What's the point of a pitch clip, anyway?

A creative and entertaining pitch clip could be the key to building your audience and getting your film funded. A popular pitch clip can increase viewership and increase your fanbase. Here are a few steps to a powerful and successful pitchclip on the Internet. A group of film students from Vancouver Film School students recently put together a 2-minute digital animation piece about the influence of the Internet and blogging in Iran. The video, called Iran: A Nation of Bloggers, went viral very quickly on the Internet, getting publicity from Boing Boing and Digg. On YouTube, the clip got close to 30,000 views. The filmmakers behind this short animation used a combination of creativity, a powerful script, and the Internet to get their video out to the public. It wasn't a pitch clip, but their success can be replicated through your own pitch clip. Here are a few steps that you can follow. 

1. Be Creative

The filmmakers made this video with creative and engaging digital animation. The look was unique and added to the effect of the clip as a whole. While filmmakers don't need the same visual design skills, you can still think of creative ways to present your clip. Think about what you can do to make your video unique from all others, and why people would be attracted to it. Iran: A Nation of Bloggers used this imagery to engage their audience and attract more people to watch it. This is a key component to getting a video to go viral.

2. Find a topic you are passionate about and mobilize your fans

Iran: A Nation of Bloggers explores how Iranians have used the Internet to generate their ideas and opinions - something they wouldn't be able to do normally. The creators of this clip found a controversial and provocative topic they were passionate about and chose to create a short animation about it. By doing this, they generated publicity and mobilized people who were passionate about this topic. You can do the same thing by determining what your project is about and targeting the appropriate fan base. You can mobilize fans by partnering with organizations, sending out call-to-action e-mails, and getting fans to contribute money to your project to help it get made. These are all great ways to get passionate fans involved in a topic that you are passionate about, too.  

3. Use the Internet

The creators of this clip posted their video on YouTube and on the Vancouver Film School blog. By doing this, they slowly began to gain popularity. The blog post eventually got posted on Digg and then Boing Boing.  Links on the Internet get spread around very fast, and you should take advantage of this. Post your video on YouTube- anyone has access to this, and if your video is good, it will get spread around. You can also post it in the Media Section of your project profile. In addition, use the Announcements section on your IndieGoGo Project Profile page to get some publicity. These announcements act as a makeshift blog, and every post gets e-mailed to your community. Finally, spread your widget to as many sites as you can, and get people to your IndieGoGo page.

Use these three steps to your advantage to create an entertaining and popular pitch clip. Check out the video below.