8 Great Ways Make People Want to See Your Indie Film

Audiences decide to see a film well before they even know what the film is all about. Presentation is everything. You must connect with the audience in the first 3 seconds or you have an uphill battle to bring them back on board to see your film. In that crucial 3 seconds, you can push them into thinking "okay, I am willing to watch this." or you lose out.

This article will list several ways that you can connect with an audience, intrigue them, engage them to see your film without ever having to have a conversation with them. This happens all the time, and can readily be seen in video stores where people are browsing for films to watch. At the end of the day, they are saying an hour of their life to make the money to rent the film, and then the time it takes to watch it, is worth your film.

This list was developed by me over the last 10 years as both a filmmaker and a film viewer. I don't have time for crap films. Being asked to watch one makes me angry and I rarely will trust the filmmaker again, especially if the filmmaker has not engaged me. However, a filmmaker that engages me to watch their film allows me to look at a film and enjoy the time, regardless of the quality.

These are not hard and fast rules, they are guidelines, you can use one, you can use all eight. Using them will increase the number of people that are willing to watch your film without you standing there guilting them to watch it. What you are going for is that moment in the video store, or surfing online, when everything connects and they commit to watching your film.

1. cast people that people like to look at
- that doesn't mean "pretty people" it means interesting people
- if you want to know if someone is committed, ask them if they are okay with the fact there is a full kissing scene, on the lips, passionate, in the film....if they say yes, they are in, if they say no, then the audience will never believe anything they do on screen because they will never "be" the character
- it does not matter if there is a kissing scene in your film, if they believe there is, and still sign on, they are in

2. tell your story in one sentence without giving away the ending
- "it's the one where that kid has to try and blow up the death star by himself"
- "it's the one about the sheriff that has to try and kill the giant killer shark"
- "it's the one about that guy that is a professional liar and suddenly has to tell the truth all the time"

What you have just done is "intrigued" the audience..very importent because now the audience is "involved" in the story...

3. Be a personality....
- your name should be someone that people know likes good films, watches good films, makes good films...you of course can like and watch any film you please, but it's the audience perception that matters...
- simple test, go up to people and ask them if they would like to go see a Hal Hartley film with you....be prepared for the blank stare...now go up and ask if they want to see that latest Steven Spielberg film....it's no longer a matter of who made it, but rather who is in it?
- if you don't know who Hal Hartley is....find out

4. A great soundtrack starts bold....
- a movie gets people in its seats just as the lights go down. If the score for your film does not start with a bold (think opening notes of Star Wars) hit, then consider putting your production company logo up for 4 seconds with a strong hit that says "NOW THE MOVIE IS STARTING"......it wakes people up and tells them to pay attention

5. Eyes are everything
- keep bringing the audience back into looking into the hero's eyes...it connects them, it means the hero is telling the truth, that there is honesty there...
- in the important scene of looking into the camera, do not blink (unless the hero is needing to appear as if he is stumbling for his words)
- consider using the hero looking out of the cover art for the film too connect with people as they hold it in their hands
- learn photoshop

6. Bring something to the table
- Who are you as a filmmaker? Does the cover art tell the world who you are and what you have done? If not, it should...what is your pedigree of cinema?

7. Inspired by -
- nobody makes films in a vaccum so what films inspired you to make this one? You want audiences to go "oh yeah, I liked that film"

8. DVD your film
- Giving your film to someone on DVD and saying "i'd like your feedback on this, let me know what you think?" is better than "here is my URL...."..why? because you are engaging the audience.....it's a verbal contract they are making to watch your film....

Again, these are not hard and fast rules, just ones that I have developed that have given me a larger audience with each film I have made.