Essay - In Response to Question # 3

New communication technologies are an integral part of society and distribution via the world wide web is the already here.
Digital media put the tools of production into the hands of the everyday computer user making it incredibly easy to produce content. The four basic tools of production in film making are image, sound, time and space. Image can be represented by the following skills; camera framing, lighting, camera movement and colour. These creative skills used to be something that people worked to develop.
Now it seems as though amateur film makers can produce content of a fair standard within a relatively short period of time. With this being the reality, and YouTube providing the one of the paths to success for amateur film makers, the question remains, where does this leave highly skilled practitioners? The worldwide web has allowed for distribution for one to essentially advertise their craft and become known relatively easily and quicker than ever before. One area of creativity, film making, will be discussed in terms of the challenges facing practitioners vs amateurs in producing digital content. The existence of distribution via websites such as YouTube, fan films.net and others alike allows for anybody to upload anything. We watch some bad quality video on YouTube and just put up with it, so where does this leave professional filmmakers who make good quality films?

While as it may seem that anyone can produce digital content and put in on the web in public domains such as YouTube, not all the the content produced is high quality. While bad quality films on YouTube are still watched, the amateurs making them poorly are less likely to get a job in the industry. Professionals are good with lighting, sound and other technical applications, while amateurs are still in the experimental stage. Professionals have had more time to develop and refine their craft [8]. and have the upper hand in this industry as they are known for their talents and various roles can often be filled on the basis of who knows you and the skills you have. Since the industry is very much like this, it becomes challenging for amateurs wishing to pursue careers in film as they will find it hard to get paid jobs without any prior 'work experience' so to speak.
Amateurs are faced with financial limitations and particularly challenged by the difficulty to find/use trained actors. The advantage professionals have over amateurs is they can afford star actors which contributes to the overall success of a film particularly in the mainstream market. When we talk about films, we ask who stars in it, audiences want to see films with star actors [7]. In the history of film, dating back to the origins of film making, film makers gradually began to use the same actors to stimulate audiences so that they were more enticed to come and see these films, because they were seeing someone well-known [10]. The technology of today with the ease of digitisation has decreased labour time in editing, and not only that, the emergence of HD Camcorders has accelerated learning processes making it easier for just about anybody to produce content of a fair standard.

Amateur film makers have access to YouTube as a viable education essentially helping them learn the tools of the production. A quick search on YouTube of video-based tutorials, some made by film students and some made by professionals themselves, reveals . One film for each category; shot types, framing and composition and lighting and cinematography [4] [5] [6]. These were located on the first page of each of the searches conducted. Just by watching, anybody can copy the things shown in these tutorials, however, limitations the amateur's are faced with is accessibility to resources.
While you can essentially get an education over the Internet especially through YouTube -as it is becoming the new 'TV', actually getting started on the practical application requires time. Its not as easy as it looks, and practitioners have spent the time learning from their mistakes to refine their craft [8].

A challenge amateur film makers are faced with is access to resources. Professionals are more likely to be able to afford equipment and star actors [8] [7]. On the other hand, amateurs may have connections with trained actors who are willing to do work for free as the nature of the industry involves many interested in work experience to essentially become known. Amateurs can too produce quality films, so this is a challenge for professionals. The challenges amateurs are faced with finance wise are working on a low budget which proves to the the biggest challenge in the sense of time [3]. Also, acquiring funding bodies, as is dependable on how viable the project is. A lot of work is required in order to prove viability including the business involved. It is very extensive in the sense that media law comes into play as well as accounting. University degrees are required and of course experience in the industry.

The concept of media convergence provides amateur film makers with a forum to have their films shown to a wider audience beyond family and friends, because of the emergence of the world wide web [1]. Amateurs can get their name out there through popularity. Fan films is a niche market which works, the popularity of these film exists. Having watched a couple, some are poor quality in terms of lighting and sound,but there are however high quality productions that exist [1]. Stars wars is a great example that exists in the fan film forum. With over 300 videos made, it certainly sits up there in popularity.


While digital media has put the tools of production into the hands of the everyday computer user making it incredibly easy to produce content, there is still the issue of quality. All elements come together to create the success of a film. Professional film makers have more resources at their expense, and amateurs are limited to whatever they can find. The emergence of digitalised cameras and editing has made film making even easier, but the main challenge amateur film makers face is financing. Acquisition of funding bodies takes time and commitment and the ones who are willing to and are serious about film making are the ones who belong to the industry. Competition exists within every sector of the world and the fact that professionals are being challenged by their amateur competition, says something about amateur film makers. Amateurs are also working towards a benchmark that has been set quite high. What it all comes down to at the end of the day is Who will watch the film? and Will they like it? The only thing professional film makers need to worry about is what content they are producing and is it reaching a wide audience. The Hollywood style takes simple messages that can be told in 5 minutes and turn them into 90 minute features [2]. As long as narrative remains this way, professional film makers will continue to produce quality content.

References

[1] Jenkins, H & Thorburn, D (2003) Rethinking Media Change: the aesthetics of transition. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004. p297-301.

[2] James, D (2005). Stan Brakhage: filmmaker. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005. p62-63.

[3] Evans, R (2006). Practical DV Filmmaking. 2nd ed. Melbourne: Focal Press. p55, p186.

[4]Graff, W (2009) You Tube n/a, Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-YCCJIMAs Last accessed 20th October, 2009

[5] Guillaume, S (2008) You Tube n/a, Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwbsYgZ7d-8 Last accessed 20th October, 2009

[6] Lighting, E (2009) You Tube n/a, Available: http://www.youtube.com/v/CP-tJCEw27o&hl=en&fs=1& Last accessed 20th October, 2009

[7] De Vany, A (2004). Hollywood economics: how extreme uncertainty shapes the film industry. London and New York: Routledge. p11.

[8] Rabiger, M (2008). Directing: film techniques and aesthetics. 4th ed. Australia: Elsevier. p8, p10, p15, p31.

[9] Fan Films (2009) Available: http://www.fanfilms.net/ Last accessed: 20th October, 2009

[10] Thompson, K & Bordwell, D (2003) Film History An Introduction. 2nd ed. US: Chris Freitag, McGraw-Hill.