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Creating the Most Valuable Part of Film Funding…Your Trailer!

May 29th, 2023

A high-quality film trailer is crucial for independent filmmakers to win grants, build an audience, and attract investors, donors, and partners.

by Carole Dean

Creating a film trailer is a very specific skill, a unique art, and science. The trailer not only has to tell a compelling story, but it also has to show that this filmmaker knows how to tell it in two minutes.  It needs to have three acts that are energy driven by music.

Michael Torres is a talented filmmaker and editor with whom I had the pleasure of interviewing for The Art of Film Funding Podcast. He shared his wisdom on how to create a stunning film trailer.  And we learned best practices for finding a film trailer editor.

I can speak from experience with our own Roy W. Dean Grant that a stellar trailer can be a deciding factor in which films we select as finalists and winners.

Creating your trailer is a discovery process.

“It seems like such a catch 22, right? You have to show the film so that someone gives you permission to make the film,” Michael explained.

“I really do think it’s an opportunity to conduct experiments with your film to find out what the visual language is, to find out what’s working, what’s not working. I think you can get insights into your film in this trailer editing phase because you’ll learn a lot about yourself and your material in this process.”

Trailers are not one size fits all, and there are different kinds of trailers for different purposes. A sizzle reel is very different than a funding trailer.

He described a sizzle reel as “anything from 30 seconds to two minutes. You want it fast paced, you want it to have a three-act structure, and clearly communicate an idea. I think a sizzle should be the vibe of your film, or the spirit of your film. This is really what you’re trying to articulate. What does this film feel like?”

A grant, such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, may ask you for a 15-minute excerpt from your film. For Michael, “that is really an exploration of how you intend tell the story. You need to explain, what is the film, what are the elements of the story, and then taking a complete scene and laying it out from A to Z and stringing together sequences.”

What’s the story?

Michael said that regardless of the format or length of the trailer, “I want that element of a reel right up front. And whether it’s a sizzle reel or it’s a funding trailer, in that first 30 seconds or so, I really want whoever’s watching this to know what this film is about, why we’re making it, who the main characters are, and what it is we’re trying to convey. And then we can get moody with it. But I want to answer those questions right up front.

“So, whether it’s a 30-second sizzle, a two-minute film trailer, or a 15-minute demo, we want to excite the viewer and leave them in a place where they want more. We want to tease them, so to speak.”

While it may not apply to all film genres, Michael believes all trailers should also typically convey what is the central conflict of the story.

Following the A,B,C’s

The progression a successful film trailer must include, what Michael refers to as he “A, B, C of the trailer.”

“It’s the opening, the middle and the end, the act one, act two, act three, there must be movement,” he explains. “If I’m introducing a character, there should be a change in that character. Meaning, by the end they are different from the person I met at the beginning.”

As a grantor, I look for the trailer to catch my attention in the first five to ten seconds. One of the things I don’t like is when the trailer starts with 10 to 20 seconds of titles.

A funding trailer should not have long credits at the beginning.  I am here to listen to an engaging story.  People must realize that grant judges are watching one trailer after another after another. It’s just how they do it, so to stand out over the rest, engage me with the first frame!

The faster you tell me the story, the more you engage me. We fund stories.

Tell me a “Sticky Story” that I can remember.

Michael agreed that the trailer needs to draw you in immediately. “I want a splash of cold water as soon as I step in. You don’t want to bog down the opening with your five second animated logo and a 20-second moody drone or anything like that.

“Because I don’t know what I’m watching. I want to engage with the viewer as soon as humanly possible. So, I use an inciting line, or an image, or a scene or a moment that drops me into what this film is about, what the essence and the vibe is, that’s what I really lead off with.”

For me, one of the most important parts of a trailer is to convey a “sticky story.” This is a story that the viewer can easily remember and wants to share with others. I teach this in my Intentional Filmmaking Class. I recommend a book called Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath, about why some ideas survive, and others disappear.

Something emotional, something credible, something shocking

They found what is most important is something emotional, something concrete, something credible, and something shocking, and tell your story around this. The reason is because almost everyone you’re going to ask for money has a significant other, mother, brother, or someone with whom they will discuss your film.

When that happens, they are now pitching your film. Your job is to make sure they get the essence of the film in your pitch or in your trailer, and something shocking, concrete, credible and emotional create “sticky stories” people can remember.

“That’s about the attention span you’re gonna get from someone too,” Michael concurred. “You may have this brilliant treatment that lays out every beat of the story, but if I can’t kick it to you in an elevator and you understand it, or understand it in two minutes, then I’ve lost you.”

I also recommend, if possible, to make different trailer versions for different purposes. One way to do it is called ‘Cover Your Bases.’ This is to get a 10-minute film trailer, a five-minute trailer, and a two-minute. Those seem to be the ones that are asked for the most if you’re going after grants.

I don’t have a time limit on my trailers, but I like a three-to-five-minute trailer.

How to find the right trailer editor?

I also spoke to Michael about his recommendations for finding the perfect trailer editor. Michael said “word of mouth is probably how I’ve gotten 99% of my work and it’s also how I go about finding editors. I want to work with people that have been recommended.

“You’re getting into a relationship when you’re bringing someone on to work on something that you love. So, I think it’s important that you vibe with the person. Just as important as their work, is how comfortable you are working with them. Giving and getting feedback means you really want to be with someone that you trust and can be vulnerable around.”

Working with an filmmaker

About his process as an editor, Michael wants “to know everything I possibly can about the film, but even more so why they’re interested in making the film.

“I really want to understand why it’s important to them and what the feeling is they’re trying to communicate. How do you want the viewer to feel about your subject after they watch this trailer? My focus is always on the quality, the feeling, the tone that we’re trying to communicate.”

The big question is, with so much content to choose from, how does an editor decide what goes into the trailer?  Michael looks for the most interesting things he has.

“So, it’s the scenes that already work, the low hanging fruit, that’s working. What do I know if I match this piece of b-roll with this interview? Sometimes it works and it conveys a message. I’m not working linear necessarily. I’m not starting at the beginning and ending at the end.

“I’m taking everything I have that I know works, building that, and then starting to find ways to connect them.”

You may want to read part 2 where we speak in depth about conducting interviews for documentaries, and how to incorporate these interviews into trailers.

Listen to entire podcast in link below:

Podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher, Goodpods, and Blogtalkradio

You can learn more about Michael Torres at www.mtorresproductions.com.

Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-profit that offers the Roy W. Dean Film Grants and fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers.

She is creator and instructor of Learn Producing: The Ultimate Course for Indie Film Production.  26 classes which will teach indie filmmakers how to produce their films.

She hosts the weekly podcast, The Art of Film Funding, interviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film production. She is also the author of  The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts.  See IMDB for producing credits

Hot Films in the Making for Spring 2023

May 28th, 2023

Projects Submitted to the Roy W. Dean Grant for Spring 2023 That Deserve Your Attention

In every group of submissions to the Roy W. Dean Grant, there are projects that have excellent concepts and talented filmmakers that just missed making our group of finalists.  From the Heart Productions, the 501(c)3 sponsor of the grant, calls them Hot Films in the Making.  Thirty-one films were chosen this year as Hot Films for the Roy W. Dean Grant for Spring.  You should take notice of these as you will certainly be seeing them and more from these filmmakers in the future.

“This list is our way of honoring those filmmakers and their projects.” said Carole Joyce, Director of the Roy W. Dean Grants for From the Heart Productions. “We hope by bringing them to the attention of the public, they will find the followers and supporters they deserve to help carry them to completion.”

The films chosen for Hot Films in the Making include documentary features, fiction features, short films and web series.  They represent projects from the United States and around the world. 

The Hot Films in the Making for the Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Spring 2023 are:

Each finalist is given the opportunity to post information on their contending film on the From the Heart Productions website.  Filmmakers can include an image from the film, filmmaker info, and loglines.  If they have available, filmmakers can include a link to their film’s website, Facebook page, or relevant social media connection. 

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

Now celebrating its 31st year, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that are unique and make a contribution to society.  It has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers that help to get their projects started or finished.  Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made. 

Past winners of the grant include 2021 Emmy winners Belly of the Beast and The Love Bugs ,  as well as Sundance Film Festival selection Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, and acclaimed documentary Kusama-Infinity.

About From The Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made.  Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers.  This allows donations made to films they sponsor to be tax deductible.  From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program. 

President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts and the new online class Learn Producing: The Ultimate Course for Indie Film Production.

Roy W. Dean Grant Finalists Selected for Spring 2023 Grant

May 28th, 2023

Twenty-One Filmmakers in Running for Grant Offering Cash and Production Services

Now entering its 31st year, the Roy W. Dean Grant is awarded to a film that is unique and that makes a contribution to society. Awarded four times each year, From the Heart Productions, the 501(c)3 non-profit sponsoring the grant, has named finalists for Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Spring 2023. The winner will receive $3,500 cash and thousands more in donated production goods and services to help them complete their project.

Roy W. Dean Grant for Spring 2023 Finalist – “Barbara Hammer Project”

“Every year, the projects and the filmmakers who submit them to us impress us with their originality and talent.” said Carole Joyce, Director of the Roy W. Dean Grants at From the Heart Productions. “This year is no exception.  Choosing a winner among these exceptional projects will be challenging.”

The Roy W. Dean Grant is open to filmmakers in the U.S. and around the world.  Submissions for this grant included entries from Canada, Italy, Portugal, Israel, the United Kingdom, and India. 

Along with the cash prize awarded by From the Heart Productions are donations from film industry professionals and companies $500 in grip, lighting or expendables from Filmtools, 40% deduction on color, editing, and sound & all production services from ProMedia in NYC,  $1,600 value / sound mix session from Silver Sound,  30% discount in equipment rental from AbelCine Tech, Inc. NYC and more from many heartfelt donors.

The grant is open to documentaries, narrative features, short films, and web series. The winner is expected to be announced in June 2023.

Finalists for the Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Spring 2023 are: 

Each finalist is given the opportunity to post information on their contending film on the From the Heart Productions website.  Filmmakers can include an image from the film, filmmaker info, and loglines.  If they have available, filmmakers can include a link to their film’s website, Facebook page, or relevant social media connection. 

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

Since its inception in 1992, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that is unique and that make a contribution to society. 

Offering four grants for filmmakers each year, The Roy W. Dean Grant has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers helping them to get their projects started or finished.  Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made. 

Past winners of the grant include 2021 Emmy winners Belly of the Beast and The Love Bugs ,  as well as Sundance Film Festival selection Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, and acclaimed documentary Kusama-Infinity.

About From the Heart Productions 

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made.  Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers. In addition to personal guidance, free classes on fundraising and filmmaking, the program allows donations made to films to be tax deductible.  From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program. 

“This list is our way of honoring those filmmakers and their projects.” said Carole Joyce, Director of the Roy W. Dean Grants for From the Heart Productions. “We hope that they find those who follow and support them as their productions progresses.”

The films chosen for Hot Films in the Making include documentary features, fiction features, short films and web series.  They represent projects from the United States and around the world. 

The Hot Films in the Making for the Roy W. Dean Film Grant for Spring 2023 are:

Each finalist is given the opportunity to post information on their contending film on the From the Heart Productions website.  Filmmakers can include an image from the film, filmmaker info, and loglines.  If they have available, filmmakers can include a link to their film’s website, Facebook page, or relevant social media connection. 

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

Now celebrating its 31st year, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that are unique and make a contribution to society.  It has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers that help to get their projects started or finished.  Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made. 

Past winners of the grant include 2021 Emmy winners Belly of the Beast and The Love Bugs ,  as well as Sundance Film Festival selection Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, and acclaimed documentary Kusama-Infinity.

About From The Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made.  Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers.  This allows donations made to films they sponsor to be tax deductible.  From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through their fiscal sponsorship program. 

President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts and the new online class “How to Fund Your Film”

How to Escape Survival Mode and Release Your Creativity

March 25th, 2023

“Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside, awakes”  Carl Jung

by Carole Dean

Every other Saturday we have a film funding class. We’ve learned that the power of your mind is a major asset in funding and making your film.  I read mind power books for the class and share my understanding of the book with our fiscally sponsored filmmakers.

We are currently working on Joe Dispenza’s book Becoming Supernatural: How Common People are Doing the Uncommon.  You will find that it’s as if he is talking to filmmakers.  There is so much similarity in what he says and what filmmakers deal with on a daily basis.

How Living in Survival Mode Holds Us Back

In his brilliant book, Joe explained that the long-term effect of living in survival mode. 

In time, we begin to thrive on it and we become addicted to stress chemicals. The result is a frenzied state where we shift our attention from one person to one problem to one thing in our environment.  We live on constant high alert because we view our external environment as unsafe.

Because the outer world appears more real than our inner world, we’re addicted to someone or something in our external environment.  The longer we live in this state the more our brain waves move into high beta brain waves which causes us to feel pain, anxiety, anger, impatience, and aggression.  As a result, our brain waves can become incoherent.

Where You Place Your Attention Is Where Your Mind Goes

When the emotions of survival are controlling us, we focus on the external world on finances, terrorism, dislike for your job, and we’ve become preoccupied with what we think could be causing that problem.

When this happens, we’re living in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Where you place your energy is where your attention goes so if it is on a problem in the external world, you’re giving your power away to someone or something else. And your energy is stuck in the material world, where you are constantly reaffirming your present reality.

What is happening is you are tied to the energy of the known trying to predict the future based on the past. For you to make a change in your life, you need to step into the unknown because that’s where things can change, says Dr. Joe.

The more you live in stress the more you’re trying to affect matter. Matter trying to fight and force and manipulate for an outcome. As a result, everything you want to change is going to take a lot of time because in this space-time reality you must move your physical body through space to create the outcome you want.

Finding Room for the Unknowns

The more you’re living in survival, that’s the first three chakras, the more you’re using your senses to define reality, the more you’re separating yourself from a new future.

Between where you are now and where you want to be is based on how you think and predict it should happen. 

But if you’re predicting then your thinking is based on knowns, there is no room for an unknown or a new possibility in your life.

Let’s say you want a new job so you might take the time to create a resume get online and start looking for positions and go on interviews. Now this requires time.  We all look at time as linear.  So you must project it’s going to take you maybe a week to get a good resume, two or three weeks of research, and then interviews.  After that,  you might have a job in so many months.

All of that takes time because you are matter trying to influence other matter.  There is a distinct separation in space and time between where you are and where you want to be.

Focusing Our Attention Outward

Because we don’t have those things we feel lack and separation, so we live in a state of duality. We want things we don’t have and that’s how we create things.

When we experience separation from our future desires, we think and dream of what we want and then we set about a series of actions to get them. Example, if we’re always under financial stress, we want money.  If we have a disease, we want health and if we’re lonely we want a relationship.

Because of this experience of duality, we are driven to create. And he reminds us we are matter focused on matter trying to influence matter to get money or health, so we’ve established it’s going to take quite a bit of time and energy.

While we’re doing these things like looking for the new job, we are waiting for something outside of us to change how we feel internally.  However, when something in the outside world doesn’t happen or it seems to be taking a long time then we have more lack. 

We feel even more separate from what we’re trying to create and our emotional state of lack, and frustration keeps the dream at a distance further increasing the time for the outcome.

Let’s Talk About Quantum Laws

Quantum inward expression of the laws of nature is an invisible field of information.  It is the energy that unites everything material.

Now this material field organizes and connects all the laws of nature.  It’s a dimension where there’s more time and space.  In other words, it’s a dimension where time is eternal.

We want to get beyond time. We want to get beyond this self and go from the consciousness we have of being somebody to nobody.  OK?

We want to go from the consciousness of something to nothing.  We want to move from the world of the senses to the worlds beyond the senses, stepping into the quantum to create the future we want.

Joe Dispenza’s Walking Meditation

That’s why Joe Dispenza created his walking meditation.  In it, you must constantly give up who you are, where you are, and what you are.  You go into the nothing, into the  world of nothing, feeling nothing. 

It is through this that you can reach the quantum field and move through time and space because in the quantum field everything is unified you are one with the field.  Things can happen quickly.

As we begin to surrender all aspects of self and remove from the external world of people and things and places, we move to the inner world of energy, vibration, frequency, and consciousness. This is where magic happens.

Joe says that when we take our attention off objects and matter and open our focus to energy and information then different parts of the brain work together in harmony.  This unification of the brain is what makes us feel more whole.

Connecting to the Quantum Field

When we do this properly, our hearts begin to open and become more coherent.  As our heart moves into coherence, so too does our brain. Meaning we’ve gotten beyond our body and we are eliminating things that allows us to move to the alpha and theta brain waves patterns.  There we connect with our autonomic nervous system.

When this becomes activated, its job is to restore order and balance causing coherence and wholeness. It is in this state where we begin to connect to the quantum unified field.

The Wye Cottage

Back in the 80s, I had a friend who owned a large 10,000-acre sheep farm in New Zealand. On a visit to see him we were driving down a country road and we slowed down to go over a one-way bridge. On the left side of the bridge was a cottage sitting on a river with the name “the Wye cottage.”

I jumped out of my seat and said oh what a lovely place. I could go there and write a book.  He paid no attention.  He just kept driving we crossed the bridge, went to his sheep farm, and I started daydreaming about that house. I saw myself living in the house.

It had a veranda on three sides with a huge wisteria plant covering most of the porch with gorgeous pink blossoms. I got into the energy of the area.  I felt the peace and serenity.  New Zealand has this feeling you pick up of independence. It gives you a feeling that you can do your own thing.

I went back to the United States thinking I could buy that house and have a wonderful life.  In fact, I thought, I could live there forever. Then I got into the real world and forgot the dream.  But I put it in the quantum field and it stayed and began manifesting.

Making My Move

Fast forward to 2001. I sold my New York & Chicago & LA companies and was looking for what to do with the rest of my life.  In my quiet daily meditations, I started seeing the house in New Zealand as if it was waiting for me. Then 9/11 happened and I decided I needed to have a safe place outside of the United States and the white cottage was no longer a dream but a strong possibility.

I called my friend in New Zealand and said I’m really interested in purchasing the Wye cottage. No, he said there is a sweet couple living in the house. They’re very happy they don’t want to sell but come on over anyway, so I did.

This couple were interested in selling all I had to do was ask. I bought the house I went back to The United States, and I had to wait six months to come back.

What Was I Thinking?

When I got back to New Zealand and looked at the house I was in shock. The inside and outside had not been painted in 30 years. The gutters were falling off the house. It needed a better roof.  It was in a terrible state. There was just so much that had to be done and why didn’t I see that before?

Because I was feeling into the energy and the joy that the house could give me.  I saw the house in the state it became while I lived there.  I loved every minute I spent in that house. It was an early 1900’s Craftsman house that was moved from the city into the country.

I will always believe that my Intentions of living there, my visions of happiness in that house and my vision of growing a garden and becoming part of the community we’re all instrumental in bringing the house to me.

Yes, it took years from the time I saw the Wye cottage until I bought it but that’s because I put imitations on when I could buy it.  Once I sold my business, the time was right for me, and the house was waiting.

Seeing and Acting on All the Eternal Possibilities 

In the world of the quantum, where time is eternal, everything is happening in the eternal present moment. As you move through time, you experience other space, other dimensions, other planes, other realities, and infinite possibilities.

It’s like you are standing between two mirrors and looking both ways at yourself into indefinite dimensions and the mirrored images represent an infinite number of possibilities that you’re living now.

Your future could be any number of possibilities. It’s up to you to choose what you want.

I believe that one way to get into a lower state of brain waves is meditation.  When you sit in a quiet place with no phone or interruptions you lower brain waves and allow yourself to connect your vision to the quantum field.  This is where you can attract what you want.

I attracted The Wye cottage. When I moved into the house, I promised to restore it to its former glory, and I did.  I put a lot of attention and love in it. I painted the house myself I took great joy in owning and restoring it. I gave a grant for a writer’s retreat and sent writers to the Wye cottage for a month.   I think the cottage loved to house these creatives.  We all enjoy it.

Using Meditation to Realize Your Dreams

Meditation is a quiet place where you can imagine feeling into and become the person you want to become. Perhaps becoming the award-winning filmmaker, you truly are.

Think back in your life and see if you’ve created things you envisioned. Where  you wanted something, or some person and you focused on a vision, and it happened?

Perhaps you can use that energy and that memory to empower you to spend time daily to move yourself into this quantum field through walking meditation or sitting meditation.  Whatever it takes to allow you the quiet time with lower brain waves to get into the quantum field and plant your dream.

To me this information about going inside to create your future is exactly how to do it. Many people use meditation to lower brain waves and visualize.

I’ve been meditating since 1974 normally twice a day, this is most important to me.  I think this has given me better health an easier life and has allowed me to achieve my goals.

See the Future You Want

To bring them fast, outside of our time-based reality, we must get in a quiet place and live like the goal already exists. This is how you can compress time and bring it to you quicker.  Be in the no one, no place, nothing space to create and attract.

We did this as children. We had no past to limit us.  We saw something we wanted, and we asked someone in our family for it. We went to bed visualizing we had it and we got it.  Life was that simple for most of us. 

To get back to this immediate request and immediate fulfillment, we need to drop the past and see the future we want, not be influenced by the outside information, go inside, and create your own reality, live it, feel it, breath it and achieve it.

Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-profit that offers the Roy W. Dean Film Grants and fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers. She hosts the weekly podcast, The Art of Film Funding, interviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film production. She is also the author of  The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts.  See IMDB for producing credits