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Description
This thesis discusses the dynamics and challenges of generating an online community to promote the short film Moustachette. The film is a sixteen-minute short film shot on 35mm and starring several members of the popular music groups Fall Out Boy and Yellowcard. The thesis will discuss how the project's promotional campaign used existing and emerging online technologies to create a community around Moustachette with the goal of extending the film's reach and impact. The first chapter explains why I developed the campaign and discusses the role of film festivals, the cast's notoriety, and online tools in my decisions. I also explore how online tools, networks, and platforms have changed the public's consumption of media and the aspiring filmmaker's relationship with the short film and the film festival community, I intend to demonstrate how these changes influenced the planning of Moustachette's promotional campaign. The second chapter outlines films and literature that inspired and guided my efforts. I discuss the theories in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, and how they structured and explain the development of Moustachette's online community. I focus primarily on Gladwell's explanations of "Connectors," "Mavens," "Salesmen," and the "Stickiness" of ideas. I also draw on several feature film marketing campaigns, such as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, that successfully built online communities in support of their projects. The third chapter describes the creation of Moustachette through development, production, and post-production, and the decisions made in each stage with respect to the film's online community and the overall promotional campaign. The final chapter reviews the results of the campaign and what those findings suggest about short film promotion, film festivals, and considerations for future projects. The DVD of the film is available for viewing at the Media Center of Love Library.
