How To Test Platforms For Virtual Screenings

With the rise of virtual screenings and the platforms that can host them, comes a new kind of diligence required to make sure your film event goes as smoothly as possible. After hosting over 1000 screenings on BingeWave and watching people host their film screenings and festivals on various platforms, we wrote an article about testing any platform for virtual screenings successfully.

The goal is to avoid any surprises you might encounter during your virtual film event, have your brand be correctly represented, and ensure you’re able to tackle problems if they arise. This article is written for film festivals, web series, distributors, and anyone interested in virtual screenings.

To view other articles on film events, visit our Film Blog. To test the platform, please visit https://distribution.bingewave.com/.

Testing The Attendee Experience

As people buy tickets to your screening, their experience for your film event will matter. Both good and bad experiences can be a reflection of both you and the platform they are using. Therefore, take the time to test the experience for your attendees. Take into consideration the following:

• Can they find information about your screening, and is the landing page easy to understand
• How easy is the checkout/ticket purchasing process
• After they buy a ticket, is the instructions clear and easy to understand
• Make sure that payment is recorded in your account, so you know your getting your money

The best way to do this is to go through the process yourself. Buy a ticket, press play, and watch as an attendee. It might be beneficial to get a friend or two to watch the screening as an attendee with you.

Testing The Assets

Assets for a virtual film event typically include the video, the trailer, and the cover art, with the occasional extra meta such as synopsis, genres, awards, etc. All assets should be tested before you start promoting. This is important because the assets you upload might not appear in the same way to your audience or may not put your brand in the best light.

For example, you are likely downloading the video from one source such as FilmFreeWay, Dropbox, WeTransfer, etc. The uploading to the platform you are using which has to convert the video to another format. Sometimes films have weird encoding techniques, or data can become corrupted transferring from one source to another. It is important that you go through and test the films.

• Play the films and make sure the sound and video work all the way through
• Make sure the picture quality is acceptable. For festivals, your filmmakers will care a lot about this. Ie, is a 4k video going to 720p still look all right
• Make sure the trailers are working expected.
• Check the cover artwork to see that is correctly sized and works with the design of the site
• See if the metadata you uploaded formatting and showing correctly

Rehearsals

About a week out from your actual film event, it’s good to go through a few rehearsals, especially if you have interactive components such as Live Q&A with filmmakers, Zoom Meeting, etc. Act like it’s a normal event and live by the rule of “if it could go wrong, it probably will”.

Rehearsals should be done with a few people. If you have a team, great! If you don’t, try to get friends and family members to donate time to do small tasks. For rehearsals, what you want to is:

• Run through a few of the screenings or blocks as you normally would during the event. See how the films are playing for yourself and testers.
• Test the admin tools for managing the screening. Can you start and stop the film? Ban problematic users? Respond to support inquiries?
• Test on a few different technologies. For example, with browsers test Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Then there’s Android vs. iPhone. If you use other devices like Roku and AppleTV, test on those as well.
• If you have interactive components, like Zoom networking rooms, test those. Or execute a few panel discussions rehearsals with the panelists! Make sure the panelists know how to log in and engage.

The goal is to make sure there are no surprises for your event. If someone asks you for help or has a question, make sure you are in the position to answer it.

Talking To Support

The last recommendation is talk to your platform’s support. There are three things you want to get from support:

• Will support be available during the event if something goes wrong. This can be critical in helping you run a successful event.
• Is there anything you should do before the event that might be overlooked? Do they have an F.A.Q that you can read and pass to attendees or any resources to help you?
• Ask any questions or concerns you uncovered while testing the platform.

You’re Ready!

Now that you are an expert in your hosting platform, you’re ready to double down on marketing and promotions! And you can sleep soundly knowing that the platform you are using is working to your expectations.

BingeWave is live streaming, community building and revenue generation platform for filmmakers. We serve everyone from festivals, web series, documentaries, to features, and champion diverse narratives.

For information on hosting your own film even or obtaining live/cinematic distribution, please visit: https://distribution.bingewave.com/