What To Include In Your Film's Press & Publicity Portfolio

If you're a student, graduate or freelance filmmaker, you may find that all your focus and energy goes on actually creating your film and you forget about all the stuff that comes after. Maybe you're ready to submit your amazing short into a festival, but you need a press & publicity portfolio to do so.

The good news is that if you've been as professional as possible during production, you will already have the majority of the content you need for your portfolio. It's always best to think about distribution and marketing before and during the production of your project, but let's be honest, us creatives never think about the paperwork.

So for all of you filmmakers panicking about what information you need to gather, here's a handy checklist and a few reasons why you need to include all these extra elements.

• Film title and name of Director - Pretty self explanatory really, you can't market a film with no name! And everyone knows the director is the most important part of the crew (that is, the director likes to think so ;P) 
• Synopsis of your film - People need to know what your film is about, so let them know in a short paragraph. Film festivals will usually use your synopsis when showcasing your film in their own marketing materials as well, so this is usually a mandatory field. 
• Cast and crew bios - They don't have to be pages long, just a one or two sentences about who your cast and crew are and if they have worked on any other impressive projects in the past. 
• Publicity stills and behind the scenes shots - Publicity stills are always handy to have, especially when it comes to making things like DVD covers, posters and flyers. You will usually have to provide a HQ image for film festivals, again for their own marketing purposes. Behind the scenes shots can be very useful for the marketing of your film, but are also handy to keep in your personal portfolio. 
• Reviews of your film - Showcase your film to family and friends or even your local movie critic and get some raving reviews to really big up your project. 
• Length and year of production - Sometimes festivals will have time limits on entries, or both film time and age of the film, so they may ask you for this information off the bat. 
• Funding information - State how your film was funded, was it through crowd funding, self funding or investors. 
• Copyright details - State who owns your film, music, press images and any other media used in the production of the film. 
• Contact details - Email addresses of the producer and director, URL of your production company etc. 
• Any other festivals/awards - Make sure to state if your film has been involved in any other festivals, screenings or has won any awards. Filmmakers love a good shiny award!

You can always add any extras you have that you feel could really make your film stand out from the rest. This is for a hard copy of your portfolio, which film festivals still tend to ask for. However, film is slowly moving into the digital age and electronic portfolios are becoming more and more popular. I will be doing an electronic portfolio post in the near future, but they basically include everything I've listed, in digital form. 

Do you keep your films marketing and distribution in mind during production? Or do you rush the paperwork at the last minute? 

Media Monday: Godzilla (2014) Movie Review

(Image sourced from Google images)

I'm going to try very hard not to give any huge plot points away in this review, but just in case I fail I would just like to warn that this review may contain spoilers! 

Now we have all the disclaimer stuff out the way let's get down to it. I am a child of the 90's and therefore the image of Godzilla is one of a giant evil lizard stepping on camera men and being chased around New York by Matthew Broderick and a French guy. When I heard that they were out to make a more modern version I was extremely skeptical. Let's be honest the 90's version of Godzilla wasn't the best, but it was a feel good family movie which was moderately entertaining.

This new Godzilla pays homage to the original Japanese movies, in which the plot consisted of Godzilla coming in, destroying cities but ultimately fighting another, less interesting monster. In fact the whole premise of the new movie is exactly that, Godzilla kicking some serious giant bug creature butt.

The positives

The special effects are the best I've ever seen in a movie. The design and look of Godzilla is spot on and he actually looks kind of cute, in a big scary lizard kind of way. The action is on form and really does keep you hooked throughout the entire 123 minutes and surprisingly Aaron Taylor Johnson does serious action pretty convincingly. The fighting between the monsters is also amazing, partially to the effects but once you get into the big, final battle you can't take your eyes off of it. 

The negatives

I have to say there are a few. The first one that most of the people in our cinema screen noticed was that logic doesn't seem to exist in this films world. For example, would you really need binoculars to see a giant bug making it's way towards Las Vegas? I don't think you would, but apparently the army and the people of Vegas can't see 3 feet in front of them. The other major problem with this film? The story. We all agreed that there isn't much story you can actually get out of a monster movie and this film proved us right. It's basically a typical action, end of the world plot, man has a family, man has to leave family to save the world etc. etc. If anything the humans actually got in the way and didn't seem very necessary, if they had just let Godzilla get on with it everything would have been solved a lot faster.  One more thing is that some of the characters felt obsolete. The character of the wife played by Elizabeth Olsen didn't bring anything to the story and none of her scenes seemed to move anything along, she was basically a filler for when Godzilla was having a nap. I honestly love Elizabeth Olsen, I think she is a great actress with a promising future but in this she didn't really do anything. If they were giving away Oscars for standing around and looking terrified and worried, she would win hands down.

So is it worth a watch? 

Yes! The story may be overly predictable and silly at times but let's be honest; none of us want to watch a film like Godzilla for the human relationships and interactions. I wanted to see Godzilla beat the shiz out of other monsters and that is what I got, in spectacular visual fashion. It's an entertaining action film filled with amazing explosions and monster mashing, just don't think too much about what's actually going on. 

Have you seen Godzilla yet? What did you think, excellent and fun or lame and boring?

November Favourites ♥

It is time to share with you all, the many things I have been loving throughout this merry month of November! As per usual I have a few beauty bits and also a few random bits to share with you all, so let's start with the beauty bits shall we? 

Beauty

Batiste Fruity and Cheeky Cherry Dry Shampoo

Why, as a lazy student, I have only just started using dry shampoo I will never know. This stuff smells so delicious and cherry-like that I can't stop sniffing it. I love to use this on days where I have n0 time and don't want to look like I haven't showered in a few months. This works really well for me, but I do have a few friends with very thick hair who have said it pretty much does nothing, so it definitely depends on your hair type.

Tresseme Platinum Strength Shampoo & Conditioner

I am in love with this shampoo and conditioner, it makes my hair super soft and feel so healthy and strong. It has also helped control my frizz and makes my hair lovely and shiny!

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation in Gobi

I think for me, this is one of those 'love hate' products. Sometimes I'll use this and it looks flawless and other times it clings to dry patches and looks a bit on the yellow side. I have found that this works 10x better with a primer though and so lately, in conjunction with my Revlon Photo Ready Primer, it has been treating me well.

MAC Eye Shadow Quad - Grain, Cranberry, Embark & Sketch

I have two 15x MAC palettes that are full of beautiful shades that tend to get overlooked, so having a small quad that fits easily into a makeup bag allows me to rotate all my shadows, and make sure they all get a bit of loving. As it's winter, I thought I would show some of my more berry shades some love. These four shades are perfect for creating day and night looks and I do love a good smokey eye, so Sketch is a must. 

Random 

Film - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Catching Fire is my favourite book out of the three, so I was extremely worried that the film was going to screw it up, especially with that stupid handheld camera work that was over used in the first film. But alas, it was amazing and definitely did the book proud, not to mention Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job as per usual. 

Music - Lorde, Pure Heroine

I wasn't too sure about this album at first, I'm not a massive fan of the song 'Royals' so I was a bit put off. But I have to say, there are some even better songs on the album. For instance, the song Buzzcut Season may be one of my favourite songs ever, yes I said it, EVER!

TV - Dr Who: 50th Anniversary Special

I only watched this because I'm completely in love with David Tennant. I'm also an old school Dr Who fan, my dad used to force me to watch it when I was a kid. It was definitely enjoyable and it was fun to see some of the older Doctors back, I'm looking at you Tom Baker! It was however written by Steven Moffat and was therefore completely over complicated.

Journal

And my final favourite of the month is my journal. I saw a blog post about keeping a journal to store all the quotes, stories, poems and song lyrics that make you happy and I instantly went out to Paperchase. I've been enjoying doodling and writing positive messages to myself and it has definitely given me the pick me up I needed. 

So that's all from me and my favourites this month, but let me know what things you've been loving down in the comments!