Neoflix collaborated with film editor Tim Silano and sound editor/designer Bruce Stambler on the website for their film, Schraders’X. We were happy to see friends from the post side take a swing at directing and then using DIY to get their film out. Tim and Bruce are not newbies–having done over seventy features between them over the last 25+ years (Bruce won an Oscar in 1997 for The Ghost and the Darkness), but they were new to DIY. What they lacked for experience, they more than made up for in terms of enthusiasm and optimism.
They had an existing website, but it lacked many of the social networking functions that were becoming important to spread awareness about the film. As an example for other would-be DIY filmmakers, we decided to create a new website for Tim and Bruce using a content management system (blog) that incorporated those awareness-building elements.
1. Branding image/logo box with call to action (e.g. Pre-Order Now!, Join our Cause!, Watch the Trailer!, etc.)
2. Trailer
3. E-mail Sign-up
4. Reviews by critics or quotes from famous people
5. “Share” function that allows visitors to re-post to major social media services.
6. Link to a store page where the Schrader’s X DVDs are sold.
The cost for to create the template was about $300, and creating the actual site (adding content and images) only took a couple days. Anyone with a film (or an idea for a film) can make it available to the public without much effort once a template is available. The hyperlinks and content can be added quickly by anyone–without the need for web programming knowledge. (Neoflix is making this particular template available to clients.) The ability to capture e-mail information and to link quickly to social network services are key to start any awareness campaign.