Category Archives: The Mediascape

Choicebook wants your opinion

Posted on by
Reply

Is a survey still a survey if you call it something else?

The CRTC wants your opinion about TV in Canada. Will you pay more? Do you want the Internet regulated?

Visit Choicebook to have your say.

“Canadians like to watch television and for many of them, the way they do so is changing. More and more people are watching their favourite shows on their cable or satellite company’s on-demand service, over the Internet and on tablets and smartphones. The way Canadians think about—and even interact with—television is clearly not the same today as it was just a few years ago. At the CRTC, we want to make sure that the television system meets the needs of Canadians – as citizens, creators and consumers. We understand that the system has to adapt to remain healthy, continue to offer different kinds of programming and be responsive to Canadians’ expectations over the coming years.”

But do it soon. Choicebook closes on March 14, 2014.

My take: it’s in your best interest to invest the time to let the CRTC know what you’re thinking.

Your web presence is waiting

Posted on by
Reply

A website is not enough. Not anymore.

Today, independent filmmakers need to be everywhere and do everything: Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, Youtube, blog, maintain a mailing list, upload a gallery, operate a shop, display a trailer, Kickstarter, Tugg, etc. Etc.

In two words, you need a web presence.

Oh, and by the way, write and produce a killer film in your spare time.

What if you could concentrate on your craft and hand over the heavy-lifting of your web presence to someone else? Enter assemble.me

This New Zealand outfit has it figured out. Their offerings expand as your project travels from development, to funding and production, to festivals and exploitation. See all the features.

Says James Franklin,

“My take is that people are getting there and we’re seeing projects succeed. But I think the issues are not around the economic model but rather if filmmakers have the ability or the appetite to do this themselves — that’s the elephant in the room!”

Their pricing is a mix of set up and monthly fees, ranging from $500 to $3000 and $19 to $99 monthly. Pay nothing until your site is ready to go live.

My take: worth checking out. Sure, you’ve got to pay but, as they say, you’ve got to spend money to make money. You’ve got the dollars for marketing in your budget, right? It’s Show Business, baby!

Yet another reason to choose Indiegogo

Posted on by
Reply

Crowd-funding is a lot of work.

First of all, it’s a full-time job creating and maintaining your campaign. (Forget for a moment the all the work of putting your project together and then actually making it.) Now you’ve got to fulfill all those perks you promised your backers.

Indiegogo wants to help you.

“Today we’re launching our Film Fulfillment Program, which will provide Indiegogo campaigners streamlined access to free or discounted rates on film distribution and fulfillment services with our program partners, VHX and Yekra.”

Check out VHX and Yekra to learn more.

Then see the special deals Indiegogo has brokered for you. Sign up through the links at the bottom of the page.

My take: kudos to Indiegogo for smoothing things out for indie filmmakers!

Indie Koala shows the way

Posted on by
Reply

From Canada’s capital comes a bold adventure in indie self-distribution.

It’s called Indie Koala.

“We are three Ottawa independent filmmakers who are passionate about making, watching and promoting indie films and indie filmmaking and we started this service in April 2013 because we couldn’t find a site that was artist-run and was a one-stop-shop for local independent content.”

Taking their cue from the belief ‘Think Global, Act Local,’ three Ottawa filmmakers have created an online exhibition space for independent films, boot-strapping VimeoPro‘s pay-to-rent capability.

Nevertheless, the majority of their shorts are free to watch.

My take: kudos for b(r)anding together!

The new 10 commandments of low budget filmmaking

Posted on by
Reply

Elliot Grove and the Raindance Film Festival have issued ten new commandments of low (no) budget filmmaking.

They are:

  1. Thou shalt have a fantastic screenplay.
  2. Thou shalt understand keywords and SEO tools.
  3. Thou shalt secure some development finance.
  4. Thou shalt spend proper time in pre-production.
  5. Thou shalt understand the shoot and exploit it to maximum advantage.
  6. Thou shalt not fix it in Post-Production.
  7. Thou shalt clear all music in your film.
  8. Thou shalt prepare professional publicity and marketing materials.
  9. Thou shalt use film festivals to launch your film.
  10. Thou shalt create a distribution strategy.

See the annotated version.

My take: I can get behind all of these except number nine. Seems to me that’s really part of number 10. Not having much, if any success, at film festivals, I’m not convinced. I guess what I really need is a paid-for-performance film festival agent. Any suggestions?

Microsoft’s Xbox Entertainment Studios orders first unscripted series

Posted on by
Reply

Microsoft is getting into Reality TV. Sort of.

The huge computer company has greenlit its first unscripted series for its Xbox platform, called Every Street Reunited, from Mandalay Sports Media, the US indie set up by Rain Man producer and La Dodgers owner Peter Guber, Smallville co-creator Mike Tollin and talent agency CAA.

“The show will focus on street soccer, with each half-hour episode shot in a different country — the U.S., Spain, Holland, France, Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, South Korea — featuring local, undiscovered soccer players across the globe.”

It is expected that the series will feature some type of global interactive component.

My take: the line between the TV and the console continues to blur as the boundary between passive content and live experience continues to shift.

Swedish cinemas to rate films on Bechdel Test

Posted on by
Reply

Cinemas in Sweden have begun rating films on the Bechdel Test.

Those that pass get the ‘A rate’ stamp of approval.

The Bechdel Test was created in 1985 by Alison Bechdel. There are three, simple, rules:

  1. To pass, a film must contain two named female characters
  2. who talk to each other
  3. about something other than a man.

Not surprisingly, given the action-figure-orientation of Hollywood today, the majority of films fail.

My take: Thank you, Sweden, for, once again, leading the way and shining a light on the underrepresentation of women in film.

Maureen Bradley blogs about micro-budget feature production

Posted on by
Reply

CineVic recently invited Maureen Bradley to speak about her micro-budget feature project, Two 4 One.

She’s cobbling the $250,000 budget together from a number of sources: the Telefilm Micro-Budget Program, the BC Arts Council, the Jim Murphy Filmmkakers Bursary, an IndieGoGo campaign and private sources, for a February 2014 shoot.

She’s blogging about the experience at microbudget.org where she gives a more detailed answer to one of my questions on Saturday.

Regarding this year’s Telefilm Micro-Budget Feature competiton, Maureen’s advice was: have a great story and really think through an innovative digital platform strategy.

My take: Thank you, Maureen, for sharing your knowledge and experience and — your insights! It occurs to me that Telefilm is in the business of making million-dollar movies, so they’re really taking a flyer with eight to ten projects for one million, and hoping that one breaks out. In the old model, a film’s profile was amassed through festival exposure, critical reviews and box office, to be augmented by media coverage as it worked its way through the standard windows. Today, a project’s profile starts with the first online exposure, carries on through the pre-production, crowd-funding, production and post-production stages and hopefully snowballs when more people can actually pay for it. The old model was mediated by distributors, whereas with the new model, the producer does it all. I foresee more creative cooperatives coming together: teams of producers, each specialized in different parts of the new paradigm — concept, marketing, social media, production, exploitation.

Bell Media creates bravoFACTUAL

Posted on by
Reply

Bell Media has created bravoFACTUAL, becoming a major source of funding for short documentaries in Canada.

The semi-annual competition promises up to $50,000 for 15-minute “micro-docs,” which must be completed within six months.

“Budgets must reflect  the story’s complexity, specific production elements, any special production techniques, required archival footage and/or, music rights, E&O insurance and any other requirements which result from the creative materials.”

New filmmakers, take note:

“…preference will be given to emerging filmmakers with limited experience who are trying to enhance their skills and credentials”

The first deadline is Thursday, October 31, 2013.

My take: kudos to bravoFACT for stepping up to the plate and funding short docs in Canada. When the Harper Government spiked the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund, they created a funding void. Now this program promises to replace the CIFVF.

Digital conversion threatens indie theatres

Posted on by
Reply

On the heels of my shares on exhibition formats and DIY DCP, comes a Rolling Stone article discussing the collateral damage of digital conversion.

“The National Association of Theater Owners, the trade organization that represents exhibitors, has estimated that as many as 10,000 screens – one in every five screens in North America – could go dark because they can’t afford to convert. Among those venues most in danger are independent theaters.”

Gary Susman hints that this might actually be a Hollywood plot to lessen competition.

“Hollywood studios don’t much care about the possible demise of the independent theater. (It’s not showing their movies anyway.) Besides, the potential loss of thousands of screens will only hasten the day when Hollywood doesn’t have to deal with those pesky exhibitors anymore and can go directly toward home distribution on disc or video-on-demand, where most of a film’s money is made.”

My take: if progress is gradual and change is sudden, the demise of ‘film’ exhibition is change that we may not be able to fight. If you’ve ever had to lug two heavy ‘cans’ of 35mm film up to the projection booth at the very back of the balcony, you may not care. But I’m not in favour of this if it means a restricted number of movies.