If I was making a film, it would no doubt be a colourful existential affair, perhaps with coded referential homages to the likes of Bunuel, Powell and Pressburger or Krzysztof Kieslowski. Am I serious? Who knows. Would any one watch it? Maybe. But one thing’s for sure – it would certainly be easier thesedays for me to find people out there on my wavelength to promote my work to, to get them talking about it and even get them involved in financing or distributing it. This is the new landscape of media creation and consumption. And if you have a sincere or passing interest in the ways of the filmmaking world, then check out the sessions from PowertothePixel – which are online now at Blip and soon to be on YouTube. So much of this event (unsurprisingly) was about how online marketing, social networking and the zillions of new digital platforms can be used to maximum effect – so there is a clear relevance for us all.
Filmmaking, like many things, has changed massively in recent times. The creative methods might stay basically the same, but the fact that you can distribute your work directly and instantaneously around the world means that the old Hollywood stuctures are falling apart at the seams and it’s time for a few revelations, if not a few revolutions! The speakers at PowertothePixel talked about mobile distribution, self-promotion via blogs, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and how to make your own Wiki. They talked about filmmakers as publishers, post-modern product placement and brands funding films (which reminded me of all the talk at i-design about brands as publishers,etc.). They talked about making films about the making of the movie, and putting these out while you’re making it and not just on the DVD afterwards! One talked about his film, Steal this Film, a documentary about peer-to-peer file sharing (is that life imitating art or the other way round?!) and one has even set up a brilliant “social open source” project for filmmakers – www.workbookproject.com. They say – “The Workbook Project’s goal is to help content creators understand the changing landscape of funding, production, promotion, and distribution in a digital age.” It’s all good stuff. And the amount of energy these people put into what they are doing is absolutely most definitely inspiring.
If all this intruigues you check out the clips Kinura have so diligently encoded and uploaded anyway – and check out some of these too:
http://www.lanceweiler.com
http://www.indiegogo.com
http://www.sallypotter.com/sp-arkblog
http://www.placevine.com
http://www.universecreation101.com
