This course is designed for independent filmmakers and artists determined to get their work seen widely, create social impact, and earn a living in the digital age. Leading distribution strategist and President of Paradigm Consulting Peter Broderick, and Sandi DuBowski, Director/Producer of Trembling Before G-d, Producer of A Jihad for Love, and Outreach Director for The Good Pitch, will present this two-day workshop.

Public Presentation – Making and Raising Money Online

The workshop will be followed by a special public presentation at the Rio Cinema on July 4th. “Making and Raising Money Online” will be designed for workshop participants, as well as those who are unable to attend. Peter and Sandi will give a unique overview of the new models that filmmakers are using around the world to maximize revenue and audience.

More info on how to apply: www.sheffdocfest.com/view/seizethefuture

I think it’s pretty amazing how so many people have rallied to help Haiti’s only film school continue to tell important stories in the wake of the earthquake. On January 22nd a crew of film peeps got together at Eastern Effects in Brooklyn to load a shipping container with film equipment and humanitarian supplies to send to Jacmel.

This makes me smile.

Keep up to date with the school’s news and videos: www.cineinstitute.com/news/

You can become a fan of the Institute on Facebook too.

Consider for example the “Dimensions of Impact” diagram on page 16. How does your film work within each dimension? It will not necessarily work in every dimension of course but thinking through all the options will give you a better sense of what your film can do. It is important to have a rigorous and well-thought out strategy rather than simply hoping that the right people will see your film. This paper will help you see the possibilities.

Meirelles comments: “When I was first approached by ABC Trust, I found a fundamental synergy between our thinking and theirs – one of empowerment. ‘City of God’ had a profound effect on those involved in it’s making, especially the young people. It developed their self belief, opened their minds and changed their lives. Beyond this we saw an opportunity to harness the power of film to inspire more young people from deprived communities to tell their stories, encouraging them to work on both sides of the camera.”

ABC Trust CEO Andrew Webb adds: “Cinema Nosso has been incredibly successful in its approach to tackling the problems of social exclusion, violence and poverty faced by many young Brazilians. We believe that working through the arts provides a uniquely powerful way of changing lives and many of the projects we support use film, dance, theatre and music. This kind of work opens new horizons and often provokes deep rooted and meaningful change within individuals’ lives as well as whole communities.”

If your film is engaged with campaigning for social change, you might be interested in co-pilot.net as a means of discussing and seeding your project. Please come back to Tools to report when you have had a chance to try it out. Launches 22 October:

co-pilot.net is an online resource designed to collate knowledge and experiences and enable open discussion for those working at the intersection of art, technology and social change.

Anyone is welcome to join, share and exchange views, resources, skills and experiences. co-pilot.net features case studies of convergence between the spheres of art, technology and social change as well as interviews, podcasts, videos and lists of useful resources. Users can add content, comment on topics and direct people to their own or other interesting projects.

There currently exists an extensive unmapped landscape of socially engaged work that inspires change through art, technology and participation. This includes working with older people, young people and the socially excluded through the ever-expanding field of new and emerging creative technologies. It is impossible to provide a one-size-fits-all toolkit for a terrain as complex and diverse that is still rarely discussed in a free and open fashion.

co-pilot.net provides the framework to aggregate the wealth of experience and knowledge held by talented individuals and groups to inspire discussion, exchange and action.

From 22 October to 2 December 2008 co-pilot.net will host a live online debate. Every week a guest host with extensive experience in the field of art, technology or social change will upload information and lead a discussion forum for the exploration of issues and debate.

You can contribute to the growing pool of knowledge, resources and debate at http://co-pilot.net.

Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.

Strivastava discusses Brad Lichtenstein’s experiences making his latest film What We Got: DJ Spooky’s Quest for the Commons. Lichtenstein found his approach radically changed after attending a BAVC Producer’s Institute for New Media Technologies:

Since the institute, we no longer think of ourselves primarily as filmmakers. We think of ourselves as content producers. This is a term that Jim Sommers of the Independent Television Service emphasized at one of the BAVC institute’s seminars. And we embrace the notion that we are one set among many storytellers telling the story of the commons. We will enable and embolden others to share that mission through our transmedia strategy to transform viewers into doers who shape the story and join a community working online and offline to name, claim and protect commons.

I am thinking a lot about different ways of telling stories at the moment and I think what is really interesting about transmedia storytelling is that, in addition to being of creative interest to filmmakers and artists who would like to explore new technologies and techniques, it also opens up very interesting spaces for proactive participation from the audience because there are so many different entry points.

And there are so many benefits to be reaped from telling stories in this way – in terms of engaging people, encouraging them to have a voice and making sure that the conversation isn’t always one-way. Srivastava points out that from a social change point of view this is building on the participatory ideas explored by Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (who was greatly influenced by Paulo Freire’s pedagogic work). The difference is that now we have a lot more technology at our fingertips as we explore the possibilities of telling stories back and forth!

Early Bird Booking for Partnerships 2.0 closes at 5pm, Wednesday 10 September 2008.

The Forum, which is being is being hosted by the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, will explore how to develop audiences for the arts, film and the wider creative industries by maximising (Web 2.0) technology and new partnerships.

Chaired by Scottish broadcaster and journalist Muriel Gray, international keynote speakers include Zurich-based Gerd Leonhard, one of the world’s leading media futurists, and Brian Newman, CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute in New York. Pat Kane, lead singer with Scottish band Hue and Cry, will lead a seminar on a musician’s quest to find a business model in this age of networks. Further participants – just confirmed – include Richard Hadley, Audiences Europe Network, Hannah McGill, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Roberta Doyle, National Theatre of Scotland.

The Forum will attract a wide audience of professionals, united by their passion for audiences and audience development.

For booking information, please visit www.scottisharts.org.uk or contact forum08@scottisharts.org.uk.

The Good Pitch at BRITDOC opened many people’s eyes to the possibilities of Third Sector and commercial funding (see also the work that the Channel 4 Documentary Film Foundation did in bringing the non-profit world together with filmmakers last year at The Media Conference). Just take a look at the list of observers – many will not be folk you would consider “the usual suspects” when it comes to documentary funding:

Fledgling Fund
IMPACT PARTNERS
ITVS
C4BDFF
Sundance Institute
AOL True Stories
Participant
CBA-Dfid
Christian Aid
Oxfam
Avaaz
Amnesty
NCVO
RED
Gucci Fund
The Sunday Telegraph
Hartley Film Foundation
One World Broadcasting Trust
Vice Magazine
JRRT
Gulbenkian Foundation
Channel 4 (Corporate Affairs)
No2ID
Oak Foundation
Ecostorm
Greenpeace UK
British Beekeepers Association
Camfed
MySpace
World Development Movement

There is definitely a need for funding outside of television/government in the UK but filmmakers will have to be alert as they navigate this new landscape. There is a longer tradition of this kind of funding in the US (much of it necessitated by the profound lack of government/public service funding here) but the recent Nike/Beautiful Losers deal on this side of the pond has led to much debate about the ethics and politics of big corporations giving support to independent films. As Spout’s Karina Longworth put it: “Beyond the knee-jerk “corporate=bad” response, what should we think about indie documentaries looking to multinational giants for the kind of support that studios are no longer willing to give?”

Transparency is clearly key in all these instances. I’m inclined to agree with the Frontline Club’s Vaughan Smith who says: “I can’t think of subjective journalism that I have a problem with, if it is marked as subjective and clear. Most journalism is already subjective, even if it is labelled as objective. I am suspicious of all organisations, including news organisations. There always needs to be proper controls to protect editorial integrity.”

Thank you to Mark Rabinowitz/Docsider for the heads up about the Guardian articles.

The team behind Black Gold at The Media Conference in 2007

Join filmmakers, distributors, outreach specialists and an impressive cast of media pioneers for a rich day of panels, discussions, networking and keynote speakers on the latest tools and trends in creating and distributing social issue media.

And check out podcasts and Power Point take away points from last year’s Making Your Documentary Matter conference.

Key Points

• The filmmaker should form strategic partnerships with relevant NGO’s early on in a film’s production to devise a long-term strategy of how best to maximise the film’s campaigning potential and resulting impact.
• Any broadcast dates or film festival screenings should be identified as key strategic moments for rallying around the issues covered in the film.
• NGO partners can use films to campaign by hosting informal screening parties – in café’s, town halls, anywhere with a TV – where the relevant issues can be discussed afterwards and, if the tools are provided, people can immediately take action.
• Similarly, documentary films are an effective way of reaching a young audience and can be packaged as an educational resource and distributed amongst schools.
• Celebrity endorsement is often a necessary evil to get press attention but should not be relied up on as a long-term strategy