STREAMPUNK 16 Filmmakers
THE RIGHT DIRECTION Indy filmmakers are yet to benefit from social video platforms. Mutual benefit could be the key to success
GIVING SOMETHING BACK The key is probably not to see a social media headcount as a source of funds to be exploited. The idea of mutual benefit in commerce is more important online than it ever has been. Invite a Twitch streamer to play a part in your production, and perhaps that Twitch streamer will play your trailer into his or her stream at some point, and all their viewers will go and watch it. At the end of the day, it’s about time social media gave something back to conventional filmmaking. The complete democratisation of camera and post- production gear, to a really very high level, has made it theoretically possible for more or less everyone to make films that are competent at least technically, and more or less everyone has, give or take, the competence. Back in the day, either you joined as a trainee and worked your way up – a nightmare of working 70 unpaid hours a week – or you made shorts and hoped someone would notice. Perhaps not that much has really changed: the challenge is still getting people to notice.
that people go through before they’re allowed to make a creative decision on a film set. After all, it’s possible to run a social media empire from the back bedroom while wearing a bathrobe (that, for many, is the basis of the attraction.) An alternative approach – maybe a naïve one – might be to exploit a following that’s already been established by someone else. That’s far from a new idea, given the popularity of book-to-film adaptations, film- to-book adaptations, or, in the famous case of Hairspray , a film-to-stage show-to-film adaptation which also spawned a book. Licensing a popular IP is not an option readily available to the budgets of an indy auteur, so the eye of the wannabe turns readily to
the power wielded by people who’ve already climbed the ranks of popularity. In 2018, though, people with a mere four-digit Twitter following can be quite protective of what they have. Twitch users who may only stream to a couple dozen viewers often have a ‘business enquiries’ email address prominently displayed and are cautious about sharing the spotlight. This display of commercial awareness is an aspect of the modern internet that sits uncomfortably alongside the friendliness of the average beer-fuelled Twitch stream, but it’s not hard to understand the caution given how easy it is for a reputation to be tarnished, and a following damaged, by even the hint of selling out.
AT THE END OF THE DAY IT’S ABOUT TIME SOCIAL MEDIA GAVE SOMETHING BACK TO CONVENTIONAL FILMMAKING
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