As the end of the semester approaches, I am scrambling to try to complete as much of pre-production as possible.
The website keeps me insanely busy, as ever, and I'm always finding new things to tweak. I read an article recently on a blog called "Design 2.0" that accused several websites of "mini-homepage syndrome". According to the author, this is when the website designers create a homepage that simply looks good, or is useful only to the long-time user, rather than using the space to explain what the site does and how it is useful. The author suggests that people will not click through a website trying to figure out what it is. They will either figure it out on the homepage, or they will leave the site for good.
Thus I decided to alter the design YET AGAIN, by including useful information on the splash page, and setting the actual homepage of the site to what was formerly called "FAQ." This solved my rather dubious problem of not one, but two "mini-homepages" in a row. I think the website has gained a great deal of usability due to these changes.
Publicity is difficult. I have been trying to figure out ways to attract "outside attention" to the project, but so far my efforts have been in vain. It seems that I really need more people on the home front that are committed to this project as I am.
I think the real issue here is compensation. How do I energize a group of people to devote time and energy to a project that they've never done before, wasn't their idea, and don't expect to be compensated for their time? I'm still working on this problem, but I have a couple ideas that I think may work.
The first is to try to achieve a sense of "community momentum." I think if there was a general feeling that others were spending time on the project, then others might be more willing to jump in. One of the ways I'm trying to do this is by instating a weekly chat session with anyone that would like to participate. My hope is that the chat session will not only allow us to deal with specific issues regarding pre-production, but will also create the feeling that people are actually interested in working on the project, and thereby encourage others to do the same.
Another more obvious concept is to simply offer film credit. I've been doing this from the beginning, but I think I need to step it up. I'm still wondering if weekly (or more frequent) updates can accomplish this goal.
As always, I realize that the the success of this project is going to rely on two or three committed individuals who will push it to completion. I know I'm into it for the duration, but I'm still looking for those one or two others.
My next step (besides posting the first storyboards and casting auditions) is to pursue some advertising in some forums and blogs relating to filmmaking.
Onward!
