Learn how to host a successful underwater film festival!
IFOR A DIVE OPERATOR, a dive club, or any other type of dive business, connecting with your customers, constituents or dive buddies can be a challenge. Because we are all interested in the underwater world and draw inspiration for our dive adventures from the exploits of others, an underwater film festival could be the right vehicle to bring your target audience together.
As producers of the Long Island Divers Association Annual Film Festival in New York for over a decade, and as participants in other film festivals as speakers and presenters, the lessons we have learned over the years could help save you a lot of grief as you plan your special event.
Why Do a Film Festival?
To begin your planning, you first must decide why you are planning to put this event on. Is it a fundraiser? Is it a way to expose worthy underwater filmmakers? Is it to bring your dive club together for a fun evening of films followed by a party? The answers to these questions will help shape your event. For example, a fundraiser needs to have a compelling reason for people to pay good money to attend. This could include valuable raffle prizes and giveaways to drive higher prices. An event designed to showcase the work of photographers and videographers needs high-end projection and A/V equipment and a venue that displays their work in the best possible way. A dive club event should include an after-party where divers can socialize and plan their next dives.
Themes and Experiences
If you’re planning an underwater film festival – particularly one built around ocean conservation, diving, exploration, or underwater cinematography – the biggest challenge is making it more than simply a screening of underwater films. Successful festivals create a distinct identity, an audience, and an experience.
Possible themes include Ocean Conservation, Underwater Filmmaking, Diving and Exploration, and Marine Science, among many others. The theme of your event should tie to the audience you are seeking to attract. If the event is targeting scuba divers exclusively, presentations about exploration, famous dive sites and adventure will attract them. If the audience is more general, for example, ocean enthusiasts or families, consider presentations focused on marine life and conservation to attract the right attendance.
Another characteristic of successful film festival events is when they feel like an experience as opposed to a simple screening of photos and videos. Creativity is needed to transform the event into an experience. Perhaps the screened films and photography are the result of a competition where individual work can be presented as “best in category” for a variety of categories. Maybe there is the opportunity to meet the presenters and get autographs or signed books, etc. An experience could be created by choosing the right venue: a film festival at an art gallery or marine aquarium could elevate the event to seem bigger and more sophisticated. Another way to tie the event to larger experiences is to organize daytime and evening activities. A beach cleanup during the day followed by the film festival at night could help develop a cohesive theme and create an attractive experience for the audience.
Attracting Attendance
Inviting a marquee name to be a host or a presenter could help attract a larger audience. Besides the “celebrity” factor, the inclusion of big-name talent sends the message that this is an important event.
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This could also be done with a high-profile sponsor that conveys a sense of importance to the event. Sponsors can add a lot to your event. Besides lending their name and logo to the marketing material, those sponsors can donate prizes and giveaways – a proven means to drive attendance.
Potential sponsors can come from a variety of sources:
Industry
- Dive Manufacturers
- Dive Clubs
- Underwater Camera Manufacturers
- Dive Resorts
- Liveaboards
- Dive Shops
Ocean
- Conservation Organizations
- Marine Research Institutions
- Aquariums
- Environmental Foundations
Tourism
- Destination Marketing Organizations
- Hotels
- Airlines
- Cruise Operators
Corporate
- Insurance
- Financial Services
- Technology
- Outdoor Recreation Companies
Technology
Nothing will hurt a film festival more than a poorly produced event. Today’s world is a digital world: make sure your audio/visual technology is working perfectly and is of high quality. Our experience shows that it is best to utilize one computer rather than having each presenter use their own. Always have a backup, though, as computers can fail and having a spare ready to go can be a lifesaver!
Make sure that all presentations are submitted well in advance. A good tip to ensure seamless movement from one presentation to the next during the show is to assemble all of the submitted work into one large file (either Keynote on Mac computers, PowerPoint on Windows or one of the other presentation apps available on the market). This avoids the pitfalls of transitioning from one speaker to the next with awkward pauses to start up new presentations. Sometimes, this approach may mean that you might have to tweak the formatting of the submitted material to ensure a seamless experience.
Never show anything for the first time on the night of the event, and never assume your equipment will work at the venue. Advance testing is critical to spotting and addressing technical problems and incompatibilities.
Best Practices for Underwater Presentations
The secret sauce to a successful film festival is careful and uncompromising curation of the material that is submitted. While every presenter is going to be understandably proud of their work, today’s audience is one of shorter attention spans. Ideally, video presentations should run between 8-12 minutes. Longer films can be shown but the shorter time limits allow for more variety, a greater number of speakers and a greater ability to keep the audience engaged.
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Presentations of still images accompanied by a speaker should similarly be kept short, with only the best images being shown at the event. Still image “lectures” can dampen the energy of the event unless the images are spectacular and the speakers very adept.
To make the event flow more smoothly, utilize the services of a host to introduce each presentation. The host should be capable of keeping the event moving and in accord with an established timeline, while engaging the audience with humor, anecdotes or other interesting commentary.
Marketing
Besides traditional channels for reaching potential attendees (e.g., email blasts, websites, messaging at dive club meetings, etc.), digital marketing is today’s most effective strategy. To make a film festival successful, a serious digital strategy needs to be developed and implemented.
Underwater film lends itself exceptionally well to social media. As part of your marketing effort, you can release:
- 30-Second Film Clips
- Filmmaker Interviews
- “Behind The Shot” Videos
- Underwater Photography
- Marine-Life Facts
- Festival Trailers
- Previous Winners Of Competitions
- Filmmaker Challenges
- Short Sponsor Videos And Raffle Prize Highlights
It is important to start releasing these months before the festival. On social media, you need to create a “buzz” and this can take some time. Utilize several platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) and keep the communication frequent and engaging.
Consider a Hybrid Festival
You may not want to limit the festival to people who can physically attend. Today’s online collaboration technologies (e.g., Zoom, MS Teams, etc.) can enable you to reach a larger audience by moving some or all of your events online in addition to the physical venue. Be careful, though, as a hybrid approach can “cannibalize” your live attendance, which can detract from the desired revenue and energy of the event.
An alternate approach could be to move some of the content online or to move the content online after the event. For example, a limited online program after the live event, perhaps with selected films available for a defined period, could help you reach many more people than could ever attend the in-person session.
The Economics
For any event, the economics are critically important. A fundraiser, for example, cannot lose money! Pay attention to the following and develop a clear economic model for your event:
Revenue
- Ticket Sales
- Festival Passes (limit how many complimentary passes are distributed for the event as free admission does not contribute to your revenue)
- Sponsorships
- Grants
- Vendor/Exhibitor Fees
- Workshops
- Merchandise
- Memberships
- Donations
- Online Viewing
- Tourism Partnerships
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Costs
- Venue
- Projection/Screening Technology
- Film Licensing
- Insurance
- Staff And Labor (if applicable)
- Marketing
- Awards (if applicable)
- Website/Platform
- Production
- Security
- Permits
- Food And Refreshments And Other Catering Expenses
Don’t assume ticket sales will pay for the festival. Sponsorship and partnerships should be part of the financial model from the beginning.
When developing an economic model, it is important to identify what success looks like across a number of categories. For example, if you will rely on sponsors to underwrite the cost of the event, how many sponsors do you need?
Make sure you clearly understand how many attendees and sponsors will be needed to cover your costs and ensure a successful event.
Examples of key success factors might include some or all of the following:
Audience
- Total Attendance
- Unique Attendees
- Geographic Origin
- Repeat Attendance
Industry
- Submissions
- Countries Represented
- Filmmakers Attending
- Industry Professionals Attending
Financial
- Sponsorship Revenue
- Ticket Revenue
- Cost Per Attendee
Mission
- Conservation Dollars Generated
- Volunteer Participation
- Students Reached
- Conservation Projects Supported
Digital
- Followers
- Video Views
- Email Subscribers
- Online Film Views
In Summary, The Biggest Strategic Question
If you’re considering creating an underwater film festival, the right question is not “How do we put on a film festival?” but, rather, “What could make this the premier underwater film festival in the world?”
A truly differentiated festival could be a combination of several things (e.g., Film Festival, Ocean Expo, Conservation Event, Diving Festival, Destination Experience, etc.) rather than simply a film festival that screens several videos.
And if you’re thinking about doing this in a specific location, the location itself could provide a very interesting differentiator because you could build the festival around local marine history, wrecks, artificial reefs, fisheries, conservation, and underwater exploration while still attracting international filmmakers.
Depending upon the scope of your event and the staff resources and monetary assets available to help produce the event, your event could be a small event on a Saturday night for your local dive club or it could be an international event that spans several days.
Regardless, the considerations outlined above are applicable to all types of events and will help you produce a film festival for the underwater community that will achieve success and will attract attendees for years to come.
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