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Can has publicist? + HSM Q & A podcast

Since I suck at trying to publicize the film... and because perhaps some of you have a knack for it or have access to contacts that I don't have... I've made the probably crappy press release I wrote public... you can download it here

So feel free to edit it/distribute it/whatever.... if you think you can get the film some press go for it! And don't forget to become an affiliate and use your link if you do get it some press so you can make some $$$ too ^ ^

When this nice publicist d00d gave me a free consultation he said I need to get famous people to see my work and comment it..which will give it their approval so the people that follow their stuff might check it out...So part of the plan is to try to get these people to see the film via free download or whatever and perhaps comment on it or something... there are the people I have in mind so far.. as they have either greatly influenced me and might be into the film... David Lynch, Trent Reznor, Francis Ford Coppola, Clive Barker, John Carpenter, Tech N9ne, Jonathan Davis, Mike Judge, Terry Gilliam, Seth Godin, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mike Patton, Tim Burton, Guillermo Del Toro...

If you know any of these peoples email addresses I can send them a free download haha BUT without an introduction it prolly looks like spam... imma email the peeps on here who have a public email address but if you have any connections to these people or anyone you think could help HSM let em know! ^ ^

I think Heart String Marionette is an extraordinary thing... but that doesn't mean that I know how to sell or market it to anyone who hasn't already been following my work...

I was thinking about trying to use Kickstarter to fund a DVD/Blu-ray release and I probably should do it as there's nothing to lose except pride if it fails haha

Something that is tite and free that I can do for sure is do several episodes of the podcast about HSM... We'll have a bunch of Q & A and I'll try to get all the cast on the show at some point... so the next episode will be a HSM Q&A and each subsequent episode we'll feature a cast member as a guest...

So please submit your questions as comments to this post about the film to me, Endika, or any member of the cast so that we can answer them on upcoming shows! Thanks!

Comments

  1. Calling all M Dot Strange fans. Let us get the word out.
    I am going to email these websites tonight, if we can get at least 50 people to email them randomly they may take notice.
    Remember M Dots success is our success.

    www.twitchfilms.com
    www.awn.com
    www.cartoonbrew.com
    www.wired.com
    www.cnet.com
    www.gametrailers.com
    www.aintitcoolnews.com
    www.i09.com

    If you come up with more sites for tomorrows "operation hsm" please post here and we'll do the same.

    Oh and at CGtalk.com there is a post called "Pixar and Dreamworks Move over the Uberector have risen" Go there and start posting about the film.

    I'm amped to get promoting. I hope you do to.

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    Replies
    1. I was pimping HSM on the CGtalk thread for sure, but I have yet to post about it's release...got busy with my own thing. I'll make it a point to try and help revive that thread. Is there an official HSM thread on CGtalk? (I think I read something about there being one but that it was moved? or deleted? Sounds about rite for that forum >___>)

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  2. also added toplessrobot, newgrounds and geekytyrant

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  3. also Nerdbastard.com Mania.com, and filmdrunk so please feel free to email those guys. The more we email them the more they'll think something must be cool about this guy. So let us do these sites today and tomorrow and then if you have others please post them here.
    I made each one personal so it does not sound like a bunch of robots and spam.

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    Replies
    1. might as well add ign to the list. they do have a movie section and movie reviews do get front paged on there.

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    2. That is just the ones I emailed today. If you compile a list for tomorrow's slam fest we'll do that. I was hoping we can keep this going in waves. All of us hit the sites at the same time. If we can just get 15-25 per site on the list then that would really build some momentum. It would should people are interested. I guess I'll go ahead and do IGN tonight as well.

      Let's hit them hard! So anyone else want to put up a list and we'll email those forums and groups today and tomorrow?

      Delete
    3. Awesome! Sounds like you got a plan Shawn! Yeh d00d I think for us indies to survive and flourish we have to work together ^_^

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    4. Yes we do. If one of us is successful then it adds some success to all of us, showing folks we don't have to be cogs in the wheel but that folks can make a living doing what they love. I want you to be successful.

      Delete
  4. What about Kotaku?

    There are also bunch of well known youtube film critics that might be willing to check out your movies.
    Such as, Jeremy Jahns, Tom Chatalbash, Schemoes know movies, Christ Stuckmann, etc.
    The problem is they only review well known "big" movies, but it never hurts to ask, right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I also sent this to i09 because they seem to cover a lot of indie film stuff, I have yet to hear back or see an article, but maybe if some of us send the press release?

      Delete
  5. You like Trent Reznor? :D He's my absolute biggest musical influence! Love that guy! I'll definitely tweet HSM stuff to him or post stuff on nin.com, or whatever else. He usually takes some time every week or so to browse through stuff that people post on nin.com, so I've definitely got that one covered. And DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DEFINITELY get ahold of Jimmy Urine again and get him to post stuff on MSI's pages since they have a pretty big and very loyal fanbase that would be into weirder stuff. Also, I think I'll look into how to get something like the HSM trailer on StumbleUpon. I know I've discovered indie animated short films on there before, so it might help. And I definitely agree with everyone on the Newgrounds idea! I don't have any direct connections with famous people, but I can post HSM stuff anywhere that is relevant. And we fellow Marionettes must UNITE! I'm all for coordinated efforts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeh d00d I wore out my Pretty Hate Machine and Broken CD's ^_^ Jimmy Urine emailed me and said he was gonna promote it real soon... I know he's busy promo'ing Lollipop Chainsaw right now... but yeh what would be the best way to get the movie to people like Trent Reznor? Free download through email address? Youtube link? What do you think?

      Delete
    2. If we want to get to Trent, then we first have to emphasize the fact that it's independent and experimental in its marketing approach. This is the first thing to emphasize because Trent's been trying to figure out what you and all the other uberectors have been trying to figure out for marketing, only with his own music. He's been paying a lot of attention to business models and how to give the audience what they want while also making enough to keep going, especially since he's independent now. After that, definitely emphasize the uniqueness and strangeness of the film, since he's known to have an affinity for strange films (especially Eraserhead). Oh, and make sure to emphasize the fact that the animation and writing and such was all done by ONE GUY. He's been an UBER-musician (ubersician?) as NIN, so it'd definitely interest him on that level. Put that all in some "press release" type thingy, along with a link to the trailer and a link for free download (I can go ahead and make that version of the press release thingy for you and send it to you ^_^). Now all we'd need is to find a way to get that ONE sliver of attention from him, and we can slowly pull him in. Just my ideas though, as I've seen enough interviews with Trent to have a good idea of what he's into and what he's like (superfan much?). I also have some other musicians in mind that are somewhat known that I might be able to get in touch with somehow. So yeah, I'll keep you updated on what I come up with. ^_^

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  6. If you do the KickStarter project heres some tips and junk.
    Tell people on here about it.
    Post a link to it on youwilldieinside.com
    Make a video both for the project, and for youtube, and hell even for here telling of it. Be sure to include that you are the dude that made WATS... that's more famous than you think. Include "autographed" prizes on the project. Those get instant "oooooh's" on that site.
    And ONE VERY IMPORTANT-ish THING!!! Send me (via email) an advertising image with the dimensions of 300x250 for your project.. Something along the lines of what a general "poster image" would look like. Oh and a link to your KickStarter Project.
    I would be more than happy to spice up that image with some text for you and take the link and all it's havings and get a paid ad up on deviantART. (paid by myself ofcourse) The way they have it set up is its paid by clicks, so i can prepay for say 500 clicks, guaranteeing that atleast 500 people from an ARTS site atleast look at your project. Which is good cuz everytime i see a kickstarter ad on deviantART and i go to it, it ends up being more than 200% funded.
    Holy Novel BatMan! Sorry bro, just tryin to help.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What this d00d says...

      Also, if someone say, contributed MORE than the sale price of the DVD or BD, could you consider it as sortof a "pre-order" type thing? So like, if I contributed $50, maybe get the DVD, for $100 contrib maybe the BD, hell, you could probably go even higher and throw in personal swag like a signed sketch or something.

      Delete
    2. no disrespect to either ZephyrStar or MdotS, but im gonna have to dissagrees on that pricing there. Since dvd's can be made for around $1. (basic DiscMakers price for an order of 1,000) i think trying to sell a DVD for $50 is just wayyy too high, even for HSM. (thats where the no disrespect part comes in)
      I'd say about $20-$25 for a plain ole DVD and hike it up if you decide to do autographetized ones. Think of the "donations" that the kickstarter backers give, as payment for their prize, you know? so be sure that whatever they are buying, you charge them enough for both the shipping of teh items, and the cost of what you would averagely sell it for. The KickStarter "help" area states that there chizz that doesnt have prizes for $10 donations or lower almost never get fully funded. So idk, have like a script or poster available too... IN THE END its all yours, Mdot so do as you wish.

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  7. Okay fellas, let us keep emailing folks but for best impact let's be organized.
    Here is the list I did last night.
    IGN
    Newsarama
    Cartoonbrew
    ToplessRobot
    Wired
    Mania
    IO9
    Twitchfilms
    GeekyTyrant
    Channelfrederator
    3d World Magazine
    Tom Fulp at Newgrounds (he is content friendly so if he has a crowd tell him he'll come through, maybe put episodes of WATS on front page)
    CGtalk still has the open thread which needs some traffic going to.
    Newsarama
    CBR

    I would have done more but personalized each one.

    I'll start now with the others you guys have mentioned.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Question! While watching HSM, I realized...the devil speaks polish? :o Is there a reason for this? Just curious. Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. i started a forum thread on the deviantART "movies" area.
    heres a link to it, if anybody wants include their own two cents and make the thread topic even larger. http://forum.deviantart.com/entertainment/movies/1749690/
    I did what Triplenumberslikeme had mentioned on the previous blog, i "talked" about the film itself, not just mentioning the title and the creator. I made sure not to give out any spoilers or anything like that and i gave a brief, casual, summary of what goes on in the film. Hope that brings more attention for you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey does that guy you used as a voice from Army of Darkness know Sam Raimi?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Totally off subject, but thought of you first when I read this. Apparently Valve is about to release their animation studio. Thought you'd be interested...

    http://www.destructoid.com/valve-releases-moviemaking-tool-source-filmmaker-230309.phtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Destructoid+%28Destructoid%29&utm_content=FaceBook

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  12. I currently have no real internets and no working modern computer at home so I've yet to even manage to watch the whole thing properly yet ;__; but when I'm back in technological action at my new place I'll be majorly spreading the word for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Contacting Trent Reznor is a great idea!

    ReplyDelete

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