DIY Liveblog :: Opening Keynote
July 26th, 2008 Posted in LA
Keynote by <a href=”http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339254/”>Robert Greenwald</a> (Outfoxed, Wallmart the High Cost of Low Price, Iraq for Sale) of Brave New Films
- Came from commercial world, felt the need to begin creating more meaningful content post death in family and 9/11
- Switched from Avid to Final Cut Pro
- Fell in love with purity of experience in documentaries
- Producing is high class begging for money
- The gatekeepers for distribution move incredibly slow
- How do you get a political documentary out while the conversation about the subject material is still going on?
- Independent distribution - MoveOn.org did a promotional email to get members to buy the DVD, Center For American progress held a screening in Washington DC (MoveOn.org raised $1 million through DVD sales)
- MoveOn.org suggested having their members throw house parties to show the DVD to their friends
- Mission of Brave New Films became clearer and clearer to create social change, film screening created discussions of what to do about the subject that required change
- Our job is to put a spot light on the issue and bring attention to it
- Iraq For Sale documentary led to Greenwald testifying before congress about war profiteering
- Because of the time crunch to get relevant information to the public in short enough period that its still relevant, changed from full length videos to short videos to be posted on the web, short form has gotten 23 million views
- Keeping videos under 4 minutes gets more views
- email list is essential, media department focuses on blogs, another person focuses on involving groups (action, special interest, social), occasionally involves traditional media
- Idea > video > email list > groups > blogs => Action
- videos become a piece of the larger campaign
- views are at your video for their own reasons, get involved in groups early using their own motivations
- 1st act is the documentary, 2nd act is the short internet films, 3rd act is live shows featuring bloggers that more reflect the American demographic landscape
- Able to show numbers and results to potential fundraisers
