Month: October 2008

Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Bored? How about lacing your shoes differently?

There’s a saying, mostly used for art — but applicable to everything if you ask me — “make strange”. Sometimes we can’t see how things really are, because we are all doing exactly the same thing.

If you “make strange” you get to see things in a new way; maybe as they really are. Regardless, it makes for some fun, so why not.

How about starting with your shoe laces? Maybe lacing them in a different way would be cool. Crooked Brains found 33 Different Ways To Lace Your Shoes. Check it out.

Categories
Truly Free Film

Towards The New Distribution Infrastructure

Are we just dreaming that we could have a distribution infrastructure to handle films based on what they actually are, as opposed to the current one that looks for films that justify significant marketing budgets?  I don’t think so.

A couple of weeks back I was sitting with Lance Weiler and he told me it was already here.  I paused and wondered how I missed it.  He said it was the Obama Social Network.  So am I now dreaming of an activist film loving community that works together to make sure the films get seen and appreciated?  I don’t think so on this one either.
I definitely flashed back on our conversation when I read Ari Melber’s “Obama’s iSuccess” article in The Nation last week.  The thought of gathering and creating regional Truly Free Film CultureVultures united through text messaging and their love of unique and personal film delights me.  There’s a lot more that can be explored here and followed up on.
Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Go! Go! Pikapika!

Two weeks ago we discovered Pikapika, aka doodling with light.  We’ve now dreamt of it every night.  We can’t reproduce those dreams for you here, so you will have to get by on this.  We don’t think it will be all that hard.  It sure is beautiful!

Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Banksy In NYC

Be sure to visit the “Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grille”.  UK Street Artist Banksy delivers us his first authorized show this month.  It can be found on Seventh Ave (aka Varick) just north of Bleeker on the east side of the street.

Lots of caged sausages and a monkey going human join a family of closed circuit cameras and a dolled up bunny, not to mention some cute McNuggets and Swimming Fish Sticks.  Banksy’s anti-consumer humanist humor is not lost on our son who ranks the phantom artist at the top of his list.  Is Banksy the next Pokemon?

We suggest you take advantage of “no school” today and tomorrow and go by when the Pet Store opens at 10A. You will miss the crowds that way. Or since it’s open until midnight, maybe you can stay up past your bedtime and wander in late.

Don’t you just love New York?!!

Categories
Truly Free Film

Digital Dollar Models

Scott Kirshner has a good post up at Cinema Tech regarding a panel he was on.  In it he breaks out eight different revenue streams filmmakers can pursue for their work.  There are definitely more, and I hope to get to some of those in future postings.

One of Scott’s eight, really caught my eye:

Live speaking gigs via videochat. One interesting new idea that emerged from the panels is that filmmakers might earn “speaking fees” without having to travel. Instead of asking a non-profit or educational institution to pay $2500 or $5000 to fly you out to address their group, ask them to pay $250 or $500 to have you do a short live talk/Q&A (using software like Skype or iChat) after they’ve watched your film. More groups would be able to afford that kind of filmmaker interaction than the pricier one, and fewer filmmakers would be spending time stuck in airports or jammed into center seats.

I think the live interaction element with audiences has a great deal of potential, particularly when linked with other elements.  For instance, imagine you are one of the lucky few whose film is accepted to the Sundance Film Festival.  What do you do next when you, like most, made the mistake of betting on a distribution deal?  
What if you banded together with your fellow filmmakers prior to the festival though?  What if you looked reality in the face and took action ahead of the festival?  If I was a college professor anywhere in the US and I was approached by five or ten filmmakers with films in a major festival and they told me they would provide me their film, one film a week, two or three months after the festival, AND that the students would get an hour of iChat with the filmmakers after the screening, man, would I do all I could to book the group at my school.  If the filmmakers also asked me if I knew other professors at other campuses that might do likewise, I would definitely share my list.  
In a short matter of time, the beginnings of a Truly Free Film Culture college tour would start to emerge.  Inevitably these tours would start on a regional basis, but from there the foundations would be set to start to work this on a national basis.  With such a national tour infrastructure in place, a new publicity outlet would be born.  Filmmakers could use this no cost apparatus to connect to audiences, and reach out to greater communities.
Categories
Truly Free Film

Music Vs. Film : Copyright Control Comparisons

I was reading over an article on BBC News on the state of the music business.  

Film people never like comparisons between us and them (Music vs. Film), but I find them useful.  Film vets dismiss the comparison of Music vs. Film over a couple of issues: 1) cost of motion picture production; 2) cost of motion picture marketing; 3) cost of the product; and 4) length of time required to listen/watch.  You can hear a song in two minutes for free and have a complete experience.

I think dismissing the comparison often comes down to seeing the Film Biz as 100% Hollywood.  It’s true that’s where the money is made these days (outside of distinct national industries and genres), but we do have potential to develop a true alternative now — that is provided the internet can remain truly free and neutral.
In the BBC article, they cite a panel that took place between Jazz Summers, the manage of The Verve (and a proponent of artists’ control of copyright) and Lyor Cohen, the head of Warner Music (and a proponent of corporate control).  Cohen stated the big money perspective:

“It’s very important for us to own those rights if we are going to have an infrastructure around the world of thousands of people, if we’re going to invest in new artists to create new music and promote and market it.”

Cohen’s perspective is also the Big Money Perspective on Film.  But here’s where it’s important to recognize the difference between Big Money Hollywood & Traditional Indie/Specialized on one hand and Truly Free Film culture on the other.  
Truly Free Film will be built on collective endeavor and an open source perspective on information and information sharing.  Those attitudes and subsequent action will build a new infrastructure that will allow Truly Free Film artists to earn a living.  The Truly Free Film Culture infrastructure will not be dependent on Mega-Corp investment.  
In a Truly Free Film Culture, there is no argument for anyone other than the artists owning their copyrights, or at least sharing in them with their investors.
Categories
Bowl Of Noses

How People Waste Their Time

I think we all know by now that you can never run out of fun things to do in this world.  After we realize that, I think we start to realize that you can never run out of useful things to do, like, well, you know, improve the world.  I don’t think that THE HUMAN CLOCK qualifies as either (at least for The Bowl), but somehow it remains FUN to see How People Waste Their Time, and maybe that is useful.