Also speaking at the event were people with experience of the Television and Film industry. The dominant question from the students present, as well as those aspiring to enter the industry went along the lines of, "I have these ideas. How can I get them made and aired?' Unfortunately, the most common reply seemed to be, 'There is no easy way. It's hard and there is a lot of competition.' The out look for television can seem daunting. The terrestrial broadcast industry is facing record numbers of competitive channels. With a slump in advertising revenue coupled with emerging evidence that viewing figures are dropping worldwide. The Media Guardian of 7th Febuary 2002 carried an alarming report on figures; "suggesting viewing has plummeted and crucial audiences, such as 16 to 34-year-olds and high-earning ABC1s, are switching off in droves." The British Audience Research Board was quick to point out that difficulties in data gathering were to blame fo the low figures, "It said the data recorded when the old and new systems ran in parallel during December showed a 'small overall audience drop' of 5%." But this decline is morrered in Canadain figures; "..the total average TV viewing hours of Canadians during the autumn of 1999 was 21.6 hours per week, a decrease of one hour from the previous year and even lower still than the previous minimum of 23.5 hours set in 1988."

Mix into this accusations that TV companies are less interesting in producing documentaries; as The Guardian's Charlotte Raven noted on why most people know nothing about Afghanistan, despite it's new prominence in world affairs, "Blame the death of the documentary.... they don't commission enough of this kind of stuff any more. It's thought of as rather unglamorous, and commissioning editors much prefer the reality-TV version of the rest of the world...".

Is there hope? Well...yes. If we take a step back; do people want to watch documentaries? Given that Michael Moore's 'Bowling For Columbine' has been in the top 10 of all UK films. Or that a documentary, the Guerrilla News Network's 'Crack the CIA' won the Audience Award at the 2002 Sundance Online Film Festival in the “Live Action” category. A good documentary, even up against big action movies, can hold it's own. Do people want to watch documentaries? We think it's safe to say that they do.

So if there are creators and consumers and ideas - all you need is the platform to show it?. This is where Internet filmmaking comes in. This is where plugincinema.com comes in! We believe that the Internet is the best option in terms of delivery choices. Yes, it means learning some new skills and yes, it means adopting a new aesthetic, a new way of looking at the medium you intend to work with. We can understand how some will see this as hard work and to be fair, it is. But as TV industry panelist after panelist told the audience at Sheffield International Documentary Festival, getting your ideas onto TV is going to be really hard. At least with the Internet your only obstacle is your own motivation and willingness to learn. At least by going through the process you've got new skills for your CV. But what about money issues? This is still one to be grappled with, but there are emerging business models; subscriptions, merchandise, micro-payments, selling DVDs, screening at independent cinemas or even using this as a spring board to working with other mediums. However, as time passes new and increasingly more viable business models will appear; Filmmaker Guerrilla News Network also operate bulletin boards, news systems and sell DVDs. Aardman's Angry Kid has a huge range of t-shirts and other merchandise, and the growth of new technologies such as PayPal or WorldPay has opened up secure credit card systems to the non-technical and/or non-corporate user. This all means that the creator, to a certain extent, is going to have to take control of the means of production, but then learning some technical and business skills won't do any harm, on the contrary, it can only help in understanding and coming to grips with the media in the 21st century.

Further Information

Sheffield International Documentary Festival
https://sheffdocfest.com/

Blame the Death of the Documentary.. by Charlotte Raven
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,583251,00.html

pluginManifesto

plugincinema's Film School

plugincinema SIDF 2002 Notes