What should IAC be thinking about?

[Dave Watterson]

In a month's time the IAC's national AGM takes place. That is fairly routine and brief, but there is an excellent tradition of following the formal meeting with an informal discussion known as Members' Voices. Here anyone can raise ideas which the national Council will consider during the year.

So what do you suggest should be put onto their plate? What new ideas might be investigated? What existing practices might be dropped?

Let's agree that we will not suggest a change of name ... it is a good idea but over many years no one has come up with an acceptable alternative.

Let's not mention BIAFF judging plans because that has been discussed many times in these forums.

- Dave

[edin]

There are many issues that come to mind for discussion after the IAC AGM.
1. The onging convergence of Camcorders/HD SLRS is a threat and an opportunity to all video clubs!
2, The internet allows non club members to get together to produce films/videos. Does the current IAC structure/benefits encourage non club members to join?

I'm sure there are many more but the above are a start.

Edin

[Dave Watterson]

Hi Edin,

So
(1) would be asking if/how IAC could use the convergence of SLRs and Camcorders to help recruit members for clubs and itself. Could it be an excuse to get a foot in the door of still photo magazines?

(2) are you hinting IAC might use its internet presence to bring people together - a sort of specialised version of 'Shooting People'?

Dave

[fraught]

Hi Dave,

I think the IAC needs to do more to promote itself with the Youth and with up and coming film makers... the future IAC members! One of the best ways of doing this is through the Internet, which i feel the IAC doesn't promote enough. I do read FVM, but it hardly ever mentions the website or promotes this forum.

I probably sound like a scratched record, as i've moaned about this enough in the past (see older posts from me!), but it does need looking into. I setup the Facebook Group for the IAC myself off my own back as i felt it would be a missed opportunity. It's growing in numbers, and is a great way of sharing films instantly and promoting the good work of the IAC.
I've also set up an IAC Channel on Vimeo, so people who upload their films on this site can add them to this channel so that people can view films by IAC members.

So i'm trying... but more needs to be done.

There are lots of Film Festivals going on in the UK and across the World, it would be a good idea to get a representative from the IAC to go to these... promote at the source!

It can be done!

[Chrisbitz]

I fully agree with Fraught.

I chose to stop renewing my membership a few years ago, exasperated in the IAC's apparent reluctance to fully embrace the possibilities that the internet offered.

I wonder how much the current management commitee actually uses The Internet, be it with Forums or Facebook or Twitter or any of the other forms of New Media. New Media is here to stay, and any organisation has to embrace it or face the likelyhood of it fading away.

If the IAC wants to have a long term presence in 5, 10 or 50 years, they're going to have to embrace new media.

I don't wish this post to be overly controversial, but I think it's a desperate shame that the IAC appears to be failing to connect and be relevant to younger filmmakers.

[Dave Watterson]

I, for one, was very grateful to Fraught for setting up IAC channels in YouTube and later Vimeo and for establishing the IAC Facebook page.

IAC did get onto the web reasonably promptly, but failed to grasp the role of social media for a long time. At the risk of making my wife, Jan, and all previous IAC webmasters blush I will tell you that we get a lot of praise from around the world for the IAC Website, which seems to contain masses more about films and filming than most equivalent sites from national movie making federations.

Chrisbitz hits the nail on the head when writing about "... failing to connect and be relevant to younger filmmakers." And I note he says "younger" not "young". There are excellent and enthusiastic young film makers but they are rarely interested in joining clubs or organisations. Middle-aged people are more inclined and should, I think, be a target for us.

But have pity on a grey-haired old fart and suggest how Jan and I might make IAC work better on the web, please, pretty please ...

- Dave

[fraught]

I totally agree about your comments with regards to this website Dave, you two do the IAC proud. But where are they with regards to promoting this site? Just looking through the latest FVM, and apart from Jan's lovely article on page 30 about the site changes, all FVM has done is put the site address in small print on it's front cover.

What they could do is talk about a "hot" topic from the forum and discuss it in the pages of FVM for those that don't use the Internet? That might point more members at the site if they've never thought of venturing here?

All in all... i'm not sure what the answer is... but there are thousands of young film makers out there, and i bet hardly any of them have heard of the IAC. Do the IAC approach Universities and Colleges that run film courses? It's just that i've worked with a lot of film students of late, and none of them have ever heard of the IAC. I of course do my bit to promote!

[Chrisbitz]

Of course, I mentioned the topic of the shame of this unsupported forum back in 2008, and was roundly shouted down by a council member saying how they all do read the forum, (yes we really do, honestly! NO REALLY we do!!!)

My point back then was the lack of support the IAC give this forum. So how much has it changed since 2008??

This is what I wrote in 2008.

I've been doing some nerdery in Excel, and this is what I've come up with...

We have 148 registered posters.

Of that 148:

54 are registered, and have never posted.
20 have made just one post.
74 have posted more than 1 message.
42 have posted more than 5 messages. (there's no date info, so I can't tell how recent those posts are)


If we're very lucky, and someone puts a big advert or noticable mention in the next IAC magazine, it'll be interesting to see how/if those figures change significantly!

The only problem is the 42 of us will have to be on best behaviour for a while!

----------------------------------------------------------

This list is registrations per month, but I coulnd't find an easy way to show a graph. Doesn't really show much anyway, other than a comparitive flurry of registrations in the first 3 months.

Jan-07 13
Feb-07 13
Mar-07 12
Apr-07 8
May-07 9
Jun-07 5
Jul-07 7
Aug-07 2
Sep-07 6
Oct-07 7
Nov-07 3
Dec-07 4
Jan-08 4
Feb-08 7
Mar-08 6
Apr-08 3
May-08 6
Jun-08 2
Jul-08 7
Aug-08 6
Sep-08 8
Oct-08 6
Nov-08 3
Dec-08 1

New registrations for 2009
Jan 10
Feb 8
Mar 11
Apr 4
May 9
Jun 5
Jul 7
Aug 7
Sep 7
Oct 4
Nov 5
Dec 3

New registrations for 2010
Jan 3
Feb 8
Mar 6
Apr 10
May 2
Jun 5
Jul 10
Aug 6
Sep 3
Oct 7
Nov 7
Dec 5

New registrations for 2011
Jan 0
Feb 7
Mar 5
Apr 5
May 0
Jun 4
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 1


178 new members since the last report
77 are registered and have never posted
69 have posted more than 1 message.
29 have posted more than 5 messages.

There's no big changes in the quantity of new registrations, although 2011 has been unusual with 4 months with no registrations at all!

So I guess in the last 3 years, it appears that they still are keeping the forum down instead of singing the praises of the one thing that might connect to younger filmmakers.

Maybe after 3 years of careful deliberation, the IAC management might consider supporting the forum a little for a change?? After all, the Website and the Forum are the long term future of the IAC, unless they still believe that this internet thing is a flash in the pan and will never take off!

[ned c]

1. Put the BIAFF on withoutabox.com and stand by for a huge entry that can be extended into supporting nc film making.
2. Have a student section in the BIAFF with worthwhile financial awards - pay for these by discontinuing the magazine and going purely Internet.
3. The webiste is outstanding; promote; promote; promote!
4. Use the music licence as a means of attracting more "unattached" film makers by promoting on all media available.
5. Accept that young independent film makrs have different needs than clubs and club members; aim the information in communications to a much wider range than at present where the emphasis for the UK is on "old" film makers.
6. Establish a dialog with the film schools by encouraging entries from students witth tangible awards.

OK so some of this may seem radical but I am great beleiver in a future for the IAC if ti grasps the nettle of where film mkaing is now.

ned c

[ned c]

Sorry about my spelling but it's cocktail time here in the West.

Congratulations to Michael Slowe on the acceptance of his film "Hounds and the Huntsman" at the Docutah Festival wher it was well received.

ned c

[Chrisbitz]

Chrisbitz hits the nail on the head when writing about "... failing to connect and be relevant to younger filmmakers." And I note he says "younger" not "young". There are excellent and enthusiastic young film makers but they are rarely interested in joining clubs or organisations. Middle-aged people are more inclined and should, I think, be a target for us.

But have pity on a grey-haired old fart and suggest how Jan and I might make IAC work better on the web, please, pretty please ...

- Dave

It's not an easy thing to answer, but funnily enough, I'm currently organising a seminar on New Media for small businesses, so it's a hot topic on my mind.

The IAC produces some fantastic articles in their magazine, but magazines are a bit expensive and old fashioned now. Before any fuddy-duddys scoff at that comment, have a look at how many magazines are on the shelves at WHSmith nowadays, compared to 5 years ago.

Consider how much the Magazine must cost to produce and post... You could produce an almost free online magazine in a blog format for instance, where if someone disagrees with an article or can contribute to it, they can! INTERACTION is the way that younger people use the internet. A magazine feels more like a stuffy lecture in comparison!

Sure, you can still block non members from reading the articles, or you could open them up to the world, and sell very targetted advertising to attempt to regain income. I don't know how much profit or loss you make from the magazine, but the days of printed matter are limited.

Of course, there will be HUGE resistance from some people who "like the feel of paper on fingers" but that's something that you'll have to consider too.

I don't think the IAC is ready for such a radical change overnight, but they'd be mad not to be seriously considering what they're going to do when the magazine becomes impractical or impossible to continue.

At the very least, I suggest they should be guiding and coercing their members to start using the internet and interacting and getting used to the future and the new ways of online-ness!

[fraught]

All good stuff Ned! Enjoy the drinks!

[edin]

So
(1) would be asking if/how IAC could use the convergence of SLRs and Camcorders to help recruit members for clubs and itself. Could it be an excuse to get a foot in the door of still photo magazines?

(2) are you hinting IAC might use its internet presence to bring people together - a sort of specialised version of 'Shooting People'?

Dave

The feedback has been wide and varied from

i) doing away with the FVM and using the internet to distribute it. There is already a magazine published this way. The The Federation of Australian Video Makers Ltd use their site to publish their magazine in PDF format and send out emails to notify members to access it. ( http://www.famm.org.au/).

ii) Use of social media, such as Facebook and twitter, to promote the IAC website is a good idea. However being one of the oldies I don't have the knowledge or expertise as to how these communication channels could be used. Over to the younger members to put a promotional strategy together and publish it on the IAC website for the rest of us to see and hopefully understand. They are going to do it on the Archers!

iii) Coming back to my own point of HD camcorder/DSLR convergence, yes this is an avenue into the people who buy stills cameras. Many buy DSLR cameras but don't fully understand the video making potential their camera provide. We need to develop this area of video production and need some content on the IAC and video clubs website (in magazines and club programmes) to promote it. Hopefully the younger independent and other DSLR camera owners may see the content and be encouraged to join the IAC, local club or both. Again this links back to ii)above on how can we publicise and promote this via social media.

Edin

[Dave Watterson]

The ideas so far focus a lot on using the internet and social networks ... that's fine and has already prompted some changes. The webmaster, Jan, has had me working on the hundreds of Making Of pages to ensure that they are Facebook friendly. Most now have a "share" button that let you share your enthusiasm for them with your friends on all the main social networks. (Do choose a nice thumbnail when you recommend a page this way!)

I hope to complete the modification of all these pages over the weekend.

But what could IAC consider doing to help clubs? They are usually considered the mainstay of our organisation - though I note Ned Cordery's post about lone workers as opposed to clubs. If money, time and energy were no problem ... how could the central organisation of IAC help clubs do what they do even better? (IAC Council can tackle the practicalities once we have the ideas.)

Dave

[ned c]

First a question; to what extent do clubs use the “Herald Pack”? May I suggest an update with more pictures covering the range of movie making from a basic “home movie” to a fully crewed club production? Fewer words and more “punch”; write for a 22 year old movie maker. It would be good to emphasize the many aspects of movie making; writing, editing, sound recording, directing, acting etc. as well as camera ownership.

The survival of clubs is conditional on the quality of leadership and I cannot see how the IAC can help other than to promote n-c moving making on as many Internet sites as possible. Get links from equipment suppliers, movie makers, and any related activity back to the IAC site.

Make DVDs of the BIAFF top winners and circulate to the IAC member clubs free of charge; get feedback from the clubs and hope that members will be inspired.

The whole world of movie making is going through a revolution that is affecting every area from feature films to n-c movie makers. What is needed is a drastic rethink of the role of the IAC; see some of my suggestions in an earlier posting.
Some things to think about; Kodak are facing possible bankruptcy Arriflex only build film cameras to order; Panavision built their last film camera in 2009! DSLRs have changed the face of acquisition; there is a new family of large sensor video cameras in every price range, the low end editing programs could cut a feature film!!

Ned c