On Monday, 11 May 2009, FilmTiki and the Filmfonds Wien (Vienna Film Fund) held an event on "online movie marketing and online film distribution" at Museumsquartier in Vienna. We had a full house - about 70 newcomers and established members of the film and television industry came to the 4-hour long event.

Changing Media Use

After a short welcome by Peter Zawrel and Severin Moritzer  (of the Vienna Film Fund), media studies scholar and social media expert Iris Lamprecht (FilmTiki's CEO) talked about changing media consumption behaviors, trends in the film industry and the opportunities that are arising through the use of Social Media in terms of movie marketing and movie distribution. Iris pointed out to the attending film producers that it will be difficult to survive in this industry if they do not learn to utilise new media technologies because, as she said, "We want to use these things, we want to communicate like this. We want to use different channels in different parts of our daily lives, with differing content that is produced specifically for these channels and screens, and NOW is our chance!’

Online Film Distribution

Cay Wesnigk, from the German video on demand-platform onlinefilm.org, went a step further in his presentation and advised all aspiring film makers to not enter the film business. However, later on he kind of took back his provocative remark and gave the participants some ideas on issues, with which all filmmakers will have to deal sooner or later. He talked about illegal downloading, digital rights fair trade and the concept of the Long Tail. This concept was developed and published by Chris Anderson and caused quite a stir in the creative industries a few years back. According to Cay, the Long Tail for filmmakers means amongst other things that "there are now ways to get films out which wouldn't have been profitable to release before".

Online Film Marketing made in Austria

Finally, the two executive marketing managers for the Austrian drug-comedy "Contact High", Katharina Schinkinger and Stefan Häckel, talked about their online marketing strategy. Primarily they utilised online channels like blogs, YouTube, myspace, Twitter and facebook, in which the film's ficticious characters Max Durst and Hans Wurst shared some drug experiences or sang the "song of Contact High". By doing that, a considerable fanbase was grown and the trademark "Contact High" could be established before its nationwide cinematic release in April 2009.

FilmTiki Live Stream

The presentation was streamed live in German (unfortunately with a poor webcam resolution) and is available at FilmTiki's ustream-channel. You can also find additional material from the speakers on the website of the Vienna Film Fund or watch a short summary below.