Marketing and Distribution Festival Research

In making our marketing and distribution plan it was important to pick festivals that would welcome the our film with open arms. Having an experimental musical might make it hard for some people to choose festivals, but not us. The first festival I choose was Visions Film Festival and Conference. I chose Visions first because it is a solely undergraduate run film festival out of our school. I (Kevin) also happen to be the programming director so I know there is a chance we can make it in with the quality of film and the category we are in. It is also an awesome festival to be a part of. You can always plan on meeting other awesome students to network with. The next festival I chose was the Chicago Paracon and Film Festival. They love weird supernatural sci-fi and horror type of films. That being said its not hard to understand why I chose them. Its a nice niche festival and it is in a large city that it would be fun to visit on top of a great place to make some connections in the industry. We also chose the Motor City Nightmares International Film Festival. They have a horror and sci-fi shorts category that would be great for our project. It would give us the opportunity to meet other like minded filmmakers and it could even be a jump off point to a feature if we meet the right person. Another festival that fits the vibe of our film was The Druid Underground Film Festival. They like the darker films which would be great for us. I also thought they were cool because they tour so there is no telling where they will be everywhere and it would be cool not only to go but to meet some of the staff and find out how that works. For a free festival we chose Reel Teal because it is on our campus and the possible monetary prize could fund most of our festival entries on its own. As far as regional festival I chose Indie Grits. I chose them first because you (Andre) and Shannon have brought them up a few times in various classes. While looking them I realized that they are awesome. Not only are they right down the road but they love low budget and student films. The over many different awards and are stationed in a beautiful area to top it all off. The festival that I am really interested in is the Bare Bones International Film and Music Festival. This festival encompasses everything our film is. We took experimental film, mixed a little narrative in, and threw in some music to make the first hip-hopera film. If this is not the festival for us there isn't one. I believe we could easily gain entry into the festival if not possibly win one of the many awards they offer.

Cucalorus Blog

Man oh man what can I say about cucalorus this year other than it was freaking awesome. Since working in Visions I have began attending festivals as a director. The first thing I noticed about this year was the marketing techniques they used. This being Cucalorus's 21st year they played a lot with the we are legal. They had the reusable solo look-a-like cups that you see at a lot of 21 year olds college party. Even the bumper seemed to go along with the idea of the monsters turning 21 and waking up kinda drunk. When it comes to programming I greatly enjoyed Cucalorus way more than I enjoyed Virginia. I did not realize how many Shorts blocks Cucalorus programmed until this year. I love the respect they pay to shorts from all different genres. From animation to doc to narrative every form is represented. The first shorts block I attended was the Trinidad Scorpion Shorts which was a part of convulsions this year so it was a later screening 9:45-11:45. Here they showcased the grittier more young adult oriented films from horror and gore, to comedy and even post apocalyptic life this block reached out to touch the hearts of millennials deeply. I also enjoyed a works in progress that same evening and I love the idea of at some point us being able to do that type of thing if not this year maybe at a later time. The next shorts block I went to was friday morning The Scotch Bonnet shorts. Here I saw a block that was pg to pg-13 that most moms could bring their children to with no regrets. Here they showcased docs, narratives, and experimental film all of which were very youth friendly so much so Hoggard High School attended the block. I went to many more screenings but I think I have laid enough framework. The biggest thing I noticed about Cucalorus's programming this year was how well they organized the blocks and the types of films they programmed. The selection was so diverse and really made it impossible not to come across a film from every genre and I love it. They had directors of all shades and types and sizes and I would love to see the same thing with Visions. Cucalorus is not just a "film person" thing. It is truly a community, regional, and international festival all in one. I love the welcoming environment and how the filmmakers and actors are so easy to network with it seems everyone is so open. That also could be due to all the comped alcohol but hey whatever greases those gears right. But the biggest thing I found out actually Big Rob and I found out is that you may end up making a contact that seems to good to be true and most of the time that is the case. But I will give that story in person.