Movies Rewritten - Social Media Style

The Rescues

2010-09-12T12:29:00.004-04:00

I'm taking a slight step away from my usual blog topics to promote one of the best bands out there today.
If you haven't heard of The Rescues, make sure you check them out this fall! Promoting their newest album Let Loose The Horses, the band is touring across the US and making a stop in Toronto. I think it's actually their first Canadian tour date.

Click here for tour information.

Aside from listening to classic rock, The Rescues are one of the only contemporary bands I listen to these days. Their music is memorable and they use interesting harmonies. Don't believe me? See for yourself:

In terms of social media, The Rescues management certainly knows what they're doing. The band uses Co-Tweet so when you go to their main Twitter page, you can identify tweets from the band members as well as tweets from the band. They also have a strong following on their Facebook page. Band members are active on the message boards and fans get involved through contests and by uploading images from concerts. In additon to their main site, The Rescues also upload YouTube videos on an ongoing basis and have a tumblr account for pictures and tour details.

If you haven't seen them live, make sure you do. It'll be a musical experience of a lifetime - so I've heard.

Skype: Easy As Pie

2010-09-03T16:36:00.004-04:00

Who hasn't seen American Pie starring Jason Biggs? The film is famous for several hilarious scenes that I will not discuss due to this blog's family rating. However the main premise of the film revolves around a group of friends who make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate high school.

In one scene, Jim pursues Nadia, an exchange student, who has gone into his room to study. Stifler convinces Jim to broadcast the event live to their friends on webcam. Unaware that he accidentally sent the weblink to the entire school directory, Jim continues with his attempt to get some action in bed with Nadia.

Using Skype's new 10-way-video calling feature, Jim could easily have avoided public humiliation by carefully selecting the IDs of his Skype conference callers.

I'm @TheRoxbury

2010-08-26T17:11:00.003-04:00

A Night At The Roxbury was one of the most popular movies in 1998.

Steve and Doug Butabi dreamed of opening their own club as cool as the Roxbury. The problem was, they were so uncool, they never got inside the Roxbury. [spoiler] Ultimately, Steve and Doug happen upon a hot new club opened by their friend Zadir. The building is unique in that the exterior is constructed to resemble the interior of a nightclub, and the interior resembles a street. The club theme was an idea pitched by Doug and Steve earlier in the movie. Zadir reveals he has made them part-owners of the club.

With the use of social media, how could Steve and Doug promoted their new club to have even more of a turnout for opening night?

Let's first look at Groupon. Groupon allow users to request the category, type, or even specific coupons they want which can generate insights about demand and also tailor the offerings to the individuals.

There is also Foursquare. FourSquare is a friend-finder, a social city guide and a game that challenges users to experience new things, and rewards them for doing so. Recently, Facebook implemented a new locations app. called PLACES. According to Mashable, Places, "brings location-based functionality to the most popular social network in the world." This mobile-only feature lets users share their location with friends, find out where friends are (if they’re using Places), and discover new places.

The ultimate goal is to get customers in the door. With users reviewing your venue, letting their friends know they're at your business, and spreading the good word online, the more likely you are to start to attract new customers.

If Zadir, Steve and Doug used Groupon and Foursquare to offer lower entrance fees or discounted drinks, visitors would have immediately checked-in to the location and told all their friends. This location-based strategy could have allowed for an even more popular opening night - - better than any night at The Roxbury!

SchoolOfRock.mov

2010-08-25T01:22:00.008-04:00

I'm sure everyone has seen School of Rock with Jack Black and Sarah Silverman.

If you're one of the few who hasn't, here's a short IMDB summary:

After being fired from his own band, guitar player Dewey Finn needs to raise some money to pay for his rent and his bills. When his friend and school teacher Ned Schneebly is called to a temporary work in an expensive private school, Dewey pretends to be Ned and accepts the job. He finds talented young musicians in his class, and he decides to form a rock-and-roll band with the students and win a competition called "Battle of Bands" to raise the prize and be recognized in the show business.

When Dewey was kicked out of his band, he let people know he was looking for new band members by posting up flyers on posts in his neighbourhood. While this paper-wasting strategy may have worked in 2003, it surely does not in 2010.

A few years ago, INXS started a reality show competition to generate publicity and ultimately find a new lead singer for the group. While a reality show is likely too expensive for your average struggling rock star 'wannabe', there are a few cheap ways to get your music heard using social media.

MySpac e is a popular choice for musicians because the site allows bands/artists to upload free mp3s and connect with new fans. Creating a Facebook Page and Twitter account is becoming as natural as breathing. Artists use the sites for real-time conversations with fans and media to promote tour dates, conduct live chats, develop contests, share music, pictures and videos.

Justin Bieber is an excellent example of a YouTube success story. A small-town kid from Stratford, Ontario puts up a few music videos to showcase his talent. The videos receive millions of hits and he gets discovered by a producer in Atlanta who also happens to work with Usher. Shortly thereafter Justin signs a record deal. Bieber is now one of the most listened to artists in the world.

Whether or not Dewey received 50 or 5000 hits, chances are likely that someone in the world that would have liked his music. If he emulated the competition format using YouTube, Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook he may have been able to find more eligible rockers to join his band.

Eat, Pray, Tweet

2010-08-25T00:36:00.008-04:00

For the first blog, I'm going to analyze how Liz (Julia Roberts) could have used social media channels to increase the amount of money she raised for the family she befriended in India. There may be some minor spoilers so save this post for later if you haven't seen the movie yet.

While Liz was travelling in India, instead of asking for birthday presents, she sent out a mass email to all her friends asking for donations to raise funds for a doctor.

If Liz wanted to effectively collect more than $18,000, she could have started a Twitter campaign to help spread the word about her friend in need. Proving the Twitter strategy does work, in July 2010, using Twitter and his blog, Toronto-based Un-Marketing blogger Scott Stratten successfully helped raised over $14,000 with a Tweetathon for 12for12k.

Not only that, if she installed the causes app on Facebook, she may have been able to generate more interest from an extended audience beyond her core group of family and friends. Going viral and uploading movies to YouTube could have better demonstrated the situation so people could see why the money was neeeded.

I'm sure she could have rasied a few thousand dollars more if she had time to implement these simple steps!