Web videos are fantastic ways to showcase and promote your movie, especially if you're creating a trailer for your documentary.
Top 5 tips
Keep it simple
Put the action in the center of the frame
Make it colorful
More cuts & edits
Use simple clear images that fill the screen (close-up of a face vs. tiny figures off in the distance)
Michael Moore's trailer for Sicko is a great example of keeping the visuals, audio and graphics simple.
I caught part of this documentary on PBS a few years ago. Operation Homecoming is a phenomenal mix of real life and animation. The trailer is well suited for the web with clear, simple images.
I absolutely loved the Oscar nominated documentary Man on Wire. The movie trailer is very well done, but not necessarily best suited for the web, at least toward the end. Can you see why?
According to the online tracking group Visible Measures, the most popular viral videos of all time that have reached “100-million” views or more are music videos (8), followed by movie trailers (4), amateur videos (4) and TV show clips (2).
This next "million views" video winner shows you why simple can sometimes be best. I admit this video doesn't have much to do with documentaries, it's really just fun to watch. ;)
