Exposure

This weeks entry comes from filmmaker Coby Toland whose comedic short film "Bulldog" was screened as part of the 2007 BFF.

When I was invited to screen my film Bulldog as part of the opening night of the inaugural Bangor Film Festival, I jumped at the opportunity. Bulldog was a special film for me, not because I think it is my best work, but because it is the first film I directed after finishing film school. As most filmmakers can tell you, making a film outside of the relative safety and security of an educational environment can be the first true test of ones capabilities as a producer or director. The screening of my film at the BFF was to be the largest audience to view my work and it gave my film (and my abilities as a filmmaker) something that new filmmakers desperately crave; exposure. 

Since finishing Bulldog and a few other shorts, I have most recently been working on my first internet based venture, a reality web series called Man Up. The idea behind Man Up came from a collaboration with my filmmaking partner George, after we began to joke that guys needed a show that taught them how to get in touch with their inner "Man", a forum for the "anti-metrosexual". We produced 6 episodes for the web in the initial run, dealing with topics from home maintenance to NASCAR. As filmmakers, the internet gave us a new type of exposure. We were able to reach a large potential audience in a more interactive way and get instant feedback. It was an immediate way to communicate and present our work. We could set up mailing lists, send messages to our fan base and get feedback on our work. Instead of saying "I'll send you my reel" now I could say "check out my website" and an instant forum was created for filmmaker and audience. Because of this, we are currently in negotiation to bring Man Up to network television. Whether it is successful or not, as filmmakers we will need to continue to have a need for exposure, whether it is through a festival like the BFF which seeks out relationships with independent filmmakers or through the internet which has become a tool for filmmakers to communicate their message with the world. 

You can learn more about the Man Up web-episodes at www.manuptv.com