Call of the Indie

Videodrome is dead, long live the new flesh!

The old media are no longer as relevant today. Yet the new media are still being created. Without gate keepers anyone is free to create the story that speaks 100% to their soul, and get it out to other people to see. I am of the belief that the best work will be what you believe in, so no 2nd guessing what an audience wants, what you (and your team) believe in 100%, told with good craftsmanship. With the possibility to get out there and get an audience, we can have more individual heart pieces, which increases the overall amount of great art out there as it increases the chances that you can find something that you connect to, more variety = more chances of deeper connection.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog by Joss Whedon is an example of the possiblities. But as Ralph Bakshi says "just get out there and do it"

If you play by the big boy's rules, you're gonna get creamed, so use your creativity and find new ways to do it. Like Keith Lango talks about, consider the visual harmony of how the style of movement must match the style of the look. Or live action this book looks like it might be useful.

But think about it. Brian Jin made a 24 minute film in 8 months that looks decent. (course I think it almost killed him, working 15 hour days and all weekends). I don't want to bet the farm on something, but it seems like it's possible for 1 person or a small team to make quality stuff and there has to be a way to make it self sustainable. I mean look at these guys, really high production quality for amateurs: hunt for gollum

okay, here I'm gonna collect my reading list, I'll wade through it and let you know if I actually come up with a way to make a living doing this that doesn't involve gambling your life.


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I went through these starting from now, so chronologically the bottom was first

a ted talk about finding your niche audience
Mayerson has talked about it a lot:

On the purchase brothers
Failing Faster and Cheaper
On Sita Singing the Blues
Making a living off youtube
Don't start off assuming you'll challenge Pixar
Other trailheads along these paths
between you and the consumer is a bunch of idiots
different production styles
about how media consumption is changing
watchin your back

Chris Anderson articles about the free economy (giving away your product and still making a living)

Lango has been exploring ways to make it happen for years (man I wish he used a label system):
visual harmony and example and another and his journey with it
talking about making money in the new world
musings on exaggerated naturalism one and two
on style in Planet 51
on Jojo in the stars
on the strength of CG
plussing in spite of limitations
not perfect animation
thinking about the visual style (looking for a way to make it good but not need Pixar timelines)and here (sadly the pics are gone, but the thoughts remain)
on medium
using limitations
abstract vs specific
that CG look
more style exploration
fool's errand one two three
online distribution
slumbering demand for cartoons
clever staging for short cuts
alter of inneficiency one two
old vs new media
holding on to your rights
long tail , more long tail
manufactured image one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
viral marketing analysis
online viewers want
social networking selling
great white indy animator hope one two three four five six seven
boring CG
hoodwinked effect one two
when video ipods where newipod changing media watching
limitations are your friends
make it real