TikTok video blogger Reece Feldman, whose handle is @guywithamoviecamera, is the go-to influencer for films marketed to the youth demographic via social media.
In just three years after leaving college, Feldman has created a cottage industry of his journalism-style v-logger posts and commentaries on movies and TV programs. The 25-year-old marketing promotional wiz is on paid retainer for Paramount Pictures and Amazon Prime Video, and does promotional project work for others, including the Oscars’ organizer.
Feldman’s @guywithamoviecamera sports a hefty 2.1 million followers on TikTok, which marketing partners want to tap.
A Hollywood Reporter profile feature written by Kirsten Chuba says “Feldman is hired as the Gen-Z authority on entertainment. He creates content from red capets to press junkets— enlisting A-listers to take part in viral trends and comedic skits — and is often flown to sets to film behind-the-scenes videos.” Gen Z is the demographic segment of persons born between 1996 to 2010, so they are now teenagers and young adults.
In a TikTok video post indicative of his work, Feldman provides prerelease color for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” He’s on the edge of the red-carpet premiere when he snags star Harrison Ford, who stops to chat. Feldman makes the encounter a video post on his TikTok page (pictured). The caption on that video TikTok image reads “Harrison Ford thanked me for doing work for the film, complimented my suit and [is] intimidating in the best possible way.”
The Hollywood Reporter feature says: “His TikTok with Christopher Nolan in support of ‘Oppenheimer’ (showcasing the film’s 11-mile-long 70mm print) raked in more than 10 million views, and videos with the ‘Scream 6’ cast (particularly star Jenna Ortega) reached more than 27 million views — two experiences that Feldman counts as highlights of the past year.” Both films were cinema hits.
A lot of his videos are photographed with his iPhone, creating a documentary-style feel.
Feldman is a May 2020 graduate of Tulane University, where he studied communications and film studies. He’s an inspiration to college students with ambitions of becoming entrepreneurial journalists or multimedia promoters in lucrative partnerships with entertainment marketers.
He’s also an unlikely pop-culture sensation: Feldman is dorky looking without an obvious pedigree for his current activities. Perhaps that gives him an everyman quality. His rise to online stardom is no doubt fueled by being a pioneer as TikTok is so new that @guywithamoviecamera has no obvious predecessor.
Feldman says he has an ambition to transition to a career as a Hollywood writer and director, with emphasis on comedy. He tells the Hollywood Reporter when working he also keeps an eye out to learn about Hollywood content business to be ready for career progression.
The TikTok v-logger extraordinaire started as a production assistant on reality shows. Then, the Hollywood Reporter story says that in 2020 Feldman “landed a gig as a production assistant on the fourth season of ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ [on Amazon Prime]. He began posting behind-the-scenes videos of his life on set, which, as he can admit now, was definitely not allowed: ‘It was a calculated risk that I almost got fired for …’”
His unapproved videos are similar to authorized behind-the-scenes promotional mini-documentaries that marketing executives call making-ofs, featurettes or mini-documentaries. Fortunately, Feldman’s employer was impressed by his unauthorized content, which attracted lots of online viewers and propelled his video blogger career.
The third edition of academic/business book “Marketing to Moviegoers” explains: “The mini-documentary needs to follow a script or general outline so that the finished product presents a point of view that fits into the film’s overall marketing plan. This is a challenge because a film’s marketing objectives are not always clear before the principal photography stage.”
Feldman’s @guywithamoviecamera work today makes him a marketing executive. Film distributors partner with him often paying him something of value (besides money there’s special access, travel expenses, tie-ins with their sponsors and promotional support). Remember, independent journalists might post negative content, unlike promotional partners.
The well-appointed life of a successful Hollywood v-logger is illustrated by a Feldman post involving a BMW car as a sponsor at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Feldman is pictured getting into a swank BMW car and his voiceover provides subtle, organic praise for the car company that comes that seems a partnership. “BMW escorted us in style … in the new BMW i7 M70 and I can happily say their (BMW) short film was equally as cool as the car I was sitting in.”
Feldman places himself in scenario, but says he’s careful not to soak up too much attention personally. “When I do carpets, I’m not looking to make a headline,” he is quoted in a Vogue magazine article. “I’m just looking to have fun. I’m there to make sure that the show or the movie gets seen, because I’m working with the studio.”
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