Category Archives: The Mediascape

Microsoft wants to be a content company too

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Microsoft want to position its Xbox One as a platform for the content it plans to begin releasing next month.

“Starting this June, you’ll have more reasons to love your Xbox: Xbox Originals – premium dramas, comedies, documentaries, animation, unscripted shows, and live events. Available only on Xbox 360, Xbox One, and other Microsoft devices, every Xbox Originals show will offer interactive capabilities, as well as unique interactive features customized on a per-show basis, making it a one-of-a-kind entertainment experience you won’t find anywhere else.

Xbox Entertainment Studios has attracted a slew of top Hollywood talent to develop its original programming slate, with names like Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott attached to two separate scripted projects based on the “Halo” franchise – but that’s only the beginning. Other shows in production include an unscripted series about international street soccer, an original drama about robotic servants in a dystopian world, and a documentary about the search for discarded Atari games in a desert landfill – which were unearthed yesterday in New Mexico – amongst several others.”

Of course, Netflix is the streaming king right now; they are platform agnostic. The silent giant in the corner is Sony with its PS4 and vast media holdings.

My take: although Microsoft is loosing the next gen console wars on price alone, there’s an outside chance that those Kinect motion sensor cameras might be just the ticket they need to build in interactivity into narrative content. Everyone else is using a second screen to do that right now.

The State of Online Streaming Today

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Qwilt has just released a very interesting report.

Ignore the headline touting Amazon Instant Video.

The real takeaways are here:

  • Online Streaming grew by 54.9% last year.
  • Netflix grew their share by 5%, rising from 52.5% to 57.5%.
  • Youtube dropped 11.3% while Xbox remained flat.

From Qwilt:

“The source of data for this report is total volume of online video traffic from US cable operators where Qwilt video delivery systems are deployed. Our video delivery systems are inserted in operator network where we can see all online video traffic, both On Demand and Live, from any content provider. We measure traffic based on the source content provider such as Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Twitch, Apple or Amazon. Our reporting of content provider volumes is independent of the device consuming the video. So, if a consumer is watching Netflix on their Xbox, we record the event as Netflix traffic not Xbox. The same is true across Roku, Chromecast, SmartTVs, Desktops and mobile devices.”

My take: Netflix is pulling away and winning this race!

Web Series Best Practices

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Canada’s Independent Production Fund has just published the Guide to Web Series Best Practices.

In many ways, this 30-page PDF is a good primer for any digital production: web series, short or feature.

The dozen chapters range from financing, to working with micro-budget crews, to marketing and to distribution platforms.

The tone is even-handed and not sky’s-the-limit. A sample:

“Always think of your audience and what makes sense for them – will this be interesting for them? Will it be a positive addition to their overall consumption? Will they share it? If it doesn’t make sense and there isn’t a “yes” to these types of questions, it may not be a good use of your time, money and resources.”

My take: listen to this IPF advice; they fund web series!

 

Top VOD Platforms for 2014

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Short films have always been a tough sell.

In the past, specialized distributors might take them on for institutional or foreign markets. Perhaps they might get bundled into feature-length anthologies. But the money never seemed to flow back to the filmmakers.

In short, short films were destined to remain in the art realm. Starving artists practiced their craft, never expecting to be compensated for creating their art.

Now, however, we are witnessing the emergence of a new model. iTunes has paved the way, proving that the public will pay for music, track by track. Video On Demand may be the equivalent mechanism for the independent filmmaker.

VOD lets filmmakers exhibit their films directly to their audience, at a price they choose. It promises to be the means of monetization for indie films of all lengths and genres.

Douglas Horn has researched the top five VOD platforms. He scopes out the problem, charts the top five and reviews their services.

My take: well worth the read! I’ll be following his real-world tests. Good luck, Douglas!

Infographic: You in Filmmaking

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From Filmsourcing, comes this hilarious flowchart: What’s Your Place in the Film Industry?

The colourful infographic illustrates pathways to 30 different occupations such as Head of Film Commission and Acting Teacher. Two examples:

“Start here -> Do you appreciate money above all else? -> No -> Can you get excited about someone else’s idea? -> Sure but I’ll make it mine -> Do you have exceptional talent? -> Yes -> Are you unknown and/or female? -> No -> Director”

“Start here -> Do you appreciate money above all else? -> No -> Can you get excited about someone else’s idea? -> I can fake it -> Are you visually oriented? -> No -> Are you skilled at cleaning up other people’s mess? -> No -> Are you musical? -> No -> What CAN you do? -> Sit -> Audience”

See the full infographic.

My take: too funny! Spot your role and work forward to it. You will laugh, and maybe learn something about yourself.

Choicebook wants your opinion

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Is a survey still a survey if you call it something else?

The CRTC wants your opinion about TV in Canada. Will you pay more? Do you want the Internet regulated?

Visit Choicebook to have your say.

“Canadians like to watch television and for many of them, the way they do so is changing. More and more people are watching their favourite shows on their cable or satellite company’s on-demand service, over the Internet and on tablets and smartphones. The way Canadians think about—and even interact with—television is clearly not the same today as it was just a few years ago. At the CRTC, we want to make sure that the television system meets the needs of Canadians – as citizens, creators and consumers. We understand that the system has to adapt to remain healthy, continue to offer different kinds of programming and be responsive to Canadians’ expectations over the coming years.”

But do it soon. Choicebook closes on March 14, 2014.

My take: it’s in your best interest to invest the time to let the CRTC know what you’re thinking.

Your web presence is waiting

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A website is not enough. Not anymore.

Today, independent filmmakers need to be everywhere and do everything: Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, Youtube, blog, maintain a mailing list, upload a gallery, operate a shop, display a trailer, Kickstarter, Tugg, etc. Etc.

In two words, you need a web presence.

Oh, and by the way, write and produce a killer film in your spare time.

What if you could concentrate on your craft and hand over the heavy-lifting of your web presence to someone else? Enter assemble.me

This New Zealand outfit has it figured out. Their offerings expand as your project travels from development, to funding and production, to festivals and exploitation. See all the features.

Says James Franklin,

“My take is that people are getting there and we’re seeing projects succeed. But I think the issues are not around the economic model but rather if filmmakers have the ability or the appetite to do this themselves — that’s the elephant in the room!”

Their pricing is a mix of set up and monthly fees, ranging from $500 to $3000 and $19 to $99 monthly. Pay nothing until your site is ready to go live.

My take: worth checking out. Sure, you’ve got to pay but, as they say, you’ve got to spend money to make money. You’ve got the dollars for marketing in your budget, right? It’s Show Business, baby!

Yet another reason to choose Indiegogo

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Crowd-funding is a lot of work.

First of all, it’s a full-time job creating and maintaining your campaign. (Forget for a moment the all the work of putting your project together and then actually making it.) Now you’ve got to fulfill all those perks you promised your backers.

Indiegogo wants to help you.

“Today we’re launching our Film Fulfillment Program, which will provide Indiegogo campaigners streamlined access to free or discounted rates on film distribution and fulfillment services with our program partners, VHX and Yekra.”

Check out VHX and Yekra to learn more.

Then see the special deals Indiegogo has brokered for you. Sign up through the links at the bottom of the page.

My take: kudos to Indiegogo for smoothing things out for indie filmmakers!

Indie Koala shows the way

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From Canada’s capital comes a bold adventure in indie self-distribution.

It’s called Indie Koala.

“We are three Ottawa independent filmmakers who are passionate about making, watching and promoting indie films and indie filmmaking and we started this service in April 2013 because we couldn’t find a site that was artist-run and was a one-stop-shop for local independent content.”

Taking their cue from the belief ‘Think Global, Act Local,’ three Ottawa filmmakers have created an online exhibition space for independent films, boot-strapping VimeoPro‘s pay-to-rent capability.

Nevertheless, the majority of their shorts are free to watch.

My take: kudos for b(r)anding together!

The new 10 commandments of low budget filmmaking

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Elliot Grove and the Raindance Film Festival have issued ten new commandments of low (no) budget filmmaking.

They are:

  1. Thou shalt have a fantastic screenplay.
  2. Thou shalt understand keywords and SEO tools.
  3. Thou shalt secure some development finance.
  4. Thou shalt spend proper time in pre-production.
  5. Thou shalt understand the shoot and exploit it to maximum advantage.
  6. Thou shalt not fix it in Post-Production.
  7. Thou shalt clear all music in your film.
  8. Thou shalt prepare professional publicity and marketing materials.
  9. Thou shalt use film festivals to launch your film.
  10. Thou shalt create a distribution strategy.

See the annotated version.

My take: I can get behind all of these except number nine. Seems to me that’s really part of number 10. Not having much, if any success, at film festivals, I’m not convinced. I guess what I really need is a paid-for-performance film festival agent. Any suggestions?