Been testing out Facebook ads for Mr. Sadman in the Middle East to see what does and doesn't work. I never click on ads, but I understand it's part of how Facebook tries to make money.
A few things that I've gleaned after a week and a half. These may be obvious, but it's always good to test out the low-risk basics first, and thankfully Facebook allows you to set your daily balances pretty low.
1) No one else really clicks on Facebook ads. This is true for internet advertising in general, so I wasn't too shocked to see the percentages. Then again, it only takes a few buyers to make it worth the cost. Click-through rates may also have to do with our particular ad creative, of course, so that's something to constantly review.
2) It's hard to separate people from their money. Tough times all around the globe, so you'll have to do a lot more than just get them curious because in the end they'll easily forget and start watching porn or YouTube panda videos instead.
3) Relatedly, it's even more difficult to get people to spend their money on a feature film they've never heard of before, no matter what the hook. The price may not be anything exorbitant, but in the Netflix/BitTorrent-era there's a mental value quotient in terms of paying for one individual film ("I just spent X on this single random movie") and time ("I will have to spend 85 minutes of my life watching this single random movie just to make it feel like it was worth it"). Most people have their fingers off their impulse-buy triggers in this economic climate.
These were expected and may point to that one inevitable result, but for now it's time to mess around some more.
Stay tuned.
I remember seeing this video for Death Cab for Cutie's "A Movie Script Ending" a bunch of times a few years before shooting Mr. Sadman and liking it. Then I came across it again after shooting and was like, "Wait a second, I know that dude."
I've always enjoyed this song.
This is the original promo trailer we shot over a couple of days in November 2006. Seems like ages ago. Though it may not capture the exact tone of the resulting feature, I'd like to think it stands on its own as some kind of odd creature.
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Shot by Chuck DeRosa on a Panasonic DVX-100.
Production sound by Kevin Remón Thompson.
The opening photo montage in Mr. Sadman.
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With the late Al No'mani. Music by übertalented composer, Austin Wintory.
Another scene from Mr. Sadman in which Mounir meets his new Los Angeles neighbor, Stevie, played by Scoot McNairy.
Scoot's a crazy talented guy who produced and played the lead in the film, In Search of a Midnight Kiss, which won the John Cassavetes Award at this year's Film Independent Spirt Awards.
Created for the film by my friend, LA artist Michael C. Hsiung.
Download a printable copy here and help us make a poster for Mr. Sadman.
Connect them however you want and color the thing in. Scan and email your creations to info@mrsadman.com, and we'll post the best ones on the film site. If yours ends up being the movie poster, we'll send you some free stuff (it'll be good) and tell you where the secret cave work-in-progress screening is going to be.
Finally got this Mr. Sadman clip of Mounir trying to play basketball on YouTube with sound. Apparently they have some audio recognition software that senses musical patterns and automatically mutes your audio to nip any kind of copyright infringement in the bud before it starts.
The song is by my friend, C.J. Pizarro.
Watch Mr. Sadman
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