A2 media coursework

1. Target Audience
One of the most important things you can do as a filmmaker is to build an audience for your
film. Your audience is your publicity and funding machine! Don't wait until you need cash to
start looking for your audience. An audience that has been nurtured for months or years will
become eager supporters when they are needed.

2. 5 Tips To Find And Build Your Audience

3. Think in Keywords
Have you ever uploaded a video to YouTube and typed in the keywords that describe
that video? Those keywords are BIG clues to your audience. Think about the keywords
and themes of your documentary: "olympics", "elderly", "Pakistan", "funny", etc. Those
keywords represent your audience!

4. Scratch The Itch
What’s the hook that’s drawing people to your documentary? Is it a shared passion
such as human rights, love of travel, football? Is it the desire to promote a shared value
such as a plant-based diet, finance reform or tolerance of illegal immigrants? Find out
where those people “hang out” (blogs, forums, events, etc), tell them about your movie.
Sign them up for your email list and Facebook page!

5. Engage and Entertain
It’s not enough to just report information about your project. In fact, talking about “me,
me, me” is a big turn-off. What is it about your project is interesting to your audience?
What will entertain, shock and delight your audience? As a filmmaker, you have a
distinct advantage that you are already shooting footage that can be repackaged into
short compelling snippets for your social media pages.

6. Create Series of Film Trailers
The sooner a trailer can be produced about your movie, the easier it becomes to start
building your audience. And don’t think that just one trailer will do. Making multiple
trailers geared specifically toward different niche audiences will yield bigger and better
results. Don’t wait until your documentary is completed to make a trailer. Engaging an
audience long before the movie is made will yield much better results.

7. Find the “Influencers”
Remember the keywords and themes for your documentary? Who are the
influencers (bloggers, organizations, authors, etc) in those niches? Reach out to
those people and get them so excited about your documentary that they can’t
resist sharing your project with their audience. Can you offer a freebie to their
audience? An exclusive video clip? Produce a free video for the influencer? Do
what filmmakers do best… get creative!