Videos for Audience Profiles

Aspiring Filmmaker

For the aspiring filmmaker, we tend to watch videos online that either demo equipment or are tutorials for film software. We rarely care about other projects than our own, so this might be a good tactic. For the last 3 years, I have been working in the UCF Film equipment room creating content just like this. I might to a series of posts highlighting videos about DSLR cameras and Final Cut Pro. In fact, my ingest video for FCP has over 10,000 views on Vimeo. I have made another ingest video for Adobe Premiere, which is much more relevant than FCP. It also uses footage from SEANCE, the prequel to my feature film.

These are the keywords I came up with last week: DSLR, workflow, sound design, sound recording, lighting, grip, editing software, after effects plug-ins, camera rigs.

Here is a description: INGEST AND SOUND SYNC USING ADOBE PREMIERE CS6: Filmmaker Zachary Beckler takes us through an entire DSLR workflow using Adobe Premiere CS6. In this video, you will see his own personal workflow for SEANCE using Canon EOS 7D footage and Zoom H4n recorded audio within this new and popular editing program.

You can watch SEANCE, a micro-budget short film, in its entirety here: https://vimeo.com/25320119

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Horror Fanatic

I don't really know what kind of video we could make for this audience, as YouTube is currently flooded with "Scariest Films" videos. Perhaps one could do something similar to what Red Letter Media is doing, hilariously intelligent reviews of bad genre movies. Perhaps we should think outside the box... What if we did a series of videos for YouTube just like the "Scariest Films" clip packages, and we insert clips from our film within the classic films. Horror movie filmmakers, tend to have a brooder knowledge of the genre, so finding obscure clips isn't the problem. This is a form of spamming, but within a video it actually might work, if the content made sense. Or, if that it is too sleazy, just make a really great package:

Keywords we search: horror films, scariest, goriest, 100 best horror, new horror releases, upcoming horror, classic horror.

Description: SCARIEST SCENES EVER: This is a collection of the scariest horror films ever made, some new horror, some classic horror, a lot you may have never heard of. All of them, though, are guaranteed to terrify, horrify, haunt, and scare you off the computer. All clips were selected by horror director Zachary Beckler, whose award-winning film, SEANCE, is available online.

For more videos, including Goriest and Craziest, Like us on Facebook.com/interiormovie

Ghost HuntersThis might be a little more tricky. My first thought is to make a series of fake ghost videos and pass them off as real, something that is happening a lot online (though no one admits to it). This type of video has the most potential to go viral. Here is a fake one with 70 million views! 

Keywords I search: ghost video, caught on tape, paranormal activity, supernatural, evidence of paranormal, best ghost pictures, spirit photography, poltergeists, demonology.

(I love that "ghost caught on tape" is still vastly more popular than anything else, even though we have all stopped using tape)

DESCRIPTION: I CAUGHT A GHOST ON TAPE: Here is ghost footage I caught on tape in my own house. I am dont know how to explain this. Can you? Is it paranormal activity? Evidence of the supernatural? A weird artifact in the video? A poltergeist? This is one of the best ghost videos ever!

I am going to keep filming, perhaps even spend the night alone. Track my progress: Like us on Facebook.com/interiormovie

Goals for PMD

1) Define our areas of difference from competition.

2) Create a general marketing and distribution strategy.

3) Publicize our Kickstarter page.

4) Clarify target audience.

5) Research on the best distribution methods at our disposal.

6) Create a marketing schedule for the release of materials.

7) Maintain the social media websites daily.

8) Create small print campaign around Orlando.

9) Plan public screenings of my short film, Séance.

10) Create Facebook pages for every character in the film, and have the actors post regularly, in character. 

11) Start a viral campaign of ghost videos on Youtube as ads for the film.

12) Make a list of festivals that INTERIOR would have the most exposure from.

Positioning INTERIOR and Potential Viewers

INTERIOR is a micro-budget independent horror feature about one man alone in a haunted house over the course of one night. The horror market is pretty flooded with ghost films in a post Paranormal Activity movie business. But there is an old adage that it does not matter what the film is about, but how it is about it. What makes INTERIOR stand out?

Competition: Ever since the success of Paranormal Activity, there have been more and more ultra low-budget horror films about the supernatural that are yielding high profit margins. A few of the titles include The Devil Inside, The Last Exorcism, Insidious, and Sinister to name a few. Apart from major Hollywood, the independent market is positively exploding with films like these. Needless to say, there is a lot of competition.

Competitors Position: The competition makes these films because they are cheap and yield high profits. They want to tell stories about groups of people experiencing the paranormal. A lot of the films are in the "found-footage" sub-genre, so they are striving for absolute realism. They all kind of look and sound the same way though. The sound design on these films are interchangeable, and the technology used within the narrative is never really cutting edge. (The characters in Sinister are still using film reels). Also, all the films are made for a theatrical experience with no thought toward home viewing.

My USP: Create a film about one character stuck in one supernatural location in binaural sound and using this new filmmaker culture within the narrative.

Areas of Difference: The film is unique in three ways: 1) For most of the film, it is one character in one location, like Cast Away with ghosts. 2) With todays technology making any and everyone and potential filmmaker, this new culture of DSLR filmmakers has never been shown in a narrative film. 3) This film is the first horror feature to use 3D Audio.

Who would want to see this film? The easy answer is everyone, because everyone likes a good horror film. But let's talk about the target demographic, a phrase that makes me nauseous when applied to an artistic endeavor, so bare with me through this. The audience is me. I would want to see this film, and as an independent filmmaker, I only have myself to please, with the hope that others enjoy the film too.

So who am I, this target demo?

Aspiring Filmmaker
There are more and more of us each day. I enjoy films that are about the process of filmmaking and film  viewing. I frequent websites like nofilmschool.com and cinema5d.com to learn about new equipment and obtain knowledge to make films. Some keywords I search about this: DSLR, workflow, sound design, sound recording, lighting, grip, editing software, after effects plug-ins, camera rigs.

Horror Fanatic
We see as many horror films as we can, and are always on the look out for good new ones. We love finding films first and championing them. Also, when we hear about a low-budget work we are interested in, we want it immediately or quickly lose interest. Some websites: bloodydisgusting.com, shocktillyoudrop.com, aintitcoolnews.com, slashfilm.com. Keywords we search: horror films, scariest, goriest, 100 best horror, new horror releases, upcoming horror, classic horror.

Ghost Hunters
I am not necessarily a ghost hunter per-say, but I am fascinated with the paranormal and watch all kinds of supernatural themed reality T.V. shows and documentaries. I also watch a lot of YouTube videos claiming to be real footage of ghosts or aliens. I would say I primarily use YouTube for my website viewing, or local paranormal websites, as there is no real hub for all things paranormal. Keywords I search: ghost video, caught on tape, paranormal activity, supernatural, evidence of paranormal, best ghost pictures, spirit photography, poltergeists, demonology.