Traditional film promotion and publicity includes giving away postcards and posters, sending out media kits, developing supplementary material for a DVD, attending promotional screenings, and giving talks at colleges and festivals. In addition to these methods of getting the word out, Internet options such as trailers, shorts, and an interactive website should be explored for generating additional interest.
The Blair Witch Project
In the early days of Internet hype, the team behind The Blair Witch Project set up a website containing folklore associated with the film. A few selective mentions of the website led to throngs of people visiting the website trying to learn more about the mythology associated with the project.
When Eduardo Sanchez, Daniel Myrick, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie and Michael Monello stepped off the plane in Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival in January 1998, they never expected their low-budget thriller about a witch hunt gone awry to charm audiences and the media, and to entice distributors into a bidding war. Yet in the first big sale at Sundance that year, the five men, founders of Orlando-based Haxan Films, sold worldwide rights to The Blair Witch Project to Artisan Entertainment.
