The roots of traditional media run deep and thus the tree above ground is very bloody difficult to knock over.
TV broadcast, theatrical release, the film festival circuit - these are the standards by which the cinema maker (of what ever form or mode) turns to as the means to reach an audience. This structure is as much cultural as it is industrial, technological or financial. For the indie filmmaker the process of an audience 'seeing' a work via these three - TV, cinema or festival - is fundamentally a process of legitimization; of being legitimized as a creative professional. Other forms of distribution such as online, whilst much lauded for their growing importance, fail (in the minds of many) to legitimize either the maker or the work.
This same pattern can likewise be seen in professional writing and publishing. Online journalism is a major part of any professional writers income and professional practice and yet no writer would argue that an article 'going live' has anywhere the personal satisfaction or professional standing as those lovely printed characters on paper in newsprint or magazine or book.
It seems that in both these cases very often the culture of perception is rooted down irrespective of the audience reach (which it is safe to assume is a primary driver for filmmakers and writers alike; to have the work seen/read by as many as possible).
In this regard I can take my own work as an example. As a writer and journalist I have written near on 300 published essays, articles and reviews as well as three books and authored content for a number of resource websites. All this is professionally paid work and a significant part of my income. (This is also not including the 4 posts per week here on Digital Basin)
Now, the ratio of online content to print content of this body of work over the past 10 years is roughly 65:35- 65% online, 35% print. And this ratio is not even close to indicative of the ratio of readers where the number of people who've read my stuff online massively eclipses the number who've bought my books or flicked through my printed magazine articles with geographically limited circulations (excess copies of my books prop up more than a couple of dusty tables).
And yet despite this massively outweighed ratio of readers for my online writing to my print writing, what is it that sits at the top of my CV? It aint the online articles...! Its the books and magazines despite the fact that they are read by little more than 4 guys and an over eager pet dog. It is the books and print magazines that gather weight on the CV far more than copious online articles that gather a 1000 readers a day.
In the same vein we can see film and video projects. Broadcast and theatrical screenings have the legitimizing power but my recent online documentary series, Motion Sketches, has garnered more than 10,000 viewers and its only 3 episodes in. There is no documentary film festival in the world that would let such a small, tiny budget production, reach 10,000 viewers (and growing daily).
And yet despite this numerical truth there is still the cultural perceptions that get in the way; a perverse fact that a film at a festival seen by a few hundred people carries more 'weight of legitimacy' than 10,000 viewers online.
The old media tree stands with great indignation but its status is no longer born of audience reach, but rather simply of legacy and historical association. But, all that said, the times they are a changing and the observations of this article now, in 2008, will not be true in a mere few years from now.
If you haven't seen Motion Sketches you can join the 10,000 here with the latest episode, number 3: Aural Architecture.
You can also view Eps 1 and 2. Eps 4 and 5 are in production right now. Stay tuned.
