A Checklist: The 8 Best Practices for a Successful Video Campaign

Video advertisements are known for being very effective, and they remain to be a great way for companies to get visibility. It also allows you to improve your branding and your lead conversion as well, but it is a well known fact that the most effective video advertisements are based on practices that often comply with the general principles of advertising. Why not take a look below to see the top 8 best practices so you can get started on the right track.

1. Know Your Audience

Instead of making a general video, just for the fun of it, you need to make sure that you have a target audience in mind. Your target audience could be your existing customers or they could be those who already know your product. You could target those who have never purchased your product before as well, but either way, it helps to have a quality videographer on-hand to help you with the film production. You also need to remember that each video that you make could cater for a different audience, and this could be the smallest detail. For example you could rephrase one of your sentences or you could change the theme of your video as well.

2. Don't Waffle

The first 5 seconds of your video will either make or break your advertising campaign. One way to find out whether or not your video is okay, would be to act as though your entire video is only 5 seconds long. If you miss out the price or other important information, make sure that you edit it to make sure that you fit everything that you need into this small time frame. The start of your video should also catch your viewer's attention, and it needs a call to action as well. 

3. Short and Simple

People who watch videos normally skip through them so they don't need to watch any of the advertisements. Advertisements are normally not any longer than 30 seconds, and this is normally how long it takes for someone to press the skip button. Longer videos with advertisements that can't be skipped could spell bad news for your brand, so to avoid this you need to make sure that you engage your users by asking them to go to your site for more information. This is really easy to do, and you'd be surprised at what a turnout you could receive.

4. Marketing Lists

Remarketing campaigns are ideal if you want to target customers who have visited your site before. This is most effective with users who never actually ended up purchasing your product, so it can really be a profitable decision for your business. It is high conversion, low cost and to maximise its effectiveness, you could just create a number of lists based on the products that you are trying to sell. Use the products that those customers have recently viewed, because it is these types of customers who can have a huge impact on the bottom line of your company. 

5. YouTube Placements on Google AdWords

AdWords is specifically designed so you can place ads on your YouTube account and any partner sites that may also be linked. It is very important to test both of these options because there isn't really a clear cut choice and both of them could be very profitable for your business. By learning which one is the right one for your business, you can then begin to streamline your marketing campaign and this is a great way to get started.

6. Voiceovers

Many YouTube viewers do other things while they are browsing the site and they don't really pay much attention to what is happening in the video. For this reason, you should make sure that you expand on your video with a voiceover, that can be used on its own instead of the video if this is required. Your production company will be able to help you to get this in time with the video so it has never been easier to get this done. You also need to make sure that you remember about the user's attention span, and when you are filming your video, make sure that your voice is clear and easy to understand. If your voice isn't clear and easy to understand then you won't get across your message to your customers, and this can be a real problem if you want them to purchase your product. Consider hiring a voiceover artist as this can make all the difference to your video. 

7. Test Your Components

It might be worth creating many different versions of your video as well, so you can use them for your multiple audiences with ease as well. This can all be done with targeted advertising and it really is easy to do as well. You could target them based on their geographical location or you could target them by using your own company data as well. With so many options available, it really isn't difficult to make sure that your video turns out great. When you create multiple video versions, you should try and implement a split testing schedule. This is a concrete strategy and it will really help you when it comes down to the production itself. If you want to be able to continually improve your video however, you might want to build a system that allows you to identify what your best video is, so you can create different versions of the best video that you have.  To determine what your top video is, you should try and work out how well they perform when they are placed on the internet. Compare your best video to your previous video and keep doing this until you have enough data to make a full and proper decision. It does seem fair to think that the video that makes you the most money would be best to use for your current version, but it is still important to take into consideration the characteristics of your video. For example, your video may very well have the highest conversion rate, but other video advertisements may have a higher cost per conversion. As mentioned above, the first 5 seconds are the most important and these will most likely determine whether or not people will watch your video, so you need to make sure that the first 5 seconds contain as much information as possible. After all, if someone clicks off your video, you need to make sure that they know enough information about your product so they can come and pay you a visit again at a later date, and split testing is a great way to do this. If you want to learn more about split testing, think about your audio, your call to action and even your music, as these can make all the difference when you are trying to find the right one for your needs.

8. Audiences and AdWords

It may be worth setting up a single advertisement group for every one of your audience members. In order to do this efficiently you need to make sure that you monitor the data. Marketing departments often rely on teams and they work with those who have very fixed budgets. For this reason, they tend to market their services to clients who would be considered profitable. The same applies to your marketing, don't waste your time marketing to people who would not be profitable and don't try and market to those who don't have an interest in your services. Instead, focus your efforts on those who would be interested in what you have to say and this is easier than ever when you know and understand your target audience. You will also find that by storing this data, you can then use it to further your marketing efforts. For example, out of the people who have an interest in your product, how many people went onto purchase and how many people didn't? Also think about how many people clicked off the page and at what stage, and if your customer did purchase, did they return for a repeat purchase? By taking all of this information into consideration, you can then tailor each one of your videos to meet the needs of your customers, while also making sure that each one is as effective as the next. Not only will this help to save you money but it will also help you when it comes to your future marketing efforts as well. You will know how to target your customers and this can all lead to higher conversion rates overall, so as you can see, it is actually more efficient to operate your video marketing strategy this way when compared to just hosting them on YouTube and hoping for the best.

Creating and running your own video marketing campaign can be a walk in the park but if you don't use an audience that is pre-defined, you won't really get a good return on your investment. For this reason, you should always create a scalable campaign that can be catered to meet your every need. Even though this may appear to be time consuming at the time, it could really pay off for you at a later date and you don't need to start with a low budget either. This is because you can tweak your existing video multiple times and you don't need to worry about hiring anyone to re-film it for you either. You will also find that the best videos are short and sweet, so try and stay away from long videos that drag on and on. Your customers will most likely get bored and they may even click off the video as well, so keeping it short and simple is always the way to go if you want to achieve maximum results. When creating your short video, make sure that you take notes of the points that are listed above in this article. They will help you a lot when you start creating your own video and it could save you money as well. You will also find that by listing all of your points within the first 5 seconds, you don't need to worry about people clicking off as well.

One thing that you should note when creating your video however is how useful a professional video company can be. They will be able to show you how to make your video the best that it can be and they will also be able to show you how to make the most of your finances as well. You should also remember that when you hire a professional video company, they will be able to help you edit the video and master it as well, not to mention that if you need a voiceover as well, they will be able to do this for you without any difficulties. This is great if you want your video to appear truly professional in the eyes of your customers and it is also great if you don't have any video experience of your own as well. Your video production company will be able to piece your video together and they can show you different ways of how to include information.

Why not contact us today to find out more. We will be able to help you find everything you need and can also help you to get the best result from your video campaign.

How to Find Right Film Production Company for your Business?

If you want to start your business and you want to make use of the corporate videos as one of your mediums, you should make sure that you will search for the right and professional film production company that will greatly help in your business. You have to make sure that you will choose the right film production company that will enable you to achieve better results.

A film production company will greatly benefit you when it comes to producing films or video for your business. There are different firms that has the capability to produce videos that will catch the attention and interests of different clients. There are companies that ensure high quality videos and they are also offering video production benefits and services. They have the capability to produce and create interesting and innovative content for whatever business video you want however there are still ways if you want to find for the right film production company.

• Ask for recommendations: Before you settle for that company, you should first ask for recommendations coming from the people involved in that company. Ask for ideas because that will enable you to know their works and that will also enable you narrow your choices when it comes to film production companies. 
• Get and View some of their works: It is very important that you were able to view some of their works because that will enable you to what kind of work they have in the previous years. You can also ask for the contact number of their customers and clients in order for you to gather more information about the film production company as well as their standards. 
• Be assured that they are aware of your subject: Always make sure that the company you have chosen has already done and created the same case as yours and they have sufficient experience because film production companies has different fields of expertise.  
• Get some treatment: Treatment here means the documents that describes and elaborates about the expected result of the film. If you will ask the documents, you will be able to determine if the company understands and knows your concept. 
• Always consider some of your options: All film production companies may come into different sizes. You have to decide whether you want to work with smaller of bigger companies. Smaller companies will enable you to save money while for bigger companies, the services are really expensive.

In looking for the right film production company for your business, always make sure that you will not easily stick into one company. Giving or looking for more options will enable you to really find the company that will greatly help with your business.  Always make sure that you will work with the company that has the capability to meet your needs and standards for your business. 

The Importance of Storytelling in Business Videos

It is very interesting to watch videos if it tells a story right? One of the reasons why videos becomes successful is that, viewers would love to watch there is a story telling on the video. It creates bigger impact most especially on the success of the video as well as on the web site and the business itself. Storytelling is very important for the consistent success of business or corporate videos. Storytelling captures the viewers’ attention, interest as well as their curiosity of the videos presented. 

The producers of videos always make sure that the story they include in the video production will capture the viewer’s analytic mind and it will influence on the success of their business and their web sites. If you make use of video that tells a story in order to improve your business, you are pretty sure that will be the part where your audience will be encouraged to watch. Storytelling for the success of the business is very important most especially if your business talks about different subjects. If you will only present your corporate videos alone that may sound boring especially if the audience were not able to get the main point why you have presented that video. 

Storytelling in corporate videos is very important because it adds impact to your business. Like for example your business video is about products or services, your customers will be encouraged to purchase your product if they were able to gather more information about the products or the services you have. Also, they will be more interested to watch the corporate videos you have in your website if they were able to relate on the story it tells. Storytelling should be included in the video production because it will surely create and result to success you desire. You have to make sure that the story you have included in your video will sound like you are providing true and accurate story for your business. Telling a story will enable you to build strong and harmonious relationships with your customers and clients. The stories you have included in the video production will enable your readers and viewers to relate and connect with the business, services and products that you have.

Another importance of storytelling for your business video is that your customers will easily understand the idea that you want to address. The stories that you have included in your corporate videos will enable to explain the ideas and the concepts about your business. You will no longer attempt to explain it one by one if you have already included a story in your video which explains what your business implies and how important it is. Your business is not the only one that will benefit the storytelling strategy but your websites and yourself as well. You just have to make sure that it will be uploaded clear and interesting because if not, it will turn boring. Also, be sure that the pictures or images and the stories you have included are related to each other. Be sure that your corporate videos are not that long and not that short. Always consider time, appropriateness and its consistency. 

How to get Client's Attention in Business Videos

Corporate videos are really very important in assuring success for your business and for your website to be known by different clients and online marketers. Your corporate video can be one of the reasons why your business became successful. However, due to different competitors who are also using videos to promote their business you will surely find difficulty in getting the attention of your clients. It is very difficult to be noticed by your clients if there are different competitors online. Millions of people are interested to view corporate videos if they were able to get what they need that is why it is very important that in the video production, you have used good content. 

In creating video for your business, it is very important to consider the different stages for film production or on the process of filmmaking because you will be able to know the things that must be considered in making corporate videos that will attract more clients. Since there are different competitors when it comes to business video, make sure that you are equipped with effective tactics in order to grab their attention. The following are some of the helpful tips on how to get client’s attention in your business or corporate videos.

• Know your Target Audience: Once you made produced your corporate videos, make sure that you are aware of the client you want to attract. You have to make sure that the video you have is appropriate for the kind of client you want. Your business video will not be noticed by most of the clients if they were not able to get the things and information they are looking for. 
• Understand their Wants and Needs logically and emotionally: In the video production for your business, always be aware of the things wherein your clients or customers will be able to relate or connect with your videos. Always make sure that in the filmmaking, it will surely put an impact to your clients and it is not that boring. 
• Build Irresistible Offer: If you want the clients to notice your business video, always make sure that you will include the services, the products as well as the benefits they could get in watching that video. Always make sure that prior to your video, your clients have already in their minds the services they could get that will encourage them to know more about your corporate videos. 
• Always include storytelling in your business: Storytelling is plats a vital role in achieving a more profitable and successful business video because through storytelling, your  clients will be able to get more information and they will easily understand the things you are trying to emphasize. 
• Consider the content of your business video: Always consider clarity, appropriateness and consistency of the story and video content you have made. These things will help you attract more customers and it will aloe enable your video to be on the top.  

Getting the clients attention for your business videos is a bit difficult because of the different competitors however if you will just consider the aforementioned tips, your video can be the most viewed and visited by the clients. You just have to make sure that you will consider the video production or the film production processes for the success of your business video.

Explainer Animation Video vs. Live Action

How does this types of video differ from each other? In the field of corporate video production and others you will be able to recognize how the live action and explainer animation videos differ. Live action can be referred to as the videography or cinematography which is not animated. The characters of this live action are real character and live actions really do occurs. The explainer animation videos are the cute video clips which are mostly short that you often see on different company websites wherein it tells about the company that does well. The explainer video production can be a great tool if you want to enhance your brand, build audience engagement and if you want to convert prospect to your customers. 

​Live Action 

• Live action has the capability to humanize the video production. As the producer enable to adapt characters from the comics and shot it through real characters also.
• This is also very easy to start most especially if the producers and characters know their scripts as well as the steps they supposed to act.
• Live actions can be shot easily and it can also be edited quickly. In just a couple of weeks or days, adjustments can now be done before going through the editing process.
• Live action are more expensive most especially if they encounter shooting delays, if the actors are not feeling well and if they were able to commit a lot of mistakes and risks.

Explainer Animation Videos 

• There is no need to hire for actors and talents because voice of the talent is the only thing needed.
• The production of this video can also be started quickly because you will no longer set for the cameras, location and others. 
• The producers can do the filmmaking more flexible because he or she will no longer need to ask about the actor must do because voice is the only thing that matters. And they can move flexibly about the characters that will inanimate. 
• Animation videos can be easily changed if there are mistakes. 
• It also creates high impact on the audience.

Explainer animation videos and live action videos both needs proper way of employing the video production. This will ensure that the audience will really like how it has been made, how it provides good message to the viewers and how it touches the mind and the heart of the viewers. 

Low-Budget Hiring Bullet Points

I'm in the midst of crewing up on catch 22 (catch22movie.com) at the moment, for which I yet again have less money than is necessary to pay the people I want to work with the rates their talent and work deserve to be compensated with.  The two options I'm faced with every time I start this process are both terribly depressing; keep trying to raise money people are quite adverse to investing in a small and risk-laden film project, or move forward without enough money, begging and haggling at every turn.  Both scenarios are light years away from what I'd like to be doing - but not getting my next film made is somehow even further from, so here we go.

Some important low-budget hiring bullet points, in my semi-unimportant opinion:

·         You should first offer any position you are looking to hire to the individuals you've worked with in the past - that did well and played nice in their role, of course.  There are many reasons for this, but the most important are that you know and can depend on how they work and, if they previously worked on another smaller project for you, you (should have) told them they'd be at the top of your rolodex going forward.  It's a small community, the independent film business - keep your word or you'll be S.O.L. sooner than you think.

·         Always be 100% transparent and forward with rates, and don't be apologetic about it.  Tell it like it is and people will respect that, and have no room for being offended.  And you similarly should not be offended if they tell you they can't pay the rent with what you have to offer and choose to pass.

·         Do your homework.  If you are hiring unknowns for a position, you had better scour their background.  Don't take someone's job interview "representative" for face value - that's always going to be their best.  Check reels, watch footage from previous productions, keeping an eye on the area of input they had on that footage.  Check references, and not the ones they provide.  Go through their IMDb and randomly email directors, producers, and their department heads...no one is giving you a reference they threw half the crafty table at during a spat over something not going their way.

·         When you do hire someone, no matter how small the job or role, put a deal memo on paper.  It protects you and the project, so anything they contribute becomes officially work for hire and property of the project shareholders, and also clearly defines all the variables that could easily lead to a spat at the crafty table - working conditions (meals, breaks, expenses, shooting day length), rates, kit and rental provisions.  Don't hammer out those deal points while your precious Costco fruit snacks are whizzing by your head on a shooting day - sort it out in advance and cement it with a deal memo.

::-::

Josh Folan is a producer, writer, director and actor with professional credits dating back to 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University. Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include BODY (2015 Slamdance premier, co-producer), All God’s Creatures (2011 Hoboken Int’l premier, best screenplay and actress nominations, writer/producer), it’s just One line (2012 Film Racing NYC 24 Hour Film Race finalist, writer/director/producer), and What Would Bear Do? (writer/director/producer). Also an author and contributor to the independent filmmaking blog community, he penned the low-budget indie case study Filmmaking, the Hard Way. You can follow him (@joshfolan) and NYEH (@nyehentertains) on twitter and facebook if you’d like to keep up with his coming soons.

Simple Kickstarter Arithmetic

Kickstarter is incredible, right?  I just put my widget on there with a video of myself and few friends pouring our hearts out about how important said widget is to us, and WHAZAAM - we are rockin' and rollin'.  Sure, we have to send them their rewards, but that'll only cost a few bucks.  Basically, this money is MINE!   It's ALL MINE!!!

Incorrect.

It's going to cost you more money than you think to fulfill the rewards, unless you want to completely discredit yourself in the crowdfunding community, not to mention your own circles, by not fulfilling them earnestly.  Some (maybe even many) of your backer's payments will not be able to be processed for one reason (expired credit card on file with the payment processor they never use otherwise, they actually don't have the money, etc.) or another.  The Kickstarter and payment processing fees, while clearly stated up front, will still be depressing to watch as they chip away at your funding.  And lastly, Kickstarter proceeds are classified as taxable income - so if you can't show expenses matching your take, you'll owe Uncle Sam.

I'd like to offer up a transparent run through a recent campaign I conducted for a narrative feature shooting in NYC in May, catch 22: based on the unwritten story by seanie sugrue, so if you haven't ever experienced it firsthand, you can vicariously live out the aforementioned depression of watching your funding dwindle throughout the process.

·         The Take: The little Kickstarter line graph cruised above 100% (all the way to 132%!!!) and we are funded!  Yay!!!  Poppin' bottle with models, and shit.  TOTAL $ LEFT FOR MY MOVIE: $13,247

·         The Deadbeats: A week goes by as Amazon Payments (thank whoever your higher power is that Kickstarter ditched Amazon for Stripe on the payment processing front - they were awful) struggles to collect the money from everyone.  What's this?  Some of them aren't going through?!?  Arrrgghhh.  TOTAL $ LEFT FOR MY MOVIE: $12,595

·         The Skim: Kickstarter takes 5%, Stripe (and formerly Amazon) take 3-5% depending on a number of variables they are probably making up out of thin air.  TOTAL $ LEFT FOR MY MOVIE: $11,664

·         The Fork-Over: I guess we have to actually procure the rewards we promised.  And pay to facilitate all this stuff getting signed by the people it need be signed by.  And packaging to ship them in.  And pay the postage for them to get to the backer.  Son of a bitch, this is way more expensive-er than I thought it would be.  TOTAL $ LEFT FOR MY MOVIE: $11,204 (And we still have roughly $750 in costs remaining here)

So $11,204 left, with another $750 or so still needing to be spent.  Not as rosy as it seemed at the outset, eh?  $2800 is no drop in the bucket for a small film production, upwards of 20% of the funding amount, and if you don't plan accordingly you will be bummin' when these costs come due.  The idea here is by no means an attempt to discourage you from crowdfunding.  I'm merely trying, as always, to paint a more realistic picture of what the process will be like for those that have yet to take the ride.  So budget your campaign responsibly and expect some frustration even if you are fortunate enough to hit your funding goal.

::-::

Josh Folan is a producer, writer, director and actor with professional credits dating back to 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University. Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include BODY (2015 Slamdance premier, co-producer), All God’s Creatures (2011 Hoboken Int’l premier, best screenplay and actress nominations, writer/producer), it’s just One line (2012 Film Racing NYC 24 Hour Film Race finalist, writer/director/producer), and What Would Bear Do? (writer/director/producer). Also an author and contributor to the independent filmmaking blog community, he penned the low-budget indie case study Filmmaking, the Hard Way. You can follow him (@joshfolan) and NYEH (@nyehentertains) on twitter and facebook if you’d like to keep up with his coming soons.

A Better Way: A Casting Process Alternative (Part Two)

This is the continuation of my previous post about shaking up the way filmmakers cast projects, where I hopefully presented a reasonable enough case for why the following process is a change for the better.

·         Step 1: You or your casting director need to write character breakdowns that are descriptive and sell the roles you are looking to cast to both the performers and their reps.  If you can't do better than "[TOM] 30's, police detective" for a lead role in the film, there is no question that your story and script are not to a producible point.  There should be nuances, small character traits that make a person (good/compelling films are filled with interesting people, not film characters) unique, and these should be able to be spelled out in the character breakdown.  Easiest way to get an agent to click right past your breakdown is for it to be comprised of a list of one-line stock character breakdowns, particularly if the producers and directors listed on the project are not well-known - which would be a given because no director would become accomplished if they put forth so little effort towards casting.

·         Step 2: With that posted to the traditional channels (Breakdown Services being the relative monopoly-holder here, another thing we should work to break free from), submissions will come pouring in.  A casting director really earns their bread here, sifting through and sorting the haves from the have-nots, and then creating lists of vetted actors for you to consider.  This is where my approach deviates from the traditional path - instead of scheduling that first round of impersonal evaluations in the form of auditions, I go through the CD's list(s) and do my own homework on them.  Look at their demo reels to get a feel for their past performances, research whether they have worked with anyone you have worked with or know and value the opinion of and ask for that person's take on the performer, even just googling away on them often can shed a great deal of light on what kind of person and actor you are dealing with.

·         Step 3: After comparing my own research and notes with the CD's (you're paying for their professional casting expertise, you should be open to their suggestions even if you don't agree with them) we schedule general meetings.  Coffee, lunch, a chat on a park bench - doesn't matter.  The idea is that you sit down with them in an informal setting and work to get them out of the mindset that they are being scrutinized and evaluated.  If you are good at communicating, which you had better be if you want to be worth anything as a film director, you hopefully can get them to drop the job interview facade and get a gauge of who they really are as a person - for better or worse.  Provide them with the full script at least a week in advance, and you can also get a feel for their thoughts on the material here.

·         Step 4: At this point, you should have shortlisted a few actors that meet two criteria: they have somehow demonstrated ability as an actor (based on your research) and are a human being (based on your general meeting) you are at least comfortable, if not excited, to hitch your wagon to and take this long and arduous film production journey alongside.  Only then do we pair them with your script to see how they fit with the material.  You should schedule reasonable blocks of time with each actor, at least 20-30 minutes, and instruct them to have two contrasting scenes prepared.  If you can pair them with an already-cast actor in the scenes, all the better.  Shoot the sessions so you have them to review later.  Work with the actor as you would on set, get a feel for their needs and preparation process and make sure they jive with the environment you intend to provide them during production.  Look for red flags of difficulty throughout - once the train is moving, it is very difficult (and costly) to replace cast members.

Pending working out the financial side of things and the always near-impossible variable of scheduling, you should be able to make a choice from the above that is the best one for your material and creative environment.  It's not a new way of splitting the atom or anything, but it is a fairly different approach that I believe allows us to make considerably better and more well-informed decisions about who we are choosing to work so closely with in bringing our material to life.  It is also a less frustrating process for the performers, as an added bonus...and any director that's worked with a ticked-off actor before will attest to the value of keeping a smile on their face.

::-::

Josh Folan is a producer, writer, director and actor with professional credits dating back to 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University. Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include BODY (2015 Slamdance premier, co-producer), All God’s Creatures (2011 Hoboken Int’l premier, best screenplay and actress nominations, writer/producer), it’s just One line (2012 Film Racing NYC 24 Hour Film Race finalist, writer/director/producer), and What Would Bear Do? (writer/director/producer). Also an author and contributor to the independent filmmaking blog community, he penned the low-budget indie case study Filmmaking, the Hard Way. You can follow him (@joshfolan) and NYEH (@nyehentertains) on twitter and facebook if you’d like to keep up with his coming soons.

A Better Way: A Casting Process Alternative (Part One)

If you've ever cast a narrative project before, I'm guessing it went something like this:

·         You or your casting director sent out a tersely-worded list of character descriptions to actors/agents.

·         A plethora of actor submissions came pouring in, far more than you could realistically sift through and assess the worth of.

·         You picked a handful of those submissions based mostly on their resumes/pictures/video and, if you're fortunate enough to have a good casting director, recommendations of actors they are familiar with the work and appropriateness for your needs of.  You emailed them small excerpts from your script to prepare in advance, having no context on their place in the story.  Or, if you did make the full script available, did not provide nearly enough time for the actor to actually find time in a busy life to read it.

·         These actors were scheduled for audition appointments where they were herded through a sterile studio space in five to eight minute increments, during which they were rushed through both introducing themselves as a professional human being and presenting their take on material they know little to nothing about.  They either presented that take while "acting" across from an emotionless reader who could care less about giving the actor something to work with, or a casting director that is far more concerned with judging the performance of the actor than being present in the scene with them.

·         The actors who best navigated a process that is NOTHING like the one the performance will ultimately be given in were then chosen for callbacks, where they came in and had to do basically the same awkward and detached thing in a room with way more people in it to stare at and critique them while they did so.

·         Maybe you sat face-to-face with the top few choices and had a conversation with them, to see whether you want to spend stressful 18-hour days on set for a few weeks with the person...but probably not.

·         You made your poorly-informed decisions.

If you were unable to ascertain my dislike for the above process from the negativity dripping off the words outlining it, let me clarify: it sucks.  It's an atrocious way to gauge both the person and their ability to perform the role the filmmaker is hoping to cast.  I have been into these rooms as an actor hundreds, maybe even into the thousands, of times - I thankfully am not keeping track.  I have also sat on the other side of the table in these rooms as a filmmaker many a time, so it's not just the spiteful actor in me that feels this way...though said persona is definitely cheering on these sentiments.  The audition room couldn't be less conducive to creating an environment that allows the casting decision-makers to gauge whether the actor could, and would be best suited to, play a given role in a film shoot setting.

So why is this how casting has been, and continues to be done?  Because a better idea hasn't been thought of, or at least hasn't caught on, is my only guess.  I meet brilliant people in this industry on a daily basis so that shocks me, but the fact remains.

Well, I have an idea.  I tested it on my last feature, What Would Bear Do?, and was incredibly pleased with the process and the results.  I am doing it again on my upcoming project, catch 22: based on the unwritten story by seanie sugrue, and hopefully you will at least consider putting this antiquated horse out to pasture, and changing the casting culture in our industry, on your next project.

(To be continued...)

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Josh Folan is a producer, writer, director and actor with professional credits dating back to 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University. Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include BODY (2015 Slamdance premier, co-producer), All God’s Creatures (2011 Hoboken Int’l premier, best screenplay and actress nominations, writer/producer), it’s just One line (2012 Film Racing NYC 24 Hour Film Race finalist, writer/director/producer), and What Would Bear Do? (writer/director/producer). Also an author and contributor to the independent filmmaking blog community, he penned the low-budget indie case study Filmmaking, the Hard Way. You can follow him (@joshfolan) and NYEH (@nyehentertains) on twitter and facebook if you’d like to keep up with his coming soons.

Crowdfunding Theory: Blast Slides

Next to physically giving you some dough, what is the next best thing someone can do for your crowdfunding campaign?  If your answer isn't something akin to "tell someone else about it," you need to don the dunce cap and go count cobwebs in the corner for the next thirty.  Chatter about your campaign, whether it be digital or analog, is the lifeblood of your crowdfunding efforts.  Anyone who's taken marketing 101 at their local community college knows there is no more proven marketing tactic than word-of-mouth advertising.  Rule of social validation, the art of social pressure - whatever theoretical moniker you want to assign it, people are more likely to do things they are told about by peers or see them do first.

Monkey see, monkey do.

So how do you get people to fling your feces around the cage?  The answer to that is a complex one and open to debate, but one definitive thing you can do to up your chances of shareability is to make what you want shared as easily shareable as possible.  Things like Click to Tweet, Facebook share functions, and the entire engine of Twitter are great tools that enable the act of a share, but they do not solve the dilemma of exactly what it is you should be encouraging to be shared.  There are a finite number of clicks in any sharer's day, and there is a direct correlation between minimizing the consumption of clicks that your share requires and the likelihood someone will devote some of their precious clicks towards doing so.

So say you write a clever little quip about your campaign, punch it into your project's Facebook page as a post, and you blast it out into the ether.  Now say, (very) hypothetically, someone also thinks your quip is clever, and they would like to entertain their personal audience with your brilliant snippet.  But they prefer Twitter as their communication medium.  Or tumblr.  Or whatever.  Now they are copy and pasting text, which sucks.  And in doing so, they will likely tailor your message to suit their taste, which means now your message is getting garbled as it proliferates out into the world.

Just one example, but basically text is clunky.  And boring.  And tough to maintain the integrity of as it is shared.  Imagery is text 2.0.  Exactly what of should be determined by a creative on your team that is integrating it with the core themes and subject matter of your product/campaign, but some bullet points I like to follow are:

·         Exactly square, optimizing it for quick shareability (i.e. no cropping or resizing) regardless of the platform

·         Between 400x400 and 800x800 pixels in size, and JPG format, to keep file size down and quality up

·         It needs to clearly convey the WHAT of your product/campaign, and an easy URL pointing to where the viewer can interact with you and your thing

·         MAKE IT INTERESTING - cool, funny, enlightening, compelling...these are the reasons why people share things, not because they want to see your artistic dreams come true

An image from a campaign for a film (catch 22 - http://catch22movie.com) I conducted not long ago is shown here, (hopefully) adhering to all of the above.  I call this a "blast slide."  You should to, and you should use them to carry your crowdfunding message the next time you want one carried.

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Josh Folan is a producer, writer, director and actor with professional credits dating back to 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University. Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include BODY (2015 Slamdance premier, co-producer), All God’s Creatures (2011 Hoboken Int’l premier, best screenplay and actress nominations, writer/producer), it’s just One line (2012 Film Racing NYC 24 Hour Film Race finalist, writer/director/producer), and What Would Bear Do? (writer/director/producer). Also an author and contributor to the independent filmmaking blog community, he penned the low-budget indie case study Filmmaking, the Hard Way. You can follow him (@joshfolan) and NYEH (@nyehentertains) on twitter and facebook if you’d like to keep up with his coming soons.

Getting Your Priorities Straight

I recently spent a great deal of time creating the shot list for a feature I have gearing up, catch 22: based on the unwritten story by seanie sugrue, which is of course not out of the ordinary.  The ingredients of said list are the basic necessities, in my book - (as it is ordered in the supporting Excel screenshot here) scene, take, shot type, angle, characters in the shot, camera movement, color/B&W, a number corresponding to its necessity to tell the story, and a short blurb explaining what's going on in the shot.

Apparently, the shot necessity column is not as commonplace as I thought.  I had a drink with a couple filmmaker friends after their screening at a local film festival shortly after finishing said task and we were discussing the importance of having an assistant director working with you that is strong in areas you as a leader/director are deficient in.  I have no shortage of ability to maintain order and authority with my cast and crew, so I don't need a fascist dictator in an A.D., but I am rather short and to the point in my communication - and there are without question instances during film production where a more tactful, rosy approach to personnel management is useful.  Acknowledging this shortcoming, I try to find an A.D. that is a little sunnier in demeanor than I tend to be.

Anyhow, I digress.  While on this topic, I mentioned the prioritizing of my shots when doing my directorial homework and how useful it was for an A.D. when time is at a premium, which it almost always is in low-budget productions - and these filmmakers I was speaking to tend to be just as financing-starved in their endeavors as I often am with my projects.  The expression on their faces as I did so was one that could have just as easily followed my telling them I was gearing up to shoot on Mars, which they then followed up with something to the effect of "that's not a bad idea."

Determining and communicating what you can most do without in advance allows the A.D. to make decisions on what cuts for time are most in line with your needs as a director to tell your story.  Sure, that is a skill a good A.D. inherently has, but it's always in your best interest to provide the crew with as much information as possible.  And if the budget is too tight to afford you the luxury of having an A.D. at all, figuring out what can go in advance will be of huge help when you need to make a decision on the fly during the chaos of shooting.

As you can see in the screenshot, it's not a complicated system that I'm using.  I assign each shot a number - one, two, or three.  Ones are absolutely integral to telling the story, meaning I will fight to the death to keep them.  Twos are helpful, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if they were lost in favor of getting all of our ones.  Threes are completely bonus material, often coverage of things that would be luxuries to have as cutaways when we get into the edit.

Not a bad idea, eh?

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Josh Folan is a producer, writer, director and actor with professional credits dating back to 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University. Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include BODY (2015 Slamdance premier, co-producer), All God’s Creatures (2011 Hoboken Int’l premier, best screenplay and actress nominations, writer/producer), it’s just One line (2012 Film Racing NYC 24 Hour Film Race finalist, writer/director/producer), and What Would Bear Do? (writer/director/producer). Also an author and contributor to the independent filmmaking blog community, he penned the low-budget indie case study Filmmaking, the Hard Way. You can follow him (@joshfolan) and NYEH (@nyehentertains) on twitter and facebook if you’d like to keep up with his coming soons.

What A Little Video Can Do

Last October I received a random email through a freelancer website I'm listed on.  The email led off as follows:

My name is Kira. I am 16. I need help in creating a 2-3 minute video to put on a Crowdrise site. My goal is to raise $28k-45k. My brothers started a non-profit (FUNDaFIELD.org) in 2007. I have grown up working and now running the organization. Additionally, I run a site called PAPERbeadsFROMafrica.com where I sell paper bead jewelry made by women refugee women in Africa. It supports the women and is a fundraiser for FUNDaFIELD.

So, Kira here has already done more to make the world a better place at age sixteen than most manage their entire lives.  At age sixteen I had accomplished literally nothing of any merit, and probably still haven't, relatively speaking.  This little girls was trying to do something incredible.

She would go on to explain that she was spearheading an effort to bring 229 Ugandan refugees - 31 women, 198 children - home by the holidays.  The refugees had fled lands in Northern Uganda in the early 90's during the Joseph Kony rebel wars, traveling by foot roughly 400 kilometers to an IDP camp where they've worked to make a home since.  Last year, the land the camp resided on was sold to land developers, and the women and children were told they would have to uproot themselves for the second time inside 25 years and find a new home.

Makes the latte foam-related complaint you sputtered out at the Starbucks counter this morning seem a tid insignificant, no?

When Kira and FUNDaFIELD got wind of this injustice, they decided to do something about it.  With Joseph Kony no longer a threat to the lands they used to live on, the refugees expressed interest in returning there.  It would take around $28k to get the 229 women and children back to where they belonged, and provide the building blocks necessary to start a new life - farming tools, seeds to plant, school fees and uniforms for the children, construction of the mud and grass huts they'd need for temporary housing.

Anyone can have a good idea while they take their morning shower, but the people that accomplish great things are the ones that dry off and do something about it - or something like that, I once read.  Or heard.  Or something.

Kira didn't just have an idea to help these people, she devised a plan to actually do so.  She wrote the copy for and assembled a Crowdrise page for the endeavor, wrote a well-crafted video script that told the story of these people and why someone should want to help, and compiled a ton of raw video and pictures that could be used to craft the video that would serve as the primary call to action for the fundraising campaign.  She just needed an idiot with an editing program and little bit of storytelling experience to help her mold that into the video above, and I was happy to be said idiot.  We worked together on it for a week or so, I passed it off the finished product to her, and she went to work.

A few days ago I found out she had raised over $31k (you can still donate though, and you should - https://www.crowdrise.com/homebytheholidays/fundraiser/kiraweiss1) in time to help the refugees, which is the sheer definition of awesome.  As of three weeks ago the refugees were in transit and the temporary housing was being built.  So that's what an amazing person armed with a little video can do - what are you doing with your video?

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Josh Folan is a producer, writer, director and actor with professional credits dating back to 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University. Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include BODY (2015 Slamdance premier, co-producer), All God’s Creatures (2011 Hoboken Int’l premier, best screenplay and actress nominations, writer/producer), it’s just One line (2012 Film Racing NYC 24 Hour Film Race finalist, writer/director/producer), and What Would Bear Do? (writer/director/producer). Also an author and contributor to the independent filmmaking blog community, he penned the low-budget indie case study Filmmaking, the Hard Way. You can follow him (@joshfolan) and NYEH (@nyehentertains) on twitter and facebook if you’d like to keep up with his coming soons.

What I Saw @ Sundance `15

I just got back from Park City last week for the 2015 Sundance and Slamdance film festivals - shameless plug: check out Dan Berk and Bobby Olsen's indie thriller BODY, which premiered at the lesser revered of the two showcases on January 25th.  It was my first time out for what most industry participants consider the filmmaker's Mecca, and it did not disappoint.  There is an energy and inspirational undertone that extends far beyond that which E! broadcasts from the red carpet.  Surely Brad Pitt and James Franco buzzing about Main Street does lend mainstream credibility to the festivals, but if you had the curiosity to look past that glitz there was an immeasurable amount to be learned about where the business of content creation is and, more importantly, where it's headed. 

In between scuttling from one sponsored coffee lounge to another, and the occasional festival screening you might chance into a favorable waitlist position for, there are countless panels, talkbacks, and discussions where the brightest and most talented minds in content creation are willing and eager to share what they've learned while entertaining people via screens all over the world.  My top three takeaways from said scuttling:

1.       It's not film, or television, or a web series, or...whatever - it's CONTENT.  The lines separating what have historically been considered different distribution platforms and mediums are blurring more and more with each passing moment.  The length of your content no longer pigeonholes it into a particular series of distribution windows and platforms, and gone are the days when a creator - be it a company or individual - can (or at least should) be closed off to a certain type of content.  The most progressive content creators I saw in Park City had a wide range of ideas for numerous platforms, audiences, consumption methods and lengths - just as ready to pitch an idea to quench the three-minute attention span of a corporate audience as they are with a ten-episode concept intended for mobile device consumption.

2.       Virtual reality is finally here.  Really.  "Google cardboard."  Google it.  They were present throughout the festival at a fascinating virtual reality exhibit (part of the New Frontier Sundance initiative), handing out what amounted to a cardboard View-Master that you can strap your smartphone into and go on a full-out VR experience with.  The associated content available for download is only of the most neophyte level, but it's a foothold on the summit toward genuinely immersive VR content that we had yet to find.  To top it off, that was the most basic example of VR tech that was available for the festival goers to take for a spin at the exhibit.  It gives me a headache to ponder the logistics of producing content where the audience has access to a three axis, 360-degree image, but there is an audience clamoring for it if you can stomach producing it.

3.       There is no such thing as budgetary limitation in the present content creation landscape.  There is an ongoing conversation that has raged for a years now that it gets cheaper to go out and shoot your content, that technology is more accessible and easier to use.  One of the most buzzy films at Sundance this year was Sean Baker's Tangerine, which was picked up for distribution by Magnolia and will be getting a "traditional" nationwide theatrical release later this year despite there not being anyone you could call "box office" in the cast.  AND IT WAS SHOT EXCLUSIVELY ON IPHONES.  You still need a great story to put in front of the device you're capturing it with, and an intelligent marketing plan to get it in front of an audience, but the "hard part" that used to come between those content creation bookends is truly a thing of the past.

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Josh Folan is a producer, writer, director and actor with professional credits dating back to 2005, prior to which he studied finance at The Ohio State University. Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include BODY (2015 Slamdance premier, co-producer), All God’s Creatures (2011 Hoboken Int’l premier, best screenplay and actress nominations, writer/producer), it’s just One line (2012 Film Racing NYC 24 Hour Film Race finalist, writer/director/producer), and What Would Bear Do? (writer/director/producer). Also an author and contributor to the independent filmmaking blog community, he penned the low-budget indie case study Filmmaking, the Hard Way. You can follow him (@joshfolan) and NYEH (@nyehentertains) on twitter and facebook if you’d like to keep up with his coming soons.