The Adnostic

To tell the truth, when Alex Johnson asked me to liveblog the DIY Days confernce last weekend, I wasn't expecting much. Mostly because it was a free conference and this is what I know of conferences that are either free or just dirt cheap - be prepared to be inundated with shameless self-promoters and an array of sales pitches throughout the day.

But much to my great surprise, it wasn't that at all. It was a really interesting day of people who made and distributed their movies or make video content outside of the traditional Hollywood system who sincerely wanted to tell their stories and help their fellow attendees do the same. For me, it was a bunch of great experiences and opinions of how to utilize the web for marketing on a budget.

Robert Greenwald Opening Keynote - A lot of information on how to best communicate via video online.

The Realities of DIY - Movie making is 10% filmmaking and 90% working out your distribution and getting it seen. If you're not prepared for that, then prepare to be disappointed.

Four Eyed Monsters - went massively in debt trying to find a distributor for their film by touring festivals. Along the way they videoblogged their adventures and built a fan base. By tracking this fan base and logging their requests to see the film they were able to go directly to local theaters with attendance estimates to screen their film in locations with a strong fan base.

We Are the Strange - I give M dot Strange credit A) for his name and B) for his enthusiasm. That and I wouldn't want to mess with his army of 14 year olds. He's a really great example of winning fans by teaching them what you know and involving them in the production process. Gay Kawasaki would call it "eating like a bird and pooping like an elephant."

Marshall Herskovitz Keynote - The bumpy tale of how he produced Quarterlife, built a community around it, and is still trying to raise enough capital to keep it going.

Moving Beyond the Screen - Tommy Polatta is actually a fan of BitTorrent. He did a sold out screening in South Korea where everyone in the audience had already seen the film online. 'If it wasn't for BitTorrent a lot of my stuff wouldn't get seen.'

Extending the Storyworld - This was about using alternate reality games as a marketing tool. Put people in the role of the protagonist and get them familiar with what they're up against. Sometimes you can develop a side story that parallels the film. If its successful, you can turn it into its own intellectuall property and your next project is half way done.

When the Audience Takes Control - You don't build a community, you serve a community that already exists.