Blogging for Rupiahs

I just read an excellent post by Penelope Trunk “8 Reasons Why You Won’t Make Money from Your Blog” which begins:

“I am actually shocked at how ubiquitous the idea is that blogging is a get-rich-quick scheme. Or even a get-rich-slowly scheme. It’s not. Blogging is a great career tool for creating opportunities for yourself.”

Thank you.  I have a brilliant friend who consistently asks me, “So are you making money yet from your blog?” When I try to explain something like, “Well, not directly, I use the blog as a marketing tool” he looks at me each time like I had just announced I was going to give up all my worldly possessions and go run a lemonade stand.

Here’s the thing. I enjoy blogging – and both of my blogs have very separate purposes – neither of which involves making money directly from the writing.

I also feel it’s OK to not make money from your blog. Getting income from your blog involves a myriad of steps including building an audience (a huge undertaking), writing very, very regularly, devoting almost full-time attention to the blog alone and much, much more.  If writing a blog was satisfying enough for me to write full-time, and if I sincerely believed I could come up with decent material daily, and if I wanted to devote my energy to building a following rather than doing the work I like to do and leading the life I want (which sometimes involves stepping away from the computer), the story would be different.

As it is, my blog goals aren’t directly monetary.  With that in mind, here are just some things a blog can do:

• Establish your authority on a subject (I recently got a speaking gig through someone finding my blog)
• Make friends & Connect with people like you
• Engage in interesting discussion/Learn from others
• Show yourself as 3 dimensional
• Keep people up-to-date with what you’re doing (useful for all, especially artists with a following)

I have to admit that anytime someone comments here, or riffs on something I’ve written on DOL, or tells me I’ve made them laugh – it, in all sincerity, makes my day.  Which has loads of non-monetary value for me.

Now, I have to sign off.  There’s a lemonade stand that’s not going to build itself.

Indie Film 2.0 now on One Degree

Back from holidays! Ahhhh, Bali was bliss.

I’ll be posting again soon.  In the meantime, should you wish to read “Indie Film 2.0 – How Social Media is Empowering Independent Filmmakers” (My most recent post on One Degree) – well, I won’t fight you 🙂

Integrating Twitter into Your Life

When I mention Twitter to people not on it, they often say they simply have no idea what they would tweet about.  The best advice I think I give people is:

Find a way to make conversing on Twitter a part of your life.

If you view Twitter as an open communication channel (to your friends and beyond) that you can simply tap in anytime you like – that understanding can make the process quite natural – and possibly less intimidating.

What to talk about?*

Consider this, in a given day, do you sometimes:

• See something interesting and think “I have to remember to tell my friend about this!”
• Read an intriguing article or news item on the web?
• Have an odd experience? (At the library? On transit?)
• Do something that might interest one or more other human

Any of these can make interesting tweets and give people insight into your life.  Which is sort of the point.

Privacy?

Everyone’s line of privacy or disclosure is different.  I am very private about certain things, and seemingly reckless when it comes to others.  But I’m actually fairly tactical. I know what I’m OK with people knowing and hearing from me.***

The spectrum is quite broad.  You have to gage what you are comfortable disclosing and what you think (and here’s a key thing) people you want to interact with would want to know.  Some post mostly about business, Some mostly personal.  I think aiming for some balance on this is great.  Allowing others to have a window into your personal life and thoughts is useful – it helps establish relationships.

I’ve found that when I met twitters in real life the ice was already broken.  It was far easier to have conversations from a point at which we already kind of knew each other.

How Much to Disclose?

And being interesting and intriguing helps maintains people’s gaze.  But how interesting…?

If you want to open your circle of friends/followers, and so keep your tweets unsecured (read: public), you are for all intents and purposes, in public. Even if you only have 20 people following, anyone can check out your page and a search can easily turn up your tweet.

So, here’s my line (and, again, mine alone):  If it’s something I would be comfortable saying at a party, it passes the test.

How Much is Too Much

In real life, revealing too much can make even broadminded strangers uncomfortable.

Consider these examples:****

“Just at the bank… Why do I always end up behind the guy who is making all his deposits for the year?“= Good

“Had an abortion this week.“= Bad

or

“Dating can be so frustrating sometimes.” = Nice Break-the-Ice Level

“I’m going through a divorce and my wife is making me sleep our backyard.” = Awkward Glass-Shattering Level

or

“Hey Tom: Time for Coffee Today?” = Yes.

“Hey Tom: You are a DECEPTIVE motherfucker! Why aren’t you calling me back?” = No.

Again, this is just my opinion.

Wait – No, it’s not.

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Notes:

*(More suggestions about what to tweet about here and here)

**These you can even text it (or email) from your phone, if you like) as it happens!

***(or at least I think I do:)

****While I have heard of something similar to the third example happening on Twitter, the second was uttered by a guy who I just met for a dialect coaching  session and the first was said to me (rather cheerily, in fact, by a girl I didn’t know in a film criticism class.  (I think I asked if she wanted a french fry.)

“Integrating Twitter into Your Life” by Monica Hamburg

Where In The World is Monica Hamburg?

I always loved the “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego ” game – especially because the fugitive would run around carrying the flag of the country he was in.  Now that’s good criminal thinking… 

Me Like the Internet is me liking the vacation until early April.  So, it’s going to be a bit quiet over here.  Though, I do have a posts or two keyed up to go up while I’m away.

If you really miss me (hey, a girl can dream), you can check out my humor blog – though that one is less informative, more deranged and generally NSFW. (Tempted, yet?)   I have weekly posts keyed up on that blog – which proves that being funny is much easier than being smart.

RSS:  If you simply come to this website to check to see when I have new content, consider subscribing (See “subscribe in a reader” with the orange button – it’s in the sidebar to the right, and about 5 inches above this sentence. Look right – there you go.)  That way the content will come to you.  If you don’t know an RSS from the FCC, I still love you, so here’s the Common Craft video to keep you up to snuff:

One Degree:  Is a fantastic blog full of insight from some smart minds.  The previous sentence notwithstanding, and, if the post I wrote last night in the wee hours makes any sense at all, I’ll have a piece about Indie Film on there in the next bit. (If you want to subscribe to OneDegree click here. My page is here, btw).

Save the Great Bear Rainforest

Some of you remember this cause from when I was working on the related “Bear Your Soul” contest.

Now, the campaign continues until March 31st so please consider sending a message to the government of British Columbia, urging them to keep their promise to concerned citizens in BC and around the world by visiting this page and signing the online petition.

More information:

The Great Bear Rainforest is the largest tract of intact coastal temperate rainforest left on Earth. It comprises over 30,000 square miles–about the size of Austria. It’s home to three kinds of bears (grizzly, black and the rare spirit bear), six million migratory birds, 3000 genetically distinct salmon stocks and many species of plants unique to the region.

Two years ago, the province of British Columbia committed to protecting this region under a new conservancy. All the stakeholders–the provincial government, logging companies, First Nations and environmentalists–agreed to a new approach to resource planning developed by an independent team of scientists, and committed to its implementation by March 31, 2009.

While some progress has been made, BC must still initiate a regional plan to ensure conservation of these critical ecosystems.

Further information at Savethegreatbear.org

Have a lovely March & See you when I get back!

Cheers,
Mon

Bring Your Characters and Film to Life via Social Media

A huge thank you to Erica Hargreave for all her hard work on yesterday’s panel and to Maayan Cohen and Danika Dinsmore.

Among other subjects, Carol Sill & Erica addressed the role of “characters” in telling a story via social media.*  Gillian Shaw (who was also on the panel & was great) subsequently spoke to Carol & I about our thoughts on the subject.

Now I rarely follow “characters” – likely because there are few television shows and fictional characters that engage me enough to follow their “activities” online.**  And with characters where it’s not clear the “person” isn’t a person, there is a certain deception involved.

It’s a double edged sword for an artist – put forth a character that makes the fictional aspect apparent and many won’t follow an “unknown” character.  Not unless they have something really interesting to say.  Which is why I do follow Emme Rogers (as do many others): she’s fun, flirty and I think the conversation that takes place around her and her exploits brings a great sense of play to Twitter.

And characters can be very useful – and exciting – both for the artist and for the storyteller.

Allowing the character to live in other platforms before the film is released – and whilst the film is being made – gives the character a larger/broader  life – and helps with publicity.

Related stories (lets call them “pre-stories”, for this point) can engage the audience and allow them to have a larger window into/to the character.  After all, any character has a life that began before the point at which the film begins.  Consider what aspects of their life you can explore and what kind of tools you could use to tell the story (video on Youtube et al., photos on Flickr, brief but enticing spurts on Twitter etc.) What parts of their story can bring more life to the character and the film?  Where were the characters 6 months before? What interactions did they have the day before? That morning?   You can see how this can be especially useful for something like a mystery/suspense project!

And, as I said in the above article (and as I have heard Monique Trottier mention with regards to books), there is no reason the end of the film needs to be the end.  I can tell you that there have been several films (Red Road, Sideways) where I was consumed with reading more about the film after seeing it. Or where I’ve seen a film numerous times. So desperate was I to stay “engaged”.

For the artist,  this process, while time-consuming, is in another sense, almost effortless.  After all, as a writer and actor, I always created a background for the characters etc. And, much as I’d love to pretend I’m special, this is pretty standard practice.  So such items can be extremely creative and satisfying – as well as a boon when it comes to building an audience.

And now, with all the tools available through social media, there’s the opportunity to give the audience more, to keep them engaged. Your creativity is the limit when it comes to where your story begins – or ends.

______
Notes:

*We managed to talk about several social media topics, but there were some key things we didn’t have the time to address, so I hope we do have the opportunity to do a part 2 with this group so we can take our discussion to the next level.  Oh & Erica and Leah Nelson (who was helping out by being Linkgrrl09 and finding the sites we all talked about) decided to play this video while I spoke, to help er, demonstrate my expertise…

**However, get any or all the characters from The Office on Twitter and I will press “follow” until I develop carpal tunnel.

***I’ll be looking into the use of Alternate Reality Games for independent film projects in a future post.

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Want more articles about artists? I have a whole series here.
https://monicahamburg.wordpress.com/category/artist-series/

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“Bring Your Characters and Film to Life Using Social Media” by Monica Hamburg

Getting the Crowd to “Make” Your Film – e.g. “Lost Zombies”

Crowdsourcing has become an exciting concept in the business world.  (I’ve explored the concept of Crowdsourcing many times before – if you’re interested in my views on the topic, the best place to look is my One Degree series.  Other posts on the topic can be found in the “Crowdsourcing” category of this blog)

What’s exciting is that some innovative filmmakers are also making use of this concept.

Several projects are now getting content from the crowds (e.g. Lost Zombies), Crowdfunding (e.g. My Million Dollar Movie), and even making an “open-sourced” feature film (e.g. Swarm of Angels (I wouldn’t recommend the latter tactic, btw, but I’ve been wrong before).

The beauty of this is that engages the audience – creates a dialogue:

“I believe the Internet has created a kind of conversation that we are all involved with.  We‘ve gotten used to that level of interaction. It‘s rewarding. Now we want that experience from our media.” Lost Zombies encourages its fans to document their own zombie encounters. In just a matter of weeks the community has grown to more than 400 active members with contributed materials flowing in from all over the world.” (- Lance Weiler.  From Filmmaker Magazine: “When The Audience Takes Control : Lance Weiler breaks down the new models independent filmmakers are using to create a fan base.”  Read this, btw – it’s excellent)

In this TCIBR podcast – Lost Zombies & Skot Leach (co-director of the film – along with his brother Ryan) (Listen on the Workbook Project site)

(Source: The Workbook Project )

Notes: (Questions asked by Lance Weiler, responses provided by Skot Leach)
(FYI, I am paraphrasing a great deal here)
– Community Generated Zombie Film
– Film made my the crowds “Zombie Documentary”
– Audience looking for more involvement, engagement
– Wanted to get people to contribute short bursts
– Chose Zombie theme – figured that could work, be enjoyable

– Call to action?

• Zombie site – Created in Ning
• Users Create Profile –
• Submit Zombie encounter in whatever format (video, pictures or any media type) – Zombie outbreaks
• All encounters considered rumors, until more “outbreaks” of each location are submitted then considered “confirmed”

– Structure? Storyline?

• There is a structure, storyline
• All will be compiled into an overall film with these media
• Will also be influenced by audience
• Process?

–How to organize/rights w/ such a large crowd?

• Timeline – will look at what is appropriate
• Not clear re: distribution track, esp. w/ rights issues, will look at when complete and possibly go back and talk to content creators

– Building a community (as with gaming) economies come around them, could be release for free, but could monetize content around it?

• Leaning towards that
• Original vision involved ending up

– Explain Ning to those unfamiliar?

• Blank template, like Facebook, allows you to build entire social network, invite your own users, define interface
• Can add widgets to tweek to your needs

– Open Data portability issues? Can you pull user data, so you have it?

• Simply put, Yes.
• Provided Framework, but users info is yours
• Some people joined just to be part of social network (loved Zombies), without contributing
• Audience before content
• Compelling enough with Ning to retain audience while you flesh out story
• Double-edged sword – Want to tell story, point of site, and don’t necessarily want people to be so caught up in the social aspect that they ignore story

– Dealing with crowds – what has been interesting, surprising?

• How quickly people “got it”
• Knew ARG community likes to piece things together – wondered if horror fans would get what they should do
• Very quickly people start
• Tweeted Ning’s feature re location – renamed “outbreaks”
• And then people started really working with that, posting photos, videos
• They also found news items and related (“someone bit at a party, this seems odd? – Could this be zombie related?)
• People discovered they could contribute in their own unique way (asking question, posting audio files, drawings, video)
• Like a conversation

– As project grows, any plans, ideas of breaking into “real world”

• Exploring:
  • Possibility of live video editing/mixing, remix story – so each time you see the film it’s pulled in a different way
  • Interested in “Zombie walks” – a final event where site culminates in a final live event e.g. Zombie Apocalypse where zombie walks the world (people participate by documenting etc.)

– How to get involved with this film?

• Go to LostZombies
• Sign up
• – Participate – submit items or even direct story by asking questions

– Interactivity becoming norm?

• More immersive progression. Videogames, ARGs rise shows that the audience is ready to experience these types of things
• Audience members can determine the pace, level they participate (observe, do a little, do plenty)
• Playful, interactive quality

– These are social experience – like theatrical –  Commununal Experience.  People falsely believe that online = alienation.  But now people are their own media company (can publish, upload video etc. and immediately can be seen around the world – just a matter of aggregating audience to it.  Mirrors theatrical, 2-way communicational.  These types of projects are very exciting.
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Want more articles about artists? I have a whole series here.
https://monicahamburg.wordpress.com/category/artist-series/

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Distribution 2.0 – Learn from Filmmakers Who Made It Happen

Why Use Social Media to promote your film?

• Ability to meet, communicate and socialize with a large group of people (people who I might not had the opportunity to connect with otherwise)
• Finding an audience, a niche.
• While you lose some control, you gain a tremendous amount – the ability to market your films, meet your audience and more
• As with Crowdsourcing – people who participate are more inclined to purchase (same with film participants)

Remember, you have to be invested, engage with people. Don’t broadcast – interact. It’s not like sending out flyers.

Arin Crumley and Susan Buice “Four Eyed Monsters”

The people in the lovely trailer below might look familiar. They are also behind “From Here to Awesome” (and the people behind the awesome video I highlighted in my Film Publicity 2.0 post)

“What started out as an art project for Arin Crumley and Susan Buice has turned into a larger conversation about the unique role of web technologies in getting voices heard and movements started.”… “The duo is about more than making movies that entertain — their work exemplifies an empowered approach to media and policy.” – From the “Beyond Broadcast 2008” blog:

Here’s a video “Four Eyed Monsters DIY Distribution Case Study” where the filmmakers discuss how they made their film popular (Source: “Power to the Pixel” and Arin Crumley.com) (Blip is embedding strangely today so watch there for now.)

Notes:

• Small, Low Budget (“Amateur” filmmaking)
• Went to SlamDance hoping for distribution – did not happen
• Created blog
• Told that film would be hard to market without any recognizable star power
• Realized iPod might be a good venue
• Created Video podcasts about the film to build their audience
• Worked – blogs, Myspace etc. showcased them, helped publicized
• Got coverage all over which continued through their endeavors.
• Connected with audience threw these podcasts
• Online audience helps with getting feedback, helped shaped their
• Audience got interest in watching film, asked to see it
• They collected zip codes and emails knowing this would help target their screening/distribution
• People are subscribed & watching videos through various venues (e.g. Youtube, Itunes), not a website, so they always put “go to our website” at the end of each video
• Send email to people in related area to invite to IndieWire showcase
• Many people showed up, people were invested in them, asked friends to go – phenomenon
• 1 request from filmmakers = 1 ticket sold
• Created Map with requests = a type of social network around people who were interested in their film – self-fulfilling prophecy
• Then began cold-calling theatres suggested to them, to screen film (didn’t always work… But it did – sometimes!)
• Showed the film in 6 major cities (LA, Chicago, NY, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston) every Thursday at 8pm in the month of September (2007, I believe)
• 1691 were at the screening
• Arin and Susan were able to prove that they had an audience, could make money
• Industry averaged 7 people per screening /”Four Eyed Monsters” averaged 70
• Then they were able to open in the theatre
• They got sponsorship and
• Got nominated for a Spirit Awards (previously inelligible since they didn’t screen in theatre)
• Screened in Second Life
• Began selling DVDs.
• Looked a new tactics to further propel (and pay back the money on their credit card they used to fund the film.  Money they got now paid for operations, expenses etc.)
• Uploaded film to YouTube for free.  Asked them to join Spout and the filmmakers would get $1 per person who joined (that + ad revenue from Youtube = $50,000) (Note: 10MPH is doing something similar)
• 1 million views, plus boosted DVD sales
• Online attention landed them a $100,000 broadcast & retail release
• Ignited interest foreign markets
• Then posted film to MySpace
• Saw more boost
• (since their film was available online and it resulted in sales) Suggest: why not offer low-quality version online and then then high quality for purchase
• Suggest allowing people to translate (dotsub)
• One Store – they sell stuff off their websites (DVD, t-shirts – used BSide)
• Google can teach you everything (search and you will find) (Takes time, but you can)
• MySpace was first step
• Was struggle, but wanted to justify making another film – now they can do these things while making the next film

MdotStrange “We Are the Strange”

Jeff Howe’s book “Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business” has a nice section on Mike Belmont aka MdotStrange.  Here’s a brief excerpt :

“The 28-year-old self-taught animator has created a movie, entitled We Are the Strange, about a doll and a small girl who search for the perfect ice cream parlor. Along the way they encounter monsters, robots and an unusual hero named Rain. It’s an original, if unusual film. It looks like it was created by someone who has spent his life immersed in video games, the Internet and Japanese pop culture, as indeed is the case. Belmont made We Are the Strange without a cast, crew or budget. But because he video blogged the process of making the movie, he’d developed a sizeable fan base before he’d even finished editing his movie. In 2006 he released a trailer for the movie on YouTube, where it quickly became a cult hit. The notoriety led to a coveted screening at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. “

Here’s a video “M DOT STRANGE – Distribution Case Study: We Are the Strange“- from London Forum 2008 – where he talks about the case study of his film with relation to distribution (Blip is embedding strangely today.  Please watch on the original source: Power to the Pixel.)

By the way, I am both envious and impressed by the title “professional weirdo” as I aspire to be a professional weirdo myself .

My Notes:

• Writing in a blog, doesn’t mean people will read it
• He uploaded clips about how he was making the movie – (like DVD-behind the scenes- extras) to YouTube
• “Going to give back” – karma – made “film school videos”
• Asked people to be extras in his film (to be eaten buy a zombie) via photos
• Crowdsourcing = integrate people into film, and others promote your film
• More open system rather than old school-closed (putting yourself out there, sharing)
• New system allows you to open up new channels of distribution
• Posted trailer on YouTube
• Doing something different creates a new (your own) niche – that you can dominate – rather than compete with “the sames”
• Screened at Sundance – more than 1/2 people left
• Made a propaganda film against his film, by interviewing the reactions of the people who hated the film
• Didn’t want to lose all rights, didn’t listen to people saying he couldn’t get it sold, watched
• Focused on YouTube audience – created his own audience, demographics
• Online puts power back into the hands of the people
• Distribution has been the final hurdle for indie filmmakers
• Asked audience to translate film
• Went with Filmbaby.com (he retained rights and received 80% of sales)
• No money on advertising, invested time marketing etc. online
• Didn’t fight when movie got “torrentrical (released illegally online) – made video thanking (and made up the new term).  Got more press.
• (From questions) Distribution should be focused on the world – not just North America.

More Resources:

PowertothePixel

BSide

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Want more articles about artists? I have a whole series here.
https://monicahamburg.wordpress.com/category/artist-series/

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“Distribution 2.0 – Learn from Filmmakers Who Made It Happen” by Monica Hamburg

Casting 2.0 – For Filmmakers

Looking for talent online is becoming increasingly popular.  You can find actors for a few parts, one part, or even most of your cast online. 

Here are the benefits and drawbacks, as I see them:

Benefits:

• You can find people that are talented and unique.
• You gain attention for your film

Drawbacks:

• May get plenty of lame videos
• Might not get enough videos to cast (there’s much competing for attention, and someone really has to invest time to put up a good video)
• Must focus on publicizing this call
• Effort-intensive
• If you are going only by audience votes (& I’d recommend against this strategy) you are likely to end up with either the most popular (but not necessarily the best, or your preference) or the one who can rally the most friends to vote for him.
• You might find someone perfect but who doesn’t live in the town you’re shooting.

So what to do?

Suggestions

Don’t cast everyone online.

It will make your life unnecessarily difficult. Odds are, if you’re a filmmaker, you know many talented people.  That said, there may be 1 or two hard to cast parts, and that’s when you should put out an online call

Try to look at the call from the auditioners point of view

Keep in mind:

• There are many such calls out there.  Some are legitimate, some are just a way for the filmmaker to get more attention for his/her film.

• It takes effort and time for an auditioner to record an good audition.
• You might love your premise and film, but the actor (and audience) has no such attachment.

Therefore:

• you have to make your call as interesting and appealing as possible (ain’t this always my suggestion)
• Make sure your site/page contains as much information about your production, team crew as is relevant, helpful.  This not the time to brag/exaggerate.  This is the time to put forth links to your imdb.com profile and other sites, videos etc. that verify your legistimacy.   If you have a solid short film online (Hello, YouTube again… ) this will help – in fact, embed a relevant video in the “about” page.

Figure out if you’ll be letting the audience vote.

Voting engages people (think American Idol etc.) but you may not wish to be stuck with who people decide. (Especially since not everyone pays fair.) Consider allowing people to vote for their favorites and have an “audience favorite” who is guaranteed a role, and your favorite who will get the role.  Or offer prizes for people to vote, but with similar caveat.

Consider Location – or how to accommodate

Sure, you run the risk of finding awesome talent who might not live in your area, but consider if this is really a concern:

1. If so, limit the call to people in a certain region
2. If only slightly, you might pay for their flight and find them a safe place to stay during shoot – doesn’t have to be luxury hotel, sometimes a guest room works. (1)

How to do it?

There are a whole bunch of ways to make this work.  Here’s what I think works best – and is most efficient. (But it is certainly time and effort-consuming.)

Have a place/home where this film/call lives.

• Ideally start a specific site (purchase a domain name for your film, so if your film is Credo the site is Credo.com, casting = credo.com/casting or Credocasting  as a home.  This is the place where all the information will be & will be aggregated.

• Have links on this site to other places online that the film/call exists (Youtube, Twitter, Facebook etc.)

Then expand outwards.

• Use your blog to help promote and discuss (at various stages)

• Put a call out on various social networks (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace)
• As I understand, running an official contest on YouTube (“Community”) is expensive), so it might be best to just set up a group and get people to become members of a group (basically one click) to submit their videos (once uploaded to YouTube)

Examples:

Gus Van Sant used MySpace page to find some talent for Paranoid Park.

“[W]hen it comes to finding quirky unknowns , Casting Society of America board member Laura Adler says internet searches are fast becoming a go-to tool among her colleagues. She cites Christopher Mintz-Plasse, for example, who landed the role of “McLovin” in Superbad after casting agents spotted his clips on YouTube. “It’s a great tool for finding new faces,” she says. “Casting people use MySpace or FaceBook or Craigslist when they’re looking for an unknown young talent who’s odd or unique. You run the risk of getting bombarded by tons of people who aren’t right for the role but we get that anyway, on a daily basis.” (from Wired.com: “Filmmakers Find Fresh Talent on MySpace “)

Ning is a social site where you can create your own social network/niche. (E.g. a Facebook of sorts for a particular interest):

“One of the most popular Ning networks belongs to hip-hop mogul 50 Cent and has 107,000 members and counting. Chris “Broadway” Romero, creative director of new media for Fitty’s site, describes it as “an entertainment-industry news/rumor/editorial blog in the vein of TMZ.com, combined with unparalleled access and interaction with the celebrity.” Romero uses the site to cast parts for music videos and film projects, and one day, he hopes to release music and video directly to the public, bypassing record companies completely. To Romero, it’s nothing less than “a new entertainment platform, period.” A single Ning group can, in theory, serve as a platform for an entire business; collectively, the networks represent an ever-expanding commercial universe. (From Fast Company: “Ning’s Infinite Ambition ”

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Notes:

(1)

Be upfront.  And make certain that you have a decent online reputation to help allay concerns.

Established a real relationship with people you cast, or plan to cast and be sure you’re not a… scuzzy.  (Sorry, can’t help you if you are).  Again, try to put yourself in the auditioners shoes.

Again here, I make the assumption that both the filmmaker and the actor is educating themselves – looking into  someone’s background online as well as checking references etc. before meeting/staying with them or allowing someone to stay at their place.

There are many sites that address safety concerns especially with regards to acting – so I’ll keep this brief – note to actors:

1. Never be desperate (yes, this seems impossible, at times, but trust me)
2. Trust your instincts
3. Never let someone convince you to do something that makes you uncomfortable
4. Be kind but upfront, ask someone to provide references (especially female references, if you’re a woman) so you can confirm your own safety.  Anyone who would balk about this has their own issues. (Personal note: I developed a similar rule when I was dating: learned to say I was not comfortable going to a guy’s house early on. If they became jerky, I knew exactly who I was dealing with.)

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Want more articles about artists? I have a whole series here.
https://monicahamburg.wordpress.com/category/artist-series/

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“Casting 2.0 for Filmmakers” by Monica Hamburg

And The Winners Are:

Much like the Oscars, there has been plenty of anticipation surrounding the winners of Decor Hell.

(OK, it’s nothing like the Oscars, but depending on who you ask, perhaps it’s just as frightening.)

Thank you to all our wonderful participants!!! The entries gave us such (sick) pleasure.

(Note, you can still see all the entries on the site.)

And, we now have the 2 lovely winners.

The Grand Prize goes to: Heidi Pawluk for:

“Piece De Resistance (Le Toilette)”*

& 2nd Place goes to Hope Ryckman for:

“Cats are Couch Destroyers”**

*I’m not sure if a flowering toilet chair is meant to make me giddy, but somehow it does

**I’m still frightened of the Ocelot that did that damage…

YouTube for Filmmakers

I’m on YouTube, Now what?

There’s certainly a resistance for some filmmakers to get on YouTube.  After all, there is no barrier to entry – which means that everyone who has a kid, pet, or the ability to rant while drunk can, and does, post videos.  There is certainly plenty of, er, coal – but there are also plenty of gems.  And the cream can certainly rise to the top, with some promotion.

75% of the total U.S. Internet audience watches online video. YouTube is the most of the video sites and since it hosts videos, allows you embed them from there into your blog (website etc.) and broadcast them to the world, you’d certainly be missing a key opportunity by not using it.  Oh & it’s free.  (Did’ja hear what I said? FREE!)

So once you get on it what can you do?

Well, aside from posting your complete (short) film, you could post

• your trailer
• outtakes (if they’re funny or interesting)
• interviews (if they are intriguing, not self-indulgent.  I can’t stress this enough).
• Videos specifically made to supplement advertise your film. (Make it clever. It doesn’t have to be high-tech. high budget at all – but it does have to be intriguing.)
• a “video response” to a video that relates to your film (e.g. your film is about an embarrassing date, so record a quick video response with a funny date story to another video that discusses embarrassing moments or dates.) If it’s only subtly self-promotional this could work (Attach to a fairly popular video for maximum effect and remember that it has to be super-relevant to the original video, or it just looks tacky.)
• A short video showcasing one of the actor’s talents (no, nudity doesn’t count.  Wait, actually, it does…)

Remember:

• Don’t innundate your “channel”  with every video you’ve ever made about everything.  Keep in mind that too much choice is sometimes a deterrent to making any choice! (Behavioral Economists like Barry Schwartz note that people will sometimes not make any choice at all, rather than risk a poor decision).
• Take ownership of your “channel”.
  • It’s about more than just deciding what color to make it.  (Please no pink, unless your brand is super-girly.  In fact, even then, please no. It hurts me where I am soft like woman.)
  • Make sure you control the “feature” clip.  The default is that YouTube features your most recent clip, which might be fine in some cases.  But you should try to feature a strong clip (you can select your favorite).  recent, depending on your promotion tactic) and (“Go to “My Account ▼” And “Channel Design”)
  • Pick your own “favorite 9” of your videos so your channel showcases the best, right off the bat.  (Go to “My Account ▼” And “Organize Videos”)

Other basics tips:

• Always tag (keywords) your video with appropriate keywords & title it in a interesting but clear way
• As per my previous post, remember to simultaneously post (try TubeMogel) and be active on other video sites as well.
• Don’t just broadcast – communicate.  Use the network like any other social tool – be part of the community. Watch and comment on other films and make friends and connections.  Be genuine, and go low on the tacky.  Respect others (I can’t stress this enough).

“YouTube for Filmmakers” by Monica Hamburg

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Want more articles about artists? I have a whole series here.
https://monicahamburg.wordpress.com/category/artist-series/

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