Final farewell: What I have learnt

Hello everyone,

The semester and my professional placement are rapidly coming to an end. For myself and some of you, this may even be the end of your degree! My internship at Dark House Imagery Studios (promoting the film Playthings) has been one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences I have ever had and I’m so grateful I had this opportunity.

If you haven't already, please take a look at the website for the film! http://www.playthingsmovie.com

I have learnt so much about the ‘real world’ of public relations and the practical aspects that only work experience can truly teach you. So, what exactly have I learnt throughout these 20 days?


1. Professionalism

It is incredibly important to establish and maintain relationships with each and every stakeholder you communicate with, from journalists to the community. I have found that despite the history of ‘frustration’ or possible tension between journalists and public relations practitioners, this has not been the case with my experience. We are working together towards a common goal. PR practitioners must be respectful of journalists’ deadlines and the newsworthiness of our press releases. I have been very respectful of the journalists I have liaised with and thus have had great experiences so far. If you maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with journalists and make sure you communicate professionally, clearly and effectively, I believe you are fulfilling your PR function.

2. Communication

I have learnt that effective communication is key to succeeding in any PR role. Efficient internal communication is essential to the operation of your organisation so every employee is on the same page and has a common goal to work towards. I found that in the company I did my internship with there was a system that I had to follow when having my press releases approved and sent out. This clarity of communication between all of us helped tremendously when I needed to learn exactly how to perform my tasks.

3. Ethics

Finally, I have learnt the value of ethical practice and making sure I always carry out my responsibilities honestly as well as protecting confidential information. I made sure to always check that my press releases were 100% accurate and there was nothing misleading or ambiguous written in them. I also understood the importance of keeping important information confidential when told to do so. Particularly with the film industry, it is important to keep scripts and plans under wraps whilst they are going through the drafting phases as you do not want any information to get our prematurely that could ‘spoil’ or be detrimental to your film production.

This unit has allowed me to use the knowledge I have learnt at university in a practical way and carry out my tasks in an exciting working environment. It has been invaluable to be able to implement the theory I have learnt throughout the past three years of studying public relations. This experience has solidified my knowledge of the industry and taught me new lessons that I will take with me in my future endeavours within the field of PR.

Good luck with your final reports and job hunting!

Sophie

Supanova

Hi everyone,

As you might know already, I am undertaking my work experience at Dark House Imagery Studios. It is an independent film production company, and we are currently in pre-production for an exciting feature film called Playthings.

We recently attended an event called ‘Supanova’ which is an Australia-wide popular culture exhibition, frequented by hundreds of thousands of pop culture fans each year. As our movie is a horror film, it was suited to the audience of this expo as they love all things slasher, sci-fi and post-apocalyptic! A number of celebrities attend each year and are set up at a panel to sign autographs and take photos with their fans. These included Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse), Daniel Logan (Star Wars), Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) and Chaske Spencer (Twilight) amongst others.

The event was incredibly successful as we drew attention to our film and built up a fan base before it is to be released in 2011. We created an event page on Facebook about a month before the event in order to spread the word about it and invite as many people as possible. At the event, we set up a stall in the exhibitors area with a lot of creative promotional material in order to raise awareness of Playthings.

Firstly, we printed 1000 movie posters featuring a picture that our photographer had taken at an earlier promotional photo shoot with the cast. It is a picture of an eye, however if you look closely at the pupil you will see there is a reflection of the villain! This was really effective on a large A3 poster.

We also had a graphic designer make ‘fake’ money, which featured a picture of the film director’s face as well as our Facebook page and website details. This was a great way of doing something very different and creative, whilst still putting all of the essential information on the promo material. Trust me, a lot of people will come and see your stall if you say you’re giving away ‘free’ money! We gave away 2000 notes of it!

There is a scene in the movie which involves creating origami animals with dollar bills. This is because the horror film is set in a post-apocalyptic society where ‘money has no value’, so people do whatever they want with it. In keeping with this, we gave away 2000 guides of step-by-step ‘how to make origami’. This was a big hit with the younger crowd as we had numerous different animals they could make with the fake money we were giving away.




We also ran a competition for a chance to win a role in the film, giving away 2000 audition scripts for people to take home. They had to record themselves reading the script and upload it onto our Youtube channel. We had a great response and have already chosen the lucky winners!

Overall the event was a fantastic experience and a great success for Playthings. We gave away every piece of promo material we had and we even had to start taking down posters from the walls of our stall and giving them away as we had ran out of our 2000 posters already printed!

I hope everyone is enjoying their placements if they have not finished yet,

Sophie

Exciting news!

Hi everyone,

Playthings, the feature film that I am promoting during my professional practice experience, was selected for the ScreenWest 2010 Feature Navigator Consultation Week. The program, created by WA funding body ScreenWest, brings national and international consultants to Perth to provide advice for teams developing feature film projects. The director, producer and writer of Playthings met with industry professionals throughout the last week in order to work on the script as well as important marketing and promotional methods.

This is a fantastic opportunity for the horror film, which is still in pre-production, as two of the projects selected for the Consultation Week will be chosen to receive $15,000 in funding. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for Playthings!

Other than this exciting news, I have been hard at work in the world of social media. In this day and age it is becoming increasingly evident that skills in Web 2.0, or more specifically PR 2.0, are essential. In order to build an audience for Playthings before it has even been filmed or released, it is important to bring them along the journey with you. By including the fans in the ‘making of’ the film, as well as all of our latest developments and exciting news, we are building a solid relationship with them and therefore already have a fan-base waiting in anticipation for the film to be released.

We have created a Facebook page, a Youtube channel, a Twitter page and a website which are all updated frequently in order to establish and maintain a two-way dialogue with the stakeholders of the film. We already have over 750 fans on Facebook and counting! So please have a look at our Facebook page and click the ‘like’ button to become a fan.

http://www.facebook.com/playthingsmovie

We have also been including fans in a competition to win a role in the film! There has been a great response and a large number of budding actors and actresses have uploaded their auditions onto our Youtube channel. This has been a great way to involve the public and build up a lot of excitement for the film.

I hope everyone is enjoying their placements and good luck for your reports,

Sophie

Public Relations, Promotion and Playthings!

Hi everyone,

It's technically day 7 of my placement, however I have been onboard the 'Dark House Imagery Studios' team since March this year.

Dark House Imagery Studios is an independent film production company and we are currently focusing all of our energy on the pre-production and promotion of an exciting feature film entitled Playthings. It is due to be filmed in the middle of next year, however we just filmed a short promotional feature in order to attract investors and audiences.

Enough about the non-PR side of things! It has been an incredibly exciting and overwhelming experience so far, as I am the only person in a Public Relations role. I have been given the responsibility of writing press releases, which has caused me to dig up everything I learnt back in PR Techniques and PR Media. I am so thankful to have had those units teach me so much about the art of writing a press release, because at the beginning it is harder than you would think!

I have also been very lucky to have one of my press releases picked up for publication in the Fremantle Gazette. I was so excited when I got the call from the journalist. It is also extremely important to be professional and maintain strong relationships with the media so you can communicate effectively, and therefore mutually benefit from the relationship. I helped set up an interview with the director of Playthings and also a photo shoot. This is how the article turned out...

I will be sure to keep updating you with all of the exciting tasks I have been given and any new developments I experience throughout my placement. I have learnt so much so far and it has been incredibly rewarding to learn more about Public Relations in a 'real world', professional context!

Please also check out the link I posted to the Playthings website! http://www.playthingsmovie.com/

I hope all of your placements are going well and your reports are well on their way to completion,

Sophie