We’re really proud of the growing Digital Bootcamp Wiki. It started off as a companion to the workshops we have been conducting but it has now become a standalone resource on funding, distribution, marketing and so much more in the digital age. Wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for “fast” – and if you all collaborate to this wiki by adding to it we can help it grow even faster!
I love Twitter because although it can definitely become a time suck, it has also led me to discover so many interesting people, events, articles, websites and ideas. I have total geek love for film but I am also interested in lots of other things and Twitter allows me to indulge in all my random passions from social change, to entrepreneurship and technology in Africa, to open source solutions, to mobile health, to progressive and environmental business practices, to feminism… and on and on (you can see how useful this can be when you are researching a documentary or a script and delving into worlds unfamiliar to you). It has opened up a whole world of access and possibility for me and I love it for that.
It can also be a great way for you to promote your films and career (along with Shooting People of course!). Follow us on Twitter and please post comments or reply to us on Twitter if you have any really great Twitter tips for independent filmmakers.
You can follow @shootingpeople and my more personal feed: @fromthehip
Brian Newman (CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute) gave this talk to the Tribeca All Access filmmakers yesterday. It’s a little odd looking at slide shows without being guided through them but this gives a good survey of the current online options available to you as filmmakers.
Select stories from the Spring issue of Filmmaker Magazine are now online and there are a couple of articles I particularly recommend as far as tools you can use goes:
Esther Robinson tells you how to keep your credit sweet.
And Jon Reiss gives some great pointers on marketing DVDs on the web.
Filmmakers talk about shooting films with still camera.
And Lance Weiler talks about building community on torrent sites.
Scott Kirsner’s CinemaTech blog is always a great place to find out about technical innovations in the film world and now he was written a book, Fans, Friends and Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age, that compiles interviews with artists doing great and interesting things with their work and includes lots of useful content for filmmakers in search of an audience (yes, that means you!).
In the introduction Kirsner introduces us to the New Rules:
We’ve entered into what I call the era of digital creativity. In this era, artists have the tools to make anything they can envision, inexpensively…They can build teams and collaborate across great distances, bridging divides of language and culture. They can cultivate an audience and communicate with it regularly, carrying it (or at least a segment of it) with them from one project to another. And they can take control over the transaction, whether it is selling a work of art on eBay, a book through Amazon, or a ticket to a live performance via Brown Paper Tickets.
If you are a glass-half full type, you’ve already realized that the era of digital creativity presents incredible opportunities. You can do what you love, reach an audience, and earn some money. What starts off as a small fan base can quite suddenly go global, enabling you to quit your day job and earn a solid living.
The flip side is that there has never been a noisier, more competititve time to try to make art, entertain people, and tell stories. Everyone is doing it, and so there is an incredible surplus of content in every art form.
In 2000, 973 full-length films were submitted to the Sundance Film Festival, generally considered the best platform for launching a new indie movie. By 2008, that number had risen to 3,624. (Just 121 were accepted.)
And to that I would add that most of those 121 did not receive any kind of traditional distribution offer!
Kirsner includes a list of useful strategies, things he learned while interviewing people for the book (eg. Create Opportunities for Participation, Understand the Power of the Link, Choose the Platforms You’re Going to Use). Some of these strategies may sound obvious but it’s one thing to say them and quite another to actually do them.
The interviews are divided into five sections: Film & Video, Music, Visual Arts, Writing, and Comedy & Magic. The Film & Video section includes interviews with a diverse range of people including: Sandi DuBowski, Robert Greenwald, Ze Frank, Steve Garfield, and Gregg and Evan Spiridellis (JibJab Media).
There’s also a useful reference section in the back with a bunch of great links and some supplemental reading, including links to smart people like Kevin Kelly, Lance Weiler, and Clay Shirky.
You can download a 35-page sample of Fans, Friends & Followers on Kirsner’s website and order the book there too. Or buy it from Amazon using the link below.
Ted Hope’s new blog Truly Free Film is definitely one to add to your reader (if you haven’t started subscribing to blog feeds in a reader I highly recommend it – it saves time and allows you to keep track of loads of blogs and websites in one place. I use Google Reader but there are other options out there). I previously wrote about Hope’s Phoenix Rising speech here and his Truly Free Film blog follows on from this with excellent tips for filmmakers. One of his posts talks about what a bunch of luddites filmmakers can be and I have to say that I have found this to be mostly true and it’s a shame because there are some incredible tools out there for us to use now. Shooting People is celebrating its 10th birthday this week and in the last decade we have seen some monumental changes in terms of technology and innovation. It’s hard for filmmakers now because the competition is so fierce (and the budgets are often so low) but the ability that we now have to connect and collaborate with each other and our audiences is unprecedented.
In one of his posts, Hope linked to this excellent resource on social media by Beth Kanter (check out her blog on how nonprofits can use social media). I follow her on Twitter because her observations are often very relevant for filmmakers too. Twitter has become a useful tool for finding out about exciting things happening in the world of Web2.0, social media and technology – and I have been introduced to lots of great people and ideas through it. It is definitely worth investigating although it can also be something of a time-suck. You have been warned.
I have been spending the last few days catching up on presentations and panels from the Power to the Pixel conference that took place in London last month – they are now online and free to wach. There’s some great info and ideas here, from Christy Dena on cross-media production, to Arin Crumley on collaborative filmmaking to Jamie King on distribution. If you are feeling worried about how the credit crunch is going to affect independent filmmaking (and let’s face it, who of us isn’t!) then watch some of these videos and get inspired about all the possibilities out there (many of them low cost, using free tools that are already available).
Here’s Jamie King, creator of Steal This Film, which has been viewed millions of times after being given away for free via BitTorrent.
Hello all,
Am still trying to process the information overload that was yesterday’s very entertaining as well as informative Power to the Pixel forum (continuing today). I will write up the reams of notes that I produced throughout the day, I promise. Liz did say that videos of both days’ sessions would be available shortly so keep an eye on the website.
In the meantime, let me make it up to you with an exclusive Shooters’ 10% discount on the Encounters Short Film Festival’s Film School (22-23 November). The offer lasts until 10 November and the School is limited to 40 places so I wouldn’t delay in applying…
(NB Shooters also get 20% off Encounters delegate passes until 10 November. See the bulletins for info.)
Encounters Film School: The Final Edit
10% Discount on Film School: The Final Edit Fri 21 Nov – Sat 22 Nov
Offer ends 10 November
This year’s Film School will be bigger and better than ever, with the focus on post-production. With support from SkillSet, NFTS, London Film Academy and our industry partners Avid and Apple we are able to offer a day of masterclasses and case-studies, as well as a day of hands-on training. We are offering Shooters, who fit the requirements below a 10% discount on the two day course, which includes:
• Masterclasses and talks delivered by leading industry editors including: Eddie Hamilton (Editor of Resident Evil: Apocalypse), Annabelle Pangborn (Composer and Sound Designer), Alan Marques and Dave Barnard (VFX specialists); as well as a special session by Paddy Considine on his BAFTA-winning short Dog Altogether.
• Full day of hands-on training in post production software (including Final Cut Pro, Color, Avid and ProTools) from accredited trainers.
• Market stands and Final Cut demos
Target Audience: Edit assistants, technical runners, short filmmaker/editors i.e. those who have an interest in developing an existing career in post-production.
‘Quote Shooters on the application form to receive a 10% discount’ Offer ends 10 November
More information and a downloadable application form available here
I have just returned from The Conversation in California where I learned a huge amount about what is possible for filmmakers given the technology (and thinking!) available these days. The good news for those of you in London is that film/tech whiz Liz Rosenthal has produced what I’m sure will be an equally mind-expanding couple of days at this year’s Power To The Pixel – in fact some of the same wonderful people will be there: Lance Weiler, Arin Crumley, Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin. I’m particularly sad that I won’t be able to hear Christy Dena speak as I am becoming increasingly inspired by multi/cross-platform possibilities for filmmakers. So please get yourselves there if you can, and if you can’t make sure you follow the action on the live webcast. Here’s all the info from the Pixel folk:
Unable to make it to London for the Power to the Pixel conference? Don’t worry! Our web video partner, Kinura, is making sure you can still see every second of it.
Starting at 10am GMT on Wednesday, 22nd October, we’ll begin webcasting live to audiences worldwide. You can watch things unfold at powertothepixel.com/webcast or at www.screendaily.com
Power to the Pixel!
Super producer and super nice guy Ted Hope gave a keynote address at Film Independent’s Filmmaker Forum in Los Angeles over the weekend. If you need to gird your loins for the challenges and opportunities ahead you should read it because you, dear readers, are the TRULY FREE FILMMAKERS he is talking about, or at least you can be.
A THOUSAND PHOENIX RISING
How The New Truly Free Filmmaking Community Will Rise From Indie’s Ashes
I can’t talk about the “crisis” of the indie film industry. There is no crisis. The country is in crisis. The economy is in crisis. We, the filmmakers, aren’t in crisis.
The business is changing, but for us –us who are called Indie Filmmakers — that’s good that the business is changing. Filmmaking is an incredible privilidge and we need to accept it as such – and accept the full responsibility that comes with that priviledge.
The proclamations of Indie Film’s demise are grossly exaggerated. How can there be a “Death Of Indie” when Indie — real Indie, True Indie — has yet to even live?
Yes, there’s a profound paradigm shift, and that shift is the coming of true independence. The hope of this new independence is being threatened even before it has arrived. Are we going to fight for our independence and can we even shoulder the responsibility that independence requires? That is: will we ban together and work for our communal needs? Are we ready to leave dreams of stardom and wealth behind us?
When someone says “Indie is dead”, they are talking about the state of the Indie Film Business, as opposed to what are actually the films themselves. They can say “The sky is falling” because for the last fifteen years, the existing power base in the film industry has focused on films fit for the existing business model, as opposed to ever truly concentrating on creating a business model for the films that filmmakers want to make.
This is where we are right now: on the verge of a TRULY FREE FILM CULTURE, one that is driven by both the creators and the audiences, pulled down by the audience and not pushed onto them by those that control the apparatus and the supply. We now have the power and the tool for something different, but will we fight to preserve the internet, the tool that offers us our new freedom? Can we banish the the dream of golden distribution deals, and move away from asking others to distribute and market it for us? Can we accept that being a filmmaker means taking responsibility for your films, the primary responsibility, all the way through the process? That is independence and that is freedom…
Read the full transcript on Filmmaker Magazine’s website.
