The Making media Now 2007 conference was this past Friday.  The conference was  complertely sold out!  The diverse range of panels covered issues from new HD technology to emerging media tools and online distribution.  Issues that we are as filmmakers have on the forefront of our minds due to the changing technological climate.  Of the various panels I found a few to be universally relevant and successful.

 
Beth Kanter's presentation DEMYSTIFYING SOCAIL MEDIA MARKETING TOOLS FOR FILMMAKERS: TEN STEPS TOWARD FILMMAKING 2.0 was one of these.  In a modest hour and a half Beth attempted to share what she has learn of web tools in the past two years.  Needless to say this was a fast and furious presentation.

With thoughtful use of PowerPoint, Beth covered many of the crucial web tools which can make a significant contribution to the success of our video and film endeavors.  Essentially, if we become visible in multiple media outlets or if we slip through the cracks due to ignorance of these now necessary outlets.  Some of the tools that she familiarized the audience with were:  blogs, Technorati, RSS, tagging and social bookmarking, Flickr, video sharing, Wiki, Widgets, Creative Commons, Copyright, and Fairuse, and Mashup.

Personally, I did not realize how much of this I was not familiar with (or not familiar enough with)  One of the questions which these tools as a whole raise for me is:  "How do I divide my time between actively producing, and marketing what I produce via these outlets on the internet?"  I believe this will bring about innovations in the production process in general.  If all these tools can make reaching a broad audience more accesible it must have the ability to make a production more efficient.

Check out Beth's wiki for this conference, it gives a run-through of all the elements that she covered.http://bethkanter.wikispaces.com/Making+Media+Conference 

Also, we will have clips available of her presentation on Beanywood soon from out live webcast (thanks to OurStage) so keep checking in as the clips roll in from various panels.

 The last feature of the day was the CASE STUDIES panel.  As the name reveals, this was focused on a group of filmmakers who have become wildly successful from their choice to explore the web as an integral tool.

 Kevin Anderton (MidnightChimesProductions.com), Lance Weiler(WorkbookProject.com), Brett Gaylor (OpenSourceCinema.Org),  and Michael Byrne (NoSleepMovie.com) presented their stories of DIY marketing and distribution which gave them success getting deals with Sony, theatrical distribution and DVD sales for starters. 

Keep an eye out for our posting of this video stream.  Definitely worth checking out!!! 

Check out the rest of the Making Media Now conference photos on my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/7937077@N03/sets/72157600310322427/