Filmmaking 2.0: Keep Audiences personally invested

Since only a tiny handful of the films from this past Sundance Film Festival actually got theatrical release…'talk of a death-bed scenario -- barely struggling by on life-support -- is being tossed around.

'Sure, those tap-happy-easy-money-days of Indies-past are done...this is after all the year of change: 'The worst thing that ever happened to Indie film was that the studios thought it was a good business,' notes Variety Magazine.

'Indies recent box-office-slump raises all sorts of questions about the future of indie movies and 'if' there is still an audience for smaller-niche-films: These questions have ultimately less to do with the movie business -- which always changes and always stays the same -- than with the state of the audience. All of these strategies of marketing, branding, campaigning and publicizing amount to a strenuous, sloppy effort to intuit the desire and influence the behavior of moviegoers.

This ever-shrinking Indie market is too easily blamed on the internet. In its defense, the web has served to equalize films as good movies versus bad movies. Everyone agrees the web -- (and online social networking sites and blogs) -- will play a major role in marketing films...'all roads ultimately lead to finding new ways to connect with people directly.

'Next-Gen-Audiences are more-than-ever-before personally invested in the film making process, and the people that make them...'that's changed the game in terms of getting butts in chairs.

Audiences have become color-blind: think about this, audiences can now easily get a touch of that indie-fix in bigger-budgeted studio movies that also can have an independent style or sensibility -- (think of this years Iron Man and the latest Batman, both made by former Indie-darlings)...'but, they would easily grab hold of the next Juno if they felt a shared-emotional-connection.

This years The Visitor, might be the last truly indie films that made some cash at least when it come to theater releases.

'There are however other viable options for filmmakers...'like the auto industry, I foresee we are gonna see some hybrid-solutions in the distant future in terms of distribution -- (and where you see those smaller-niche-films).

That was the talk at this weeks Independent Film Week '08 –(with a Filmmaking 2.0 reboot-theme) -- 'they explored changes, and the companies growing strategy to bring indie, foreign and doc features to home theaters via video-on-demand.

"Festivals are too long, they are too crowded, they are overwhelmed by people who want their faces to be photographed, they are overwhelmed by agents," Said the dude that runs Sundance. "There is too much mediocrity at film festivals."

He added 'that what used to be exciting about fests was the phrase -- that was a great fucking film, rather than "how much do you think its going to make..."

'Looking to the future that panel suggested festivals will evolve into -- 'hybrid events that take place both in person and online.'

"The film biz is changing dramatically," Geoff Gilmore (Sundance) explained, not only because of the abundance of film festivals but because of the abundance of films." He added that its only natural that fests would expand into cyberspace to accomodate demand for curated work.

Cablevision-to-the-rescue: They bought both ‘the 12-year-old Sundance Channel this year for about $500 million from founder Robert Redford and partners NBC Universal and CBS Corp.’ and also owns Rainbow’s -- ‘IFC Festival Direct (a video-on-demand service for movies without theatrical distribution)…’

In this rabid information-age, where script deals are big news online, marketing any film -- starts on day one:

If I ever am luck enough to write, direct, produce a film, having a direct line to people, and having a total-open-book accessible-Joe policy -- (like Jon Favreau's Iron Man, and Kevin Smith, both stay plugged directly to fans via blogs...'on what they do personally and workwise)...'same goes for niche-filmmaking. Welcome to filmmaking 2.0, plug-in, and be ready to stay for coffee and biscuits...

Source: Indie Wire