by Matt Hanson

Film is all about collaboration. Filmmakers are starting to engage in new ways with their audience, that’s plain to see with the projects the Workbook project is covering.

The Internet allows us to take this collaboration further, into the realms of crowdsourcing. This is an emerging area that we’re pushing the edges of with A Swarm of Angels, a participative film. As we just made Number 1 on successful online collaborative communities you should know about in Business Week, I thought it would be a great time to share some thoughts on the many ways a filmmaker can explore the creative potential of this rising meme:

Collaborators not consumers

Your audience is happiest when they can engage with the project in a more meaningful or entertaining way. Think of the options that fit into your film and are sympathetic with the material. Go beyond the Citizen Marketer route Hollywood has been experimenting with, and let your film be enriched through this support.

Shorten the distance

Traditionally film has the longest route from creation to being viewed. Help your audience support the film by getting closer to them through the process. Depending on how you decide to crowdsource the relationship between the usual intermediaries — the Funders, Sales agents and Distributors — can be significantly altered or dispensed with altogether. You can crowdfund via donation (like Robert Greenwald), or subscription (A Swarm of Angels); or get a heftier cut of the revenue through self-distribution (Absurda is handling David Lynch’s Inland Empire in the U.S.), or through merchandise (Head Trauma, etc).

Adjust exposure

Expand your possibilities: shrink your target audience. At first glance this might be counterintuitive but when you are thinking about making art for your own crowd, then the creative possibilities open up. I’m a firm believer that the trend is to more distinctive work being made to reach more passionate, discerning audiences. The Internet means a filmmaker can reach an audience that globally makes up a meaningful amount, even if that work appears to be more niche-oriented. Then if it resonates, it will crossover.

Sharpen the focus

Crowdsourcing can also have creative advantages. Think of creation as conversation, and make sure your film actually appeals to your audience. By drawing your fanbase into the filmmaking process they can act as a focus group to help you hone the project as it is being developed. By allowing them to vote on particular ideas you can test how far you can push the material without alienating your core audience. If you let your fans help shape your project, they’ll love you and the film more for it.

Pan and scan

Use the wisdom of your crowd. Scan your audience for expertise. If your script calls for knowledge or expertise in an area you don’t have, then maybe a crowd member does, and is just itching to help you out and expand the background, and polish the dialogue, of one of your key characters. Pan around your community for help in location scouting, second unit direction, or sourcing that hard to find prop.

Project locally

Once the film has been made, use your network to reach the right audience. How about same-day launch parties in Buenos Aires, Berlin, and Bangkok? Four Eyed Monsters have taken this even further by getting supporters to post where they are located, then if enough post, a screening is arranged in that area.

Check brightness

Utilize UGC (user-generated content) as a central part of your official marketing rather than as a ‘competition’ adjunct. Value and trust in the ability for your audience to come up with the right material to promote the film. This doesn’t mean you as a filmmaker have to abdicate responsibility for it, on the contrary, strong results will only really come if the project is given a strong lead and keen artistic direction from the director and core creative team for the crowd to ‘play off’. The results may surprise you if you leave yourself open to being dazzled.

Above all build your community and find ways to enrich the cinematic experience. Open up your cinematic world to fan contributions, allow them to be part of it (through ARGs — alternate reality games — for example), and follow the journey through blogs and podcasts.

Matt Hanson is a film futurist; a writer and filmmaker described as an “International film visionary” by Screen International magazine. His current project — A Swarm of Angels (www.aswarmofangels.com) — is an ambitious Cinema 2.0 endeavour to fund, film, and distribute, a feature film using the Internet, all-digital technologies, and a global community of members. Previously he founded the massively influential onedotzero digital film festival in 1996 at the dawn of digital filmmaking, which he directed until 2002. The writer of a series of digital-age cinema books including The End of Celluloid, and Reinventing Music Video, he lives in Brighton, England.