MY DVX100A Feature is on NetFlix

I'll add my 3 cents:

I wholeheartedly agree that a video camera is probably the most available/least significant part of the equation. In fact, it's a constant source of frustration to convince people that the work I do is NOT primarily about technology/equipment.

With video projects, I find that I benefit now from some intensive training I got as a teenager (decades ago) in shoestring B&W filmmaking with a Bolex. It involved figuring out how creativity and determination could often take the place of money and time. I learned how to think on my feet, and never realized those lessons would last so long.

I also create websites, often redoing sites that were originally developed by an IT department. As long as techies attempt to plan, organize, design, and write websites, I should have lots of prospective clients. Again, it's not about the technology. The tech side of web development has become a commodity. It's really about communication...understanding your audience, your client's goals and message, the competitors' websites. More akin to writing than a technical skill.
I'm also a writer, and I do use MS Word...but that technology (or the fact that my computer has a more powerful processor than yours) doesn't make me any better a writer than someone who uses a quill.
Sorry for the ramble, but the honest truth is, I had a brain tumor removed 3 days ago (no kidding) and I'm not quite up to par. But I'm sure the sentiments would be the same regardless.
 
Very good thread and rather relevant to my situation.

I made my first film (shot in late 2002 finished in early 2005) LIMBO and wrote, directed and co-produced it. A feature, noir film, it was the hardest and most difficult undertaking of my life. I was studying writing and was earning a literature/writing degree at the time, so the script was not a problem really. I felt the film came out well and indeed we made it to festivals and one really major one in Italy which got us a headline in Variety with Batman Begins that was premiering at that same festival in Sicily.

Now when it came time for distribution...WOW....i'm telling you that no one was interested. ALL the reviews were excellent from almost 15-17 reviewers to date including majors like filmthreat, filmcritic.com and so forth (variety review being the only weak one). So it isn't like there is no audience or that the film is not worthy of being distributed. However it is very niche, and cost $9000 to produce and has no stars. When i look at the movies the companies that turned us down accept, I feel upset as they are so generic and fit a mould...but that is what sells today. Look at the kind of films that top the box office!

basically, i'm saying, even if your indie is any good, and the reviews are strong and so on, you may still have trouble if it doesn't fit a mould.

We now have a deal on the table for international distribution through echelon/newmark entertainment which, if it goes through, will hopefully see it released around the world. However, though the deal on paper should give us a nice amount of revenue should sales be made, you really never know. We're lucky to have gotten a deal with the thousands of films flooding the market these days.

As a filmmaker I have to admit, when I see films made without care and without a level of detail or quality, I feel saddened. mainly because so many of us work so hard on our films and get bumped for those films because they are 'what sells.' A little violence, sprinkled with some nudity and urban tension and boom, a deal cometh.

It's a rough rough world out there for an indie filmmaker. I now know this. My film has taught me a lot and what I take most from it has been the reaction from festivals and the amazing response from reviewers/critics, many of whom have even contacted us to put the film on their staff pick/editor's choice list.

It's about the audience. Focus on building an audience and getting any distribution you can to make yourself legit. Think about the money later.
 
What you say about quality vs. what sells, it's true wherever you look. Is McDonald's better because it makes a lot of $$ while small, high-quality restaurants open and die all the time? I usually assume anything that's very popular is garbage.
 
powerdog said:
I had a brain tumor removed 3 days ago (no kidding) and I'm not quite up to par.
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Wow - I hope all turns out for the best for you.
I suppose if 3 days after something like that you are up and posting on DVXUser about the merits of technology vs. creativity that the operation went well?
:thumbsup:

powerdog said:
What you say about quality vs. what sells, it's true wherever you look.
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While I agree - I think that both of you are right to a degree.
'What sells' is definitely a consideration - but I don't think it's as easy as making a 'genre' piece. Whatever you make, I think it has to be honest. If the filmmaker doesn't believe in the material an audience will see through it right away. Just 'going through the motions' isn't enough, even if the subject matter is something that would normally sell (not that you were suggesting that...just throwing in my 2 cents).

That said, I've got a friend who made a film on the DVX recently and played numerous festivals - (Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, etc) winning a few awards along the way. Everyone seemed to love the movie and the reviews were great. He got some interest from Lion's Gate (among others) for theatrical release - but it finally came down to marketing. The aquisitions guys at Lion's Gate told him they loved the movie and would love to release it, but they just couldn't figure out what to do with it, there was no clear way to market it. Normally I would have thought they were just blowing smoke - but then they started talking to him about his next film. He's now in talks with Lion's Gate to produce his next feature.

Want to guess what it is?
A horror film.
No question about how to market that, I suppose.

Is McDonald's better because it makes a lot of $$ while small, high-quality restaurants open and die all the time?
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Well, their not better at making food - but that assumes that's what their about.
McDonald's is better at business and marketing. The food is almost an afterthought it seems. It's like 'Blair Witch' - (in my opinion) it wasn't a very good movie, but it was the idea of the movie that made it successful - the marketing. The movie itself seemed secondary to the hype that surrounded it.

I usually assume anything that's very popular is garbage.
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Let's not tell all those people that are buying up the HVX then.
:thumbsup:
 
yeah i agree with this. and that is the sad thing. Why can't they market his film? Why take a talented guy on and make him work for you making generic horror??? Hollywood is in a bad way because of such policies. That is why it is so hard to find variety in the west, and asian cinema is so appealing. watch korean movies and they blow away 90% of the very same 'american action/thriller/horror' that they themselves were inspired by. Why? Because they take risks and chances to produce art. Some fail, but in the pack of failures, you get gems. That is how hollywood became so successful in the golden era of the late 60's and 70's especially.
 
ROKOKO said:
yeah i agree with this. and that is the sad thing. Why can't they market his film?
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It's a tough film to market - I guess you'd call it a 'dramedy' (though everyone hates that word, it seems). It's tough to cut a trailer for it and NOT make it look like a generic indie relationship movie...but it's really much fresher than that.

Why take a talented guy on and make him work for you making generic horror???
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I guess I should have made that clearer.
HE is the one who had already chosen to do a horror movie next.
When they asked him what else he was working on, he pitched his horror concept, and they went for it.

Either way - you're right to a degree - the reason he chose to do a horror film next is because he knew it would be marketable.
 
A lot is just luck and timing, too. When I was shooting live action in the 60's, there was another kid in the same place shooting a stop-motion clay animation movie. This was long before "claymation" and "Wallace & Grommet" were household words -- and I don't think he'd ever seen it done before. That was a very creative idea for a teenager to come up with, and it was a good little movie, but he never became famous. (Fortunately for him, he was born into a very wealthy family, so it didn't matter that much!)
 
powerdog said:
A lot is just luck and timing, too.
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Absolutely - but you know what they say...Luck is preparation meeting opportunity.
If someone hasn't done the leg work on their own when the "right time" presents itself, it's no longer the "right time."

powerdog said:
(Fortunately for him, he was born into a very wealthy family, so it didn't matter that much!)
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Gotta love a story with a happy ending.
:thumbsup:
 
i really hate seeing these big companies push around the little guy. i wish there were a more indie distro film company. *hint hint*(someone should start one) i'm sure if someone with the right connections and the ability could start something really cool, but there are, like you guys said earlier about all the crap on netflix, the crappy movies to weed out.
 
A lot of the indie documentary DVDs I like come from a company called Docurama. I don't know how they work, but they have good taste.
 
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