Today in the International Village at the Dominican Republican Film Pavilion there was a workshop called “Digital Landscape in Cannes.” Frédéric Boënnec and Gotham Chandna held the workshop. The topic of the workshop was social media, and how to use social media as a tool when creating a film.
In today’s modern world, it is difficult to meet a person who does not use any form of social media. Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat or Vine, most people with a smart phone have accounts on at least one of these sites. Many people use these sites for personal use but many companies have discovered the power of marketing through social media.
One of the main points that was emphasized during the workshop was that filmmakers do not have to limit social media use to just promoting the finished product, filmmakers can use social media throughout the whole production process. One can use social media to do research into the audience that a film attracts, or what type of advertising attracts the most attention and such.
It is also important to know your platform when using social media. A Facebook post is designed very differently than a tweet. Different types of posts must be made for the different social media platforms in order to use them best. One of the tips for Twitter use was to keep tweets fewer than 120 words and include a photo to draw attention to the tweet.
One last tip that was given about using social media to promote a film is to always have content. Chandna says it well with “social media is like hunger, you need to keep feeding it all the time.”
By Maya Kirby
