Social media creates hype about low-budget movie

A low budget, quirky, Canadian movie starring Woody Harrelson and Sandra Oh may have quietly vanished if it wasn't for a social media campaign run out of Ottawa.

Defendor is a movie that's all about a man who thinks he's a modern-day super hero and traces his efforts to catch the bad guys.

The movie, part comedy and part observation on life and values, was shot in Hamilton for $3 million.

"This is just stunning. This movie is the Gone with the Wind of super hero movies," said Dominic Bercier, a writer and digital artist in Ottawa.

Bercier partnered with Allan Isfan who makes his living in social media. The pair is now working to develop a comic book based on the movie.

However, the distributors of the movie aren't doing much marketing. That's when Isfan and his partners designed a Facebook page, a website, a blog, and launched a Twitter campaign to get thousands of people talking about the movie.

"What we're trying to show is that if you have something of value to offer to people, you can put it online, point them to it and the fans will responds and they will spread the word for you," said Isfan.

Bercier said the experience has introduced him to a whole new world on the web. He says he's amazed at what is possible online and is now committed to using this new platform to reach a grassroots audience.

"E-mail is just the beginning point. There is now so much more out there and to me it's all just melding together now with some great opportunities."

Isfan added the social networking craze is still new and something like this wasn't possible a few years ago.

"The audience was not there just a few years ago," he said. "Look at the traffic that has happened on Twitter in just the last year. Its gone crazy out there and you just have to get out there and reach people and now you add in how much is being done on mobile devices."

Defendor is playing Thursday night at the Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa. It's also on DVD. There is no set date for the comic to begin publishing; they are still negotiating all the rights. Meantime, the online campaign continues.