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'Iron Sky' Releases Lesson in Crowdfunding and Crowdsourcing

05.21.11 @ 8:54PM Tags : crowdfunding, distribution, fundraising, ironsky, marketing, timovuorensola

Finnish director Timo Vuorensola’s forthcoming feature Iron Sky, which I’ve mentioned previously, has released a very nicely animated overview of their innovative production process to date. There’s a lot to be learned here when it comes to the future of film, both good and potentially bad; I’m a huge proponent of crowdfunding, but find myself hesitant to embrace the idea that crowdsourcing the creative aspects of a screenplay is a good idea. Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe in the “singular vision” of auteurs. Here’s their video highlighting the different creative and financial strategies they’ve employed to date: More »

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Could Gmail Priority Inbox Kill Email Marketing?

08.31.10 @ 9:12AM Tags : email, gmail, google, marketing

I’ve been using a number of Gmail Labs features in an effort to prioritize and filter incoming email, and I’ve settled on a system that has allowed me greater freedom from constant email-checking. But my techniques — which rely primarily on the add-on Multiple Inboxes — are by no means infallible. Thus I found myself intrigued by Google’s announcement today of Priority Inbox, which automagically sorts your email by importance. This is a big deal for any Gmail user, but I wonder if it might create a third category of email just above “spam.” I also wonder if the emails of filmmakers are going to frequently find themselves in this third, deprioritized category. More »

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WordPress 3.0 "Thelonious" out, not just for blogging anymore

06.17.10 @ 1:55PM Tags : blogging, marketing, wordpress

NoFilmSchool has been powered by WordPress since launching in 2005, and in that time the CMS (Content Management System) has grown by leaps and bounds — while remaining 100% free. Today parent-company Automattic officially released WordPress 3.0, which adds some key features for moving the publishing platform toward a more full-fledged CMS (viable for, say, filmmakers). Video (and a hosting recommendation!) after the jump: More »

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Transmedia and the independent filmmaker

04.27.10 @ 12:00PM Tags : development, marketing, presentation, transmedia, workbookproject

This video by Robert Pratten is a great introduction to what transmedia is and how it can be employed by the independent filmmaker (he also has a refreshing perspective on the “technological fetish” of our obsession with new camera technologies!). It’s a 45-minute presentation full of brain candy and should be required viewing for anyone thinking about telling stories across mediums. As Pratten stresses, “transmedia plays to indie’s strengths,” because delivering a consistency of story across platforms is possible for independent creators — not large studios made up of divided teams. In my opinion, his point about authenticity is even more important, because: I could care less about playing a social game if the original auteur had nothing to do with it, and I could care even less about buying a DVD if I suspect only 65 cents of a $15 purchase is going to find its way back to the original filmmaker. Creating our own cross-platform projects and retaining ownership not only gives us more creative control on all of the different incarnations of our story, it can also motivate fans to make purchases because they know we’re the ones benefiting from their support.

In addition to the above presentation, however, Pratten has written some very helpful articles at the Workbook Project on the process of developing transmedia projects: More »