It’s funny how pleased I am that I face yet another high-profile opportunity to have people watch the content that I create for free.  Snagfilms.com is currently featuring Independent America: Rising from Ruins on its homepage, and will distribute it through a number of other channels, including Hulu and hopefully Netflix at some point (my first film “The Two-Lane Search for Mom & Pop” is already on Hulu, and is heading for iTunes).  Sure, you can still push for more money via a broadcast TV license, but at least as an indie filmmaker, those are getting harder to find, and they’re paying less.  So we content ourselves with the “digital pennies” as the “analog dollars” slip away, with the sheer hope that online, multiple-channel exposure leads to benefits in other ways (i.e. keep your day job, build your own personal brand).

The world of content — especially professional content — continues to shift beneath our feet.  Three years ago, I used my first class as a digital media professor at the University of Washington to understand just what I had produced with that first “amateur” film of mine (I had been a professional journalist, but I had never filmed my own feature-length documentary before).  The title of the class?  “Selling the Message: The Business of User-Generated Content.”  The “business” then, was under threat from pseudo-amateurs like me, with the explosion of digital media capture tools (aka, cheap cameras) and distribution platforms (aka, YouTube).  The established, institutional studio system seemed to be under attack as this proliferation in new “voices” transformed media into yet another commodity.

But interestingly, despite this commoditization, apparent amateurization, and the uncertainty of the economy, somehow the increased availability of media online has also produced more demand for “professional” content.  Witness Steve Jobs’ remarks this week as as he introduced Apple TV: Read more…

New Orleans Airport prior to Gustav Shutdown 8/31/08

Update: Terrific example of a breaking news blog, www.gustavnewsblog.com (thanks LostRemote).  And great value-add comment from Joey Mornin below about how activists are using social media during Gustav, especially the “Gustav Information Center.”  As Joey remarks: You’d think it’d be a cacophony of tweets and blogs, but it’s actually self-organized into something with real potential to help the Hurricane relief efforts.

I’ve spent the last 24 hours staying “connected” with New Orleans even as I planned my own departure.

The impending hurricane forced us to cancel our world premiere last night.  But we still had to “contingency” screenings – the latest one right after Mayor Ray Nagin’s press conference declaring Gustav to be the “mother of all storms.”

I noticed a starkly different “feel” to Thursday’s screening, compared to last night.  Thursday, “Katrina” was still the working premise, part of the city’s most obvious vocabulary.  Now Gustav may supplant it, and it’ll be interesting to see how I’ll have to modify my film (“permanently beta!”) to fit this potential new reality.

Read more…

Posted by Hanson Hosein:
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.

UPDATE 08.30.08: My flight is still good for tomorrow.  I’m going to spend today with local journalist Ariella Cohen from CityBusiness as she reports on the voluntary evacuation.  One way or another, Gustav adds to my film, and I need to gather additional elements to tell this story.  We may even attempt a little house party premiere tonight if there’s anyone left in the city.  My hotel closes tomorrow at noon, and I intend to give myself at least 3 hours to get to the airport (normally a 20 minute drive).  Shades of Baghdad!

UPDATE 08.29.08: Thank goodness we had a successful sneak preview of the film last night.  We’ve canceled the premiere for tomorrow with an impending mandatory evacuation as Gustav approaches.  I’m supposed to return to Seattle on Sunday morning.

The film premiere of Independent America: Rising from Ruins, is up for grabs right now with Gustav gathering strength and heading to the Gulf of Mexico  Once local officials get a handle on the hurricane’s path, they may issue a 48-hour evacuation notice.

I’m ready either way.  I brought my camera, waterproof gear, and even my Pentax W60 waterproof point & shoot — which I may call into duty if I need to re-start production of a film that won’t end (as we like to say in the MCDM program, “permanently beta”).  Or we have the premiere as scheduled with even more to discuss (organizers have already cancelled the daylong conference, but will proceed with the screenings unless there is an evacuation).  For my latest updates, catch my Twitter feed.

Read more…

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.

Posted by Hanson Hosein:

The Wall Street Journal reports on a Harvard Business School study refuting Chris Andersen’s “Long Tail” theory.  I’ve pasted the Executive Summary from the report below the break.  It may be that ultimately, as we’ve discussed in our program, given infinite choice, consumers/users ultimately want a filter.  And blockbusters might provide that easy filter.

That said, there’s no doubt the Internet has drastically reduced distribution and inventory costs, which makes it much easier to purchase those “misses.”  My film, Independent America, is one such niche item that has benefited from this trend.  It’s not a blockbuster, it doesn’t have the support of a major distribution house, but I’m still able to leverage inexpensive online resources to get it out to those who want to acquire it.

Read more…

posted by Hanson Hosein

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been hearing a lot about how busy people are beginning to give up on e-mail, to the point of declaring “e-mail bankruptcy.” I’ve been on the verge of doing so myself, though I’ve done little to help my situation: with poor e-mail management skills, and a propensity to return e-mail quickly (the more you respond, the more you get).

So I liked reading about IBM’s “Social Computing Evangelist’s” approach to dropping e-mail altogether and relying more on social media tools.

Read more…

Cascade Locks OR — posted by Hanson Hosein

I took this photo, seven years ago, using the digital image function (640 x 480, very low res) on my Sony TRV-900 camcorder.

It’s under the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks, OR along the Columbia River.

It’s quite fitting that I’ve returned to this region for the first time since then, on a “Faculty Fellows” field tour as a professor with the University of Washington. Because I wouldn’t have gotten here (as Director of the UW’s Master of Communication in Digital Media) without going there (Cascade Locks, OR).

How do the two connect? Read on…

Read more…

New Orleans’ Times-Picayune (one of the best, and most vital newspapers that still stands strong), featured “Independent America: Rising from Ruins” in an op-ed article today. Read more…