Mastering Film Marketing: Posters, Trailers, and Taglines

Marketing Your Film: Poster, Trailer, etc.

/

An Attractive Movie Poster is Essential.

In the world of social media, your fans may catch a couple of seconds of your movie trailer. But they will most likely see the poster. The poster is the fans' gateway to your film, so it is essential that the image be attractive, provocative, and engaging.

If you cannot afford an expert movie poster artist, choose a still from your movie that is the single most riveting or engaging shot of the film. The image you select must make a powerful and truthful statement about your film. The picture needs to intelligently intrude into your fan's busy life. The fan is not sitting around doing anything. The movie poster needs to create an interest moving towards a desire to see your film.

Film festival laurel awards have an essential place on your film poster. A movie poster of an award-winning independent film, without the laurels, devalues and lessens the importance of the film in the minds of indie film fans. Without the placement of the laurels, people may assume that the film lacked any value or intelligent content. Laurels tell your fans and others that the film, judged by a jury of the filmmaker's peers, found sufficient worth and value to be recognized with an award.

The Aspect Ratio of Your Traditional & Instagram Poster.

1. The “traditional movie poster.” is also known as the “theatrical one-sheet poster.” This poster size is the one displayed in the theater. This ratio of 2:3 is commonly seen on websites like IMDb. The dimension of your poster should be at least 1600 X 2400 pixels. We will post your traditional movie poster on every social media site except for Instagram.

2. Instagram is the primary marketing platform for independent filmmakers, so we recommend a movie poster that is specifically designed for Instagram (aspect ratio of 1:1).

3. Do not put any dates on your poster. On OPPRIME.tv, our platform is designed to host and generate income for the filmmaker for years. A date on your poster may limit the audience's interest in your film, so do not date your poster.

4. Select the best 3 (or fewer) film festival laurels and elegantly position them on your poster. Of course, there is an exception to every rule, however, do not ruin the look of your poster by cluttering it with excessive laurels.

Create An Amazing Movie Trailer.

OPPRIME.tv, by posting your movie trailer and filmmaker reel on our social media, can promote your film and your filmmaker brand to our extensive community of independent film fans. Please be sure to include your movie trailer and (if available) your filmmaker reel when you email your Excel/Spreadsheet list of fans to filmmaker@opprime.tv. As the subject heading of your email to us, use your full first & last name. Absolute Requirement: Your movie trailer and filmmaker reel need to be formatted for use on ALL the following platforms: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

We recommend a movie trailer for your film.
We recommend that the trailer be no longer than 1 minute.
We recommend that the best part of your trailer is front-loaded. Rarely, do viewers watch the last 30 seconds of an online video advertisement, even a movie trailer.
Your opening video thumbnail is just as essential for your trailer as it is for your film. It must compel to watch! Maria Rozhdestvenskaya, content marketing strategist says— Opening video thumbnails are like movie billboards or book covers in a bookstore’s window display. The decision to watch the movie is 99.9% based on the opening video thumbnail."
Absolute Requirement: Your movie trailer needs to be formatted for use on ALL of the following platforms: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

An Engaging Tagline is Necessary for Your Film.

The tagline is not to be confused with the movie synopsis. The tagline accompanies the marketing post on Instagram, Twitter, and all other social media platforms. The tagline must be catchy and concise. In a tagline, less is more. Taglines are challenging because they require down-editing. We believe that taglines are personal to the filmmaker and their film.

We recommend that your tagline be no more than 150 characters long for Twitter.
For Instagram, a tagline should be no longer than 200 characters long.

Format for a Tagline:

Instagram Tagline

NAME OF MOVIE by filmmaker FILMMAKER’S NAME @INSTAGRAM-HANDLE “TAG LINE.” (Tag Line in quotations)

Twitter Tagline

NAME OF MOVIE by filmmaker FILMMAKER’S NAME @TWITTER-HANDLE “TAG LINE.” (tagine in quotes)

Examples of a Tagline in This Format:

Goodfellas by filmmaker Martin Scorsese @martinscorsese_ “About three decades of life in the Mafia.”
Father of the Bride by filmmaker Gaz Alazraki @gazalazraki "The Bride gets the thrills; the father gets the bills."
Double Indemnity by filmmaker Billy Wilder @billywilder1944 "From the moment they met it was murder."

Tagline Options:

1. Down-edit the name if the filmmaker’s name is recognizable from their Instagram or Twitter handle(s):

Goodfellas by filmmaker @martinscorsese_ “About three decades of life in the Mafia.”

2. If you are the producer with the rights to the film:

Amazing Grace - Aretha Franklin by Producer @officialspikelee “It will make you feel as if you’ve seen the face of God.”

3. If you are the producer and will add the director:

Amazing Grace - Aretha Franklin by Producer @officialspikelee & Director @alanelliott “It will make you feel as if you’ve seen the face of God.”

4. If you received awards at multiple film festivals, we recommend that you select only one to list. Name the award and the film festival's Instagram and Twitter handle in the format:

Golden Voices by Layne Marie Williams @directorlmw_ “A paranormal investigator seeks out the source of some mysterious voices.” Winner-Best Picture @IndianaFilmRace

Unprofessional Taglines:

It is imperative that you spell-check your tagline. Do not use ALL capital letters to emphasize or highlight your message. Do not use irregular combinations of capital and small letters. Please follow standard English grammar.

The Filmmaker Needs a Great Headshot!

Your filmmaker headshot is essential for the marketing of your film and your professional brand as a filmmaker.

We RECOMMEND that your headshot be designed for Instagram (aspect ratio of 1:1).
A filmmaker's headshot should be artistic, and engaging, but professional for the independent film business. Please NO headshot that would be used by the CEO or VP of Finance at Citibank - you are a filmmaker!
Some of the best filmmaker headshots are behind-the-scenes action poses. Here are some examples.

Filmmaker Headshots: Artistic & Engaging.