DIY DAYS - fund :: create :: distribute :: sustain

DIY Liveblog :: Moving Beyond the Screen

With a steady stream of new platforms and devices emerging - story now has the ability to move beyond one screen. But how does this new paradigm effect the way that stories are funded, created and told? In a world of user-gen content and shrinking attention spans how can one build stories that have emotional impact while working within this new fragmented media environment?

Discussion Leader: Lance Weiler (Head Trauma, The Last Broadcast)
- Marshall Herskovitz (Blood Diamond, Quarterlife)
- Tommy Pallotta (A Scanner Darkly, Waking Life)
- Femke Wolting (filmmaker, cross-media producer and designer)

• mini-movies - 3 minute documentaries for the web funded by traditional broadcasting
• would have never been able to make My SecondLife for TV until it became #1 on YouTube
• some stories lend themselves to being interactive more than others. The high emotional content lent to a non-analytical relationship between the characters and the audience
• Because Scanner Darkly didn’t test well Pallotta had to find new ways to get the word out that didn’t involve the budgets he would need, but wouldn’t get. Gave web audience  the ability to remix scenes
• You have one shot [to promote on the web using a certain method] and then you can’t do it again
• sometimes people can get more interested in the game than the movie
• there’s something about the singularity of an event on the internet
• people on youtube have a restless “show me something new, show me something new” attitude that makes it very hard to promote serial content
• is there a way for short form content to introduce people and create a bridge that traditional social networks can’t?
• game to discover end game if oil reserves run out, challenge players to find the best outcomes (serious games, escalating certain crisis scenarios)
• dubbing and subtitles don’t travel as well, do best in home nation
• people who come to our site are part of the same psychographic rather the same demographic. There are arty depressed people all over the world.
• watching a movie online isn’t the same as going to the theater, the social event.
• bittorrent is my friend. otherwise most of my stuff wouldn’t get seen. Build the audience and then find the revenue stream.
• what if the product (film, music) isn’t as valuable as the community you build around it?
• society’s valuation of content is coming down. Advertisers are losing viewers on TV, but aren’t finding enough audience to make up the loss online
• the money is not a factor to content producers, it is there time that is the scarce resource
• a movement away from first person shooters in games to experiential games (Flow)