http://www.movieseals.com/index.htmlFilmmaking and web series observationsenChristian VielCopyright © 2011, Christian Viel and Movie Seals Digital Inc.2012-03-14T08:39:56-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Wed, 14 Mar 2012 08:48:33 -0400Christian VielDeadenFestival2012-03-14T08:39:56-04:00http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/33fa14a8a1337dc433bbe03161dec75b-7.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/33fa14a8a1337dc433bbe03161dec75b-7.html#unique-entry-id-7Our little revenge movie, Deaden, was screened recently in Kamloops for their Dark Fest event, screening hosted by co-producer, star and screenwriter John Fallon. To this day, this movie enjoys some sort of following and is regularly screened. The movie was apparently well liked by those still in attendance at the end of the screening. Because no matter where you screen this film, a lot of people walk out before the end of the first ten minutes. Anyhow, it is always fun to read the reactions of people to that film, especially when they relate their thoughts and feelings to the opening scene. As a filmmaker, I do not think that I ever have, nor will I ever manage to, create such a strong reaction in an audience out of showing virtually nothing. Most of the scene was entirely created in editing. And 90% of its intensity comes from the audio and the piercing screams of actress Anna Jaeger. But somehow it remains a very visceral experience - painful to watch and damn near impossible for some to sit through.
Deaden Review (Kamloops Darkfest)]]>Christian VielWeb SeriesPromotion2012-03-01T12:13:54-05:00http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/About-Web-Series-Promotion.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/About-Web-Series-Promotion.html#unique-entry-id-6I was listening to Indie Intertube yesterday. It was a great show. Indie Intertube is a show about web series that proposes reviews, offers discussions about the web series scenes and is all around entertaining. They broadcast twice a week. Watch it if you can. Definitely worth seeking out.

But that is not my point… Yesterday during the show, the girls mentioned someone who pitched a blog article to the IAWTV but was refused because deemed too negative. The blog article was going to be called: Why I do not watch your web series. It was to be about lack of promotion - or bad promotion on the part of web producers. Something I am afraid I agree with. So it was with great excitement that the blogger in question accepted the offer of the girls: they would post his blog on their site as a guest blogger. Read the piece this morning and I was bitterly disappointed. This blogger says basically: write a press release!

Wow. Best advice ever.

Here is what I wrote on the Indie Intertube comments:

“I write tons of press releases – sometimes one a week. I have to side with Susan: 9 times out 10 nothing comes out of it despite submitting it to dozen of press releases wires sites. I mostly use them nowadays for SEO purpose. The honest truth is most journalists are too busy to be bothered – if it is not big news, they don’t have the time to waste.
We have been on TV three times – did not make much difference – increased our fan base on FB slightly. Our best results come from social medias. But you would have to follow us to know we exist. Because getting the mainstream media to talk about us is hard. We managed to get the cover of La Presse, the biggest newspaper here in Quebec. That brought us lots of new fans.
We recently launched a comic book all across North America, a derivative product from our web series. The book SOLD OUT IN THREE WEEKS!!!! SOLD OUT! In three weeks! A comic book from a semi-obscure web series! I could not get one article about it anywhere, including within the so-called web series press crowd. Guess what? I sent a press release… It got picked up by no one.
When I heard about your blog subject yesterday on the show I had high hopes about it – but this is just not it.”
There was someone else, Susan, mentioned in my comments, that was extolling the virtues of Social Media. I agree with her.
Promoting your work in an environment where people are constantly being sold to is hard. You have to stand out. Press releases are a useful tool but frankly nowadays, it is more for SEO than anything else. Because unless you have a megastar in it, no one wants to talk about something no one knows. Even most bloggers. We have to stand out by merit and other means. Press releases alone are not gonna cut it.]]>Christian VielDistributionTacticsFilm Threat2011-10-27T13:10:52-04:00http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/Finally-someone-tells-it-like-it-is.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/Finally-someone-tells-it-like-it-is.html#unique-entry-id-4Finally! Someone tells it like it is! Kudos Film Threat!

]]>Christian VielCon*Cept 2011OpinionsFilmmaking2011-10-17T20:55:26-04:00http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/The-future-of-Genre-FIlmmaking.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/The-future-of-Genre-FIlmmaking.html#unique-entry-id-3

I spent the weekend at Con*Cept, a small Montreal Science-Fiction convention. I was invited to participate in a panel with fellow colleagues Sv Bell, Brett Kelly, Eric Bilodeau and Keith about the future of Genre Filmmaking. I was not officially listed as a guest but my colleagues were kind enough to invite me to join in.

It turned out to be a VERY interesting conversation. And inevitably it gravitated towards the death of medias in general. Piracy was of course brought up. Various reasons were given for the slow and brutal demise of most medias. Yet no one seems to have a really clear answer as to why it is happening. There are a lot of factors at play here and I think the issue is more complex than simple piracy.

More on the subject soon!

]]>Christian VielFilmmakingOpinions2011-09-25T12:50:50-04:00http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/Is-the-future-of-independent-films-a-mere-Hobby.html#unique-entry-id-1http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/Is-the-future-of-independent-films-a-mere-Hobby.html#unique-entry-id-1This is something I posted a while back when I was trying to find a viable business model for the future. Ironically, it is a huge chunk of the business structure I use for my current project, Heroes of the North. And ironically, it has been a very fun ride. However, it is probably even more handwork at the moment for lesser returns. Keep following this blog for more information on the process as it unfolds.

I have been reading about the future of the film industry (and medias in general) for a while now. I have seen a lot of creative ideas (crowdfunding, Artemis project, CwF+RtB, etc.).

I am a filmmaker and I used to earn a decent living selling my films worldwide. In the last few years, the bottom fell out and the prices are dropping so low that making the films become unsustainable. Everybody is scrambling for the exit and looking for a new business model or looking for ways to go back to the status quo. While I agree that it is impossible to stop piracy and pointless to sue for that, I however wonder about the viability of a CwF+RtB (Connect with Fans and give them a Reason to Buy) models and other propositions, like crowd funding (which is a legal grey area and I believe it is only a matter of time before that plug is filled).


So as far as I can tell, the reasoning goes a little like this: spend years building an audience for your film, in order to convince them to finance you and your film, keep them posted on the progress, shoot the film, give it for free along with some reasonably priced swag they can't download, and keep promoting the shit out of it until you eventually (or more realistically hopefully) break even then start again... Fun perhaps, but at this point, it's not a business it is a hobby! You cannot sustain an industry like this!


If you factor in all the time and effort to make the film, plus all the time you spend "connecting with fans" and providing them with (free) added value, you end up making less than a quarter of a penny an hour for your time! I love my job but I also need to pay my bills! Under the CwF+RtB model, not only do I need to raise the money to make the film, a difficult proposition even under the "old" model, now I also need to find cash to finance the schwag ( and the warehouse to store it - you can always go "print on demand" style, but the costs are higher, diminishing your chances of selling it unless you want to make pennies of profit - and let's face it, only the hard core fans will buy the swag!) and spend even more time connecting with the audience than ever before, plus add all the support time of maintaining what is now also becoming a retail business!!! I fail to see how it is sustainable for indie filmmakers with limited resources to begin with. It does not appear to make economical sense to me. Maybe I am not understanding it right but feel free to enlighten me. I'd like to understand what I am missing.]]>Christian VielFilmmakingOpinions2011-09-25T10:26:12-04:00http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/The-future-is-in-flux.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.movieseals.com/blog/files/The-future-is-in-flux.html#unique-entry-id-0I have been a filmmaker most of my life. I started making films with my brothers and neighbours in our backyard when I was twelve years old. I never really stopped. I still do it. I am one of the lucky few amongst the independent filmmakers that can say that he earns a living doing it. At least I used to - well, technically I still am but it has gotten harder than ever - and it was never easy to begin with... But now, the world is changing.

Technology is responsible for the change. It gave us wonderful, lightweight cameras that rival the beauty and resolution of film. You can now edit an entire feature in your bedroom for less than the price of a used car. And that is wonderful. It also means that the medium has finally been democratized: cheap and accessible means that everybody can do it. And they do! By millions, if not billions, filling servers at YouTube with countless cat videos, amongst more interesting content. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that - I am glad it is happening. I have discovered fresh faces, innovative ideas, seen beautiful stories well told I would most likely have never seen otherwise in the old order of things.

Conversely, technology has made possible a distribution model with a cost of near zero, a way of making virtually identical copies of media and henceforth, just like music before it, print, film and video business models are slowly eroding and should, for all intent and purpose, disappear down the line.

Some say it is evolution in a way and I agree. Things change, whether we like it or not. Things were not easy before however, and they are about to get way harder.

This is why I am staring this blog. To think out loud. Exchange with others. To find new ways. New directions. I don't think we are near a definitive answer yet - everything is in flux. And things will get way harder before they get any easier.]]>