Day: December 13, 2008

Categories
Truly Free Film

A Word On The Educational Market

Jon Reiss guests blogs again:

At the recent FIND conference on the state of independent film, I had the pleasure to meet Robert Bahar who made the wonderful Emmy Winning documentary Made in L.A. We were discussing the problem of releasing a film on DVD prior to or simultaneously with an educational release. 

I have learned since the release of Bomb It that it is traditionally difficult to have an educational release after or concurrent with a DVD release. This is because educational institutions will eagerly buy your dvd from Amazon for 19.95 rather than pay the educational rate of $195. 
Robert told me about his ingeneous solution which was to put a notice at the beginning of the film – similar to the FBI warning – that the film was for home use only and not for educational or public performance. In the authoring they disabled the ability for people to pause for a few minutes after this message or fast forward through it. Eg any teacher would have to play this warning – indicating to students that it was being shown illegally. Pretty smart!

Robert is smart in another way in terms of his film. He has set up with his fulfillment company (the wonderful Neoflix) to provide various community screening packages for sale on his site for various size screenings. Check out his site to see how he has set this up. Make sure to check out his amazing “Event Planning Toolkit”.

Let us know what you think of what he is doing.

You can also respond directly to Jon at: 

jon@jonreiss.com

Categories
Let's Make Better Films

Thinking Aloud About Sound

FilmInFocus is the rare studio-sponsored site that is not all about promoting their product (well, not exclusively).  It fosters a community of cineastes.    

FIF has a featured article on David Lynch On Sound.  I love articles like this because frankly sound is always an afterthought for me on my films and I have been trying to change that.  Finally setting up a home theater sound system was a big step forward this year.  Lynch is always a fun read (and a funner watch) because his mind is one of a kind.

It also made me recall this great article by Antonioni on NYC In Sound (with a forward by Walter Murch no less!).
Categories
These Are Those Things

Playing For Change

“Playing For Change” combines three of my fave things in one nice package.

I have always wanted to see the definitive busker documentary.  Every time I encounter one in a subway station, my spirits are lifted.  I would time my trips and pick my destinations if I knew when I could find who performing where.  It’s a good day when I encounter two good acts in the same day. Every once and awhile I wonder what’s stopping this doc from getting made.

Definitely one of the most watched and loved videos of the year was “Where The Hell Is Matt?“.  Beyond the silly dancing and great locations, I like the inherent message that the “Where The Hell Is Matt?” structure gives in terms of a one world connectivity.
“Stand By Me” has always been one of my favorite songs.  For me it was first delivered by John Lennon on his “Rock & Roll” album and that led me to Ben E. King’s sweet sweet voice.  If I wasn’t thankful enough for John already, that upped the ante.  
This trinity joins together in “Playing For Change”.  I really enjoy the voices as well as the video as much as the song here.
The feature doc is much more than this song and features a great number of performers throughout the world.  I look forward to seeing it.  You can learn more about it on the link at the top of this entry.
Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Pre-fab Monsters, Aliens, & Extreme Vehicles

Whomever came up with Z-Cardz gets extra points in our book. They are cards but then you punch out the shapes and assemble into 3-dimensional creations.  They increase your fun by letting you be the one to build them.  

Here they are taking over our computer again!

Categories
Truly Free Film

Slowing It Down: Chesanek’s Counterpoint Concludes (Part 6 of 6)

Brent concludes…

Another scary thing about the NYC DIY Dinner discussion is that essentially it’s asking filmmakers who’ve likely just worked for several years for no money to now take further losses and develop things they have no intrinsic passion for, just so that thing they do have passion for gains validity. 

Filmmakers like me already spend 70% of our time looking for permission (ie funds) to make our films from people perhaps not in the best position to be gatekeepers, and now that looks to be expanded to 90% or more. Our pay just went down, as if we were making enough to subsist on to begin with. Already, incomes in this country have been relatively stagnant for 30 years despite rapid growths in technology and productivity in most industries. 
We’re all expected to do more for less money. That seems exponential with independent film, and as I said, we’re now going to have to figure out how to do that part of it we love even less often for less money.

How do we improve this? Your idea about helping each other is a start. I suppose if it weeds out the ones with fleeting delusions of grandeur and dreams of wealth, that will help. If it means less films are fast-tracked, more time is spent on each film, then each becomes that much more focused and worthwhile in terms of individuality and distinction, then there is something to be hopeful for.