Dear friends from the fest21.com community

My name is Bruno Chatelin and I am the editor of the sites fest21.com and filmfestivals.com

(I can be reached if you need assistance at bruno@filmfestivals.com)

I wanted to personally send you my best wishes for a happy new year and a merry Christmas and thank you for taking part with us to the pioneer digital community of the festival circuit.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION   

Warm regards

Bruno Chatelin

We would also like to give you some information about the progress we are making here.

The site growth is impressive and very promising.
We have passed the 500 000 pages/month mark a year ago (viewed fom a qualified audience)

Of course the figures are still lower than those of filmfestivals.com which we founded in 1995 but they are growing at a phenomenal rate:  the visits have doubled between August and November (150 000).

Fest21.com: the community platform "Myspace for film & fest pro"

The latest addition of our sites, still in a beta version, it has already been adopted by more than 1000 major festivals and filmmakers.

We are currently adding new functionalities to the classic video bloggings found  on youtube or myspace to share video, text, photo, news, links, maps, book or film reviews...

You will soon be able to upload pictures by batch, new layout planned for roll out in the next weeks

The benefits you can get from your blog

• - Better ranking for your (other) website with Google search engine, we have no frames like myspace or variety, serach engine will register your content much faster.
• - Be seen and discovered on fest21.com by the festivals professionals
• - Festival blogs will benefit from the traffic generated by all major festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, Venice, Rome etc that have blogs with us. Giving useful flavor of the festival ambience, style, creative programming ...
• - An effective way to distribute targeted press release, offering immediate visibility on search engine
• - Connect with fellow filmmakers and festivals to check for experience from thecircuit. Some members of our community are fest circuit veterans with huge experience, ask them to share that.
• - When applying for festival credentials remember that fest21.com can help!
• - We publish on homepage of fest21 the more important contributions and also reproduce on filmfestivals.com
• - You must also include a link to your blog on your own website, using the blog as the "live & interactive" version of your site.

Create content:

A blog-without-a-post does not get you anywhere on the internet: add a few posts (even brief ones) if you want a better treatment from google.

First Include an image as your avatar that says who you are
Include an image on the top of your blog homepage

You may want to use your blog as a diary of the fest circuit life and share experience and comments

When copying a word document use the word symbol to paste.

When uploading a festival or film poster, be sure to select "festival poster" or "film poster" gallery  (very popular pages)

 Add tags to your content for increased internet awareness

Remember to add the url of your other website (google prefers sites that are linked in & out)

Add some pictures and video (google likes multi media and ranks videos easier)

A few tips for publication

We advise you to update your blog on a regular basis to have better visibility in the community (left column shows recently updated blogs)

Registration
The password can be changed: go on the left column and click on « your account ».

If you lost your password, simply ask for a new one to be send to you by accessing the "Request new password" page (link on the upper right on the home page).

My account
When registered and logged in, the user block on the left column with your login name as title shows all options including "my account". Click on it and then click on "edit" on top of the page displayed. Enter your "account settings" and you can change your account name, email, and password.

You can also choose the Domain Name of your videoblog used to access it directly. For example, if you enter alice, your blog will be accessible via the url alice.fest21.com. 

Bellow, you can upload a picture to have it displayed as an avatar of your blog when you are connected, on your blog's description...

Save the settings by pressing Submit at the bottom of the page.

Under the top "edit" option, next to your "account settings" option, click on the "User info" option. Fill the fields also to allow users to look at your profile. The "Your Bio" field is also displayed at the top of the right column of your blog, see bellow to personalize your blog.

And next to « the User info », you have a location map. Complete information and the others members will also be able to localize you.

If you enter your full adress it will show on googlemap.

Personalize your blog

You may use 2 spaces to personalize the display of your blog:
- one on top of the center column (as on top of this page)
- one at the top of the right column (below the title About)

Those 2 spaces display text and images entered into your account definition as other informations described above.

On the user menu on the left column, use the "my account" option. Click on "edit" on top of the page displayed. You enter your "account settings". Change the field "Description" and click "submit" to change the text displayed on the top of the center column ot your blog.

Under the top "edit" option, next to your "account settings" option, click on the "User info" option. Fill the fields also to allow users to look at your profile. The "Your Bio" field is displayed at the top of the right column of your blog.

To add images use the process as described below to add an image in the "blog entry" section.

Create content
Once registered and logged in, the user block on the left column is the one with your login name as the title. It shows all your options including "create content". Select this "create content" option and then the type of content you wish to create. Most often a blog entry will be created, which is also called a personal blog entry or a post.

Create a blog entry
To enter a new post:

- Provide the title, Caps will be created automatically

- Optional: select the relevant channels for this post. For example "Ambience" and the post will be displayed on your blog and on the selected channel(s).

- Optional: provide tags to help classify and find this post. For example, new technology business and the post will be listed when visitors select those words.

- Enter the body and the text of the post.
The text will appear as you type it, with lines and paragraph breaks automatically done. To use bold or italics, select the text and use the buttons above this input box. The post accepts also a limited set of html code like links or images, or videos embedded codes... Links can easily added by using the button with a chain. Enter the complete url including http://. .

Use the word symbol if want to keep the formatting from your document, bold, returns...

Create a blog entry: add an image
Click on the camera button on top of the text box. A pop-up window will open. Select an existing image or add a new one Click on "send a new image" on top, then provide a Title for that image. You can also optionally include it in a channel, an image gallery, add tags and a description. To upload the image, use the "Browse" option to select the image on your disk. Press Submit bellow. The image is then added to your images.

To select the image, click "my images" on top, then select your image. At the bottom, select the radio button to choose it if you want a thumbnail (a small image) to be shown or the original. Press the bottom "insert image" at the very bottom of the pop-up window.

The image will be inserted in the text. You can move the image. You can also use the formatting buttons like move to right, center, move left or justify. Save your post to check..

Create a blog entry: finish
To finish your post:
- Submit it (or preview before)

Create an image
Enter all fields and info as described above to enter an image associated with a post. Both methods actually produce the same result: to add an image to your list.

Create a book review
As for a Blog entry described above, fill title, fields...

You can rate the books. To add detailed information, you can specify information like the book's cover, the ISBN code, the price, etc.

If there is a related website, use the option « offsite links » to share it.

You have to complete « contents » and « review » before submiting your book review. If you have nothing to write, just let it empty..

Create a weblink
As for a Blog entry described above, fill title, links and fields...

Create a forum topic

As for a Blog entry, fill title and description.

Create a video
Easy upload of a video of any format from your disk. Fest21's video partner converts the video automatically to a flash format as used for existing videos published. (See home page)
You can use the following formats:
- flv: flash
- mpg or mp4: MPEG
- asf, wmv: Windows Media
- mov: Quicktime
- avi: standard audio/video
- 3gp: video phones

Step 1: browse your disk, choose the video to upload and press upload. Max file size: 150 MB.
Step2: once the upload process is finished, input the title, tags, description... and just submit. Your video is ready.

Create an audio content mp3, podcast... recorded from any sound device

Complete information: title, tag, description and select on your browser the audio file that you want to share. The files are limited to 8 MB.

When you have finished, just click on « Submit ».

RSS

All of your post generate RSS feed. If you want to add your RSS feeds or those from other members on other sites, netvibes, myYahoo... just go to your video blog and click on the « XML » button on top and copy the link. Then you can choose your application to read the rss feed.

You also have on the top left column of the home page, a « RSS feeds » option. There, you can see and add the more recent rss feed, the general rss feed for posts, audio or video....

For rss feeds, you can also visit the Netvibes Universe page of fest21 : www.netvibes.com/fest21

Other options

Buddy list status

In the left column, just under « your account », you can see your buddies.

If you want to add someone on your « buddies list », go to his video blog, and on his profile (top right column) select « add me to your buddies ».

You can also send a message.

Groups

This option on the left column allow you to see actual groups. To join a group, click on the selected group. The video blog's group will appear. On the left column, you will see the option « subscribe ». Just click and confirm your choice.

Forum

To participate or read subject on the forum, click on Forum on the left column. To create a new subject, click on « Post new forum topic » and complete the information.

Invite your friends and colleagues

If you want to let other people discover Fest21, go on the left column and click on « Invite your friends and colleagues ». Then, just add their email and write a personal message (optional).

About the other users and your Buddies

You can easily see the location and the more active users of Fest21. On the left column, click on « users by points » or « users locations ».
You can also see the « recent posts » or the « recent popular contents »

Create your own community
Add buddies, send them personal messages: click on their profile, select add to buddy list or select messaging