FILM: The Digital Campfire of Cinema

Tyler Weaver

Any look at the future of cinema must be seen through two lenses. The first is the obvious – the creative side. Technology is pushing cinema (or as I prefer calling it, visual storytelling) into a different world. No longer is a big screen required, but the ability to press a button. Filmmakers and other visual storytellers are finally able to enjoy a bit of the novelist’s freedom of form now that they’re unencumbered by the necessity of the theatrical release as the only form of film regarded as ‘cinema.’

The second lens through which we need to view the future of cinema is that of business. The careers of many a moviemaker are no longer dependent on the tastes of a middle man, but in the tastes of a niche audience the world over – and the moviemaker’s ability to connect and engage with that audience. It is upon the creative to get their work to the masses, to monetize it, and shape and form their own career, bringing the final dimension of auteurship into focus: a business and marketing sense.

It’s remarkable that most technological advancements in storytelling and the delivery of that storytelling find their foundations in the removal of the middleman. DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are a middle man between you and the enjoyment of a product. They are steadily being erased by video-on-demand and digital downloads. The rise of DIY (or DIWO – Do It With Others) distribution and an always-connected, always ‘on’ audience has led to the steady lessening of relevance for traditional movie distributors and the rise of a direct-to-audience model of independent film distribution. (It’s worth noting that the utilitarian and aesthetically displeasing CD has seen sales plummet nearly 18 percent from last year, while the more ‘experience-oriented’ vinyl record has seen a increase in sales since 2006).

The middle man-eliminating advancements (digital video has negated the middle man of film development for several filmmakers, etc.) of the past decade have created, and are demonstrating what the future of cinema will look like: remarkably like the ancient origins of storytelling. We’re in the age of a digital campfire: an engaged core group huddled around their electronic devices, or in a live theatrical screening (the crafting of an intimate, personal experience for each and every audience member), listening and engaging with a storyteller as she tells their story – be it on the big screen, the little one or, as is my preference, a combination of all forms of media now at my disposal.

What would the filmmaker heroes of yesteryear think? Studio machine masters like Howard Hawks and Michael Curtiz might see the rise of true ‘independence’ as an enchroachment on their turf. Orson Welles, on the other hand would surely approach such a development with unabashed glee – and probably shoot himself in the foot..

So perhaps, as someone said, the future of cinema is not quite cinema. But it’s more nuanced than that. The future of cinema is not in blockbusters or art films, comedies or dramas. The future is, as Sarah Connor said, ‘what we make it.’ Through the creative use of technology, distribution, story, and a healthy respect and knowledge of what came before, we are now, more than ever, equipped to build the future we want to see – either on the big screen, or in the palm of our hands.

The choice is ours.

N.B. When I pitched an article on ‘The Future of Cinema’ after Simon’s generous offer to let me continue my ‘Great Blog Tour’ here at The Spectator Arts Blog, I mentioned a quote from a filmmaker along the lines of ‘the future of cinema is not quite cinema...’ and then my brain interfered and the remainder of the quote went unfinished. Here I am a month later, without the quote at hand. If you know the quote of which I’m speaking, please add it to the comments here. My searches were fruitless, and I’m positive I never said it.

Tyler Weaver is a stroyteller whose choosen medium happens to be that expensive form called film. He's created 'The Fourteen Minute Gap, 'Il Mio Canto Libero' and 'Gather Round the Mic'. He lets the world know what he thinks as the founder and EIC of Multi-Hyphenate and is currenty developing a transmedia project called "whiz! Bam! Pow!' that pays tribute to his lifelong love of comic books. Because he's slightly insane, he's simultaneously developing a new documentary. He yaks about that and more on Twitter under the creative guise of @tylerweaver.