HIGHLIGHTS & VIDEOS: May 2018 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Festival

AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS:

BEST FILM: TRUMPETS IN THE SKY

BEST PERFORMANCES: THE SUPER RECOGNIZER

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: METTA VIA

BEST MUSIC: AFTER WE LEFT OUR HOMES

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Videos:

THE FLOWER GATE, 15min., Israel, Fantasy

RENDEZ-VOUS, 2min., Canada, Fantasy

PHARMA LAB TRAINING VIDEO: 1, 9min., USA, Fantasy

TRUMPETS IN THE SKY, 12min., Belguim, Sci-Fi

METTA VIA, 12min., Canada, Sci-Fi

THE SUPER RECOGNISER, 11min., UK, Sci-Fi

SOLUK (BREATH), 5min., Turkey, Sci-Fi

AFTER WE HAVE LEFT OUR HOMES, 8min., UK, Sci-Fi

The theme of the May 2018 FANTASY/SCI-FI FEEDBACK Film Festival was “Being Controlled”. Every single film was about a world or characters being controlled by an outside force.

There was a different vibe at this festival because we changed the start time from 7pm to 9pm just as a test to see if we would get a new audience. It was definitely a success as we got more hard core Sci-Fi fans, which lead to some great discussions with the films as you can watch in the feedback videos.

The trick though is to not have an audience that is 100% Sci-Fi fans. To have the casual viewer watch this genre so there is a different perspective. The hard core fan of any hobby (sports, comic books etc..) can be either too apologetic or too critical of the product that is given to them. There seems to be nothing in between a love or a hate of something. They sometimes feel that they are the most important members of the audience. They are the vocal minority that’s for sure as an average fan of Batman for example isn’t going to set up a blog to talk about it.

I always look at things from a 20%/60%/20% perspective on any mmainstream entertainment product:

20% – People who won’t watch it no matter what. Example would be the Super Bowl or the new Avengers movie.

60% – The average crowd. They might watch or might not. It’s all up to how they feel that day, how much an advertisement influences them, and/or what their family/friends are up to. If they are watching, then they will too.

20% – The hard core fan. They are watching most of the pre-game show of the Super Bowl, and have pre-bought their Avengers tickets and will be writing about their thoughts afterwards.

For me, you have to remove the two 20%s from the equation. They don’t matter as their minds are already made up. So the art of getting your film viewed and liked is from the 60% base. Football or Comic Book films can’t be what they are today if only the hard core 20% is watching. They are popular because they have trickled into the 60% and have gotten many of them to watch.

You can also use the same analogy for politics. In the United States you’re going to have 20% who will never vote. 20% who are going to vote Red or Blue no matter what. And 60% who will either vote or not vote, and it depends on what party they vote for election to election.

So in conclusion, the 9pm start time did work but we missed the average fan by doing it.

See you at the festivals.

– Matthew Toffolo