I don’t know if it is a great time to be a young filmmaker or a terrible time. It’s great because there are so many more opportunities to make films and get them seen, yet if there are a million filmmakers out there and 999,997,250 of them give us films about their cat flushing a toilet, how great can it be?
I also don’t know if it is a great time to be a middle-aged filmmaker and film teacher. As a filmmaker I am competing against the You Tube generation; both the You Tube filmmakers and those clients who think they are saving a buck by going that route. As a film teacher it is very hard- if not impossible- to stay ahead of the curve.
In the last 24 hours I have learned about a series of programs that allow people to shoot, edit and post their web movies, or vlogs. Here are the links, you decide for yourself it is a good thing or not.
http://www.freevlog.org/ Everything you need for Video Blogging.
http://www.eyespot.com/ Video editing- mixing they call it- for web movies.
As for me I am going to go bury my head in the sand.
PeterH
This is a thought that keeps crossing my mind. Hopefully it’s the former.
What’s great about the advent of digital and cheaper post solutions is that making films can now be a hobby. Just about anyone can get in on it. The problem is that most of the stuff being made (at least from what I’ve seen) is basically just trying to emulate big budget Hollywood. Without the pressure from financiers and executives there is great freedom to safely try things that might not work, but somehow it hasn’t sparked a revolution, just created a swarm of consumer-amateurs waiting to catch their big break. “On The Lot” makes me want to puke! Does anyone really want to make films anymore? Or do we just want to “make it?”
Elliot
What’s great about the advent of digital and cheaper post solutions is that making films can now be a hobby. Just about anyone can get in on it. The problem is that most of the stuff being made (at least from what I’ve seen) is basically just trying to emulate big budget Hollywood. Without the pressure from financiers and executives there is great freedom to safely try things that might not work, but somehow it hasn’t sparked a revolution, just created a swarm of consumer-amateurs waiting to catch their big break. “On The Lot” makes me want to puke! Does anyone really want to make films anymore? Or do we just want to “make it?”
Elliot
That’s an excellent point about people just wanting to make it, and not make films. I think people want to be famous- see reality TV for that. They don’t want to do anything to become famous, they just want to BE famous- or make it as you said.
Speaking of that A Columbia student it one of the final 50 on the Reality TV show On the Lot that Spielberg is doing.
PeterH
In any given generation there is probably an equal percentage of artistically-driven and talented filmmakers who deserve recognition…the problem with the digital explosion and YouTube-level of “moviemaking” is that it’s so widespread, and so typically awful, that its sheer magnitude can blanket the medium of visual entertainment, and the truly passionate are buried under a heavier weight than previous generations.
To put it less intellectually, a good film or filmmaker used to be a gem in a pile of sand; now they’re diamonds on a beach covered in bullshit. Kudos to you for trying to teach us who remain passionate.
Creativity will always have a market. Paper, tape, film or YouTube – that’s just the medium. You are teaching a visual language, the delivery is not your problem.
Those are some more good comments. Who knew this morning when I wrote the blog it would strike a nerve. I was going to write about the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.
PeterH
Speaking of finding the diamonds in the rough:
The High Price of Creating Free Ads
Stay tuned, I just go to my NY Times and saw that article. I was drafting a post when C47 beat me to it. I still think I’ll write about it later.
PeterH
Stay tuned, I just go to my NY Times and saw that article. I was drafting a post when C47 beat me to it. I still think I’ll write about it later.
PeterH
Film making is the garage band of the 21st century. And, like those garage bands, only the cream will rise to the top.
Consider this: When the Mac brought desktop publishing to the masses, there was a great concern in the publishing industry that the availability of these tools would dilute the industry and threaten the careers of the artists and journalists who might be affected. One publisher said “Desktop publishing means that now, anyone can produce terrible content”.
When synthesizers became cheap and were producing high quality (especially sampling high end units like the Synclavier) there was the hue and cry of musicians that now any moron could create an orchestra in their basement and put the real musicians out of business.
My hope is that the accessibility of the tools to a wider range of content producers will allow the creation of new and innovative content instead of 70s TV shows made into feature films.
If you have no story to tell and nothing to say, these tools will not correct that issue.
Film making is the garage band of the 21st century. And, like those garage bands, only the cream will rise to the top.
Consider this: When the Mac brought desktop publishing to the masses, there was a great concern in the publishing industry that the availability of these tools would dilute the industry and threaten the careers of the artists and journalists who might be affected. One publisher said “Desktop publishing means that now, anyone can produce terrible content”.
When synthesizers became cheap and were producing high quality (especially sampling high end units like the Synclavier) there was the hue and cry of musicians that now any moron could create an orchestra in their basement and put the real musicians out of business.
My hope is that the accessibility of the tools to a wider range of content producers will allow the creation of new and innovative content instead of 70s TV shows made into feature films.
If you have no story to tell and nothing to say, these tools will not correct that issue.
THe digital revolution should only be exicting if you have talent. These tools are only like a canvas and a brush.
Do we have a mass of jackson pollock’s because we all had acess to a canvas and paints years ago. No!
If you want to be a good filmmaker, practise script writing, THEN get excited because you can complete it!
THe digital revolution should only be exicting if you have talent. These tools are only like a canvas and a brush.
Do we have a mass of jackson pollock’s because we all had acess to a canvas and paints years ago. No!
If you want to be a good filmmaker, practise script writing, THEN get excited because you can complete it!
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