Great Time to be an Indie Filmmaker
Some wonderful opportunities for showcasing your work as a filmmaker (of any kind) have emerged in 2008, many of them built in some way upon the “mash-up” concept. Sense a trend here?
- From Here To Awesome - Founded by M dot Strange and some other indie directors, this online festival features no entry fee and opportunities for monetization. Its goal is to “create a direct connection between filmmaker and audience.” Submissions this year are accepted until April 14.
- The Overcast Machinima Contest - Craft the perfect advertisement for the overcast: a machinima podcast, and win massive machinima swag! Entry deadline is April 27.
- In Rainbows animated music video contest - Make a music video for a song from In Rainbows, and have it judged by Radiohead and Aniboom. Submissions are due April 28.
- Koinup Second Life Music Video Contest - Grand prize is 20,000 L$ plus MachinimaCam (an in-world camera object), submissions are accepted until April 29.
- iClone’s Film the World Contest - Create a video with the full or trial version of iClone including at least one Google 3D Warehouse model from a real location. Submit your film and be eligible to win one of many grand prizes. Submissions accepted until May 28.
- Nine Inch Nails YouTube Film Festival - Create visuals to accompany the music from the album Ghosts. The winning selections will be featured and highlighted in some high profile ways yet to be determined. No submission deadline has been announced, but the event is expected to stretch into this summer.
- Kinofest International Digital Film Festival - Centered in Bucharest, Romania, this festival is accepting submissions until September 12.
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thanks for pointing these out. I have to say though, that most of these contests seem to serve the purpose of their makers more than they serve the individual “independent” filmmaker. And yes, the independent is in quotes because i sure question the independence that comes with working for another organisation…
To me, this seems to be more of a trend of crwdsourcing than anything else.
It’s an interesting trend indeed.
f
Comment by fiezi — April 4, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
I guess that’s that’s true. I dunno, the win-win aspect of it kind of appeals to me philosophically. I hadn’t really looked at them as a form of employment, but I guess in a sense they are.
Looking at it from an IP point of view, for whatever reason the willful (autonomous) surrender of some of one’s rights - per the terms of a clearly articulated contract - is an idea that doesn’t offend me (that’s the very essence of Creative Commons, really). While having them taken explicitly or implicitly from the beginning - per a restrictive contract tied to the tools, or by signing one’s rights over wholesale - does offend me. I’m not sure if that’s a valid distinction, but having that option be mine to choose means a lot to me.
In any case, I’m with you 100% on the nature of true artist independence. Anyone who wants to maintain full control over what their creative output is used for needs to maintain a healthy sense of caution about ANY endeavor where other interests are in play.
Comment by Overman — April 4, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
I think it’s necessary to “play the game” to an extent to gain a wider audience. These festivals are an opportunity to gain viewers who wouldn’t have seen your work otherwise. I will agree though that “sign your work away” promotions are BS. No one should do that to their work. But in the end, this is world of social exchange. To get you must give. Ideally, these sorts of functions should benefit all involved.
Sort of a disappointment for me regarding the NIN festival. I was uber excited until I realized that one must be 18 to join their group. I’m not 18 until the end of July so I’m kind of screwed in that regard unless the contest extends beyond July.
Comment by kradproductions — April 4, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
Krad, surely you could have a sponsor enter on your behalf, right? A Teacher, parent or legal guardian of some kind?
Comment by Buddy_DoQ — April 4, 2008 @ 3:56 pm
Well the submission process seems to be a bit vague. Basically you join their YouTube group and simply submit your videos - as many as you want - and they’ll take a look at them. So I think the only way someone could sponsor me is if they themselves had a YouTube account and submitted my video with their account and then in the film’s description possibly give me credit. It’s kind of a backwards way of doing it, but I think that may be the only way - or at least the only way I can think of. Unless I’m missing something.
Comment by kradproductions — April 4, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
Hey Phil. Would it be possible to add conference/film festival schedules to machininfeed somehow? Or should we do that on mprem?
Comment by bllius — April 4, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
@bllius: What a great idea! Consider it atop my todo list. I’ve started a thread on the forum where the idea can be flushed out. (link)
Comment by Overman — April 4, 2008 @ 9:04 pm
Quite some time ago Tom Jantol posted these directory’s at mprem
http://www.mprem.com/e107/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?977
and since then I haven’t really publicized festivals very much, except for a few major machinima ones. But they might be a useful source for any list of festivals you want to create.
Comment by Dxvid — April 6, 2008 @ 8:52 am
Speaking about festivals, I entered aniBoom Radiohead contest and every vote or viewer is important… so, if you like my entry, only if you like, don’t hesitate to vote or comment.
http://www.aniboom.com/Player.aspx?v=196988
Thanks
Comment by Tom — April 6, 2008 @ 9:47 am