Wylder Production Diary 09

Hello and welcome to week NINE. Things are getting really close now as animated scenes are going through the final stage of magic and coming out as finished shots. This will be the last of our official diaries, as next week is the final push before we are FINISHED! (Although you never really finish a film of course, you just stop working on it). 

It’s been a big effort from the team, and we are delighted to be hitting our target of producing this short film in two months. 

Production is one thing, but distribution is a whole other kettle of fish, and the last thing we want to cover on this journey. As we are not making this short for profit, we don’t need to worry about how we sell this, no waterfalls and finance plans are required!

However, we do want people to watch it! Whilst us sharing it and asking some friends to share will get it so far, a key to distributing a project like this is film festivals. 

With thousands of festivals out there, it can be tempting to scatter-gun it out across to them all, but that would come at some expense! Festival applications tend to cost money and this can add up very quickly. There are several things to consider when searching for the right festivals for a project.

Genre

Many festivals are open to all genres and mediums, though many also have niches, themes or specific audiences. There are horror festivals, documentary, Sci-Fi, experimental and LGBTQ+. Some festivals are animation specific, some have an animation category and others require you to enter alongside all the live action shorts. This can help get your film in front of the best audiences.

Location

We will aim for a mix of closer and more exotic locations for the festivals we apply to, but there needs to be a reason we want to appeal to an audience somewhere. Wylder is non-verbal, which means we don’t need to worry about language barriers, but this is something to consider for most films. 

Culture is also necessary to take into account when picking. Will this film play well and be of interest to a US audience? Will it have meaning in Asia? Is there a market or area you particularly want to break into?

A few years ago we produced a short film called The Ship, all about Cornwall breaking away from the mainland and sailing away on its own. We knew this would be best received firstly by a Cornish audience, then the South West and then the UK as a whole. Portugal or India would probably have less interest in this tale..!

Competition

Whilst we know we will be super proud of this project, we aren’t rushing to apply for the Academy Awards or the Palm D’Or just yet. You want to find the balance of entering competitions where you feel as though you have a good chance of being shortlisted and even winning, with the desire to push and go for bigger and better opportunities and wider audiences. 

So that’s it! The home stretch. Keep your eyes peeled as we hope to share the finished short with you super soon.