Producing a short film is a massive task, and you need to seek outside help at many points during the production. Whether you’re looking for investment, entering film festivals, or trying to get your film seen, promoting your content is essential. So, we put together our 8 top tips for marketing your short film using some handy Motion Array assets.
- Understand why it is crucial to market your short film
- Discover ways to market your short film with Motion Array assets
- Check out our 8 tips for marketing your short film
Why you need to market your short film
If you’re looking to produce a short film, chances are you are creative, and perhaps sales don’t come naturally to you. There is a lot of competition online regarding short filmmaking, and finding your audience can be challenging.
Marketing your project will enable you to find your ideal audience and fanbase, who will support, share, and engage with your short. Your film marketing is also an opportunity to talk about the project beyond the actual film, giving your audience insight into the people and process behind the production.
Produce mood reels
At the very start of your production process, you probably won’t have shot any visuals you can share to market your project. Fortunately, stock videos and photos are ideal for producing mood boards and concept reels.
When producing a mood reel from stock assets, it’s essential to focus on the atmosphere and feel of the composition. Choose footage that gives the viewer a sense of the tone of your project. You can even add music or sound effects to create a soundscape that fits the visuals.
Create a webpage
Creating a website might seem scary, especially if you’ve never used a web builder. However, having a centralized web page that people can visit to follow your project will enable you to collect information about your viewers, such as email addresses, to stay up-to-date.
Motion Array membership gives you a portfolio page ideal for your short film promotions. Our simple drag-and-drop builder gives you everything you need to add your videos, trailers, posters, and information.
Cast and Crew Announcements
The pro-production process is a fantastic opportunity for creating a social media buzz around your project. Announcing cast and crew as they join the production will make them feel welcomed to the team, but it can also help build an audience from their followers.
Credits templates are a brilliant way to create cast and crew announcements, adding team members as they come on board. Motion Array has some stunning credit templates, including the Cinematic Film Credits template, with media dropzones for your cast headshots.
Create a Poster
Posters are essential in any film marketing, giving your viewers a quick and easy shortcut to understanding what your film is about. The best posters set the tone and style of your project while introducing the subject and genre.
As a filmmaker or editor, you may have some Photoshop skills you can use to create a poster for your project, but it can be challenging to know where to start. Motion Array’s collection of movie poster templates covers everything from horror films to fun bubblegum pop styles.
Share awards selections and wins
Being selected for or winning a short film festival is an achievement worth shouting about, and there is no better way to do so than with a video. Motion Array has a massive collection of fantastic awards-style videos suitable for a vast range of genres.
Take the time to celebrate your film, and create content around each selection or win. Update your webpage, poster, and trailer with new laurels to help attract more attention to your project.
Vlog about the process and share what you’ve learned
As if making a film wasn’t complicated enough, you need to double down on what you’re shooting to market your project successfully. Every film production is a learning experience, and sharing your successes and failures helps your viewers identify with your journey while getting them excited about your film.
Creating a continuing vlog discussing the project and its progress helps create a story for your viewers to follow. Motion Array has some spectacular vlog templates and kits to make producing the behind-the-scenes content a piece of cake. The YouTube Essentials Tools Kit includes 59 customizable assets for your vlogging projects, including lower thirds, calls to action slides, and subscribe buttons.
Look for interview opportunities and share quotes
Getting press for your film can be incredibly challenging, so when you land an article, review, or interview, it’s super important to make the most of it. Along with sharing the article on your social media, you can take quotes from the copy and add them to your posters, trailers, and social media updates.
Motion Array has a collection of beautiful and cinematic quotes typography packs in a full range of styles. Whether you’re adding quotes to a longer video or using it to create reels, the fun and dynamic animations turn written content into visual media.
Platform Cross Promotions
When marketing your short film, you’ll likely do so across multiple platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Having content for each platform is a fantastic way of building a cross-platform audience that will like and follow your other channels.
It can be daunting thinking about creating content in both portrait and horizontal aspect ratios, but Motion Array has made it super easy to do with a collection of adaptive social media templates. The Instagram Stories Pack, for example, includes 10 designs, each in portrait, square, and horizontal formats.
There is no doubt that marketing your short film takes as much time and effort as making it in the first place. However, taking the time to promote your work, build an audience, and share your success is essential. If you want to learn more about short film production, check out our 5 ways to overcome Independent filmmaking frustrations.
