Category: Facebook

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I want to tell you a Storify

I ended 2011 the same way I started 2012, with a story. To be more precise, in December I had something to say about a year in the life of Screen Machine, Scotland’s mobile cinema that I’ve blogged about a few times here, and I needed a good way to tell it.

The answer was Storify.

For those who haven’t heard of Storify, it’s a tool that allows users to curate social media posts from numerous accounts, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo. It’s free to set up and easy to use, so it seemed perfect for my needs.

With numerous stories in the press, video published, comments on Twitter and other mentions for Scotland’s most unusual cinema, I spent a few hours looking back through my work around the web and ended up with the aptly titled Screen Machine: 2011 year in review post.

The success of that post led me to pull together another one this month, detailing the online reaction to the repeat of a 1974 BBC Play for Today, The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil, on BBC ALBA.

While repeats of old TV shows don’t usually cause much of a stir, this one was quite rare, and I wrote about it on ReelScotland just ahead of the screening. When the number of page visits and tweets went through the roof, and I led a live Twitter commentary of the screening, I collected the most interesting responses into another Storify.

The result, Twitter reaction to The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil on BBC ALBA, has already notched up almost 250 views, while my embedding of the post on ReelScotland has itself had many hundreds of views.

I spend a lot of time on Twitter trying to sift through a mass of dross for the best information, and being able to present that to my own followers, or those of Screen Machine or ReelScotland, in a concise way is going to become more important. Hopefully I’ll have another opportunity to use Storify soon.

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Facebook Filming Online

Screen Machine behind-the-scenes videos

Last week saw the second of my new Screen Machine videos go live on Vimeo, both of them filmed recently on Arran during the cinemas visit.

The brief here was to both interview senior operator, Iain MacColl, about his work on the cinema and to show how Screen Machine is set up, a question often asked by the 25,000 visitors who attend each year.

Both videos have had a positive response, mainly on Facebook from some of our 2,000+ followers. Let me know what you think.

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Facebook Film Online Twitter

Screen Machine + classic films = success Galore

Whisky Galore

Back in July I wrote about some of my work with Scotland’s mobile cinema, The Screen Machine, which sees me managing the Machine’s social media presence and PR. With the promotion of an upcoming tour of 1940s film, Whisky Galore, the cinema is back in the news again.

We may have over 2000 Facebook fans and a growing Twitter presence, but nothing beats the traditional press release to generate some buzz around a project, particularly one as exciting as Screen Machine taking Whisky Galore back to Barra, where it was filmed in 1948.

Within a day we had news items on the BBC, STV and Stornoway Gazette websites, plus news items in the Daily Mail and other print publications. I also started some discussion on Twitter, inviting film fans to suggest other famous Scottish films that should be taken to locations around the country.

The response was fast and good fun, with some interesting ideas coming from all over the Twittersphere.

Screen Machine locations
Screen Machine locations

The buzz has continued over subsequent weeks, with a new competition recently added to the main website, offering a tour of the Scotch Whisky Experience and DVDs of the film.

Most importantly ticket sales are strong and the response from attendees positive, hopefully ensuring more special screenings in the coming year.

Listen to the BBC Film Programme’s trip to see Screen Machine on Barra on the BBC iPlayer.

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Facebook Online Twitter Writing

Developing Screen Machine’s online presence

Screen Machine in a Highland scene
Screen Machine in a Highland scene

Along with my work for Park Circus which I mentioned last week, I’m also working on a major multi-website project for the national leader for Scotland’s arts, screen and creative industries, Creative Scotland. One strand of this sees me heavily involved in developing the online presence of Scotland’s only mobile cinema, Screen Machine.

Screen Machine is an 80-seat digital cinema which has been taking the latest films to remote and rural areas of Scotland since the 1990s. In my role of Web Producer, I’m tasked with managing the development of the main website and associated social media, including a fast growing Facebook page and a popular Twitter feed.

I’m also effectively looking after the press office for the cinema, with a series of press releases written and distributed to Scottish media over the last few weeks tying into the social media work.

The first major release centred on the arrival at the Screen Machine of a Grey African Parrot and its owner at a screening in Brodick on the Isle of Arran. I became aware of the story via a post on the Facebook page and followed it up with a press release, which was picked up by STV’s Entertainment website, in turn spawning a Twitter hashtag, #aparrotinacinema, which asked people to suggest bird-themed movie titles and which propagated the story around the web.

A hashtag frenzy on Twitter
A hashtag frenzy on Twitter

The last fortnight has seen the cinema pushed even further around the web thanks to a visit to Bettyhill, a village on the north coast of Scotland, which the cinema last visited almost a decade ago, just before a cinema opened in Thurso (which has now closed). News of the trip was picked up by BBC Online, The Northern Times and The John O’Groat Journal.

Screen Machine on BBC News Online
Screen Machine on BBC News Online

BBC Radio Scotland’s Movie Cafe also featured the story and I was interviewed by Inverness-based radio station, Moray Firth Radio, both of whom have loyal audiences around Scotland.

At a time when we’re constantly told how important online is for getting the message out to customers, it’s important to remember that old-fashioned print media still has a major place in the lives of readers, particularly in remote communities.

Getting this story into The Northern Times could mean that we’ve reached more people in Sutherland than a tweet or a Facebook update and, although I’ll be doing a lot of work to build our online presence, I’ll also be ensuring we keep Scotland’s print media and radio stations well informed of Screen Machine’s progress for the forseeable future.