STREAMPUNK 14 Chocolate Films
London-based Chocolate Films is using its long experience in museums to serve an exploding video market in the heritage and culture sector VIDEO AT THE MUSEUM
hroughout the big changes that have affected the media industry Chocolate Films has stayed true to its origins, and it seems like that integrity is starting to pay off in a big way. The company was founded in 2001 by Mark Currie, who was working in marketing after a stint as a touring theatre actor and director, and Rachel Wang who had an art history degree, but found herself working in corporate finance. The two started making films in their off hours, teaching themselves as they went along. “It was just at the beginning of the XL1/ PD150 era, when filmmaking suddenly became that little more democratic,” says Mark Currie. “You didn’t need a 50 grand camera and a crew of ten. You could grab a camera and start making stuff.” The company was launched with a deliberate guiding ethos: “We wanted to make content about things that interested us, with a fine art and arts focus. But I was also keen to run it like a touring theatre company – which sounds a bit odd for a video company. When I had been touring with shows as an actor, I always loved that we did workshops and local engagement events in every single town we visited. So we decided to set up the company, not knowing the term at the time, as a social enterprise.” In their first year, half of Chocolate Films time was spent making digital video content, but in the other half, they ran workshops for young people and vulnerable adults. The company formed relationships with museums early on and quickly became a specialist in producing content for galleries, exhibitions and heritage sites. “We decided not to do traditional broadcast quite a long time ago, and everyone thought we were a bit crazy,” says Currie, “but everyone I know in broadcast is now in a deeply competitive environment
WE DECIDED NOT TO DO TRADITIONAL BROADCAST QUITE A LONG TIME AGO, AND EVERYONE THOUGHT WE WERE A BIT CRAZY
Now every cultural institution on earth wants video content, and though the budgets are often quite small, these institutions have exclusive access to one-of-a-kind subject matter. And content which might have only shown on a kiosk in a museum now has a worldwide reach. “The experience of going to a museum is only a couple of hours,” says Currie, “but this extra content allows people from their homes, or even from other countries, to learn more about the content in a range of ways.”
and there seems to an awful lot going on now in our area. So I’m quite happy about the decision.” When it began, the company had been focusing on niche content for niche audiences. A couple of decades ago video made produced for an art exhibition or a heritage site might be viewed at the venue itself, but unless it was appealing long-form content that easily fit into a TV broadcast slot, the audience for it was going to be very limited.
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