Categories
Truly Free Film

What Can Indie Film Learn From Etsy? Let’s Make A Pledge

Etsy ran at a profit for the first time last year, and the NYTimes recently ran an article examining how well they’ve managed their growth while still creating a community dedicated to having their buying habits reflect their values.  With 7 million users, revenues possibly as high as $50 million, Etsy certainly has a lot to teach other non-corporate creators.

Etsy looks at Ebay for lessons and the big takeaway appears to be to keep the focus on community and not to get hung up on increasing profits.  It has always felt to me that the major difference between Art Film or Indie Film and Hollywood’s product is the community experience.  It was the community part of the infrastructure that the industry allowed to rust as they adopted the Hollywood practice of pursuing profit margins first and foremost.  It is the community aspect that we need most to focus on if we want a sustainable creative community in this country, IMHO.

Like Etsy’s efforts to create an intimate relationship between buyers and sellers, if we want a Truly Free Film culture to flourish, we need to increase the intimacy between audiences and creators.  We need to erase those lines so it is a truly united community.  Etsy works to do this through daily emails:

Etsy is working to ensure that as the site gets bigger, it still feels more like a treasure trove of goodies than a chaotic sidewalk sale. The company sends out daily “Etsy Finds” e-mails that are usually put together by a staff member or a popular merchant. These display a handful of items arranged around a central theme or color scheme.

When I say that being a filmmaker requires being a curator, I am speaking of the responsibility of filmmakers to get others’ good work seen and appreciated.  You say you made a film in the last two years?  Well how many movies did you also actively encourage your friends, family, fans, & followers to watch? And how did you do that?  What if you made a pledge to this year write up at least two passionate pleas to watch a new truly independent film this year.  And what if you wrote in such a way that actually put in both a cultural and personal context so it might really resonate with readers.  And what if we found a way to get that out to the community?  If I got fifty pledges from filmmakers to actually do that, I will make sure we got a good platform (starting here) to launch it further.

Update:  12/28 648PM EST: It was just pointed out to me that Brian Newman ran a nice post back in November on Etsy’s doc profiles on their various artists.  It’s great work and Brian was right on with his post.

Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Mrs. P Puts Potter Back In Bowl

Mrs. P returns with another guest post!

While this is an older piece, it is timely with the release of the latest Harry Potter movie. Puppets make great story telling vehicles. The homemade look and feel of this I think is inspiring in that with a camera on a tripod you can come up with something pretty imaginative. It’s good to remember that you don’t need a lot of special effects to make something fun and entertaining.
“Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise”

 

MrsP.com, honored with the American Library Associations Great Site for Kids distinction, creates and publishes free video stories read and performed by acclaimed T.V. actress Kathy Kinney. The site has no advertising and offers interactive games, coloring sheets, and activity guides along with “show me the words” options on every story to help early readers, and ESL students. http://www.MrsP.com

Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Vacation time? Put Your Imagination To Use!

In order to celebrate a week of no school, we are honored to host Mrs. P in our Bowl.  Okay stop with the guffaws already.  Mrs. P’s got a website of her own.  Check it out here.  But she’s volunteered to come on over and look after ours all week.  Ain’t that something?  Lucky birds that we are, we are going to hand our nest over to her.

One of the goals of my own storytelling site is to encourage kids to use their imaginations. I love seeing young people write and act in their own work. This one has the added twist in that they figured out how to use a free technology like YouTube to make an interactive game and distribute it tagging onto the success of the Thanksgiving opening of the new Harry Potter movie. Instead of waiting around for an agent to call, these young actors are putting themselves out there in a fun and interesting way.   “Harry Potter Interactive Mystery Game” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imbRp9PX6Kc&feature=spotlight

MrsP.com, honored with the American Library Associations Great Site for Kids distinction, creates and publishes free video stories read and performed by acclaimed T.V. actress Kathy Kinney. The site has no advertising and offers interactive games, coloring sheets, and activity guides along with “show me the words” options on every story to help early readers, and ESL students. http://www.MrsP.com

Categories
Bowl Of Noses Let's Make Better Films

Vimeo Reveals How To Make Better Videos

Vimeo has started a Film School and it is FREE!  Whether you want to do a time lapse or make a holiday video, Vimeo’s got tips for you.  Nice gift for the holidays.

Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Great Movies For The Family To Watch This Vacation

I have a list, but it is hard to match this one prepared by the Children’s International Film Festival.  If these aren’t on your Netflix queue, they make it very easy to add with the click of a button.  Check out this list.

Categories
The Next Good Idea

Free Gift! Great New Translator App

Happy Holidays.  If you aren’t in the millions that have already heard of this, add WordLens to the list of must-have apps (InstaPaper still being my fave).  No longer worry when they hand you the foreign language menu…

12/27 Update:  Okay, I was wrong.  The presentation only made it look free. It costs $4.95.  I agree with all the comments that this is deceptive and they should offer a true initial platform gratis and then have the add-ons cost.  I bummed.  Kind of like the toy that looks really great but breaks right off the bat.  Dang.

 

Dowload it for your iPhone here.

Categories
These Are Those Things

OMFG! What More Could You Ever Want! LOVE GOD on YouTube!!!

Better burn the Christmas Tree. Rip up those stockings and pour the booze down the drain, cuz if there is one thing you are going to wanna do this holiday, it surely will be to watch each and every episode of this landmark work.

If you don’t know what Compulsive Reading Syndrome does to a man, all you’ve got to do is push play. If you haven’t seen the most awesome monster f*ck scene in the history of digi, you haven’t yet pushed play. If you wonder what a couple of hundred thou, a digi camera and a free 35mm output courtesy of SONY could do back in the day, just push play. This is where Anthony Bregman’s producing career got it’s start. Look (and listen) to the credits — there are superstars in their infancy flexing their muscles and shaking their whatsits.

Love God or don’t, but either way, watch this film!