The journey of Philmcollab
A marketing professional from Pennsylvania, Patrick Arnold is also a theatre and acting enthusiast. He faced a real problem while gathering film production units in different cities. He wanted to hire actors, assistant directors, lightmen etc locally in order to save the production cost. He also realized that struggling actors or writers must find it so hard to make it big in the film industry as there wasn’t a single platform to showcase work. Thus was born the idea of Philmcollab.
How can Philmcollab become the one-stop-shop for film professionals to showcase work and find talent?
We attempted to address the challenge by talking to struggling actors, experienced editors, animal trainers and producers about the gaps existing in finding each other. We realized if these professionals had one niche platform to post jobs, showcase work and network with each other, they could collaborate locally and globally. We conceived a complete ecosystem for the film industry that involved not only portfolios and networking but also hosting of film-related events, festivals, interest pages, and so on.
Client's challenges & our solutions
I need a social network that goes beyond just posting film jobs.
We will create an all-encompassing community that interacts regularly and where members can easily reach out to each other with needs and queries.
I want a platform that could be trusted by the most experienced people along with attracting novice talent.
Our design scheme would incorporate easy posting and creation of portfolios along with groups, the scope for personalized newsfeeds and several other features to make it a complete community.
I want an experienced team that understands communities.
We will build a buzzing community on top of a powerful framework called vSocial along with using the experience of more than eight years of creating communities.
I am a struggling actor and I want to showcase my work easily to reach out to producers/directors.
I want to find raw talent locally before I move my production unit to the shoot location.
I want to host film festivals and events and post this information on a niche community that understands cinema.
I want to network with fellow producers, actors, directors, and other unit professionals for collaboration purposes.
Keeping in mind Philmcollab’s targeted demographics, our Business Analysis team did their research and came up with an exhaustive plan to implement and integrate a high-end customized community platform. This platform was loaded with tools(features) that not only ensured bringing new talent to the shore but also building trust of seasoned producers and directors in the field.
Market research
Apart from Patrick’s thorough research work, we also studied the film collaboration market while understanding the various aspects of community engagement.
Engaging with users
We roped in a few volunteers to help us understand their challenges in finding and showcasing talent, networking and collaborating for film production. This helped us foresee the brand we were building.
Business assessment document
In consolidating our findings and accommodating the vision of the web application, we detailed on aspects such as scope of the application, paid and free job posting etc.
Creative workshop with client
We started with understanding Patrick’s vision and purpose behind building such a niche community. Being a film enthusiast himself, he gave us valuable insights about the industry and the people that helped us visualize the application better.
Wireframing
We had to divide the demographic to film industry job seekers and employers. Our wireframes incorporated both the users’ needs. We quickly gave the client 8 wireframes for approval.
UI design
We moved back and forth between our designers and team Philmcollab to accommodate all that was important to conclude on one perfect design. We involved a few film job seekers such as animal caretakers, editors and actors to test final designs to check on its appropriateness, ease of use and overall appeal.
Front-end development
Our experience in creating communities and building social networks really helped us do the client-side development quickly. Our process involved a thorough quality analysis for user experience.
Development
Our developers now had the confidence to get into the development since they had all the crucial aspects of the application outlined clearly.
Testing
Speed is one of our value propositions and we ensured that we tested the beta version quickly so the client could launch the platform sooner. We took more feedback from users before the final launch of the application.
