Sustaining independent filmmaking in the age of the internet : the case of audience building

MeiBner, N

Abstract

The Internet has brought new hope to independent filmmakers - hope of turning
filmmaking into a sustainable undertaking. The Hunt for Gollum recreates and extends
a blockbuster movie on little financial resources. The Cosmonaut is funded with
the help of its audience. 15Malaysia is distributed on the Internet in an attempt to circumvent
censorship. All reached millions of people. Meanwhile, the questions what it
needs to sustain independent filmmaking and how we may use the Internet to sustain
independent filmmaking remain unanswered. This thesis tackles both problems.
The thesis embarks with the purpose of identifying how independent filmmakers
can use the Internet to sustain their work. Approaching this problem, I firstly discuss
the term 'sustain 1 , trying to establish its meaning. While most debates about sustaining
the arts still stress the importance of monetary matters, I reject such simplification.
In an attempt to understand why people make films and what they need to do
so, I interview seven independent filmmakers and two non-filmmakers, identifying
audiences, self-actualisation, equipment, money, collaborators, time, ideas and
knowledge as central needs and motivations of independent filmmakers.
As this first research project unveils a rather complex picture, I decided to re-focus
my central research question to only one of the identified areas, namely the audience,
and ask: How can independent filmmakers use the Internet to build audiences
for their work? I approach this question in two ways. I first discuss historical examples
of the audience building efforts of independent films as well as basic implications
the Internet has had on independent filmmaking. This is followed by an empirical
study of the audience building efforts of the three projects mentioned above and
three further contemporary independent film projects. Similar to the first, this second
primary research project, too, adopts the epistemological assumptions of social constructionism
and relies on semi-structured interviews for data collection.
The thesis concludes with the suggestion of twelve principles how independent
filmmakers may use the Internet to build an audience in the Internet age. For example,
independent filmmakers must approach audience building as an active task
and allocate resources to it. They should identify pre-existing audiences with a potential
interest in a film's content and access them through opinion leaders, using news
value to persuade opinion leaders of the newsworthiness of a film to their audiences.
Filmmakers must offer ways for audiences to follow them directly. This also includes
an ongoing personal and transparent communication as well as interaction with interested
audience members. Eliminating accessibility barriers, collaboration and extending story and product also help the audience building process. Finally, filmmakers
should not rely on the Internet only but also build audiences in the offline world.
The thesis is mainly concerned with filmmaking practice. Its value hence lies in
the presentation and discussion of how independent filmmakers may use the Internet
for audience building purposes. Academically, it lays out a number of areas for further
research into how independent filmmaking could be sustained and generally adds
to the field of cultural entrepreneurship in the digital age by describing and analysing
working processes of cultural entrepreneurs.

Citation

MeiBner, N. Sustaining independent filmmaking in the age of the internet : the case of audience building. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 5, 2021
• Award Date: Jul 1, 2012