Started the day with a networking Sunday brunch, hosted by BBC Films – made a nice change from evening networking socials where alcoholic drink is on the menu. Today, it was grapefruit juice, croissants and posh bacon sandwiches! Made more great contacts. Met the curator of BBC Film Network who invited me to submit some films to go up on their online distribution platform. Hurrah! Extra life for some of our films now that they have done their life in the film festival circuit and cinemas.
Carried on the networking after the event and in the Industry Delegate Centre where I caught up with fellow filmmakers Caroline Sinclair Kidd and the rather wonderful Rhianna Andrews. We swapped some 'films to see' in the festival programme.
After a quick lunch, it was off to an all afternoon panel session, Digital Bootcamp, presented by James Mullighan of Shooting People and internationally acclaimed digital consultant Brian Newman. This has been the best industry event so far. I learned so much about the current and future trends in digital business, online distribution and marketing. The whole thing kicked off with a wonderful little video on the state of modern online technology which creatives can utilise.
The session covered a variety of topics including: - Social media as a promotion tool for filmmakers - How to generate an audience online for your projects - How to raise finance online - The future of online delivery and distribution platforms Two of the best parts of the afternoon where when the audience brainstormed a hypothetical film and came up with a whole range of online tools and tactics we could use to 'get the film out there'. This was followed by a case study of the film The Last Rites of Ransom Pride, which I had seen on day 2 of the festival. They had used an entire viral campaign, audience awareness programme and online competitions to build up a following for the film, while it was still being made. The resulting film was edited and tweaked according to what the online audience said they wanted to see in the finished movie – a true case of viewer participation.
