Let's not confuse wanting to tell a story in a motion picture format with what Hollywood does. The motion picture industry is a closed system. Any innovations in equipment, software, systems are developed on the outside, then they are squeezed into the Hollywood filmmaking "system"... a kind of retrofitting to force these new technologies to work with a system defined nearly a hundred years ago.
But now, tools and technologies are enabling people with ideas and talent to actually create content that rivals the product put out by the Hollywood systems. However, the biggest obstacle in our way seems to be an impulse to try and emulate the Hollywood system.... to try and mimic their workflow and go into debt trying to purchase all the equipment and tools that a real production needs.
I feel that there should be an alternate system..... one that is suited to this spinoff industry.... one with new paradigms, new standards, and a new delivery system to our potential audiences. A system where actors do not get paid, they are partners. Where all the money spent is devoted to the minimum amount necessary to acquire the desired image. A system where we can share assets and materials simply to help each other get better. And most importantly, a system that has a no-cost, no-barrier-to-entry delivery system so that large numbers of people can view the end result of our endeavors.
This system needs to be built - but it needs to be built outside of Hollywood, outside their system... an open system.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Give It Up!
It's a simple and bold proposal - All filmmakers(rebels) using CG/effects who are operating outside the "system" should share their assets -period.
If you are not under studio control - Rebel filmmaker - you should post your models, textures, CG scripts, effects setup, even tutorials (time permitted) online for FREE. Why would anyone need to waste time modeling birds, WWII soldiers, and airplanes when someone has made a photoreal, multi-resolution one in their spare time? Post it! Even if you are making your film that you have spent the last 5 years writing and planning, post your assets! Give them to the community at large.... and we will all be better off for it.
You have to remember, even if you gave the public all of your footage and assets.... it most likely would not hurt your film. It takes your unique talent and skills to make your film.... and even if someone else had your tools, they could not make your film.
If everyone in the rebel filmmaking community would share high quality assets... then everybody's films could benefit. These kinds of shifts in thinking need to start somewhere, and I am in a position to start the process. I am part of a small group planning a shoot early 2009, and we need many 3D setpieces and characters built. But when we have them built, we will also post them for download... for free. It is costing us a fair amount of money to build these, but the next guy will pay nothing! And maybe next time, we'll pay nothing for high quality assets.
We'll be posting WWII era characters in different resolutions, barns and farm equipment, and a creature or two, along with all the textures. Again.... remember.... it's not the assets... it's the talent that makes good use of them. You cannot post talent. Don't worry, giving it up will not hurt you!
If you are not under studio control - Rebel filmmaker - you should post your models, textures, CG scripts, effects setup, even tutorials (time permitted) online for FREE. Why would anyone need to waste time modeling birds, WWII soldiers, and airplanes when someone has made a photoreal, multi-resolution one in their spare time? Post it! Even if you are making your film that you have spent the last 5 years writing and planning, post your assets! Give them to the community at large.... and we will all be better off for it.
You have to remember, even if you gave the public all of your footage and assets.... it most likely would not hurt your film. It takes your unique talent and skills to make your film.... and even if someone else had your tools, they could not make your film.
If everyone in the rebel filmmaking community would share high quality assets... then everybody's films could benefit. These kinds of shifts in thinking need to start somewhere, and I am in a position to start the process. I am part of a small group planning a shoot early 2009, and we need many 3D setpieces and characters built. But when we have them built, we will also post them for download... for free. It is costing us a fair amount of money to build these, but the next guy will pay nothing! And maybe next time, we'll pay nothing for high quality assets.
We'll be posting WWII era characters in different resolutions, barns and farm equipment, and a creature or two, along with all the textures. Again.... remember.... it's not the assets... it's the talent that makes good use of them. You cannot post talent. Don't worry, giving it up will not hurt you!
Unlocking the Potential
I write this at a time when the paradigm of filmmaking is shifting. Sure, we have witnessed the steady progression of tools, equipment, lowering of barriers over the last 5 years, but now... suddenly...we are seeing the major players in digital filmmaking breaking down those barriers. I feel that there are many digital filmmaking rebels out there that have been waiting in the wings...waiting for the pieces to fall into place so they could take a stab at storytelling without committing themsleves to the endeavor and telling their family and friends they are "making a movie" - cue eyerolls.
There is a large crowd of hobbyists, enthusiasts, and professionals who want to create something to watch, something interesting to themselves and, hopefully, to others. These are what I call "potential filmmakers", people who are not sure they can make a movie, even a short film, but who want to try as long as it doesn't put them into debt or ridicule. Their measure of success is not a finished film, or profit, or festival acclaim, or Netflix rental... it is more that they OWN the possibility of doing all those things. Let's face it, almost no one in this community gets a movie deal, or makes any money off their films, but many thousands of "potential filmmakers" want to buy their ticket to try. They want the freedom to be able to turn a vacation or road trip into a location shoot, simply because they happened to be in the right place at the right time. To know that playing around with an edit could end up being the fuel that starts them on the big push to make a real film.
These possibilities have been around for years... technology has been in place to try and test ideas. But now its a little different. Last year, you had to dream about either taking out a mortgage to dive into RED or some other high end package, or you played around with the HV20 in your backyard. But next year, you will probably own one of three new DSLR's and, using the lenses you already own, be able to produce shots that... in their deliverable viewing format (.MPEG-2, .MOV, .WMV) are nearly indistinguishable from those 'dream' cameras.
The DLSR movie camera opens up some serious possibilities for the "potential filmmaker". It basically unlocks the potential. I have spent my professional media career in visual effects making nothing into something... and now that nothing can start out looking like something... which makes it far easier to impress people. Now... the last barrier... the one most cannot see until its too late (and they fail)....is talent.
There is a large crowd of hobbyists, enthusiasts, and professionals who want to create something to watch, something interesting to themselves and, hopefully, to others. These are what I call "potential filmmakers", people who are not sure they can make a movie, even a short film, but who want to try as long as it doesn't put them into debt or ridicule. Their measure of success is not a finished film, or profit, or festival acclaim, or Netflix rental... it is more that they OWN the possibility of doing all those things. Let's face it, almost no one in this community gets a movie deal, or makes any money off their films, but many thousands of "potential filmmakers" want to buy their ticket to try. They want the freedom to be able to turn a vacation or road trip into a location shoot, simply because they happened to be in the right place at the right time. To know that playing around with an edit could end up being the fuel that starts them on the big push to make a real film.
These possibilities have been around for years... technology has been in place to try and test ideas. But now its a little different. Last year, you had to dream about either taking out a mortgage to dive into RED or some other high end package, or you played around with the HV20 in your backyard. But next year, you will probably own one of three new DSLR's and, using the lenses you already own, be able to produce shots that... in their deliverable viewing format (.MPEG-2, .MOV, .WMV) are nearly indistinguishable from those 'dream' cameras.
The DLSR movie camera opens up some serious possibilities for the "potential filmmaker". It basically unlocks the potential. I have spent my professional media career in visual effects making nothing into something... and now that nothing can start out looking like something... which makes it far easier to impress people. Now... the last barrier... the one most cannot see until its too late (and they fail)....is talent.
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