Categories
These Are Those Things

Imagine

I got the album for Christmas the year it came out.  I had matching glasses.  I played the album over and over and stared at the photos and the poster.  Every song entered my being, and is still there today.  By the time this day rolled around 24 years ago, I felt that John was someone I need to move on from.  My music had changed, but I was not truly ready to move on; I was only acting the angry young man part, a part that I had partially lifted from John.  I am glad he lives on today.  Imagine…

Categories
Truly Free Film

It’s Two Separate Schools: Chesanek’s Counterpoint (Part 5 of 6)

Brent continues…

This discussion can’t proceed forward until the two schools of thought here are separated. One school says traditional narrative is dead and new storytelling methods MUST be applied to new distribution models, while the other realizes there is still a market for narrative feature films that can be accessed through new technology and distro models.

If you want to expand your so-called brand while creating “content” and label yourself as a “creative” (in reality, it’s not a noun) or just want to create infinite ways and media for telling a story, then you’re in this field, so these are some options, these are the issues. If so, then it’s likely none of these marketing terms seem pejorative to your craft.

But many do find these terms pejorative. If you lean towards uninterrupted, feature length art films that show restraint and dexterity in the information provided to an audience, believe in the quality of a screening environment, are not about pushing as much content and info as possible but rather about expertly pursuing a craft you and many others still love but realize there are new opportunities for these works to be seen, then there is this discussion over here, these are the issues on this side of the situation.

These two worlds remain very closely aligned in discussions, and it seems not fully distinguishable from each other just yet, but also not completely on the same page. We need to clearly delineate and grow from there, learning from both sides but never assuming these schools are the same.

Categories
Truly Free Film

Facebook Growth by territory and gender

Can social networks save the film industry?

I’ve only been on Facebook for about five weeks, and clearly still in the honeymoon period, but I found this O’Reily Radar post and analysis of FB’s growth a reason for optimism.
Categories
Issues and Actions

Google Book Settlement Discussion

Scott Macauley is on this issue more diligently than I can be.  Check out his post on the Filmmaker Blog.  He quotes from Peter Osnos on Today’s Zaman :

But the major point is that Google has now conceded, with a very large payment, that “information is not free.” This leads to an obvious, critical question: Why aren’t newspapers and magazines demanding payment for use of their stories on Google and other search engines? Why are they not getting a significant slice of the advertising revenues generated by use of their stories via Google?

Categories
Truly Free Film

Tools Review Needed

I have been adding updates to the Tools column as I find them or you recommend them.  What’s really lacking though are explanations of what these tools actually do AND how they apply to the Truly Free Film paradigm.  I know we need that.  But I am a bit swamped these days actually trying to make a few more films before I expire (being a lover of list I have always thought that number 100 we would be a nice threshold to cross — so I am only a little more than half way there).  So can you help?  

If you can’t do a review can you locate one and let us know where to find it?  
How have you used these tools in your process?  
We all have a lot to learn but we will learn it much faster if we share some information.
Categories
Truly Free Film

Why Is It So Hard To Start A New Franchise?

io9 asked “Why Is It So Hard To Start A New Franchise“.  This scifi site is more concerned with mass media studio product than what we’ve been discussing, but if you asked me their answer lies in The Search For The Word.  As we discussed there, not only do filmmakers have move beyond the limits of the film screen and bring their narratives into true cross-platform cohesion and true transmedialand, but we have to help audiences embrace it.  That union between audience and content will be greatly enhanced once we find that word.  We have to rename the entire galaxy of content focused around that specific story.  What is that word?!

io9 is a pretty swell site.  Check it out.
Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Astro Boy Returns!

He doesn’t look as sweet this time…

The old shows in B&W and the newer ones get a lot of play in our bowl.  We will be at the head of the line when the new feature debuts.  Click here to see the first trailer.  We are hungry for more.