Report from Berlin or…. Always look at the Bright side of life
Chronicle part I, by Stina Almqvist, Project Leader, Film Arc.
I was in Berlin last week at the 20th anniversary of Berlinale Film Festival.
Living in the times of an economic recession you would expect that the conferences and seminars held during the festival would be a bit gloomy and pessimistic, but it turned out to be the opposite.
– Financing is a very creative business these days!
I went to a discussion with some heavy major distributor and sales agent, which was supposed to discuss the present situation, concerning the fact that the distributor gets it harder and harder. The program was; Top territorial distributors, sales agents and film packagers talk about the changing role of the independent film distributor in the financing of films, as the nature and value of pre-sales have been so dramatically affected by sifts in audience tastes and dwindling local DVD and TV sales. The panel asked how the local distributor is embracing new opportunities distributing entertainment, in theatres or at home, how sellers and packagers can work with them to get films made in new ways.
The panel was; Williams Morris Endeavour Entertainment, Voltage pictures, Metropolitan Filmexprot, Lionsgate UK, Commerzbank AG, StudioCanal and TMG/Concorde.
I wouldn’t say that it was a brilliant panel discussion, but their attitude was a bit interesting. They were all quite cheerful even do it is hard times especially for distributors. It is for sure less money to earn, and it will probably also stay that way, they all thought. There will always be a few exceptions like Avatar, Titanic and so on. But it goes either in that direction or towards smaller films. They all agreed that the budget should shrink because that’s the only possible way to get something back for a producer. Then they all agreed that the good thing with a recession is that you have to think harder, plan better and above all PACKAGE your stuff in a really good and unique way. It is all about Quality and Focus when you want to make your film!
Make sure you have a ”sticky content”.
When the money is less you have to work more intense and that should mean better films in the end, they thought. – Financing is a very creative business these days as someone said. You have to be more cautious and spend more time in the development phase. You have to think in different territories than the ones you use to target. You have to become a better risk manager and of course you have to be in the right market place with the right prize. The P&A (print and advertisement) has to be built in to your planning and financing/ package from the beginning, don’t bring it in the end.
The summary was; the whole film industry is going true a transition period and nobody knows or can foresee what will happen. Make sure you have a ”sticky content”, that you prepare better than ever and make sure you have a unique and focused package, then you might have a chance to stay in business. And above all the audience would get better films.
Would you like to become a Stereographer for pictures?
I went to a seminar concerning experience from 3D production which seems to be the buzzword for the day. Or the latest toy in the film industry if you like. Michael Reuter, CEO at the German production Company “The Post Republic” and Erwin M. Schmidt, producer at Wim Wenders production Company “Neue Road Movies” told us that they had spent 9 months (a hole pregnancy) in researching and making many tests with 3D before they started to plan their productions. The audience asked for figures and structure on how to work and the panel just laughed. “We are trying everything out; it is a matter of trial and error. It is impossible to do a general evaluation at this stage”, they thought. Then they gave a few examples; you have to bring the post production team on the set, you have to collaborate and discuss what you shoot and how and what can be fixed in the post production stage.
It means a more time-consuming process and tremendous of data to analyze and work with. You will have a new team member called the ”Stereographer” that is focus on the framing image and the depth effect in various aspect. There is no standardizations concerning cameras and rigs, you try it out as you go along. The work flow strategy becomes much more complex compared to a normal production, which also means that it gets more expensive. On the other hand you pay for a lot of hard bought experience. As an example they mentioned ”Avatar” that had lost months of work when doing something wrong in the post production stage. That want (hopefully) happen next time, so of course it was tremendous expensive and hard bought experience.
One person in the audience begged for a figure on how much more expensive it could be and finally they answered – Add 5-10 % more on to the budget for adding 3D…or more we really don’t know. They also stated that post production can’t replace the 3D effects, they can sometimes create something similar but it has not been the same as 3D.
There is no easy way today to cut 3D. You cut it as normal 2D print. When you shoot you can’t only watch in a monitor, you actually got to have a screen that can give you the right proportion to the audience.
The good thing is that you can get a 2D version and a 3D version at the same time. But you will earn more money on the 3D. Someone asked where you can watch 3D movies, is there a growth in the 3D cinemas? They took Germany as an example. Ten percent (400) of the screen in Germany can show 3D today and it is growing fast.
– Is it hard to finance a 3D production, someone asked. And guess what the answer was;
– It’s all about the packaging. Believe in what you are doing and pack your selling package nicely, no matter what you do.