The Open Video Conference looks like an interesting couple of days for anyone interested in online video and the future of open and participatory culture on the web. From their description:

Open Video is more than just open codecs. It’s the growing movement for transparency, interoperability, and further decentralization in online video. These qualities provide more fertile ground for independent producers, bottom-up innovation, and greater protection for free speech online. The conference will showcase awesome cultural works, inspiring talks, and cool tech demos.

They have some great speakers like Clay Shirkey and Yochai Benkler and topics span a huge and fascinating spectrum: fair use, human rights and video, mobile journalism, art and technology and giving away films for free (Jamie King will be speaking about Steal This Film II, Brett Gaylor about Rip: A Remix Manifesto). I plan to be there and will report back. There will also be a live webcast.

Find out more about the Open Video Alliance and the ideas behind the Conference in the video below.

Shooters,

Excuse the cross-posting with the Festivals blog, but we didn’t wany any of you to miss out on this -

Mullighan recently presented a panel at the London Short Film Festival, entitled ‘Luck = Preparedness + Opportunity’. With him were the delightful filmmakers (and Shooters), Ben Slotover and Eva Weber.

If you weren’t lucky enough to make it down to the Curzon for the event, no fear! Ben has kindly made his notes from the panel available to you all here.

Ben, as it turns out, has actually made short instructional videos, very good tools for the newer indie filmmaker. You can watch his Zero Budget Filmmaking Compilation below, but he has uploaded more videos to his profile on Shooters which I thoroughly recommend you watch.

Action for Brazil’s Children Trust patron Fernando Meirelles together with writer/actor Don McKellar feature in a newly released Q&A session focused on the making of ‘Blindness’ – watch the web cast here. Meirelles also discusses his involvement with social film projects, notably Cinema Nosso, which is supported by ABC Trust, a UK-based charity. Cinema Nosso was set up by Meirelles in 2002. The project was directly born out of Meirelles’ renowned ‘City of God’. The film, famously shot on location using residents of the Cidade de Deus and nearby favelas, inspired the philosophy behind this dynamic charitable project.

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.”

This is the second and final part of a 2 part post on non-theatrical distribution by Rachel Gordon, a freelance marketing/distribution consultant specializing in the niche and educational usage of documentary films.

Something to be aware of that many filmmakers don’t consciously think about when starting to get their work out is that it will take some time for your film to “hit” a place in the non-theatrical market – often up to a whole year.  You can’t count on this to be your only source of income because, while there are people who have made a year’s salary on one film, that is not the normal shape distribution takes – whether it be partnering with a distributor or a solo journey.

It is absolutely impossible to promise or estimate how much money you will gain.  I get this question a lot and I try never to give an answer because there simply isn’t one.  Some films do better because of controversy or timeliness of their content, others do better because the information they include is unique and nobody else has captured it yet.  There is no way of knowing how a film will fare until you start sending it out into the world.  There is a lot more to choose from than there used to be and sometimes it all comes down to a matter of timing.  The key point being, however, that you have to send out information repeatedly because nobody will know or remember that your film exists unless you tell them.

Educational distribution is a hefty time commitment.  It means researching organizations that might show your film at a conference.  It requires collecting quotes to use in emails and promotional sheets.  It involves taking the time to collect, or buy, email or mailing lists to send out information to parties that would be interested in using the material you have to offer.  It means having the nerve to ask people to be supportive and either provide advice on other people that would benefit from your film, or include a link to your website.

So if it is not easy, why do it?  The non-theatrical world is a wide, enthusiastic, supportive environment for consuming media.  Professors, social activists, non-profit organizations, journalists, etc, talk on listservs every day.  They give each other advice, they program fascinating conferences, webinars and discussions.  They also love media, and they will continue to be repeat customers when they have found reliable sources to obtain it from.  They know as much about a filmmaker’s work as the average film critic in New York City.  Yes, what I just said is true.  Every time I’ve exhibited at an educational marketplace, customers come into my room to specifically view the latest film from one of the independent filmmakers I represent.

Rachel Gordon is a filmmaker and freelance marketing/distribution consultant specializing in the niche and educational usage of documentary films.  Her short film, Loose Ends, is currently at festivals while she finishes writing the feature version of the story about feminine fear of commitment.  She is also in production on a documentary series about alternative medicines.  She can be reached through her website at www.energizedfilms.com

Another piece from Anne Thompson at Variety about the changing distribution strategies indie producers/distributors are pursuing:

[F]ilmmakers with an easily defined niche and some marketing flair can still assemble a distribution plan. After doc “Beautiful Losers” debuted at SXSW in March, the filmmakers considered traditional offers from distribs but decided to release the doc on their own. Sidetrack Films partnered with Nike Sportswear to sponsor art workshops, and a shoe and apparel company helped pay for its Aug. 8 launch at New York’s IFC Center and subsequent rollout to four more markets.

Longtime fest film seller John Sloss‘ Cinetic Media also entered the fray this year with the Digital Rights Management group, led by former SXSW film fest director Matt Dentler, who is taking on some of the thousands of titles that are undervalued and haven’t sold after playing the fest circuit. Cinetic will take rights exclusively as a distributor does, and share all revenues 50/50, with no advance.

Filmmakers don’t have to give away the store with DVD deals anymore, but can pursue online distribution via Amazon and a host of rival online indie distribs, from iArthouse and iTunes to IndiePix, Jaman, Hulu, Vudu, Cinequest, Spout and GreenCine.

Laure Parsons at Infinicine points out that holding on to digital rights is not necessarily the path to riches when most people are still watching DVDs:

It may seem like a coup to retain digital rights if you do a DVD deal but you may be shooting yourself in the foot.  A good distributor will manage your digital rights in concert with the DVD to make sure you see the maximum revenue on the balance sheet.

The film business has always been a high-risk venture, but now at the onset of a deal, the willingness to give is at an all-time low. Filmmakers want to hold on to whatever they can, in hopes they can parcel off rights for some benefit in case one or another distribution partner fails.  Distributors want every right, so that they can consolidate their campaigns and also have different avenues to fall back on if one strategy fails.  The only protection you have as a filmmaker ultimately is to know who you’re getting in bed with and their track record- or to do it yourself, but armed with a lot of knowledge and some good consultants.

Moviestorm has launched some free software that allows you to make simple animated films, quickly and easily. This is obviously great for first-timers but perhaps it could also be useful for more experienced filmmakers who want to test out ideas quickly? The basic package is totally free so give it a try and see what you think. Thanks to SXSW News Reel for the info!

The good people at the Center for Social Media have published a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video. Here’s what they say about it:

This document is a code of best practices that helps creators, online providers, copyright holders, and others interested in the making of online video interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances.

This is a guide to current acceptable practices, drawing on the actual activities of creators, as discussed among other places in the study Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video and backed by the judgment of a national panel of experts. It also draws, by way of analogy, upon the professional judgment and experience of documentary filmmakers, whose own code of best practices has been recognized throughout the film and television businesses.

Finding useful tools for downloading video from the web can be very confusing.

Check out Liz Gannes’ article on newteevee.com about the different options, their perks and their pitfalls.

Tuesday night, at the salubrious Baoli restaurant on the Croisette, Spike Lee made the day of several young filmmakers from around the world when he announced the winners of the first Babelgum Online Film Festival.

Shooting People has been supporting the Babelgum Online Film Festival since its launch at least year’s Venice Festival, and SP’s James Mullighan was at the ceremony. Alongside Joe Bateman (Rushes Short Film Festival) and Stefano Martina (Arcipelago, Italy), Mullighan was a juror for the Babelgum Short Film Award. The award (and a tidy cheque for EUR20,000) went to OFFICER DOWN by Richard Recco (Brooklyn, USA).

You can watch the film here.

If you’ve not done so, download the free Babelgum client, get familiar with it, and get ready to enter the 2009 Festival. Let us know what you think in the bulletins.

Tamsin, SP London

Films uploaded to Shooting People can now be embedded across the web (you can turn this option off when you upload your film if you don’t want it to be shared).

Have a play and please give us feedback. Here’s the trailer for Paul Taylor and Teddy Leifer’s documentary We Are Together to show you what the player looks like.