My favorite is a listing of things that that film festival programmers complain about seeing over and over again. You can go grab the free PDF version of the book and check it out (page 5), but I’ll list some of my favorites here:

• Someone takes a shower or brushes his teeth
• We realize it was all a dream
• A scene in a convenience store switches to security cam footage

(from Film Festival Secrets)

What’s wrong with these? There is nothing inherently wrong with them, but you can recognize the pattern. They are all the cliches of independent films, whether imagined or not (and I suspect, since these came from film festival programmers, they aren’t imagined).

We can all kind of scoff at that, but there is a little bit of inspiration to be had from this, because it’s something that the independent film crowd can rally around.

I like to think about it like this: the derivative stuff is supposed to come from Hollywood. The cliches like guys never looking at explosions as they walk away. And that stuff is really supposed to be stolen by the true innovators at the independent level. So why would we borrow from each other? That’s for the people who are supposed to be stealing anyways and packaging it for the megaplex crowd.

I’m not bashing Hollywood – I love it and I love going to the megaplex. It’s what got me into filmmaking in the first place. But remember – innovation is supposed to come from the ground up – and DiY Filmmakers and other independents are the ground.

So next time you are writing a script – maybe add a check reading for cliches or other things that are just derivative of your fellow DiYs and Independents. You can borrow and “pay homage” to things when you are getting paid $10 million and have a craft services table.

But there’s also a concept that programmers use that is applicable here. It’s called DRY – Don’t Repeat Yourself. It basically means don’t re-invent the wheel. Creating a new and cool design for your site isn’t re-inventing the wheel, it’s inventing something that is unique and valuable.

So what is reinventing the wheel? That would be trying to recreate things that are done better elsewhere. For example, why create your own image gallery when you can use a free service like Flickr? Why host your own video when you can use one of the multitudes of hosting services out there? There are hundreds of coders out there working on making things you can use awesome, and in some cases you just can’t compete with that.

The idea is simple: make unique what should be made unique, and plug in other services to save time, effort, and money.

Let’s take a look at 10 things you free services we recommend for your film site.

Note: Some of these are going to be no-brainers, but we are mentioning them here not just to say “you haven’t heard of this” but to give some tips on how to use it for a film website specifically.

1. Flickr

It’s a great idea to have stills on your site. Production stills, behind the scenes stills – any kind of picture. You have to serve two different needs here: people who want to browse them, and people who want or need the full resolution stills to use in articles and other press (that’s a good thing).

Flickr is really tremendous at this. You can sign up for a free account (which has some upload limits), and upload your stills in a few minutes. Then, you can organize them into sets (basically, albums), and organize their order, captions, etc. You can then embed a slideshow for your set on your site – the casual browsers get a slick interface, and the press people can click on any image and get the full resolution stills. They can even get a bunch of different sizes that Flickr automatically generates.

It’s always helpful to include a link to your Flickr page, or a note that press people can get full resolution stills off of your Flickr account.

Another Tip:

For a cool behind the scenes thing, you can associate your stills with points a map. You can use this to show shooting locations and give people an inside look at where your film was shot.

2. Vimeo

We’ve already written about Vimeo, so it’s no secret that we like it.

Here’s where it comes in handy for you film site: you can choose an image that is NOT a screen grab to be the image that is shown before you start playing. This may seem like a little thing, but it goes a long way for presentation. It’s really worth it to create a nice little image branded with your film’s look that has the title of the clip – upload it in the settings tab, and give it a little bit more of a pro edge.

Another tip:

If you’ve got a Flickr account, you can add Flickr pictures by their IDs to any of your videos. Not terribly useful, but pretty cool!

3. Tumblr

Let’s face it: blogs are a pain in the ass to administer, and your film site should have one. But you are a filmmaker, and not (necessarily) a blogger, so why do you need a full-blown blog with all the trimmings?

Enter Tumblr: it labels itself as micro-blogging, but I feel like its a lot – a ton – more. It handles everything gracefully – from media, audio, text, links – you name it. One of the things I like the best about it, however, is that it can handle the dashed-off post of just a few lines, or the longer form novel-like post that takes you a few hours.

Like the rest of the stuff on this list, it’s hosted, so you get a URL like yourfilm.tumblr.com, but you can also map it to a sub-domain of your regular domain by editing the zone file on your host. So you can make it blog.yourfilm.com. It’s extremely customizable, and you’ll be up and running in a few hours, not a few days, with an awesome, adaptable blog.

4. Twitter

Yes, yes. We are including Twitter.

Why? Because, of course, it’s great tool. It’s no secret that it rocks, and it’s a great way to reach a lot of people. You already know the basics, but here are some more pro-ish tips:

- Customize the background. Don’t just go with a preset Twitter theme – create a background image and put the important details in there.

- Make the Twitter name descriptive. “Film” or “Doc” are some keywords that tell reader that your account is for a film.

- Target your target demographic. Use sites like wefollow.com to figure out where the Twitter users are that you want to get the attention of. It’s no use to follow a bunch of random people, but if your documentary is about farming, find some top people tweeting about farming, and take a look at their followers and people they follow. While you’re at it, registering under some keywords on sites like wefollow is a good idea.

- Don’t be obnoxious and spammy. Make it seem like there are actual people behind your account – not just an auto direct message bot.

5. Facebook

Another obvious one, but it’s important to get this one right.

Obviously, you want to set up a page, and there is a special page type for films. Fill out your info, and start customizing.

To see how the pros do it, check out the Facebook page for the Oscar-wining documentary “The Cove”. Instead of the normal Facebook feed, you get a cool, large poster where you can watch the trailer.

How did they do this? You can add special page tabs called “FBML” tabs – it stands for Facebook Markup Language. It allows you to add HTML, and also some special tags Facebook developed (hence the FBML). Creating the page is almost as simple as writing a few lines of HTML and adding a FBML tag for embedding videos. If you don’t know HTML, try to find a nerdy friend who can help out. It’s really simple.

You can name that tab anything you want, and set it as the default tab, so new visitors see your eye-grabbing visuals right off the bat!

Another Tip:

Don’t forget to create a Facebook badge for your page and put it on your site – it takes 2 minutes and increases the turnover of casual web surfers to fans.

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In the end, what you want to do is provide people content in channels that they are familiar with and can incorporate into their digital lives. Got a fan on your page? You have got another member of your audience in this digital circle, and you can concentrate on making them viewers or customers.

You’ve got your domain and your hosting: now what?

Well, you need to build a site.

For me, there are really only two ways to do this: the down and dirty in the code way, and the design and export way. Which way you choose really depends on what your level of skill is with PHP and MySQL. If you have no clue what either of those mean, then you should start at the no coding skills required section.

Alright, let’s get started!

Tools for Builders Without Code Experience

If you are looking to create your site yourself from the ground up, and you’ve never touched a line of code before, give these guys a try. They are called WYSIWYG editors – pronounced “Wizzywig”. It stands for “What You See Is What You Get”. Basically, they let you design your site through an interface, then they generate the code for the site. Are there limitations to this approach? Definitely, but if you’ve got to do it yourself and you are a code virgin, then it’s the only game in town – and it’s not a bad game!

Note: both of these options are mac only. We’re searching for a good PC option.

iWeb

Apple decided to get into the web development app game a few years ago, and iWeb has come along way since version 1.0. There are lots of themes, and a lots of cool little blocks to add to your site. The biggest limitation is that you’ve only got what Apple gives to you. Customization is possible, but it’s unlikely you’ll be able to achieve your artistic web vision during a weekend with iWeb. You will, however, be able to make something basic and attractive to showcase your film, and that’s the important part.

Newer versions of iWeb allow you to publish directly to an FTP server (which you have if you purchased hosting). You can put the details right in the window that appears when you click on the red cloud next to your site’s name in the page list area.

Older version of iWeb don’t have this, so you need to go to File->Publish to Folder, and it will export a folder you can upload to your site via FTP.

If you have a Mac, you probably have iWeb installed. If not, you can get it as part of iLife ’09 here.

RapidWeaver

Rapidweaver is like iWeb on steroids. While it has some features that allow you to get into the code, you can go start to finish in Rapidweaver without looking at anything but the design.

Like iWeb, Rapidweaver has a built-in FTP deployment system, but the real powerful feature here is the level of customization. Where in iWeb you are only going to go so far, with Rapidweaver you are going to be able to create something that is much, much closer to what you had in your head when you started. Just look at their showcase to get an idea of what can be achieved with Rapidweaver.

Another key element is Rapidweaver’s focus on good, clean code. A lot of programs will just spit out anything, and while the site may look the same to you, web crawlers are going to notice a difference. Crawlers are the little bots that index web pages and decide what’s on them, and since they can’t see your site, they have to figure it out from the code. Bad code means you hurt in the search engine department.

Rapidweaver will set you back a little bit more than the others on this list at $79, but the flexibility is worth it. You can buy it online at their site.

Tools or Builders With Code Experience

The following are some great tools (more accurately, content management systems) to use to build your site. These guys are the best tools to use when you can confidently get down and dirty in the code, and you want an advanced level of customization.

WordPress

WordPress has come a long way. What used to be a good blogging platform has transitioned into a fantastic bloggin/CMS platform. If you are going to incorporate a blog into your site, I’d say WordPress is the way to go.

One of the things that makes WordPress so appealing is all the plugins. Right off the bat I’d recommend the All-in-one SEO plugin, as well as Flutter, which is a must-have CMS addition.

Remember though – WordPress takes some code knowledge to set up and template properly. I’d really recommend against just using a free theme and leaving it at that. If you have to use one, make sure to modify it at least a little bit if you don’t have the luxury of being able to create a new design.

Also, WordPress is, of course, free.

Concrete5

Concrete5‘s mantra is very true: it’s built for geeks, but with marketing in mind. And when you think about it, your site is all about marketing. If you are looking for a CMS to fit your design over, then I highly recommend Concrete5.

Again, to set up Concrete5 you are going to need some code experience. Setting up a template means setting areas for the design up to become active content holders. From there, you can add different “blocks” of content through a really slick front-end editing interface. Those blocks of content can be a lot of different things from straight text to a form to a google map. If you want to set something up that is custom and flexible, but dread slogging through the swamps of the Drupals and ModXs of the world, then try bellying up to Concrete5.

For a quick introduction, check out Concrete5′s own enticing Vimeo getting started tutorial. Take a look around – they’ve got a lot of great screen cast videos.

Concrete5 is free to host yourself, and they offer hosting packages as well. Check out the Concrete5 marketplace to check out their library of add-ons. Some are free and some are paid, but they are all pretty awesome.

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That’s it for part 2! In a few days I’ll be writing about the important part – how you present your film through your site.

This method takes a bit more computer savvy than simply strapping a blood filled condom to your chest, and it’s a lot more time consuming. But, if you have the skill and the time to learn, this method still gives you a quality looking bullet effect without having to tape explosives and prophylactics to yourself.

By the way, I’m not kidding about the time consuming part… the good dudes over at ION Films put together a tutorial on how to create the effect, and at nearly 40 minutes long, it takes dedication to get through. But, if you’re looking to create a realistic bullet hit that won’t burn off your chest hair, this 4 part series is worth your time:

While you may be able to staff your production days with some people, it’s much more likely that once you sit down in the editing room chair or start to go through a bag of receipts, you’ll be flying solo. Because of this, it may be a little tougher to drill down and get things done.

But never fear! There are some great simple tools and techniques out there to help you stop wasting time during post production and plow through what you need to get done.

1. The Pomodoro Technique

Sometimes you need some structure to get you going, and that’s what the Pomodoro technique excels at providing. Created by Francesco Cirillo, the idea is simple: 25 minute periods of absolute concentration, with 5 minute breaks in between. After four consecutive “pomodoros”, take a 15 minute break.

Give it a try for a few hours and you’ll find yourself making less excuses to check email or get a snack. You’ll soon find out you can get a lot done in 25 minutes, and the breaks help you refresh your mind. This technique is also ideal for writing and other production-related tasks you do on your own – I’ve used it for months and it’s part of the reason these blog posts get written!

You can get all the information you could possibly need on the technique at the Pomodoro Technique’s website including a free downloadable PDF of the Pomodoro Technique book.

2. Getting Things Done

A close cousin of the Pomodoro Technique, Getting Things Done, or GTD is a technique made popular by internet-evangelist Merlin Mann with his famous blog post on the subject.

It provides a very well structured and inspiring method of getting the stuff that is hanging in the air nailed down, identified, and done. It’s obviously a little more involved than that, but Merlin has got your back in that department with his post. Obviously, nothing has more “stuff” than a production, so using the method will help you get all that mess under control.

3. Zen Habits

Not everyone needs a technique – some just need a boost or advice every once in a while. To fill that need, nothing works better than Zen Habits, a blog about simplicity in how you work and live. Productions (the production part, and the other parts), tend to be hectic and cluttered. Zen Habits can help you keep things in order and remember above all to keep things simple.

That’s it! Check out these techniques and see if you can optimize your post production process.

Welcome to DiY Filmmaking!