Special thanks to everyone who helped to make DIY DAYS SF a success. These events would not be possible without the support of volunteers - all of the staff, tech team, and camera folks donate their time and skills. If you’d like to volunteer your skills we’re looking for people to help with NYC and Boston. Drop us an email if you’re interested.
DIY DAYS is headed to NYC. We’re in the process of finalizing plans for a different format. This time around we’ll be holding a dinner with a collection of interesting guests from various industries. The conversation will be documented and streamed live. Stayed tuned for more details.
Meanwhile content from SF will be filtering out across the web in the coming days and we still have quite a bit to share from LA. In LA, Robert Greenwald gave the following opening keynote. For more on Robert and his work visit www.bravenewfilms.com and www.robertgreenwald.com
Current TV, From Here to Awesome and the Workbook Project
SAN FRANCISCO
Sunday, August 17th
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105 http://www.111minnagallery.com
Schedule for the day
10am Doors Open / Registration
10:30am to 10:50am INTRO: Open source filmmaking
An overview of the current landscape presented by Lance Weiler
11:00am to 11:30am CASE STUDY: The Tribe
Tiffany Slain on the production and distribution of her short .
11:45am to noon CONVERSATION: What are you working on?
Open discussion & networking
Noon to 1pm LUNCH
1pm to 2pm ONE ON ONE: War Stories
Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters) and Caveh Zahedi (I’m a Sex Addict) have a candid discussion about the process of getting their films made and distributed. What really goes on behind the scenes? Join us as Arin and Caveh compare battle scars.
2pm to 2:15pm CONVERSATION: What are you looking for?
Open discussion & networking
2:15 to 3:15pm PANEL: The art and science of crowdsourcing
There is power in the crowd. When they rise up they can fund, create, distribute and promote. But how do you turn an audience into an active community where members become collaborators? Panelists: Slava Rubin (indieGoGo), Skot Leach (Lost Zombie), Jason Harris (Mekanism), Bryan Kennedy (Mobmov.org), Blair Erickson (Millions of Us) Discussion Leader: Lance Weiler
3:15 to 3:30pm BREAK
3:30 to 4:15pm CASE STUDY: Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer on the production and distribution of their feature.
4:15 to 4:45pm ONE ON ONE: Cinema and the singularity
Exponential growth of technology has brought on a paradigm shift in the nature of cinema that has yet to be fully understood. How can we anticipate changes in the coming years, and what can media artists do to take an active role in innovation that shapes the art and business of storytelling?
Brian Chirls and Jerry Paffendorf discuss.
4:45 to 5pm CONVERSATION: How can you help?
Open discussion & networking
5:00 to 6pm PANEL: Content is King but are the outlets and services listening?
As the landscape changes new outlets and services are emerging. With so many choices what is a filmmaker to do? But most importantly what are they going to do for you? The system is in flux and there are no rules. This is your chance to let your voice be heard: have a say in how outlets and services think about working with you and for you. Panelists: Scilla Andreen (indieFlix) Alex Afterman (Heretic Films), Sara Pollack (youTube), Tom Hicks (Caachi), Saskia Wilson-Brown (Current TV), Mark Rotblat (TubeMogul) - Discussion Leader: Arin Crumley
6:15pm BAR OPENS
6:15 to 6:45pm HOT SEAT: M Dot Strange
M dot Strange takes to the hot seat to go one on one with random people from the audience.
6:45 to 8pm SPEECH BLITZ
Attendees stand up and talk for 3 minutes to offer their insight on how we take the industry “from here to awesome.” In other words, what’s broken and how do we all fix it?
Friday August 15th in San Francisco - 3 feature films will screen at Mint Plaza and the Mezzanine located at 444 Jessie Street.
YOU’RE THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMMER - you decide what shows that night. To cast your selections click HERE then watch, comment, rate and favorite the films that you feel should screen. The event is FREE click HERE to secure tickets.
Lance Weiler details his cinema ARG experiments which have surrounded the release of his feature film Head Trauma. A collision of music, gaming, film and technology - the cinema ARG enables storytelling across platforms while also reaching into the real world. Lance explains how he turned a promotion for Head Trauma’s VOD release into its own intellectual property.
You are now entering the world of M dot Strange you might feel a little freaked out but it’s okay you’re in the good hands. M dot Strange is a mixed media animator from San Jose, Ca. He recently singlehandedly completed an 88 minute animated film entitled “We are the Strange” which made its world premiere in January of this year at the Sundance Film Festival. A reviewer that saw the film M dot made in his bedroom with 9 PC’s over the course of 3 years said “it looked like something Hollywood would make for 70 million” He has recently been featured in the NY Times, ABC World News , Wired.com and his youtube videos have been viewed over a million times.
It was the end of DIY DAYS LA and the mics began to drop like flies. In the end we were left with a single mic for five people.
PANEL DESCRIPTION: The future of independent film is not in content aggregation, which is quickly becoming commoditized, but in audience aggregation. Sustainability for filmmakers lies directly in the hands of the audience. Direct to audience models have shaken the core of the music industry. But the power of Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 true fans” seems good in theory but where do you start? What are the steps to building an audience around your work and most importantly how do you keep the conversation going? Discussion Leader: Saskia Wilson-Brown (Current TV) - Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters) - Micki Krimmel (expert in social media and online community) - Alex Johnson (digital media strategist / filmmaker) - Lance Weiler (The Last Broadcast, Head Trauma)
DIY DAYS LA - When the Audience Takes Control - panel
Thanks to all the people that helped to make DIY DAYS LA such a success. Over the course of the day over 300 people attended the event for a day of keynotes, panels and case studies. Special thanks to Not a Cornfield and Current TV for helping to make the event a reality.
DIY DAYS provided an excellent kick off to the From Here to Awesome discovery and distribution fest. The films are currently available through a number of outlets. More outlets both online and offline will be added in the coming weeks. The festival will run for the next six months and showcases 12 features and 10 shorts that were programmed based on audience demand.
Marshall Herskovitz giving a keynote about the creation of Quarterlife - photo credit Mike Hedge
In an effort to share as much of DIY DAYS as quickly as possible, we have started to upload some simple single camera footage. When we have more time we’ll be cutting together the multi camera footage. Feel free to embed and spread it. The main goal of DIY DAYS is to spread info that helps storytellers to fund, create, distribute and sustain. It is an experiment and what we hope will become an ongoing discussion as DIY DAYS events take place in SF, Boston, NYC, and London over the next few months. We welcome your comments, suggestions and encourage you to share info about your work and the way you make it.
Next up is DIY DAYS San Francisco on Sunday August 17th @ 111 Minna Gallery. The event is free but space is limited make sure to register to secure your spot. On August 15th we’ll be stagging a series of special FHTA screenings. More details soon.
Finally check back often because we’ll be releasing the keynotes, panels and case studies over the coming days.
DIY DAYS LA - Arin Crumley FOUR EYED MONSTERS case study
The future of independent film is not in content aggregation, which is quickly becoming commoditized, but in audience aggregation. Sustainability for filmmakers lies directly in the hands of the audience. Direct to audience models have shaken the core of the music industry. But the power of Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 true fans” seems good in theory but where do you start? What are the steps to building an audience around your work and most importantly how do you keep the conversation going?
Discussion Leader: Saskia Wilson-Brown (Current TV)
- Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters)
- Miki Krimmel (expert in social media and online community)
- Alex Johnson (digital media strategist / filmmaker)
- Lance Weiler (The Last Broadcast, Head Trauma)
audience aggregation, positioning your film to bring people together, fans swarming around your film
get people’s information while they’re swarming around your film (or give them your info)
look at the conversation between movies and audiences and find ways to keep the conversation going
profile your core audience and build experiences around them
look at the habits of the audience
you don’t need to be everywhere you need to find out where its best to be, where your people are
you don’t build a community, you serve a community.
give people a reason to return, make a two sided thing, its a conversation.
Give the audience some empowerment on your site. People want to contribute, they ust need easy guidelines to do so.
When you do it effectively people will want to share the experience
ask what you would want people to be saying to you
get people involved really early, before production, not after. Engage people from the very beginning.
the most popular social tools are usually the best because they’re so popular (users, search ranking)
put your assets (publicity, reviews, links, etc) in one place online so you always have easy access for your next project (impressing actors, investors) and for creating a history for your current project
spend time thinking about what your brand is (what words people use to describe you) and what communities fit your brand
be honest, but be prepared that not everyone in your audience is going to agree with you (gain a think skin, sometimes they’ll revolt)
if the tools are there, then there’s no reason why we [filmmakers] can’t cross-pollinate our audiences. That’s why the studios are so popular because they have a catalogue of movies.
the tools are easy, the maintenance and value upkeep of audiences is hard
sustainability can come from filmmakers helping each other rather than competing with each other
Lance Weiler - EXTENDING THE STORYWORLD case study (Head Trauma)
content producers typically think about the audience after the movie is finished, I created digital assets before the movie was even made
web comic, showed movie’s assets to show to potential audience members
put the audience in the shoes of the protagonist
because of the world I created around the film that people started seeing the value in it
festivals as a springboard to a platform release, got attendees to experience the story in a meaningful way by opting into a game with the nemesis of the movie
looped answers to the questions asked over the phone back to their computer speakers while they’re on the website
moving a story or a ame across multiple platforms and into the real world
Flash mob zombie game, bridging story world with the real world
live screenings of movie with score played live, characters emerge from audience, text messages sent to audience mobile phones
how can this story reach into the real world? Some of the audience are looking for something more from their entertainment. They’re looking to be involved.
web series to promote the movie who’s story line only lightly touches on the movie itself. Protagonist asks the web audience for help solving the clues. Solving the clues leads to information for secret screenings
Promotion can now be turned into its own intellectual property
We covered Tiffany Shlain earlier this year when her short THE TRIBE became the number one download on iTunes. In this case study from DIY DAYS SF, Tiffany details the unique approach that helped her to turn THE TRIBE into a successful and profitable project. For more on Tiffany and the Tribe visit www.moxieinstitute.org [...]
This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix - Hunter Weeks left a cubical job to embark on a filmmaking career and within a three years has completed two documentaries and is in post on a third. One of the core elements of his strategy is to mix a DIY production and distribution [...]
Lisa Salem reports - When David Hastings’ play ONE SMALL STEP was taken up to the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival this month - the festival’s most respected venue - the outlook was quite pragmatic: take the show up there, expect a financial loss but gather thy reviews and hope they harvest into [...]
