Divimage Newsletter 2013 WEB

The fine art of
self promotion.
Illustration by Maxfield Parrish
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way for an actor to promote themselves
at the bottom of every email they send,
yet so many miss this opportunity. It’s as
easy as writing your name. If someone
gets an email from you, but isn’t
immediately sure who you are, one look
at the E-Card and there you are, selling
your terrific image, once again. Why not
give it a try? I use a professional page
layout program, but you can do it in
Word, or any other program that
handles text and images. There are lots
of free software packages on the web to
explore.
Bobby Reed’s Image Services
I’ve been designing promotional artwork
for myself and other performers for over
30 years, and now I’m starting to
promote these services here in Los
Angeles. I hope they’ll be useful to my
actor and musician friends. I’ve also
been taking some headshots and
promotional photos in 2012 (samples on
the right) and I’m pleased with the way
the work is progressing.
Click on any of these work samples and
be taken to their respective sites (if they
have one).
alone, as I liked the orange tone (and
I’m just fakin’ it of course, but the results made the font color match), and the
third photo is a
speak for themclient who needed
selves. I took the
this character in
top three photos
her promtional
with my 8 megaarsenal, so we shot
pixel HTC Evo cellthis. The first and
phone, then
third folks are
touched them up a
actors, and the
bit in my photo
middle guy is a perprogram (PhotoPlus X5 by Serif). The
sonal trainer who needed an image and
first guy was a castmate in a baseball
logo combo for his electronic and
movie I was in, the second guy I left
Screen Grabs
printed promotional materials. That is
not his real name, just the attitude.
I’ve also been helping actor friends with
their E-Cards (samples from Carl, left,
and Judy, below). These are the clearest
and simplest (and cheapest – FREE!)
This is also one easy and foolproof way
to promote yourself in the world of film
and television. Danielle (below) and I
worked on a film together, and when I
watched her reel, there was this image in
one of the scenes (which I thought was
just stunning), but the still was not on
her web site, so I grabbed it for her,
added her name, and this is the result.
Took three minutes, tops.
Also, posters and newsletters go a long
way to articulating what it is you’re selling. You obviously see that all movies
and television shows and web series
have artwork to represent them. Logos,
photos, text, design. Yet some actors will
continually send out only a photo and
résumé to represent what they are selling. Not only is that boring, but it’s a
waste of a
potential
promotional
opportunity. If you
have
someone’s
attention
for one
brief
moment,
why not
shine and
thrill them
with some hot images of you in action?
Left is a poster I designed for one of my
New York nightclub acts in the late
1970s, based on the famous Blackglama
Mink ad campaign of the era.
All the News that
Fits
Newsletters can be short, long, or in
between (this file you’re reading is
basically a newsletter format). They’re a
great way to stay in touch with your fan
base, add links to new clips and scenes
you’re promoting, and lots of photos
from set and publicity shots. Some
people use MailChimp, Constant
Contact, or one of the other newsletter
blasting services. They have template
software for you to design your
newsletter in, but it looks like a
template. Why not consider having
Divimage design something
customized for you?
Until the Real Thing
Comes Along
know the time until they finish it can
vary widely.
Suffice it to say that as actors, image is
everything. Try to think along the lines
of how big, commercially successful
actors are presented in their images. You
don’t see George Clooney’s pic and res
I make fake movie posters for my
projects immediately after I shoot them. on his posters, do you? Of course not; he
has slickly designed artwork wherever
I certainly don’t want to step on the
he appears. You can too, with a little
filmmaker’s toes, but a little preproduction promotional work is usually help from Divimage. Or, of course, you
can do it yourself. There are thousands
harmless, and often welcome. Below, I
shot this sci-fi film, and threw this little of YouTube tutorials on how to lay out
promo slug together to announce that I artwork, lots of design tips, or you can
had shot it, and it was coming, one day. do what I do: just scour the web for
images and layouts that appeal to you,
For those of us who make movies, you
and imitate the best of the best. Anton
Chekhov said: “There is nothing new in
art except talent” and that makes sense
to me. Let us know how Divimage can
help you present yourself in the best
possible, graphically thrilling, light.
Some samples are on the following
pages. Just click on the logo below to go
to my site.
The fine art of portraiture.
Divimage is involved with lots of images. From many different types of
performers: actors, musicians, dancers, models. You name it. We shoot it.
Here are four examples of Divimage shots. We photograph women, too.