The technological revolution has led to a democratization in the use of audiovisual devices. Cinema should be freer and less contaminated by commercial interests, but it is not entirely like that. What are the opportunities and challenges facing independent cinema? Brand content, networking, reconquering movie theaters, cinema on demand or sustainable production are some of the paths to consider.
At the beginning of 2000 a group of ESCAC students created an online magazine called “Preview”. It was a passionate project, but somewhat ambitious where we threw our ideas of what cinema should be.
At that time, the first MiniDV cameras began to become widespread, which, due to their quality/price ratio, augured to revolutionize independent cinema. This is how the first films shot in this format were released, although few, apart from the young independent filmmakers and Werner Herzog, applauded, without fear, this novelty. My first article in the now defunct “Preview” was entitled “Exhortation to digital auteur cinema” and addressed the opportunity that this technology offered in favor of democratic access to the audiovisual medium.
A little more than a decade has passed, and despite the surprising technological evolution, film approaches and productions have not prospered to the same extent. If we look at European cinema, and Spanish cinema in particular, we will corroborate that we are at a critical point. The number of average productions has plummeted, as well as their budgets; The “large productions” are maintained by subsidies, given the meagre box office revenues are low. Independent cinema survives due to its low costs, but suffers from the distribution problems of the rest but multiplied: the meagre theaters that operate are taken over by the North American market.
Faced with this scenario , it is necessary to adapt and innovate. There are avenues that are still little exploited by independent producers, especially in Spain, where we are somewhat behind our neighbours in northern Europe.
- Promoting Brand Content as a financing formula. This practice, which is becoming more and more widespread, involves the financing of audiovisual works (documentaries, films, television formats) by brands that want to link the values of a work with their brand. The appearance of the mark can become null during the work, avoiding the annoying intrusion of marks in the work. The limits in the linking of brand and work are elastic according to the offer and the sensitivity and prejudices of the author. With audacity, and without moving a comma from the script, we can finance ourselves by brands that identify with the work.
- Innovating in Crowdfunding. Crowdfunding began to become widespread in our country in 2010 with the appearance of the Verkami and Lanzanos platforms. Currently they suffer from an understandable saturation of projects (many of them of little interest) but there are well-designed examples that, touching a wide spectrum of society, have achieved sufficient quantities to start interesting projects. The key lies in a good strategy and in assuming that not all projects will have the expected response.
- Developing communication formulas in social networks. Social networks are a perfect showcase to show off. To massively publicize a project that seeks funding (crowdfunding), as well as to link a related community, which allows an independent exhibition of the works once finished.
- Reconquering movie theaters . During film festivals, something fascinating happens: hundreds of people flood the room to share in droves the magic of cinema. This experience, once extrapolated to any cinema, has become increasingly desolate due to all the evils (piracy, technology, fragmentation of the audience, price) that afflict cinema. Proposals such as the Cineciutat (link to article) (cooperative cinema) represent a point of cohesion and loyalty without which it is difficult for the cinema experience to survive. In addition to the cineciutat, there is an interesting proposal whose viability and success remains to be seen, called Screenly. This platform offers on-demand screenings in cinemas. Anyone can create an event to see a film in a cinema, promote it and if there is a quorum screen the film.
- Resizing the exhibition in the room. It is worth asking ourselves what is the role that cinema plays in today’s society and assuming that the cinematographic experience is no longer preponderant. It is not unworthy to recover aspects of primitive cinema, in which the filmmaker traveled to present his film as it continues to happen at festivals. The presence of the author and the possibility of interacting with him is part of the attraction of going to a cinema.
- Creating film projects that are sustainable at the time we live in, with no more elements than necessary. Just as the theater has had less prejudice to take on productions by renouncing departments and reducing its budgets to a minimum, in cinema there is still a certain culture of abundance. We can make a naked and naturalistic cinema without giving up emotion, humour, good plots or great characters.
- Trusting and encouraging that video on demand or online pay cinema such as Filmin (link to filmin article) in Spain, is consolidated and pirated access to audiovisual works is regulated. Currently, Internet connections are not powerful enough to allow views as reliable as those fraudulently downloaded from the Internet. It is clear that the cinematographic experience from home prevails and for the survival of the film industry it is urgent to create a legal and technological framework that allows the recovery of the investment of production companies.
- Co-production (independent). The Media plan (link) is an excellent resource, not only to encourage the production of films within the European framework, but also to ensure that they are designed and conceived according to a community framework that transcends localism and allows exploitation without borders. The subsidy, however, involves a procedure with important requirements, sometimes insurmountable for small production companies, and that is why non-subsidized co-production must also be a way to be strengthened. It is necessary to make greater use of networking and create strong ties that strengthen the financing of global projects.