Links and Sources
This page will be updated when necessary with each of the new installments of the how-to.
Check out the links below to see:
The general landscape of resources I used in my research and places you might like to keep an eye on (some more directly relevant to the topic than others - some I’m less familiar with but think it would be good to check out)
The main sites/articles/posts and podcasts that really influenced and informed this how-to;
Key people to know about and, where relevant, which ideas I really took from them;
A brief genesis, going back to 1998, of my thought process.
BLOGS
Workbook Project
SPRINGBOARDMEDIA
All These Wonderful Things
Self-Reliant Film
Seth Godin’s Blog
The Long Tail
TechCrunch
Renew Media - Resources
The Chutry Experiment
Mashable
Blogstring
loudhail
Cinema Tech
IFC - Indie Eye
Filmmaker Magazine
Greencine Daily
PODCASTS
Digimart Conference
Power to the Pixel Conference
SXSW 2008 Coverage
Sundance 2008 Coverage
Cross-Media and Transmedia Entertainment
SITES
Brave New Films
Wired
NAMAC
Sante Fe Institute
GROUPS (both of these are documentary-makers groups)
PRIMARY RESOURCES
D-Word forums:
Lance Weiler - 2006
Sandi Dubowski - 2002
Edward King - 2006
these podcasts:
SXSW Panel - ‘Building an Online Fanbase’
Sundance Panel - ‘Going It Alone’
IFC Panel - ‘Consumer Viewing Habits’
and these articles and posts:
This Collection of Filmmaker Magazine Articles (see all four)
Workbook Project Article - ‘Cast It To The Crowd’
Workbook Project Article - ‘POV - The Value of Cross-Media’
Workbook Project Podcast - ‘Creating Storyworlds’
Workbook Project - Experiments in Digital Swag - part 1
Workbook Project - ‘Cutting Through The Static’
From Here To Awesome (republished Filmmaker Mag) Article - ‘Embed and Spread’
Self-Reliant Film Article ‘Self Promotion for Filmmakers: Do’s and Don’ts’
NYT Article - ‘Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog’
Seth Godin’s Blog Post - ‘Permission Marketing’
Media Rights Post - ‘Three Things Documentary Makers Can Learn From The Super Bowl’
Adotas Blog Post - ‘The Proactive Interactive Agency: Deep Focus Fans The Future of Entertainment Marketing’
KEY PEOPLE
I’ve leaned hard on the words and ideas of most of the people below. In many cases, their influence is too general to get specific about but where possible I’ve noted specific areas in which I was especially influenced by them.
Lance Weiler - HEAD TRAUMA as a case study is extremely informative but Lance’s wealth of material proliferated throughout the web on the subjects of DIY filmmaking and self-distribution, as well as Workbookproject.com have been invaluable resources. In this how-to I’ve taken on many of his ideas on building story worlds, dissemination, digital assets and swag and also the idea of ’starting a conversation’.
Sandi Dubowski - is the king of outreach! TREMBLING BEFORE GOD is, as a person on the above mentioned D-Word forum remarked, ‘both a film AND an experience’ (that was in 2002!). That’s also where I got that line from. Dubowski is a man with a mission. The energy and purpose of his audience-building strategies is awe inspiring.
Arin Crumley/Susan Buice - FOUR EYED MONSTERS makes for an incredible case study. I also stalked Arin’s del.icio.us bookmarks for a while but only made it half-way through as there were so many of them.
Matt Hanson - A SWARM OF ANGELS is a great case study in collaborative filmmaking. I found Matt’s article in WP on crowdsourcing - ‘Cast it to the Crowd’ - really valuable in terms of thinking about fan/filmmaker relationship and crowdsourcing in general.
M Dot Strange - WE ARE THE STRANGE is another great case study. I also really like the way he relates to his fans in his video podcasts. As well, he’s a great example of how a polarised audience can really work in your favour.
Yvonne Welbon - GARBAGE is a short film that’s set to make $2 million by the time it’s finished it’s run.
Tiffany Shlain - THE TRIBE is an interesting case study of levering audience enrollment around a theme. Also, I really like her ideas of filmmaker/audience interdependency and the concept of regularly ‘throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks’ in regards to experimenting with ways to engage the audience more deeply.
Joe Swanberg - a prolific, critically-acclaimed filmmaker (LOL, HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS etc…) works in many ways with the web 2.0 generation as a general theme, and then uses those means to connect with his audience.
Peter Broderick - began talking about all this stuff a long time ago and has used his ideas on the subject to help the likes of Christopher Nolan and Amir Bar-Lev. It’s through hearing about his work that I first got introduced to ‘filmmaking 2.0′ thought processes and self-distribution in general.
Ian Schafer - is the founder of the internet marketing agency DEEP FOCUS. Specifically, I was very influenced by Schafer’s thoughts on ‘finding the hook’ and ‘keeping it personal’ as well as getting the audience invested in the success of the film. He’s worked on many big projects and he can see how these ideas play out for both grassroots projects as well as big budget/mainstream material.
Seth Godin - known as the internet marketing guru, has written many books. His blog is great to read and is always full of extremely valuable information. I think he coined the term ‘Permission Marketing’.
Lawrence Lessig - key player and, until recently, leader of the ‘Free Culture’ movement. I recommend reading his book (free to download) on the subject here. He’s the man to listen to when it comes to ideas about copyright (or copyleft) in the current media climate.
A BRIEF GENESIS OF MY THINKING ON THE SUBJECT
I thought it relevant to say that I graduated with a Masters degree in Interactive Multimedia in 1998. I’d specialised in building installations that focussed on using interactive technology to deepen the audience’s experience of and relationship with a piece of art, and was concerned with finding new ways of telling stories. In 2004, I was introduced to the ideas of Peter Broderick through friends at Doculink and was very inspired/excited. It was also through Doculink that I became familiar with thinking about documentary outreach and how best to facilitate that. After my experiences on WLAWM I did the circuit of ’self-distribution’ panels but I found the information available to be somewhat lacking. That all changed in November 2007 though when I went to Power to the Pixel and first heard Lance, the FEM crew, Matt Hanson et al speak and was completely blown away. In the process of researching and putting together a workshop meant to help other filmmakers build audiences for their films, I thought that I’d put this how-to together as a way to build upon the wealth of information those key players have been making available. - I also saw it as an opportunity to actively take a more focussed look at the subject.
