Month: November 2008

Categories
Truly Free Film

Hope For The Future: Starting The List

What can I say?  I love lists.  I maintain many: My favorite things; Directors I want to work with; 100 Ways To Make A Million.  I am sure you’ve got own.

One of things on my List Of Why I Love Lists is that it is so easy to forget, and with forgetting can come despair, that is until we re-cognize what we already knew.  Lists lift us out of this swamp.  I don’t despair. I HOPE.
If this was the year that everyone believed the sky fell (and it did in terms of the unregulated greed based economic system our world has embraced for far too long), it will hopefully be recognized as the moment when we really entered the Free Culture Era.  But the hard things, the bad things, still attract our attention.  We will remember that 2008 is the year no one could sell their film.  We will remember that 2008 is the year that labor strife and cooperate greed conspired for a work shutdown.  I will certainly remember that it is the year that I did not have a film in production for the first time in 20 years.
But that is not the memory I want to have.  I want to remember 2008 as the year that everything started to change for the better.  We need to look and recognize all the positive signs for change that are out there.  
Let’s build the list of the reasons TFFilmmakers have HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.  Let’s make the list at least 52 entries long so we can get through this next year.  
Share with me some of your ideas.  Here’s my start (by no means in the order of importance):
  1. It is so easy to blog that everyone could have their own page in a matter of minutes.  I thought about having a blog for several months before I made the leap and then I was up and on it a matter of minutes.
  2. The more people are exposed to quality films (and culture in general) the more their tastes gravitate towards quality films.  I would love to see an actual study on this, but I was told it by one of the Netflix honchos in that their members gravitate to the “auteurs” the longer they’ve been a member.
  3. Committed Leaders To A Open Source Film Culture have emerged.  I have been incredibly inspired by all the work that those I have labeled as Truly Free Film Heroes have done.  Even more so I am moved by their incredible generosity in their sharing of all they have learned.
  4. The Tools To Take Personal Control are available, numerous, and fun.  There are more than I can list (but the TFF Tools List is a pretty good start).
Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Great Website: Oobject

You may have caught this website before, when we linked to their list of the Top Fifteen Rolling Ball Sculptures but we want to elevate even higher and put in the Nose’s Faves.

OObject posts almost daily new lists of great videos and photos on all kinds of cool things: light sculptures, awesome car designs, steampunk engines, moving walkways, even money making machines.  They are an excellent curator of some of our favorite things.  Where else could we find a remote control cockroach?  Or a list of cars like the one above?

Categories
Let's Make Better Films

The Perfect Marriage Of Sound & Vision

I was completely inspired by Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.  In many, many ways: Form and content aligned;  Not only was it about the world today, it was about film history and where it can go;  It had total respect for the audience and desired to both please, inform, and encourage.  We all need to reach higher.  

The list could go on and on for me, but a key thing was the soundtrack.  Man, did it rock.  And take me to other places.  Immediately it went to the top of my wish list.  And now I can listen to it free.  Legally, too.  That’s something to be thankful for.
Rhapsody has added it to it’s library.  Rhapsody allows you to listen to 25 tracks for free a month. So that means you can listen to the Slumdog soundtrack right now.   It may be early morning, but we are dancing in our house.  This soundtrack is to me what Last King Of Scotland’s soundtrack was previously.  Why is it that when Brits go to other countries to make great films, they come back with great soundtracks?
Any way, you can join the party and listen to it by just clicking here.  Just then add each song to your player and let your ass do all the rest.  Happy Thanksgiving!
Categories
Truly Free Film

How We Watch What We Watch

I look forward to Thanksgiving weekend as a time to catch up on my viewing.  I suspect I will see three or so films in the theater and the same amount on DVD.  I will probably watch a few video clips on YouTube and some trailers elsewhere on line.  

But I recognize I am not the normal American.  You probably aren’t either.  Last sunday’s AO Scott article on this subject had this nifty chart to accompany it.  Film in the traditional sense is at the bottom.

Categories
Truly Free Film

What Financiers Want Now

Producer-turned-financier Dan Cogan and I worked together years ago on the classic geriatric swinger doc THE LIFESTYLE.  Since the, Dan has built a truly unique financing entity IMPACT PARTNERS, who provide a diverse group of investors committed to social change filmmaking with both regular deal flow and creative and logistic oversight.  Impact Partners has consistently placed films in the Sundance Festival, but more importantly is committed to having they both reach an audience and to facilitate change.  Their success speaks of Dan’s knowledge, and now he’s sharing it with you right here.  Listen up!

Dan writes:
It strikes me that this is a particularly important moment in the indie film calendar for the Truly Free Film movement. Films are being quietly notified about acceptances to Sundance. It’s a moment of excitement for filmmakers and financiers alike.

And so right now it’s especially important to remember that the great fairy tale sale is only going to happen to a few films. The rest will have to take the great boost of Sundance and turn it into something for themselves.

There has never been a better moment for filmmakers to do this, especially doc filmmakers who do social-issue films, which is mostly what we finance. But they have to know what they’re doing, and they have to be passionate and devoted to outreach as much as to filmmaking. When we finance a film, here are some of the things we look for:

1) Once we like a project, we want to know, Does the filmmaker have a plan for outreach to get to the film’s natural audience? In the age of DVD, streaming, download-to-own, etc., outreach around social issues related to your film has become deeply intertwined with distribution. Most docs, even great docs, may not be theatrical, but they can have huge potential for direct sales over the web to audiences who are part of a political or social community that the film addresses.

2) Don’t worry about preaching to the choir. Yes, it’s always nice to reach new audiences. But if Barack Obama’s campaign proved anything, it’s how powerful you can be if you really inspire your base. If you can turn people who care about an issue into people who will take the time to knock on doors, make calls, donate money, and ACT on their values, you can have a huge impact. The irony is, of course, that this preaching-to-the-choir passion you create can spill over from your core audience to infect completely new communities.

3) Indie filmmakers have to hustle as much after the film is done as they do to get it made. Directors have to get out on the road and do speaking tours, organize screenings in alternative theatrical venues, develop audiences and drive them to the theater or to their web sites, etc. The work is just beginning when the film is done. And you’re the one who has to do — not a distributor.

4) Actually, the work begins while you’re still making the film. The more you can work on outreach while you’re in production, the better. The goal should be to build partnerships with those in the community you’re making a film about during the filmmaking process, so that as soon as the film is done, you have devoted partisans who are invested in your film and want to help make it a success. You are building your audience as you make your film. I’ve learned a lot about outreach from Diana Barrett at The Fledgling Fund. Check out their site: www.thefledglingfund.org/

5) Make it easy for interested groups to run and publicize their own screenings of the film, and even let them make money off them, or at least break even. The best plan I’ve seen for this is Robert Bahar’s screening kit for MADE IN L.A. Check it our here: http://www.madeinla.com/get/host

6) In the old world, P&A made all the difference. Today, it’s about knowledge. Who are the bloggers who can get word out about your film? Where does your audience gather online? Etc. Today, knowledge is more valuable than money.

In this new world, the opportunities for success are in the filmmakers’ own hands. But filmmakers have to be willing to take on these challenges and not expect someone else to do the work for them.

Categories
Truly Free Film

The Search For The Word

I don’t know if any of you made it to the thirty minute mark of the NYC DIY Dinner Conversation Part One, but I got to one of my fave quests around that time.

I believe people can’t articulate what they really want until they know what to call it.  And here, the Big Consumer World has failed us again. How?  Well let me tell you.
When a seven year old says “Pokemon” they don’t think of just the cards, or the figures, or the game, or the television show, or the various feature film incarnations.  That seven year old sees the whole Pokemon UNIVERSE.  By having the word that describes their pursuit, the Pokemon fans know their desire is to participate COMPLETELY in that Universe.  The Completion Urge is able to know the path to satisfaction.
In mainstream media, only business terms exist to express a 360 degree approach to character and theme.  It’s called “brand management” or “the Franchise”.  THERE IS NO TERM FOR THE AUDIENCE TO USE TO EXPRESS COMPLETE IMMERSION IN STORY AS DEEPLY AND RICHLY AS IS POSSIBLE.  We need to coin a word.  Without a descriptive, desire will never be to be as complete as it might.  Any suggestions?
Categories
Let's Make Better Films

Places To Film #3: Buffalo Central Terminal

We scouted the Buffalo Central Terminal for The Savages.  I wish there was a way to set a scene there.  Just walking around was great.  There’s lot’s of websites with photos of it, but don’t leave Buffalo without getting a tour.

So look at this and then check this out.  And this.