Worth Reading: Crowdsourced Animation...AMPAS Rules & The Internet...'United Breaks Guitars'...The Etsy Economy, And More

A bunch of great stuff to point you to... some of which I've tweeted about earlier in the week...

- Sony Pictures is going to handle theatrical distribution of a crowd-sourced animated short called "Live Music" this November, from the start-up company Mass Animation. The budget was about $1 million (spent on what, exactly?), and 51 people around the world contributed shots; each was paid $500 (that adds up to about $25,000 of the budget) and will get a credit on the film. Here's the press release, the Mass Animation Facebook page is here (they don't seem to have a corporate site), and the teaser is below:



-Filmmaker Noah Harlan has this thoughtful rant about the Academy's Rule 12, which limits experiments with day-and-date releasing (at least if you want to be Oscar-eligible.) The rule says: "No type of television or Internet transmission of a contending documentary feature may occur anywhere in the world until 60 days after the completion of the New York and Los Angeles seven-day qualifying runs.” Here's an earlier Deadline Hollywood post on the issue.

- Some analysis of the impact of the music video "United Breaks Guitars" (worth watching if you haven't seen it) -- a customer complaint about United Airlines that turned into a viral hit.



- Fortune Small Business looks at the online crafts marketplace Etsy, where a few artists earn six figures annually -- but most are still working day jobs.

- Adam Chapnick points us to this important explanation of how to create "overlays" on your YouTube videos -- for instance, to suggest to viewers that they buy your DVD/CD/book.

- I'm a big Steely Dan fan, and I love the approach they're taking on their summer tour: playing some "Internet Request" concerts, where the entire set-list will be determined by fans.

Audio: Sunday's Panel on 'Where Film & Internet Collide' at the Apple Store SoHo

There was a really great crowd at the Apple Store SoHo yesterday for the panel that IndieGoGo organized about how the Internet is changing production, promotion, and distribution.

A bunch of folks had Flip cams (and other cameras) in the audience, so if you recorded video of some of the panel, do post a link to it in the comments here.

I've got some rough audio (listenable, but recorded on my iPhone) of the entire panel, which runs 90 minutes. Slava Rubin of IndieGoGo talks first, then me, then Gary Hustwit, Noah Harlan, and Chris Roberts (just to give you a feel for people's voices.) Gary makes docs... Noah does narrative and transmedia stuff... Chris mostly narrative.

You can read some tweets from the panel here. Some interesting tidbits: we talked about how to promote your film on Twitter, various funding and business models for film and Web video series, and how much life the DVD still has in it (doc-maker Gary Hustwit predicted that this is the last year he'll make DVDs for his films, and speculated about a really nicely-designed USB drive that would contain one of his films.) We also bashed iTunes a bit for being so impenetrable to indie film and video folks who'd like to sell their work there.

My favorite tweet about the panel: "'Where Film & Internet Collide' panel is the MOST informative event at NYC#internetweek hands down..." I didn't attend other events at Internet Week, but I'm sure that person is right.

Here's the MP3 file, or just click play below.

A Coupla Monday Links

Just sharing some stuff worth reading (and viewing) that I collected over the weekend:

- NY Times piece on declining DVD revenues. Movie attendance is up 14 percent this year so far, compared with 2008... but sales of movies newly-released on DVD are down 40 percent.

- Robert Greenwald's real-time approach to documentary filmmaking, with 'Rethink Afghanistan.'

- Some great videos from January's "Art House Convergence" gathering, which took place just before Sundance.

- Anne Thompson shares some links related to the debate going on between Mark Cuban and Avner Ronen, CEO of Boxee, the company that makes open source software for set-top boxes. The focus is on the future of channels, bundled content, and a la carte content consumption.

- Noah Harlan has some thoughtful responses to our SXSW breakfast conversation last week.

iPhone App Helps You Manage Film Consumption

Noah Harlan writes to let us know about his new Film Calculator application for the iPhone. It costs $2.99. What does it do?

Length & Time Converter: This function allows the user quickly convert length to time and vice versa for a variety of film stocks and speeds. Choose from Super-8mm, 16mm, 35mm or 70mm stocks and preset frames per second rates (12, 24, 25, 48) or enter your own. Then enter the time and you'll get the length or enter the length and you'll get the time.

Hard Drive Storage Calculator: Select a format and enter a time and this function will tell you how much hard drive storage space you need. Dozens of formats are included. Contact us to request more!

Script Supervisor's Assistant: This function provides a stopwatch that counts both time and length. Select the stock and frame rate and then operate this like a regular stopwatch. Saves scripty's from having to use a calculator at the end of each take. Always know exactly how much you've shot on a reel!

Is it funny (or just realistic) that there's an iPhone app to help you manage your analog film consumption?