Thomas M. Watt's Blog, page 17

Forcing Familiarity

“Read it!” The author said to the stranger.

Anytime you release a creative project – be it a novel, a film, a product, or an idea – you must take into account the realistic reception it will most likely receive.

It is naive and ignorant to anticipate the masses will flock to view your work because of its “masterful composition.” Any creative individual seeking external validation has signed up for disappointment.

The most common misconception of any artist is that the quality of their work will be instantly recognized upon its release. This is because the human mind does not operate that way.

Let’s say you decide one fine Sunday to read a book that has 0 reviews and no prior purchases.

Despite the fact you do not know the title of the book, nor it’s contents, nor its subject matter, you have already made an assumption about its overall quality. You are picturing novel ripe with plot holes, poorly applied research, and quite possibly grammatical errors. Why? Because you are looking for a reason to explain why the novel is a failure. It has thus far been labeled a failure by the rest of society, therefore you must examine it to figure out why.

This is no different than how we judge our fellow brethren and sisters. When we meet somebody new we ask what their occupation is shortly after introducing ourselves. In a job interview we provide a chronological blueprint about our prior life experiences in order to vouch for a job. In other words, we validate individuals, materials, and philosophies by first examining how they have been validated by others.

Now let us pretend on this fine Sunday morning that you have purchased a Stephen King novel instead. Perhaps you have never read any of his books before. What angle do you approach the pages with? You seek to discover why he is regarded as one of the all-time great novelists. You will study those pages and analyze the story in order to find the recipe to success. You are ready to receive his book with high regard and it will take work to change your opinion.

What’s the point of all this? To reassure any person out there who is trying to introduce something new to society that they are not falling short because of their skills and talents. That plays a role (the biggest in the long run), but it is not 100% responsible for the reception it receives. As a brand new novelist, your work will still be compared to Stephen King’s for examples of what not to do.

So what’s the point? Why even try? How can this hurdle be overcome?

You must continue to market your work even after learning it is not the masterpiece you once thought it to be. You must continue to defend yourself even after your weaknesses have been exposed. You must become a sales person who realizes that the consumer will not buy their product unless they are convinced it is a worthy investment.

The more you expose your imperfect work, as gut-wrenching as that may be, the more the public will find a sense of familiarization with you, the individual. Where at first they said no, they may eventually say yes – and only because they have been exposed to your brand multiple times. This is why advertising exists, after all – we’re not running to Mcdonalds every time we see a billboard. However, we may just feel like a McGriddle when we head into work the next day.

If you’re interested in my imperfect work, please check out my short film below and feel free to leave me a comment:

Premiere Failure

The worst thing that could have happened during last Friday’s premiere did happen.

I have been pushing this film for months. During all that time I refrained from exposing it to the cast and crew due to an understanding that first impressions mean everything. From what I gathered online, you should treat the premiere of your films as if they are an actual blockbuster event. You want to generate hype, raise awareness, and create excitement. I spent 2 long days working on the trailer. Much to my dismay, I spent another full day putting together a series recap for new viewers who want to get rapidly caught up.

As the premiere event approached, I began to post links online in hopes to have a live audience and stellar viewpoint (20-30 for me is stellar lol). I succeeded. And then the film started playing –

But let me point out one last thing. Experience has taught me that once a video is fully edited, I must upload it in private and watch the entire thing, beginning to end, on multiple devices. This helps to realize audio, story, and visual issues. I had already done this, and uploaded the video one week earlier.

So the premiere starts – I became confused, then panicked, then infuriated. The video premiered in 720p. I exported it a 2160 4k hd. For those who are unaware, this means the resolution – aka quality – was about a quarter of what it was supposed to be. For the cast and families viewing, they were exposed to rinky dink audio and the visual quality of a 1996 vhs tape.

I immediately pulled the links and was about to pull the video. When the premiere finished, however, it became available in 1080p. I figured out then that the video had not begun processing the HD version until after it had already been played through.

The damage was done, however. The great first impression was a let down. I emailed the actors and recommended they check out the video again after it had processed appropriately. I returned to promoting it the rest of the weekend and was able to bring the view total up. I have entered it into several festivals and have already been accepted by two.

Anyways, just wanted to share this horror story. If anybody out there intends to premiere a video on youtube, please make certain you upload it as private initially, allow it to fully process in high definition, and then set the premiere date. Otherwise you will suffer the same humiliation as I.

If you are interested in the actual video, feel free to view below.

Episode 4 – Mountain Cult

It’s complete.

Episode 4 – Mountain Cult

Its finally finished and available for viewing.

After months of blogging about it, episode 4 is finally ready for viewing. Please leave a like if you enjoy the video because it helps us create future episodes. Thank you 100000 times to anyone who takes the time to watch any amount of it.

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Marketing

After being locked away editing for months, it feels extremely satisfying to finally be able to market my work.

I have posted my work to film freeway in order to find contests to enter, and the response has been overwhelming. Around 50 different contests have offered me a P discount to enter, which is awesome!

Today I have the tasks of writing them all down and budgeting my contests allotment appropriately. I would like to view the work at festivals if at all possible, and will try to enter contests appropriately.

As always, hustling has been a challenge. I’ve posted my teasers here as well as reddit and am approaching other avenues as well. I’m trying my best to build up some hype for episode 4’s release. I want to reach 1000 views on it before the end of January.

One platform I desperately would like to post the video to is Amazon Prime Video Direct. If you post a video on there that begins garnering a large amount of rentals you can receive monetary compensation. The big problem with this is the music in my videos come from Epidemic Sound. There standard license does not cover amazon as a platform.

This means that in order to post my video there, I would have to replace all of the current music. I can either record music myself or pursue another artist to provide the score. Not sure what I’m going to do yet, but this is a platform I would like to submit to. Only other option would be to purchase a single track license from Epidemic, which at $99 a pop is out of the question. Stay tuned.

3 Minutes Series Recap

A recap of episodes 1-3 prior to the launch of Episode 4. Hey it took me all day so I feel like I better post it somewhere.

Episode 4 is Complete!!

Without going into too much detail, I’ve completed Episode 4 along with the trailer. To say I’m relieved is an understatement. I spent much of last week learning how to create a 5.1 surround sound audio mix. I’m still very much in the dark, but I did realize I had configured my dialogue to play out of the front left and right speakers (wrong!). In film and television, dialogue plays out of the front center speaker, music is mixed in the left/right speakers front and rear, and sound effects are (mostly) in the rear speakers. There is also the subwoofer which can deal with explosions or perhaps a submix.

Believe it or not, becoming a sound engineer in 5 days was harder than I first thought (I gave up on 5.1). But I was able to finally figure out how to set my tracks to stereo and deliver a more full dialogue sound without blowing out the speakers.

Enough with the gibberish – I’m done editing! This means that I can go outside for a jog and expose my skin to sunlight again. But it also means I’m ready to enter the next step – marketing, contest, and self-promotion. I know a lot of people on wordpress are writers who are currently working on a novel of some sort. Before I got into film I was doing the same.

In the modern age it is highly advised to be marketing while you are still creating your project. Honestly I feel this sentiment is laughable. There is so much work involved in the creation of anything, and that work is always introverted. I am convinced the human brain does not work fluidly among all quadrants, but that one area of focus takes precedence over another. The reason that matters is because creation of any piece of artwork takes an EXTREMELY introverted brain. The type that is uncomfortable with the moral and spiritual implications of braggadocio style marketing.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that controversy, pie-in-the-sky claims, and a unbreakable ego are tools that will help you promote yourself/your work. It’s that “confidence” we always hear is so important for job interviews, first dates, and success in life in general. The great irony of “confidence” is it always feels that when you approach your work with any semblance of arrogance (i.e., the viewer will enjoy my material because I am great therefore my work is great) is that quickest way to compose a steaming pile of shit.

It’s taken a lot of words to get to my point, but here it is – When you are creating art, you must remain introspective and humble to convey the truth of emotion you seek to bring to life. When you are promoting your artwork, you must stay true to the realities of the world – that people won’t look at your work unless you give them a reason to (that ideally fulfills a curiosity, longing, or necessity you have attached to your product). It takes two different brains and personalities to accomplish these very diverse tasks.

Anyways, I will be spending my morning editing the subtitles of my video in order to submit it to amazon on demand. I am also hoping to send it out to a few contests later today. Along with that I’ll continue to promote the trailer.

You can find the trailer down below. If you take the time to view it and leave a like/comment, I will do 5 jumping jacks. Thank you and I wish you a wonderful day.

Episode 4 – Premiering 12/18/2020

More Excuses – 12-7-20

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No trailer yet. I became too invested in an animation yesterday. This involved the closing title. I have good news, however.

I have completed the project.

I’m going to be screening it tonight and get some eyes on it. If there are no glaring issues, I will be announcing a release date. I am hoping for this Friday, but I owe it to everyone involved to release it on a date that I can use SOME kind of marketing for. I have the next two days too hang with my girlfriend, but I plan on making a trailer tomorrow. Once the trailer is completed, I will spend a couple hours figuring out a marketing strategy.

Chances are I will not be able to build a ton of momentum going into release. However, I would like to optimize the exposure on the date of release as much as possible. Even if that means giving the cast a couple of days to plan a small viewing party.

I am very excited to watch it tonight. I’ve gone over it pretty intensely and believe the color grade, audio, and animations are all the best that I can make them. That for me is my indication that it is ready.

Hoping to post a trailer here VERY soon. Stay tuned.

Completion Update – 12-5-20

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Today I will put the finishing touches on episode 4. I hope to have a trailer done by the end of the day and will release it tomorrow morning. I plan on posting the episode next Friday and marketing it for one week.

Editing has taken much, much longer than I first anticipated, but that is alright. I have had to learn how to use after effects in order to generate animations that don’t look cheap and half-assed. I’ve had to learn color grading in multiple different ways – finally realizing masks are the most efficient way to separate skin tones from walls that don’t provide enough contrast.

The reason I am alright with taking so long is that I have learned so much during the course of this episode I am convinced I will continue to improve my filmmaking abilities and be able to edit much quicker in the future. It is easy to take short cuts and down load visual effects rather than craft your own, pay for Luts to avoid extensive color grading, and settle for low audio volume because you don’t want to learn how compression works. I spend most of my time at work learning about these subjects.

I’m certain the actors in the project have concluded that I abandoned the project altogether at this point, as I have not been providing them with any updates. I will attribute that to my own objective honesty and refusal to get there hopes up. Nothing brings me more joy than to see my work appreciated. I would like nothing more than to discover they are pleasantly surprised with the quality of the finished project. The other thing to keep in mind as a director of legitimate actors is that I want them to be proud of the episode. If they are not, they will not return.

Once I am done editing, I will move into marketing mode. Any person who follows my blog will rightfully realize that I am a single-minded individual. I am incapable of wearing many hats at the same time. I get overwhelmed if I begin thinking about the next steps too early. Once I am done editing, I will spend the week looking at various contests and give strong consideration to imprinting T-shirts with the logo of the show on it. Despite having a net total of 0 anticipated customers, I believe after this episode comes out I may have several supporters who might “like this sort of thing.” As I’ve stated previously, any type of revenue I can generate for filmmaking will have an exponential effect on the efficiency with which I can create short films. As long as I do not have a budget for film I will have to work overtime shifts to finance them myself, which obviously reduces the amount of time I have to shoot, write and edit.

Looking forward to sharing the trailer with you tomorrow. If I don’t have one ready by then, please kick me.