Video on these 2 new features

By default your premium film will show a 30 second preview from the beginning of the film. Now you can:

1. Specify how much time from your film you want to show as the preview. You may opt to show 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, etc. whatever you like.

2. You can specify where you want the preview to start.

Video on these 2 new features

We really like this because movies in the beginning are often very slow and do little to entice viewers. Now you can skip to a certain scene. You simply specify where you want the preview to start and you do so in seconds.

If the scene starts at 6:21 you’d enter 381.

We are trying to give the filmmakers as much control over their films as possible.

Let us know how you’re doing with your films.

Here’s a 45 second video demonstrating how you could use these features in your dashboard.

Video on these 2 new features

The bottom line is you want to produce movies correct? If you want to just produce movies for fun without getting compensated for the work then by all means don’t read any further. Congratulations on finding your passion and being able to sustain yourself without monetary compensation from your passion.

Now, on the other hand, if you want to actually sell what you produce then you have to do something else.

You can’t just make any movie. You can’t just produce anything.

If you want to sell your film you have to have a market to sell to. If you have no market you have no sale.

<strong>Think about your market before you make a movie.</strong>

We all know how difficult it is to produce a movie. Sometimes I’m jealous of musicians because I feel their job is so much easier, but I digress.

Why make a movie no one wants to see but you?? Like I said earlier, that’s fine if you’re not looking to sell what you produced, but if you are, you need to search and find markets like all business people do.

In business, it’s known that you don’t want to create a brand new market, you want to serve or feed a current market.

Think Apple coming out with the ipod when people were craving having control over their music and downloading songs.

Don’t do any movie and wonder later on why no one wants to see it. No one wants to see it because there’s currently no market for it. It’s not personal. It’s business and economics.

We need to begin getting serious and have a better understanding about how economics works if we want to sell.

Economics revolves around the principle of supply and demand. If there’s a demand and low supply people will trample each other to pay for it. Think “Tickle Me Elmo.” On the other hand if the supply is high and the demand is low, no one will give a crap about your film about a kid with glasses and a cape.

The solution.

Study, search, engage in finding out what people are currently doing, what they’re watching, what they’re buying, what they’re saying. And now with the internet it’s never been more accessible. Notice I didn’t say easy, but accessible. Yes you have to do your homework. You have to do work but it’s well worth it.

Trust me, companies pay thousands just to find out if something they have is worth bringing to market, so should you. I’m not even saying pay thousands; I’m saying use the internet to search and investigate at the least to see if people would want to see a movie that’s going on in your head.

Did you ever notice how video parodies of popular news, music or entertainment floats to the top of YouTube searches, many times above even the source itself? That’s the principle of demand.

I remember being unable to find the official video for Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance on YouTube over several search pages. Instead I found two girls singing it acapello with an acoustic guitar and millions of views. Well now you know how popular that song is without it even coming up, because what people say is more relevant here.

Imitation is the best flattery and similarly parody demonstrates demand.

Say teens are craving Twilight, then you know that people are interested in this vampire concept. Why do you think everyone is piggy backing on this and Hollywood movies keep pushing this market as much as possible. It’s because they saw the response to Twilight.

If you’re interested in vampires, then now it’s time to see if you can do a better, more creative twist on it. If you’re not, then just look for another market.

This doesn’t mean you can’t be original.

We need to get out of the artsy fartsy mentality when you want to sell. Save that for when you’re actually producing the movie, but be business minded and economical when it comes to pre-production and post-production.

It doesn’t matter if your film is good or bad, it only matters if people are willing to pay for it.

This rule applies to any commodity and that includes movies.

Firstly, if you have left the price field empty, the entire movie will just be available for free.

All you have to do to turn your film into a premium film that requires a transaction is enter a price in the textfield.

Any price you want.

Here’s a 30 second video on how easy that it is. Watch this

http://screencast.com/t/MGU2ZjU3M

Setting any price for a video will automatically make it premium and request payment from the user to watch the video.

Remember, AFTER uploading a premium video using the premium video uploader, you can either use a video from vimeo or youtube as the free preview or the first 30 seconds will show when you use no external video as the free preview.

In the meantime you can use a trailer that’s uploaded to youtube or vimeo as the free preview instead of displaying the premium video as the free preview. Here’s how:

http://screencast.com/t/NmQwZWMxODk