Successful Screening
The screening at Hondance went very well; we ended up showing it at the beginning and at the end of the festival. Not many people showed up for the 1PM screening, so we decided to screen it again for the bigger night-time audience. Both times the reception was good. People laughed in all of the right places, and I got a lot of nice comments afterwards. A few people who weren't around for the filming just assumed it was shot on film, which was cool.
It's a little nerve-wracking screening or having your own stuff screened. I'm always worried that the DVD is going to crap out, or that the audio will screw up. And my paranoia isn't unfounded, since that kind of shit seems to happen at almost every screening I go to. Someone's tape or DVD always screws up. The worst is when it starts stuttering and then freezes in the middle of the film. It's almost better if it just never plays at all.
I also spent about 45 minutes setting up the projector so that the color and contrast were just right, and I still wasn't 100% happy with it. DVD compression does some funky stuff to film/video grain, and pretty much all other fine details that have any movement; it ends up looking like a bunch of mosquitos are flying around the screen. I'd use a lower compression ratio, but then the file would be too big for a single DVD. Steve suggested using a dual-layer DVD, which might be a good option for the premiere (the burners are cheap, but the disks are pretty expensive). I'll test it out, but if it still looks like crap I'll definitely be getting the film transferred to Betacam or Digibeta for the premiere and subsequent festival screenings.
In all, Hondance was pretty good. We made some money for The Top Floor, and I just about broke even on the food. It was a lot of work again, and my legs and arms are sore from loading everything up the three flights of steps, but I did have a good time. The Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad performance was cool, we got to meet some nice new people (big thanks to Scott Alexander for saving our asses when someone cancelled at the last minute - and for being a super nice guy about it), and I got to screen a big chunk of my film to an appreciative audience.
However, we didn't seem to get many people in there during the day. Not sure if it was the cost of the tickets or the fact that we didn't get much publicity, but I think next time we should consider just having the festival during the evening. It's kind of sad to screen a film or have a performance when there are only 4 people in the audience. I don't think it's fair for the filmmakers or artists.
--
According to Kristen, the "Livelihood" screening at The Creative Alliance will be the second Wednesday in October. She wasn't at all happy with my idea of having the premiere the Thursday before that at The Charles. She doesn't think anyone will show up for the Creative Alliance screening. She suggested we just have the premiere at The Creative Alliance, but since we might be comping up to 80 tickets, I just don't think that's practical. Regardless, she was very adamant in her desire for us to have the premiere at least a month before the Creative Alliance screening.
My argument is this: which will get more press? Will it be a film that is showing twice in a week, or a film that has two screenings a month apart? I think that we have a better chance of getting more/bigger press if we have the screenings closer together. The alternative is to get decent press for the premiere, and then hopefully a casual mention when it screens a month later at the Creative Alliance. I also think that 6 days is perfect for getting a word-of-mouth buzz. Any longer and the buzz will fade. Any shorter and there isn't enough time for people to talk about it.
I'm pretty confident that both screenings will sell out no matter when we have them. People are going to want to see this twice, I think. It's got a lot of cool little jokes and plot lines that you don't really notice the first time through. I also think it's a "feel good" movie, not in a cheesy 90's "chick-flick" sense, but in an 80's "Goonies" or "One Crazy Summer" or "Sixteen Candles" type of way.
The final reason is that I want to give myself as much time as possible to get the film finished, get the website up, and get the press packets out. I want to send the soundtrack to some radio stations, send a screener to all of the local TV stations and newspapers, and really hype the hell out of this thing.
Anyone have any comments/opinions about the situation? I'm definitely not 100% on this, and am open to suggestions.
Ryan
It's a little nerve-wracking screening or having your own stuff screened. I'm always worried that the DVD is going to crap out, or that the audio will screw up. And my paranoia isn't unfounded, since that kind of shit seems to happen at almost every screening I go to. Someone's tape or DVD always screws up. The worst is when it starts stuttering and then freezes in the middle of the film. It's almost better if it just never plays at all.
I also spent about 45 minutes setting up the projector so that the color and contrast were just right, and I still wasn't 100% happy with it. DVD compression does some funky stuff to film/video grain, and pretty much all other fine details that have any movement; it ends up looking like a bunch of mosquitos are flying around the screen. I'd use a lower compression ratio, but then the file would be too big for a single DVD. Steve suggested using a dual-layer DVD, which might be a good option for the premiere (the burners are cheap, but the disks are pretty expensive). I'll test it out, but if it still looks like crap I'll definitely be getting the film transferred to Betacam or Digibeta for the premiere and subsequent festival screenings.
In all, Hondance was pretty good. We made some money for The Top Floor, and I just about broke even on the food. It was a lot of work again, and my legs and arms are sore from loading everything up the three flights of steps, but I did have a good time. The Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad performance was cool, we got to meet some nice new people (big thanks to Scott Alexander for saving our asses when someone cancelled at the last minute - and for being a super nice guy about it), and I got to screen a big chunk of my film to an appreciative audience.
However, we didn't seem to get many people in there during the day. Not sure if it was the cost of the tickets or the fact that we didn't get much publicity, but I think next time we should consider just having the festival during the evening. It's kind of sad to screen a film or have a performance when there are only 4 people in the audience. I don't think it's fair for the filmmakers or artists.
--
According to Kristen, the "Livelihood" screening at The Creative Alliance will be the second Wednesday in October. She wasn't at all happy with my idea of having the premiere the Thursday before that at The Charles. She doesn't think anyone will show up for the Creative Alliance screening. She suggested we just have the premiere at The Creative Alliance, but since we might be comping up to 80 tickets, I just don't think that's practical. Regardless, she was very adamant in her desire for us to have the premiere at least a month before the Creative Alliance screening.
My argument is this: which will get more press? Will it be a film that is showing twice in a week, or a film that has two screenings a month apart? I think that we have a better chance of getting more/bigger press if we have the screenings closer together. The alternative is to get decent press for the premiere, and then hopefully a casual mention when it screens a month later at the Creative Alliance. I also think that 6 days is perfect for getting a word-of-mouth buzz. Any longer and the buzz will fade. Any shorter and there isn't enough time for people to talk about it.
I'm pretty confident that both screenings will sell out no matter when we have them. People are going to want to see this twice, I think. It's got a lot of cool little jokes and plot lines that you don't really notice the first time through. I also think it's a "feel good" movie, not in a cheesy 90's "chick-flick" sense, but in an 80's "Goonies" or "One Crazy Summer" or "Sixteen Candles" type of way.
The final reason is that I want to give myself as much time as possible to get the film finished, get the website up, and get the press packets out. I want to send the soundtrack to some radio stations, send a screener to all of the local TV stations and newspapers, and really hype the hell out of this thing.
Anyone have any comments/opinions about the situation? I'm definitely not 100% on this, and am open to suggestions.
Ryan
posted by Ryan Graham at 10:04 AM
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