If you have the film produced along economical lines, you should get the negative produced and developed for an inclusive charge not exceeding seventy-five cents per foot. A useful length is from two to five hundred feet. Then you will want a positive, which will cost you ten cents per foot.
In regard to the actual producing of the photoplay, I strongly advise you to have some scenes taken amid familiar local landscapes. You might persuade members of the local dramatic society to attend to the acting end. It would improve the play if you could manage to introduce well-known local citizens. This will save you the expense of having to hire regular motion-picture actors, and the folks who see the film will not be critical as to the technical defects. The concern you engage to put on the picture will send along a capable director, who will knock the players into passable shape.
Considerable additional expense is involved in the use of interiors, such as a store, house or office building. These have to be specially erected in the studio and plenty of electric light used for photographic purposes, so keep to outdoor scenes. It can easily be done by exercising a little ingenuity. For instance, instead of arranging certain action to take place inside your store, you can get it over equally effective by arranging for it to occur outside your premises.
For economy’s sake, you need only one copy of the positive in circulation. Now, if you approach local motion-picture exhibitors in the right spirit, they may not demand a fee for showing your advertising motion picture, as they realize too well the value of anything with a local appeal. You should arrange with the leading theater to have first run of the photoplay, say, for a week, after which you can loan it to the next on the waiting-list, until all have been covered.
Plenty of newspaper publicity is yours, too, if you invite the local press to be present at the producing of the film, and also when it is about to be released for public exhibition.
XXIX.
PULLING MOVIE-SLIDE ADVERTISING OUT OF THE RUT
From a study of the motion-picture screens up and down the country, I have come to the conclusion that the average dealer does not take the trouble to get the fullest possible value out of his investment.
The majority of the announcements are merely plain business notices that simply bore the spectator who has the doubtful pleasure of sitting them through. They do, in fact, remind one only too strongly of the early days of newspaper advertising, when every advertiser thought it sufficient to have a formal announcement, unchanged from year in to year out. Few dealers now would think of spending good money in newspaper publicity in such a hackneyed and uninteresting fashion, because they are well aware that their ad. has to compete with many others, and it is only the attractively prepared ones that command a hearing.
The same methods must be applied to movie-screen advertising, if it is to be pulled out of the rut. There was a period when audiences were attracted by anything that resembled a picture. But these days are gone and buried, and the fans are only satisfied with a program of the best photoplays. This being the case, it goes without saying that they expect the same of the efforts to hold their attention during the reels. You can not really expect the ad. appeals to sink in otherwise.
Although you would dismiss the idea of having a short commercial film of your own made on the grounds of expense, much remains to be done in order to make slide advertising interesting to picture patrons rather than tiring them, as it does at present. It is going to cost you a little more money and effort, but your slide will be distinctive and will stand out above the rest. Your reward will be increased results.