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Chapter IV: Deepen your relationship
The difference between the artist of the last century and the artist of the twenty-first century lies in his accessibility. Twenty years ago one could at most expect a prefab writing in return for a fan letter. Today artists and audience members can engage directly and start a conversation that deepens over the years of their relationship.
Your email list, facebook account and other communication channels not only have the purpose to report about festival screenings and new products. Your fans will have questions, will want to congratulate or offer help. At first you might answer every single email. Later when your inbox flows over, you link to an FAQ, so you won't have to answer a question over and over again. Some artists write answers to blog comments, others regularly record video or audio podcasts to answer questions.
What do people find interesting about your artistic process?
Surveys are a great way to get precious feedback regarding your works. Find out if your audience has any questions related to your working methods. Answer them in a video. You will notice that the production process holds at least as much interesting aspects as the final product. People with a large online following have in common that they are generous about sharing their knowledge. Some of your fans want to do exactly what you are doing. Let them take part in your artistic process! Educational material attracts a large audience on the internet, because the viewer can benefit directly.
Create possibilities for participation
Borrow the concept of beta versions from software developers: "Release early and often!". Involve your closest fans in the development of your next film. Early feedback to character designs, the animatic or the cut may enrich your film. Or you enlist them even more and arrange a contest to find the best fan-made character design and use it in your film. This kind of radical involvement of the audience is not everyone's cup of tea. It is certainly worth thinking about ways of participation, since nothing intensifies a relation more than a close collaboration. It shows your respect, gives your fans the chance to learn something and to earn recognition.
Sometimes the audience points out themselves, how they would like to participate. When the band OkGo landed a Youtube hit with an artistically arranged music video, fans sent them videos imitating the dance. The band organized a contest on their website and flew the winners to one of their concerts. On stage, they performed the dance together with them. The filmmaker Richard Linklater invited his fans to create their own version of a trailer. The documentary filmmaker Brett Gaylor provided his raw footage and invited his fans to create remixes of his film. Both approaches helped to spread many different versions of their movies online. If you don't have a million dollar budget at your disposal, you may raise your visibility exponentially by turning the audience into your public relation personnel.
Amplify a topic
Not only the process of filmmaking is interesting, but also the world surrounding your ideas. Are you intrigued by a theme beyond the development of your film idea? You may provide continuative links, write reviews on related readings, prepare a forum for discussions and create surveys. Your film gains value when embedded into a vital environment. You will surely find forums, blogs and websites concerned with the topic. This is where your target audience gathers. Your movie might enrich the conversation on those platforms and help to develop new audiences for your work.
The documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald gained online following through a partnership with the democratic activist website MoveOn.org. When he released his 2004 film about the war in Iraq, MoveOn.org informed its members of the upcoming release, sold DVDs and encouraged people to organize house party screenings. Greenwald anticipated to sell 2.000 DVDs, at the end 120.000 pieces were sold.
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