Today we will look briefly at how media figures who started on applications like Vine, YouTube, TikTok, etc. began breaking into films. We will analyse why video creatives have begun to enter films. As well as how it could impact the industry’s future.

Influencers Come To Films

Films featuring well-known internet personalities have been around since at least the late 2000s. Films like Press Start: The Movie and Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure were made by YouTube creators as passion projects and extensions of their online personas. Then 2009’s Mystery Team and 2010’s Fred: The Movie became the first movies starring/directed by YouTubers to receive cinematic releases. While neither financially succeeded Fred: The Movie became the first part of a trilogy. Mystery Team marked the debut of many recognisable modern actors. Additionally, they both opened up the possibility for further movies to be released cinematically. Allowing them to capture audiences outside of their niche online fandom. 

And as the years have progressed we have seen more influencers/creators from various platforms make their film debut as stars or directors. Vine stars like Liza Koshy and TikTok stars like Addison Rae have popped up in films as varied as Boo: A Madea Halloween, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Thanksgiving. Plus films like Talk To Me and Arctic have seen directors emerge who made their start on YouTube. The generation that has grown up with video creation and social media is now becoming part of the wider filmmaking industry.

The Power of Influence

So why have influencers become more prominent in filmmaking? The first explanation is that having a well-known online creator/influencer attached to a project works well from a marketing standpoint. Allowing marketers to automatically sell the project to the creator’s/influencer’s audience. While giving exposure for the creator/influencer to wider audiences that may not have heard of their content. Thus making their involvement a cynical marketing/self-promotion ploy. 

However, it would be naive to assume that these moves are done purely for that reason. Many people have dreams of being part of the film industry and being a video creator/influencer helps to develop useful film industry skills (whether it’s screen presence, knowledge of how to use cameras, editing etc.). Essentially it allows creators to learn skills that could benefit a move to filmmaking/acting. This makes filmmaking/acting a natural progression for many influencers/creators.

And crucially as well as the above-mentioned skills these personalities have a unique relationship with their audience. Like film stars and celebrity directors, these creators/influencers use different platforms to amplify personalities/work that makes people interested to see what they do. That said, these figures can interact with fans in a more direct and personable way. They don’t have to make newspaper statements or television announcements they can just open their accounts and speak directly to their audience. Allowing them to have more of a feel of authenticity and relatability. Which makes it all the more intriguing to see what these influencers are doing. As these influencers aren’t Hollywood stars or high-profile creators, they are social media users like us. Or at least appear to be. Which can benefit marketers, the creatives and the audience’s sense of investment in a project.

The Future

With popular media sites like YouTube and video-sharing platforms like TikTok inspiring users to take up video making and content production, coupled with filmmaking institutions encouraging influencers to make films, we will likely see more figures begin to become part of mainstream filmmaking. Which could result in some much-needed variety in filmmaking and performance perspectives.

However, as I have stated previously many apps that allow influencers to gain prominence privilege certain voices over others. Limiting the possibilities for marginalised creators and showcasing eye-catching content over experimentation and sometimes overall quality. This means the potential for more diverse filmmaking and casting could be squandered for attention-grabbing headlines and self-serving self-promotion of popular figures. Will artistry trump marketing with this shift? Or is it likely to be a mixture of both?

Also Read: Behind the Name: The Origins and Reasons for Actors’ Stage Names

The post The Vine Social Media Generation Enters Film appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

In this article, we will look at how social media could nurture a new generation of filmmakers. We will also analyse the possible ways that social media videos could change short films. First though, here is a brief overview of the evolution of social media videos.

Social Media Video: In Brief

Videos were part of or incorporated into many early social media platforms like Myspace, Friendster and Facebook in the noughties. However, when Vine was released in 2013 it caused short-form videos to become a huge part of the cultural conversation. Even as Vine declined other social media sites began incorporating Vine-esque short videos into their platform. Like with Instagram and Snapchat’s stories feature.

Then TikTok began taking over the market by allowing users to upload videos up to 15 seconds. Its appeal inspired the likes of YouTube Shorts, Facebook and Instagram Reels. As TikTok continued growing it began allowing the production of longer videos. Now it allows users to upload videos up to 10 minutes in length. Additionally, Instagram now allows the release of reels that can last up to 15 minutes.

TikTok Filmmakers

With videos now a key focus of social media filmmakers have begun being factored into conversations. For example, TikTok has sponsored the Cannes Film Festival for the past two years. Establishing TikTok as a brand interested in the film world in users’ minds. They even had an award show at the festival for shorts made on their platform to get filmmakers to engage with them.

Beyond the branding many of these apps also have their own editing features and even allow for the creation of basic effects like green screening. Allowing newcomers a way to learn basic filmmaking skills without needing expensive editing and effects software. Their networking capabilities also provide ways for film workers to interact and plan future collaborations. And with many platforms offering their own video features it allows several avenues for prospective filmmakers to showcase their work.

Reels of Change?

So if the social media landscape attracts filmmakers how could this affect short films? With content length on each platform varying, there is great potential for variety. Although short-form content is what platforms like TikTok are known for, it’s likely we will see a major focus on extremely short films. This would act as a great way to showcase the value of economic storytelling, with filmmakers needing to really consider what they need to do to make such a short story work. Also as many of these platforms’ algorithms guide users toward similar content it makes for great opportunities for audience interaction. Which could help open filmmakers to other viewpoints that could help produce a more inclusive and open industry.

There are also potential downsides. Many social media/video platforms have been known to filter out content from marginalised creators. As well as give content that is already popular a huge push. It therefore can still really limit how many creators interact with the community. Additionally, if proper balances are not implemented it does offer a potentially bigger platform for hateful content. And with such a huge number of users looking to get eyes on their work, it does run the risk of funnelling artists towards creating sensationalised content. Rather than encouraging creative experimentation.

It essentially runs the risk of reproducing many industry problems (in social and creative media). Whether it yields anything positive we will have to see.

Also Read: Five Stunning Short Films You Wouldn’t Believe Were Shot On An iPhone 11

Your contribution to Big Picture Film Club will allow us to continue to produce content. No matter the amount your contributions are greatly appreciated.

The post The Rise of Short Films on Social Media Platforms appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Based in the U.K, with a global digital footprint, Big Picture Film Club is the hub for the everyday film lover who craves something deeper than just film. At our core, we value significant discussions about the world of film and the cultural impact it has on society both through our editorial content and events. With original and meaningful content in news, reviews, editorials & interviews, we strive to go beyond the mainstream to give you the bigger picture.

We are looking for a part-time Social Media Executive to join the Big Picture Film Club team. As Big Picture Film Club’s Social Media Executive, you will create content for our social media channels and increase brand awareness driving traffic to our website.

This is a paid position and will initially be for 4 hours (0.5 days) per week, with a view to scale up in the coming months.

Download a full job description here.

Send your CV & cover letter to presh@bigpicturefilmclub.com (include “Social Media Executive” in the header).

The closing date for applications is Friday 19th March 2021

Your contribution to Big Picture Film Club will allow us to continue to produce content. No matter the amount your contributions are greatly appreciated.

The post Join Our Team: Part-Time Social Media Executive [Freelance] appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Whilst self-isolating, social media has indeed come in as our best friend to save the day, in ordering our shopping list, to catching up with granny.

I have spoken as an expert speaker at Parliament for social media. On one hand, yes it needs to be used wisely as it can impact one’s sleep, anxiety, exercise, and self-esteem to name a few. However, it can be an excellent tool for connecting with others that you wouldn’t normally come into contact with, with a supporting platform for those that have autism that can find typical face to face contact difficult.

For a filmmaker, I think it is a unique opportunity to showcase your work, almost free publicity if you will, which anyone in this industry will appreciate. Gone are the days of posters, or leaflet giving, but now one click can reach millions. It has certainly been as asset to many celebrities in endorsing their products. A strategy of technology that can contribute so much to a filmmaker.

I worry though, as with all social media, that despite it being an effective communication tool for filmmakers connecting to the industry at a tip of their fingers, that it could also downplay just how difficult it is in fact to create a film.

This is exactly what I spoke with David Yorke, an award-winning filmmaker. David, I met only last month at a film festival, which already feels months away due to lockdown. I was drawn to one of his films, in particular, named Safekeeping. It is a story that was originally created when David entered a competition about the world ending. What he made, I feel was tragically beautiful on the screen. It certainly is a film that one can take away a lot of messages or interpret in many ways, which I discuss with David. I personally felt drawn to the themes of abuse, palliative care, love, attachment, and loss. I won’t say too much, in case you have not watched the film, but for me, it resonated, possibly due to my work in mental health, with the exquisite location in a large field- some of my favourite scenes in this field.

I see David’s Instagram and I congratulate on him on the recent festival wins, and he candidly speaks about how Instagram shows only one aspect of his career, however not the hard work behind the scenes. I ponder on this, as he is absolutely right. For a moment I have been swept with the limelight social media can portray into someone’s life of just looking at the best-taken photos, but not actually what that individual is going through or doing to even get to that point of the picture being taken. We as human beings, get drawn to the attractive object, the good object in our mind’s eye, the power, the money, the trinkets of unattainable wealth, the prestige, the good looking, and even the downright ideal of what we want to be. Essentially conditioning ourselves to believe that if a picture looks perfect, then that person must be living a perfect life.

But being a filmmaker is messy. It means constant drop out of actors, lack of funding, desperately awaiting emails for location, and the need to be accepted to festivals for recognition. It certainly is not the edited poster or final edit of the film as we see as the audience.

Social media reminds me of exactly that: the poster of the film. It is the edited version of our work, our work meaning our life in this context. But what we fail to show is the bloopers, the slips, the pick me ups, the tears, and the laughter through the exhaustion.

I hope as filmmakers, we remember that of course, it is about the final product, the final edit, but to remember the process of achieving that, and to remind one another on social media how we admire this process and not just the edit.

Also Read: Interview: Dr Parvinder Shergill Talks Mental Health & Movies

This article was originally published in www.thesecretpsychiatrist.com

The post Social Media: A Filmmakers Friend or Foe? appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

What Could Computers Do?

The Internet and computer networks have been featured in films since the 1980s examining the possibilities of what “hackers” could do from accidentally leading to nuclear war in Wargames to even more sinister – changing your attendance record at school in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It is fair to say Hollywood has an odd relationship with the Internet and that’s not surprising – illegally downloading films was supposedly going to destroy the industry while Netflix almost single-handedly wiped out Blockbuster Video.

Online Secrets

Assassination Nation is a recent release that deals with the Internet and social media, and without these, there would be no plot. In this film, a hacker plans to upload all of the messages sent by everyone in the town so secret conversations, insults, gossip will all come out. Judging from the trailer, the whole town collapses into violent anarchy very quickly.

Technology and Storytelling

The new technology computers and the Internet have made possible hasn’t always benefited storytelling. Mobile phones would have ruined the plots of hundreds of films and so often now there is an exposition explaining how it’s a bad reception area. Hacking into secure government files seems child’s play for any teenager with a computer, replacing any interesting and complicated break-in. Tracking someone down was once the territory of hard-bitten private detectives but social media has made it easy to find virtually anyone.

The First Glimpses of the Internet

1995’s The Net was one of the first major films to deal with the Internet and created a terrible world of secret online organisations controlling the world and, if necessary, acting against you. Sandra Bullock stars as a computer programmer and shut-in Angela Bennett, a woman with very few friends or family, who falls foul of a sinister online organisation. They swap her identity with that of convicted criminal Ruth Marx and kill her ex-husband by deleting his allergies from his medical records and pretty much ruin her life. It’s interesting that identity theft has now become an extremely commonplace crime, although not quite how they imagined it. Far scarier these days is not that someone accesses your bank account, that’s just money, but someone accessing your social media and email, that’s your soul. The Net seems laughably clueless now and I think at the time people who knew about the Internet thought it was as well.

The Good and the Bad

The Social Network is one of my favourite films and I’m still angry that it didn’t win Best Picture at the Oscars. This is a film with a far better grasp of the Internet, social media and computers as, if nothing else, Facebook co-creator Eduardo Saverin was consulted for the book the film was based on. The Social Network talks about algorithms for god’s sake. As films about the Internet go The Social Network is broadly positive – yes, a close friendship is destroyed and most of the characters are thoroughly unlikable but there’s no Black Mirror-style horror. It’s not surprising that most Internet films are about the potential dangers; films need to be dramatic so there’s no film about how awesome Facetime is for connecting with friends abroad, in the same way, there are no films about genetic modification fixing hunger, it’s all murderous mutant hybrids. The Social Network portrays Facebook as largely a good thing, even if the origins of Facebook involve hacking, theft and some pretty mean stuff around rating the looks of women. It would be interesting to see how Aaron Sorkin (writer) and David Fincher (director) would handle making the film now after Facebook’s recent problems.

Ingrid Goes West is a film showing a very dark side of social media. It stars Aubrey Plaza as a young woman who becomes dangerously obsessed with people via their social media (the film’s title is what she names her Instagram account when she moves to Los Angeles). The film feels very current as if social media is in the news it is usually negative – it’s bullying, it’s stalking, it’s catfishing. Ingrid carefully culls her victim’s social media to find out where she shops, where she eats, what things she likes and very quickly her actions escalate beyond simply following someone online. Not to give too much away but unsurprisingly it doesn’t go terribly well for any of those concerned.

Horror has quickly embraced the darker elements of the Internet. Unfriended is a supernatural horror film viewed entirely as if viewing a computer screen in a twist on found footage films. So you see Skype windows, instant messaging, Facebook updates almost making social media the “setting” of the film. Another recent horror/thriller Cam looks at another often dark side of the Internet – pornography. The film follows “camgirl” Alice who is trying to put on ever more inventive and exciting shows for her viewers when suddenly her identity is stolen: someone has hacked her account and is streaming new videos of her but videos she never made. As well as being a chilling identity theft thriller it also shows some of the real-life impact of working as a camgirl – how devastating it can be if people find out about her career, how viewers profess their adoration but then treat her as less than a person, how getting help is much harder for her because of the way the profession is seen.

What Next?

In many ways, Hollywood still seems to be learning how to use the Internet effectively in stories but given it’s increasing importance it does feature more and more all the time. Unsurprisingly it’s younger filmmakers who have grown up it that are leading the way.

The post Screens on Screen: Computers, The Internet And Social Media In Films appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.