things, and that we need to be aware of both in order to achieve a certain goal.