Distribution

Now that it is so cheap to produce and distribute your own multimedia material, the value added provided by distribution companies is not as much as it used to be. The Internet has shattered the previous barriers for distributing video and information around the world, which has created an information explosion. And as Herbert Simon says, "a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention." So the mainstream media companies and movie distributers are now competing with individual bloggers, podcasters and videobloggers for the attention of audiences.

And so instead of pre-filtering gatekeepers deciding what will and will not be published, now anyone can publish anything and it is up to post-filtering systems like Amazon's recommendation systems or word of mouth that is built up from a network and community of followers.

Below are a few pointers to how this environment is changing the field of film distribution...

Participatory Culture released their DTV player today for Mac only -- it's another video aggregator that should help make Internet video more accessible and prolific.

I downloaded it, and it seems to work pretty well.

I also submitted The Echo Chamber Vlog to their channel guide, and I'm listed under the News, Politics & Video Blogs categories.

Here's my Broadcast Machine RSS subscription feed to plug into DTV: http://www.echochamberproject.com/bm/rss.php?i=2

Their site says that DTV only works with QuickTime 7, which means that they are pushing the H.264 compression standard and giving additional pressure to people to upgrade. Currently, most of the vloggers are publishing videos that are compatible with Quicktime 6.

I set up Participatory Culture's Broadcast Macine on my website this past week in preparation for their release of their video reader called DTV (aka "TiVo for Internet TV").

I'm going to add my Echo Chamber Project Vlog channel feed from Broadcast Machine into their directory next Tuesday.

Having a registered channel should give some extra exposure to the project.

Robert Greenwald of Uncovered & Outfoxed fame announced that he's doing a film on WAL-MART three weeks ago, and he's already set up over 700 screenings in homes across America via Democracy in Action.

Greenwald is the leading pioneer creating alternative distribution paradigms for independently produced documentary films, and so I'm definitely taking note with his latest strategy and success.

Greenwald just sent out an listserve e-mail asking people to vote on what the title and subtitle of their documentary should be. Greenwald has started referring to his audience as "the distributors":

A friend I respect a lot, George Lakoff, raised some concerns about the movie's subtitle, so I thought the distributors should weigh in. And that's you.

Greenwald provides a link to his blog with the final choices and solicits people to vote:

Thankfully, in our democratic version of Warner Brothers, YOU, the distributors, have to make the final decision. The choices are....

Greenwald is holding a live chat next Wednesday to announce the results, and he's asking people to post questions beforehand on his blog post.

Greenwald's innovations with using grassroots activist organizations to distribute his work have provided me with a strong foundation for finding new ways of getting my work out there. I'm standing on his shoulders with this experiment of getting the audience even more involved in the post-production of The Echo Chamber Project. I'll be watching his WAL-MART film closely.

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame did a 15-minute video at Blog Nashville where he primarily focused on gathering thoughts from bloggers about Making Money with Blogging.

From a technical standpoint, he used the on-camera microphone and had the autofocus on the camera turned on, which meant that the sound was a little iffy and his shots were constantly going in and out of focus. But it was well-edited and had a great round-up of some of the current buzz on the blogosphere.

Reynolds perceived that the ">hot topics at the conference were making money with blogging as well as:

Keywords

* Collaborative Content Development
* Volunteer Feedback
* Media Transparency

Context

The eventual distribution model and business plan for The Echo Chamber documentary will determine the full scope of this phase. (i.e. online distribution with micropayments vs. DVD sales). The intended audience for the documentary film may not be the volunteers are participating in co-creation of the project. There could be a tradeoff between providing access to the video excerpts for volunteer feedback versus keeping the video exclusive for the video release.

WINTERPORT, ME, Jan.18 -- Independent documentary filmmaker Kent Bye is combining the filmmaking and Internet mediums by using the principles of open source content development. Working out of the basement of a log cabin in Maine, Bye has recruited volunteers from all over the world to help transcribe his documentary interviews. He is publishing these interviews on his website and collaborating with academic advisors from across the country in creating The Echo Chamber documentary.

I'm interested in trying to apply the principles of open source development to the process of producing The Echo Chamber documentary. So far, I've been using EchoChamberProject.com and its blog as the primary mediums to facilitate this integration.

I'd like share my thoughts for how the integration of the Internet and Filmmaking mediums could leverage the power of open source to find new methods to:

* Recruit volunteer help for post-production tasks
* Develop film content throughout the post-production process
* Recruit post-production expertise
* Market independent documentary films
* Create new economic competitive advantages through meaning creation
* Handle complexity and defy media logic
* Integrate objectivity and subjective judgments
* Reach new audiences

One really helpful link that one of my advisors gave to me was from an article that Peter Broderick wrote about "Maximizing Distribution."

Broderick emphasizes the importance of creating a web presence and reaching the core audience before the project is released:

During the filmmaking process, the filmmakers will have one to three years to learn how to reach their core audience most effectively. They will also have time to create an effective Web presence. This will enable them to build a valuable mailing list as they are creating awareness for their film within the target.