Keeping the Kibbutz is now beginning to screen at festivals, community centers, synagogues, universities and museums across the US and abroad. It’s a wonderful feeling to see our work screened before audiences and to hear their feedback. Yet what is most interesting about this stage in the life of the film is that it is providing us incredible insight into what worked and what didn’t in the making of this film. The editing process resulted in many Homer Simpson ‘doh’ moments as we noticed a mic muff in the frame, a dirty lens, a missed opportunity. But it’s in the marketing, outreach and engagement stage that we’ve really begun to realize what connects a film with engaged audiences – the ultimate goal of producing a documentary. Here are some of the lessons we learned for the next time around. Hopefully these reflections will be helpful to other filmmakers.
1. Identify core audiences immediately and solicit their support right away.
We were so focused on the creation of the film that we neglected to seriously think about audience. While we had a rough idea of who our core audience was, we never surveyed these communities to get a sense of their desires and needs with respect to the topic of the kibbutz experience. I think their questions could have provided us a more refined direction while making the film. We also would have been well served by developing early on the personal relationships necessary to connect the film to the public.
2. Funding matters and not just for money
We made a few small efforts to obtain formal funding for Keeping the Kibbutz but once turned-down we failed to search for less competitive funding opportunities or evaluate our application and submit again (which is common for many filmmakers). We had the stubborn and naiive attitude that we would finish the film with or without funding and hopefully make some return on our investment. In retrospect, while helpful, it isn’t the money that we most missed out on. Rather, it’s the outreach support and connection to key communities that a large funder could have provided us. While we have a wonderful film on our hands, we are no match to the organizations with clout to connect their films to audiences. The lesson is that funding matters, and not just for money.
3. Hire an executive producer
Never create in a vacuum. We knew this as a fundamental truth in filmmaking but I’m not sure we understood the extent of outside support we needed. We utilized works-in-progress screenings and employed the feedback these screenings produced. But perhaps that support wasn’t quite enough. We needed a skilled, experienced and well-connected executive producer to come in with fresh eyes and help us sculpt the film into something that would be well-marketed.
4. Make more than one version of the film – one 70 minute and one 50 minute.
Our film ended up being 54 minutes, the length we felt best told the story. The length is perfect for television and community and university screenings as it allows plenty of time for discussion and Q&A without being exhaustive or extending beyond a classroom period. However, it’s a nearly impossible length for film festivals. In fact some festivals won’t even accept a film of that length. It can only be realistically programmed with two other shorts, and many festivals favor screening short films in a group, rather than at the front or tail end of an ‘essay length’ film. Most advisable is to film enough strong content to warrant a 70-90 minute film for festival and theatrical screening, then cut down to a 56 minute film that can be used in TV and educational screenings as well as marketing for television.
5. Take excellent photographs!
Taking excellent photos of the characters and setting of your film seems like an extraneous measure but it’s just as important as your cinematography. These photographs will ultimately be used to market and sell your film on your website, posters and postcards, and DVD cover. Think about flipping through a film festival catalogue or through the independent section of the video rental store. It is the jacket cover images that make you want read the synopsis. While the video equipment of late makes for excellent stills, it’s rare that in the run and gun of verite, you’ll capture that iconic image that will say everything you want to say about the film. After filming or even throughout the production process, leave time for taking phenomenal photos of your characters, the setting, and even symbolic items – such as a flag, a typewriter, or paintbrush – whatever will help to portray your film. And don’t forget to have someone taking pictures of you at work, especially behind the camera. You can use these pics for the “about the director” section of your website and press kit. We did a very poor job of taking photographs and so we ultimately had to utilize stills from the film that did not necessarily have the clearest resolution.
6. Keep a production journal
This is one of the actions we did do right. We kept a thorough production journal, which at the time helped us sort through our thoughts and experiences while filming. Later on, we were able to re-post these blog entries on our Keeping the Kibbutz website blog. We’ve also used some of the anecdotal stories, which may have been otherwise forgotten over time, to provide audiences with some insight into the “making of” during post-screening discussions.
7. Film Extras!
While it’s very important to have a distinct focus when filming a documentary film, your deep exploration of a topic may lead you to many interesting stories you never imagined. And while these stories may not exactly fit into the narrative trajectory of your film, they can be integrated into featurettes that can be included in your DVD ‘extras’. They lend additional insight into the topic and are viewable at the discretion of the home viewer. For example, one of our characters’ Francois and his wife Esther cared for wounded birds, turning their backyard into an eclectic bird hospital and sanctuary replete with a massive turquoise cage and a 20 ft. tall bird home for “Craw” the friendly crow. This footage was ultimately made into a 5 minute featurette entitled “The Birds.” We also filmed elements of Ben’s grandmother’s life: entertaining friends, exercising, going to the salon, eating lunch in the dining room, riding around on her little golf cart. This footage ultimately became a featurette entitled “Savta”.
8. Gather email addresses early
This wasn’t something we would have necessarily thought of gathering in the production stage, but it could have been easily done by adding one more prominent line on our appearance releases: add your email address if you want to be updated on the progress of the film. We had over 60 appearance releases, so that could have been 60 additional people on our newsletter, on facebook and ultimately spreading the word. An additional email sign-up could be in your hand if you are in a crowd that is not being filmed but is still interested in the film.
Very wise. Hope many filmmakers in the early stage are able to benefit from this.