How to make more product out of product and make that make money

Compilations work

I spent many years attached to ITV as a creative head of department and advised on many shows, being attached to Emmerdale for 26 years and famously now meeting Status Quo on Coronation Street (whom I had not seen since the 1970's when I was a radio DJ). During this time much of my work found it's way into ITV 2 compilation specials, like best Emmerdale Weddings etc... you can make a compilation of anything if you have bulk content. No different for a web series except we are more intertwined by nature. More linked.

We have ended up in cruise travelling, but it doesn't matter which market you choose. Model railways, bone chine ... hey, who cares the art or film making is the same and it all outweighs drama. Baking cakes sells more than actors trying to act, especially unknown actors. Sad as it seems, the audience has moved on. The problem with picking a popular market like travel, is that everyone and their mother is doing it, so competition is high.

The point of this blog is that after making a number of movies, then 61 episodes (so far) of the on line drama Shades Of Bad, we have in the last year posted 100 travel films on Daily Motion and have an active OPERA TV APP.

The art is to film now for the current and also add bits for the future unknown compilations. Coverage I hear you shout. Yes I agree, and links and turns to cameras. One day you will need them.

Then there is the art of on-line ANNOTATIONS. Now if you don't know what these are, these are boxes you add after UPLOAD and they are a feature of Daily Motion and YouTube to add a click here now box, to go to another film. So compilation, addresses the viewer to watch the multiple content.

As an example, I offer this last effort. A cruise, links to the 10 or so individual films, to an episode of the web series and much more. Hours of work, but less than the hours it will take to market is.  

P&O Azura Iberia Cruise A628

OK, you can call it overcast, but 7th October was a great day to sail, nice weather, flat seas and the Azura set sail under Captain Robert Camby.... etc etc .. that is my audience....
this is the compilation film with the annotations.

It contains.......
MADEIRA -We arrived in Madeira on the 11th Oct and left the next morning at 1130 hours..... etc three separate films made in one day ashore.

12th October was an afternoon to relax and prepare early for the evening.... no, that is what we tell the passengers but we down load and rough edit.

LA PALMA 13th Oct was a long day ashore with a back on board at 17.30 the ship sailed at 17.38 towards .... we are down loading and editing, the first film is nearly finished and I am actually laying music.

TENERIFE 14th Oct was a long day, re-borading the ship at the end of an exhausting but very enjoyable day at 22.30.....that is what we said and it was, but three films in three different locations. Now editing again late into the night.

GRAN CANARIA 15th Oct was another normal hours on shore... and this day tiredness hit, we only made two short films, and the compilation of the two.

LANZAROTE 16th Oct. ... we shot us having lunch ....

17th we were at sea so we shot some tips on the ship and edited in the bar in the crows next

LISBON on the 18th Oct was a bad start  ... traffic and every hour lost is a directors headache. But, the film was completed..... On Segway. I need a steady cam operator on the crew!

19th and 20th the films start to get edited and tightened and the work load for the next week in the edit suit is scheduled.

How do you turn that into cash. That is by building tens of thousands of followers which let us say is a five year plan with no guarantee of success ... unless you refuse to give up. Then gaining partnerships and affiliations. It is not just from your Adsense and YouTube clicks. Take a look at our web site (click here www.DorisVisits.com) to see how we are now connected. And we are only just getting accepted with 32k twitter followers across the accounts. 

Now, seriously, filming car boot sales is more likely to get you a TV gig, and is easier, but it is the style and the lightweight crew that is the secret. The shooting with an eye for volume. 18 months in now, we have all but junked our first Shades Of Bad web site, and are merging Facebook Pages into a more focussed platform. I have never thought we had enough work and content to shout and market to the public, but, we are getting there. If you check out a model we have seen doing the same, David's Been There, he is 8 years in and it is just working.

I think Doris Visits should have 300 films in three years, but we are just about to add our Fiji work and interviews with Rick Parfitt. They are all old material worked into travel. We aim to sell copies of the old BULA QUO film and Albums, make the sequel financeable, and raise profile to the travel site.

You content will have a different look, but it will have the same need for growth and interweaving.