Globalisation and Social Media

              The professional community I choose to be apart of is the film community, where our common interest is our love for films that brings us together. 

This large community can be divided into smaller communities depending on the specific job I may have, my location and/or the projects I may be working on at that given time. 

There is no limit to the number of communities one may be apart of and you do not have to leave one to join another. 

For example my job at my father’s production company connect me to the film community but allows me to be apart of that specific companies’ community. 

From this connection I was able to get a job working on the set of an independent film for the summer. 

For that period I was apart of the film crew and so apart of their community, we were all brought together by our one common goal. I no longer speak with the crewmembers but they are a source that I am able to contact in pursuit of other jobs and continue to branch out in the film community and join other smaller groups. 

A great site for those interested in becoming apart of the community and making contacts with others is to join Filmcommunity.com, “The Global Platform for the Film Industry”. 

Here it allows you to search members, find and post upcoming events, read blogs and about films and their festivals. 

There are an unlimited number of sites that surround the film industry so depending on your personal interest it is important to find the one best for you and that will meet your professional needs. 

When looking for a job, ProductionHub.com, is a very credible and reliable source. Crewmembers are able to search and apply for jobs in the specific department, which they have experience.

             Already it is easy to see that the crewmembers are the colleagues in this industry, but with globalization and social media, the term colleagues is extended to large organizations and different social media sites. 

Large organizations stem from the production companies that create certain films to the distributors. 

Flew supports this by saying that globalization is making sense of a series of interrelated processes such as the rise of multinational corporations and that strong arguments that support globalization are the shift in social relations (Flew).

Mashable.com describes this shift vividly, “Classical Hollywood has the star system and fan magazines. Modern Hollywood has Facebook, Twitter and mobile phones.” 

Social media has become one of the most important colleges in the film industry especially when it comes to marketing. 

Not all films are released everywhere if at all and the Internet has become a great tool to locate where a type of film would most likely do well. 

“One of the best examples of this strategy was for Paramount’s Paranormal Activity. The film, which was made for less than $15,000 went on to gross more than $150 million at the box office.” 

Facebook was used to promote the film as well as asking “would-be” fans to request screenings in their hometowns. Most companies are marketing their films through different social media sites and providing them with links to view trailers before they play on TV or in the theatres. 

The film The Social Network wasn’t allowed to use Facebook to promote the film, but that hardly put limits on the types of social media that were available for them to use.

            One of the most interesting sites is Socialmediafilmfestival.com, which is a site for film lovers to join a community in a very globalized way. 

MISSION STATEMENT: The Social Media Film Festival is an international film festival with films about social media, social change and technology. 

It’s more than a film festival. It’s a movement. Being Social. Going Global!

Here filmmakers presented films, which showed how using technology could advance the human kind. 

By participating in a film, submitting a film, reading the site or going to the festival you have made yourself apart of this unique film community.

“As technology is ever-changing, our need as artists, filmmakers and human beings to connect with each other in business and our personal lives is constantly growing and evolving” (SMFF).

Reference List:

Flew, T., (2007). New Media: an Introduction.

Martin, R.H., (2012). Social Media Film Festival. Retrieved from http://socialmediafilmfestival.com/

Warren, C. (2010). How Social Media Is Changing the Way Movies are Promoted. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2010/11/29/social-media-movie-marketing/

Collective Intelligence in the Film Industry

            Collective intelligence promotes participation. It enhances social knowledge by extending human interactions through different networks. People develop, distribute, share and communicate this knowledge to promote intelligence. “Collective intelligence has existed at least as long as humans have, because families, armies, countries, and companies have all-at least sometimes-acted collectively in ways that seem intelligent.” But in the last decade a new collective intelligence has emerged through the use of the internet. (CollectiveIntelligence, 2012). The internet has allowed this concept to take off and expand in a number of ways. For example in relation to the film industry there are sites like IMDB and ProductionHUB that link people together.

            IMDB is a directory of films, shows, actors, directors, etc. anyone that has ever worked or been apart of a film or TV show. ProductionHUB is a site where crew members can look for work on different productions. They bring people together through the common interest of film and TV but also allow people to input their own knowledge through their editing features. Much like Wikipedia not anything can be posted to these sites, the information must be checked and approved by those who run the sites to ensure the information is correct. I submitted a few pages to Wikipedia which were not accepted. The information was correct but because they were biographies on my father’s production company (which is fairly new) there were not enough credible sources to allow it to stay on it’s site. It allows people will different knowledge to post in one place and allow others to feed off their intelligence. MIT’s Sloan School of Management broke collective intelligence into different groups and one of the most important is the crowd gene. This is the concept of activities being undertaken by anyone in a large group who chooses to do so (Malone, Laubacher, Dellarocas). This is exactly how these sites work much like the concept of a blog where one chooses to post information and then share it with the world.

            I personally created the website for my father’s production company which displays information for the world to see but what makes it apart of collective intelligence is Google. Anyone can create a link to a site; this link then becomes part of the database that Google uses to get answers to its searches. Now when you search 10thholeproductions.com you come across the website, articles it’s been mentioned in, and it’s IMDB page, which all provide collective knowledge through me, and anyone else that has heard of or been associated with the company.

            One of the most popular forms of collective intelligence is Youtube. Equipment used to be so limited and expensive that one would have to wait to get work in the film industry before ever making a film of their own. “Now that many people can afford their own video cameras and use personal computers for editing, sites like Youtube allow anyone to create and share their own videos” (Malone,Laubacher, Dellarocas). You can view millions of other’s videos as well as your own, learning from others and developing your knowledge in your craft. There are places to comment as well so people can give feedback and communicate with each other about their works.

            The internet is allowing collective intelligence to expand in so many ways that the internet itself is a form of collective intelligence. People are constantly learning from others, whether it’s from what they read or post, there is almost always some form of communication occurring to develop that knowledge continuously.

Sources:

Malone, W. Thomas, & Laubacher, Robert, & Dellarocas, Chrysanthos. (2010). Harnessing Crowds: Mapping the Genome of Collective intelligence. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1381502

(2012). Collective Intelligence. Retrieved from http://www.ci2012.org/. 

Collective Intelligence: The Vision. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQe8dWTbE2U

Transmedia and Storytelling

            Considering the profession I intend on working in is film and television, my profession will be greatly affected by the growth transmedia story-telling, because that’s what this concept is about. It’s the art of “conveying messages, themes or storylines to a mass audience through the creative and well planned use of cross-platform media” (Tactica). Some of these messages can even be advertisement for a product unrelated to the film such as a beverage, like in the Grand Theft Auto commercial; a type of car, like in the Italian Job; or even a restaurant, like in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Films are always sending their audience subliminal messages that affect our choices unconsciously, but transmedia takes it even one step further, by creating products based on the film itself. One example of this mentioned in the lecture was the film the Matrix. This film developed a storyline across three films, created a series of animated shorts, two collections of comic book stories, and a bunch of video games. This example of transmedia storytelling shows how one story can now be adapted into other media forms for other types of entertainment and has also created new opportunities for new types of revenue. This one example can be applied to so many films now a days, it’s a way of stretching one project into many more projects in all types of areas and giving people more opportunities.

            Jenkin’s explores his theory by looking into this example of the Matrix; “Filmmakers plant clues that won’t make sense until we play the computer game. They draw on the back story revealed through a series of animated shorts, which need to be downloaded off the web and watched off a separate DVD...fans raced from the theatres to plug into Internet discussion lists, where every detail would be dissected and every possible interpretation debated.” The consequences of this are that it creates deeper context, and emotional and intellectual commitment, which then translates into commercial success (SMLXL). For example, action figures, posters, soundtracks, board games, etc. But there are alsothe UGC, User Generated Content such as blogs, tweets, facebook and online computer games, that don't just allow people to engage in entertainment, but interact with the world that has been created from the film and reach out to others with similar interest.

            In this profession it will be interesting to see how far it will go, what other lengths we will take to push this concept forward. As the filmmaker we are set out to make a great film, but with all these other media outlets wanting a piece of the action we are forced to not just make a great entertaining film, but a marketable one where elements of it can be sold for profit as well. This expands the film and allows it to create it’s own brand. “Immerse your audience in your story or brand…build loyalty, and long-term relationships with your audience” It allows our film content to reach across many different types of platforms so we are reaching more people and more diverse sources. “Naturally attract and build a large group of interested audience members, and convert them into fans or customers” (Tacita).

            I look forward to seeing how this growth of transmedia effects the film industry because it often starts from a book, a film, or a game and then crosses platforms to all other sources of media that created an established brand and fan base. And as always, there are so many jobs that haven’t even been invented yet, so who’s to know how much this concept can/will grow?

Other exampled of transmedia story-telling:

            HarryPotter

            StarWars

            Lordof the Rings

Sources:  

August 29, 2009. Transmedia storytelling and the multi-dimensional brand. SMLXL From

            Interruption to Engagement. Retrieved from http://smlxtralarge.com/2009/08/29/transmedia

            storytelling-and-the-multi-dimensional-brand/
Transmedia Storytelling-A Strategy for Deeper Engagement. Tactica Interactive. Retrieved from

            http://tactica.ca/transmedia-storytelling-a-strategy-for-deeper-engagement/

Knowledge Worker

Peter Drucker spoke about what it meant to be a knowledge worker. One must analyze information, think critically, focus on detail, make connections, evaluate conflicts and priorities etc. This is extremely relevant to my field of working in the film and television industry. It is not a clear-cut field, where if following certain protocols a film or show will ultimately be successful. It largely depends on communication and working with a large number of people who are all specialized in their craft yet must be able to connect with those in other specialties to produce a good end result. “Information flows in multiple directions rather than cascading from senior leadership down through multiple levels of management to front-line people” (Bloomberg Business Week). All people on a production set have a function and they must all not only take care of their role, but work with those around them to provide continuity. A director cannot simply work alone and direct an entire film without the input from others and knowledge of the other workers’ roles. He must know how a camera works and work with the camera man to determine shots for each scene and must be with him physically on set working together to achieve the wanted shots.

The entertainment field is a creative one and one that largely relies on people working together. All members must analyze the information they are given to do their job correctly, they then must meet with the other members of the crew to go over the information to ensure not only is it done correctly but that it is the best choice for the shoot. “Information democracy encourages sharing over hoarding and sparks collaboration across functions and business units” (BloombergBusiness Week). This plays into evaluating conflicts and priorities because their will always be a conflict whether it’s with material or between cast members, crewmembers or cast and crew. This is why it’s important to prioritize which conflicts must be solved and or compromised.  

Productions work exclusively in several teams, from their own in their department to the entire production, consistently looking to produce new ideas, which comes from all the different crewmembers. This process starts from the very beginning when the script is selected by a director or Production Company and then the cast and crew must be selected and then they all work together to make decisions about locations and props and the shooting schedule and the types of shots and special effects that are going to be used. There is never a right or wrong answer so it is extremely important for everyone to know just as much about everyone else’s’ job on the set as their own.

Drucker’s idea has since been revitalized, “Where the knowledge worker knows how to manage an office, an insight worker understands how and why the business works” (Bigthink.com). This is the direction that business people see us heading in with the extensive development of our technology. We have moved from not only managing our business in a smart way, but digging deeper to fully understand how the business and industry work and why it works that way. Entertainment is probably the most difficult to understand in this aspect. There is a typical way and format at making a film, yet there are always exceptions to the rule, which makes it even more difficult to understanding why it works this way. An actor will never truly know why they were hired for a role over someone else and a producer and director will never know why a film they put so much effort into did poorly over one they spent have the time and budget on.

It is these uncertainties in the entertainment field that make it necessary to be a knowledge worker and learn as much as you can from those around you. You may not be hired for the job you are qualified to do and so you must know enough to perform other tasks to assist others and make your own contribution to the project.

Sources:

Erickson, M. (14, October 2011). Goodbye, Knowledge Workers. Hello, Insight Workers! Big Think.
         Retrieved from http://bigthink.com/think-tank/goodbye-knowledge-workers-hello-insight
         workers

Rosen, E. (11, January 2011). Every Worker Is a Knowledge Worker.
         BloombergBusinessweek: Companies & Industries. Retrieved from
         http://www.businessweek.com/managing/conten/jan2011/ca20110110_985915.htm

Bond Semester Abroad

From New York to the land down under, learning about digital media in all different cultures...