THE MOTHER’S SMILE EXPERIENCE
promo
When attempting to achieve something like this, the obvious question is “where do I start from?” I just started though. I gathered a small team of friends and we got to work, going all in on promotion and promises. People had already begun purchasing tickets, but I didn’t even have any money to pull the event off (something I wouldn’t have until two days before the event date).
The issue with trying to get this thing going was the fact that I was a “nobody.” I stacked up sponsorship proposal letters and roamed the streets of Accra looking for companies to submit them to. I thought I had a chance with 3Music, for example. They were one of the few companies that actually sat down to speak with me about it. But they needed evidence that I’d successfully pulled something like this off before. Fair enough. You can’t expect a company to pour in so much money into something without a guaranteed return on investment.
One of the main difficulties I had with this event was marketing. The issue is that the Ghanaian culture is not a movie-going culture. How do I get people to come see my movie if they rarely go out to see any other movie. I believed, however, that they’d come out for an “experience.” I said as much when I sketched out the initial concept in my Apple Notes app two years ago (see below):
The experience I envisioned was a completely silent one, devoid of an MC, which merged a film screening, and album listening party, an art exhibition, and a fashion show (though I eventually did away with the fashion show. It was a logistical nightmare). It’s safe to say that I bit off a bit more than I could chew for my first proper event but I still chewed it (Will Smith reference🫣).
In the end, it was pretty successful. Sure, it didn’t go exactly as planned, and it left me in debt, but it did spark a conversation. The film wasn’t even ready at the time of the event, with so many unfinished scenes, a rushed sound mix and colour grade, and even an “insert subtitles here” in certain scenes with non-English dialogue. But what appears to have been remembered above all was the experience. The concept. The execution. Presentation, man. Presentation goes a long way.
Among the list of things that went wrong:
The initial art exhibition room was taken away from us by the government a day before the event (for a conference that never even occurred), forcing us construct a quick makeshift exhibition space. This messed up the silent art exhibition concept where the audience was to be guided through the entire space via an usher, a voiceover and sound effects which would’ve correspond with the art they look at.
Furthermore, one of the artist’s art pieces was not ready in print, causing him to have to show the pieces on his phone.
My mini market idea wasn’t properly fleshed out. Before the event was to begin, I intended for arriving guests to be able to walk around and purchase little souvenirs: bracelets, necklaces, shirts, etc. from local vendors invited to sell. After reaching out to several local vendors, however, only one showed up but was left more or less stranded without making any sales. She was furious. (I think it also didn’t help that I was so preoccupied by countless other things that I just kept sending a member of my team to speak with her throughout the event).
The silent experience structure required a pseudo-MC in the end. There were a few periods of “okay, so what’s happening now.”
One of the artist’s artwork got stolen…
Etc. Etc. Etc.