"I chose video because I thought it was cool that something that previously was super expensive to make could now be done by a much wider range of people."
That's what novelist Jim Munroe told us about digital film last year. Monroe is a multitasking Canadian who has produced four popular novels and built a multimedia web community over at No Media Kings.
Last week, Monroe released a low-budget digital film, one story told by seven directors. The science fiction story takes one writer's idea and turns it into a community project. Each of the seven directors working on this project brings out some new aspect of his story.
The best way to stretch a shoestring budget is to amp up the creativity. Monroe's web community came together to make this story bigger. Check it out:
"There's a new, chewable nanotechnology that lets you take photos with your eyes, cures cancer and eliminates body odour. But early adopters are realizing they're getting more than they bargained for. And once it spreads through the bloodstream, this new "miracle" technology is proving difficult to uninstall...This is the premise of the new independent sci-fi film Infest Wisely, written and co-directed by Canadian Sci-Fi writer Jim Munro."
I'm showing you a video today.
It's nothing fancy (but we're working on making it better), but it is a dialogue between two powerful media executives about the future of digital content. I shot this video at a panel discussion led by Steve Bryant over at Reel Pop.
You can read his article about the presentation, and then you can watch my lo-fi web video version to get a feel for the evening. Check it out...
"(The panel was generously co-hosted by the International Radio and Television Society Foundation (IRTS) and South Asians in Media and Marketing Association (SAMMA) at Leela Lounge in New York City.)
"The other panelists: Terry Mackin, director of digital media for Hearst-Argyle Television; Michael Steib, director of television advertising for Google; and Michael Zimbalist, vice president for research and development operations at the New York Times Company."
If you want to get somebody's attention, you better get it fast.
Steve Bryant just published another essay about the viewing habits of us web-heads. He has all sorts of funny graphs and personal stories--all to prove the point that the web video generation has no attention span whatsoever.
Check this out: "Hollywood needs to embrace the rabble. More short films, smaller DVD release windows, more extra footage on the DVDs themselves. Hell, give us clips on the DVDs and tell us to upload them wherever. Or: Start making videoblogs of a movie's filming process, the way SNL is doing with their rehearsals."
Punchy leads and short short stories will always be the best way to hook a web reader. But what does this sea change mean for content? According to Steve, we are going to need a lot content to keep readers coming back.
Movie-makers can always add extra interviews and cut footage as special features on a DVD. What can writers do for a supply of special features, to create what Steve calls "constant media?"
"I chose video because I thought it was cool that something that previously was super expensive to make could now be done by a much wider range of people."