Introduction: Call-Center or industrial visualization?
By the time mom and dad cut the money supply, even the long term film
student has to ask himself what's next: Will I work as a taxi driver, waiter or
Call-Center agent and make movies alongside? Or he might choose to be
a part of professional TV or cinema productions. However for most of
todays young filmmakers, there is no perspective to make a living with what
they really love to do: realize their own motion pictures.
Many independent filmmakers produce their films with the help of
government financing. The completed films go on a festival tour for one or
two years, win an award, if their lucky, and then disappear forever. Such a
project does not hold any financial gain, thus many filmmakers depend on
other sources of income.
What does the traditional film industry have to offer?
The traditional animation business provides the opportunity to sell a (kids)
series to a TV station. You may create commercials or industrial
visualizations. Most young filmmakers work as freelancers and earn their
money as animators and technicians in established companies. To
effectively sell a series to a TV station, you need an entertaining concept,
years of experience and a professional production environment. It requires
a lot of time, money, many connections and offers the most artistic freedom
in the traditional animation industry.
During the last twenty years the traditional film industry, like the whole
economy, has been increasingly threatened by the expansion of the
internet. CD and DVD sales go down and people don't visit movie theaters
as much as they used to. Also Youtube and Co. are serious competitors to
television. The old guard - big film studios - invest less energy in the
development of new talent and it gets continually harder for young
filmmakers to get a foot in the door.
The digital revolution
Only a few filmmakers see the internet as a potential alternative. The rest is
rejecting the noise and large competition on the net. Many things are either
free or stolen and intellectual property rights are suspended. The internet
actually functions like a large copy machine. Anything that comes in touch
with it, will be copied! On the other hand the digital age has not only been
threatening the old guard, it has made the artistic process more
democratic.
Todays digital tools make production cheaper and faster. The
interconnection of the world enhances collaborations across cultural
borders. Line-producers and vendors become obsolete. The filmmaker can
communicate directly with his audience and is able to share his ideas at the
speed of light. A great online presentation extends a films life span way
beyond the festival tour.
During the last two years of my academic studies, I have been increasingly
fascinated by the internet as a potential financial income source, next to
commissioned work and studio jobs. Besides the possibility to build an
audience and expand it with every new project, I am especially interested
in a way to expand this relationship into a working business model. How do
authors, bloggers, musicians, Flash-Game developers and internet
marketers find their audience online? How do they earn money on the
internet? Can their business models be translated to filmmakers? And how
many "fans" do you need to finance your life?
