Earth Days Project

Introduction

This report concerns a project undertaken by the Film Producer class FIL-4661 offered by the Film Department at the University of Central Florida in the spring of 2009.

This class included overviews and tutorials on marketing approaches such as learning how to set up blogs, promote, market, and find target audiences through using social online networking such as Myspace and Facebook Ads, and how to set up a Basecamp account to communicate with group members.

Furthermore, the class included lectures from marketing experts such as Florida Film Festival programmer Matthew Curtis, producer Christine Vachon, UCF professors and previous marking directors of the Florida Film Festival; Shannon Lacek and Rich Grula, former students of The Film Producer class; Tom Hurter and Nick Martinolich, and Professor Randy Finch.

The Film Producer class was divided into twenty teams, which included ten documentaries, nine feature narratives, and one Florida feature from a former UCF graduate student Danny Daneau. Each team was assigned a film that would screen in competition at the 2009 Florida Film Festival. As well, students worked with the Florida Film Festival staff and the various filmmakers. The students in FIL-4661 were responsible for the guerrilla marketing of the competition films.

Our team included Addison Bryan, Cinema Studies major, expected graduation in 2009, Nicole Monahan, Cinema Studies major, expected graduation in 2010, and Hector Sierra, Cinema Studies major, expected graduation in 2010. We were assigned a film in the documentary competition entitled Earth Days. The filmmaker/producer we were in contact with was Robert Stone, as well as Jen Holmes the Account Executive of The American Experience.

The following is a report on what we attempted, what we accomplished and, most importantly, what we learned.