Scott Kirsner: "Let’s Talk About the Future of Cinema"

Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope did it. So did talkies, Technicolor, and television. In the 1970s and 1980s, home video did it again.

When new technologies arrive, they usher in creative and business opportunities that never existed before (though some people choose to ignore them.)

When the very first Kinetoscope parlor opened in Manhattan in 1894, showing short films for 25 cents admission, or when the Warner brothers finally made synchronized sound work in 1927, it created phenomenal new possibilities for artists and entrepreneurs. When television and home video arrived later in the 20th century, some people saw them as a threat to the cinema—while others seized the chance to tell different stories, work on different budgets and deadlines, and, not insignificantly, make money in new ways.

Technological shifts like these also open a door for new people with new ideas who might not have previously found their way into the industry.

We’re at one of those transitional moments right now. Several things are happening at once:

*The Internet makes it free to distribute video to anyone, anywhere in the world.

*Filmmakers and videogame developers are narrowing the gap that has traditionally existed between those two fields.

*New software and hardware are making it easier and cheaper to produce visual effects and computer animation.

*Filmmakers are finding new ways to “crowd-fund” their projects, in much the same way Howard Dean collected small donations to fuel his 2004 Presidential campaign.

*Theaters are looking for new technologies, like digital 3-D, to keep audiences buying tickets. (But 3-D is also slowly slogging toward the living room, with consumer-oriented 3-D displays.)

*Storytellers are exploring new forms and formats that are oriented more toward viewing on mobile phones, iPods, or laptop screens than communal, big-screen viewing.

What’s unique about the San Francisco Bay Area is that individuals and companies involved in all of these new directions are based here.

That’s why some co-conspirators and I decided to hold a gathering here, dedicated to exploring the future of cinema, games, TV, and online video. Where else do you have Netflix and YouTube, DreamWorks Animation and Industrial Light & Magic, indie filmmakers, game developers, and techies all bumping into one another, and collaborating, on a daily basis?

The event we put together is called The Conversation. (Yes, it’s an homage to Coppola, one of our great artistic and technological experimenters.) It takes place October 17th and 18th at the Pacific Film Archive theater in Berkeley. Ken Goldberg of the Berkeley Center for New Media and filmmakers Tiffany Shlain and Lance Weiler have helped bring together the right speakers and participants in the right place. SFFS Executive Director Graham Leggat also provided some key early input. The goal is to share insights about what new terrain people have been exploring, and what they’ve been learning – without being too critical about whether there’s an obvious business there yet, or whether “serious” art is being made.

The movies weren’t a billion-dollar business when they were born. (The first Kinetoscope parlor, in Manhattan, earned $120 its first day in business.) And the earliest films were not timeless examples of inspired storytelling. (In fact, they were not too different from some of the videos you might find on YouTube – one even featured boxing cats.)

These are the early days of some new era we haven’t yet defined. Some people have already been out on the frontier, scouting the opportunities. An ideal time for a conversation.

10.09.2008