March 17 at 7:48am

The Exhibitor Audience Collaboration

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I ran into Chris Dorr last week and had a good conversation with him about the many different ways the film world needs to engage with social media. One of the ideas here offered was exhibitors and festivals utilizing FourSquare. I tweeted the genius idea and sure enough soon learned that at least one film festival was ahead of the curve. AMERICAN SPLENDOR created a soft spot in my heart for Cleveland and now learning what the Cleveland International Film Festival was up to brought a sweet pang of joy.

What’s FourSquare you ask? CIFF explains:

Foursquare, a social networking tool for mobile devices, is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide, and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things. Anytime you log your location with Foursquare, you earn points that translate into virtual “badges.” Frequenting a place more than anyone else will earn you the title of “Mayor.”

My only question though is what does becoming Mayor of CIFF get you? It’s the kind of thing that I think all festivals should engage in and Mayor status should bring a free pass for next year. Theaters should also do the same and offer free tickets.

Simple promotions awarding the monthly “Mayor” is just the start of things that could come from a FourSquare alliance.  Mike Vogel pointed out that filmmakers could come up with ways to entice people who had earned a “Swarm” badge with 50+ attendees.  What such ideas do you have to share?

Let’s recognize and accept that it is not just the movie that audiences want, but also the social experience. We have to work harder to find ways to enhance that. One thing is for sure though, the more you know the regulars at a theater then more you feel at home — and the more you feel at home the more that you are going to be there.

Update 3/21:  The comments below are full of good ideas.  I hope the film festivals & exhibitors  listen (and foursquare too).  Please let me know of any that are doing it right (and why) as you come across them.

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  • Thanks for the mention.

    The key issue here is the use of incentives. Here is where the imagination should run wild. The incentives do not have to be limited simply to money or substitutes for money. They also can be localized or personalized, so what works in Cleveland may be very different from what works in Miami. They can be funny, they can be serious, they can be used to help raise money for worthy causes, they can used to help local businesses gain customers.

    Most of all they can be used to drive the notion of community, to enhance the experience of gathering, the granting of recognition within the community. And in the instance of film, connecting the audience to the filmmaker(s) and the audience to itself. And therefore using the viewing of the film as an occasion not only to enjoy (be challenged, educated, emotionally engaged by) the film but also to grant greater meaning to the gathering of the people who have chosen to come to see the film in one place.

    So movie theaters should no longer discourage cell phone use--instead they should seek ways to enlarge cell phone use. If done with imagination--it creates a better environment for theater going--thus encouraging repeat business.
  • I think the concept of foursquare and promotions awarding monthly "Mayor" status is very interesting from a marketing standpoint. Taking a larger view, I think it is important to look at the chain or channel of distribution and attempt to extend the possibilities for audiences to see more independent films and perspectives in theme, genre and scope.

    The idea of taking film festivals into the neighborhoods and independently run cinema's provides the greatest potential for expansion of a new indie film aesthetic. There is plenty of "product" (I use the word somewhat cynically) or films that are not making it through the traditional theatrical distribution channels. In some cases, no traditional distributor is willing to risk investment capital on alternative subjects, treatments, or unknown casting.

    In many cases, small indie owned and run art house cinema's need films that offer an alternative to what's being shown in the multiplexes and in first-run theatrical venues. By bypassing the investor/distributor funnel and getting films on screens in front of audiences hungry for alternatives (perhaps a single film would not run in six slots every night for two weeks) by bicycling around mini-festivals curated to reflect new ideas and work by indie filmmakers.
  • Check out Dan Zeitman's FilmFest (http://filmfest.me) interfaces with existing social networks - was very helpful in promoting my short film last year at Frameline 33. Any others out there?
  • It would also be nice if filmmakers could create their own badges for people who attend their screenings, like how SXSW had unique badges.

    And similar to restaurants rewarding The Mayor or frequent customers, what if films rewarded Mayors - people who attended the most screenings at a festival or city or just most screenings period - with DVDs, swag, special super fan status, etc.
  • There's quite a few things that could be done with mobile apps, never thought about geolocation though. I've started thinking about other ways of increasing interactivity using cellphones like putting QR codes right in the film for people to link to and exploring further into the details of the story some how. The downside is that you'd be in a theatre whipping out your cellphone which is not usually looked highly upon.
  • I would add that festivals need to explore the development of smartphone apps. Apps that offer access and portability for information from the festival website such as event schedules, screening times and even movie trailers for audiences to make informed decisions on how and where they spend their time. User-generated content (blog posts, Twitter feeds, video uploads) can be curated and distributed via the app to connect attendees and foster interactivity.

    Mobile coupons and local discount offers could be integrated from nearby businesses along with Foursquare functionality, geo-targeted meetups and dynamic media platform (i.e., Facebook, Twitter) functionalities.
  • dl willson
    the notes about foursquare are dead on besides I think there are better options now... ...(not to toot my own horn but )it is why I tried to hook up arin crumley (for openindie) and dennis (crowley -foursquare founder) when arin announced he and kieran were going to be working on the openindie thing back last summer. But now I think Gowalla, Layer and Britekite are the better options.
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