The future of media, and in particular film, is rapidly changing in a world dominated by multi-channel television, and the growing influence of the Internet. The question is what that future will look like so filmmakers can prepare to meet the demands of tomorrow.
At the Yorkton Film Festival Friday five industry people made the effort to crystal ball where they thought the future would be as they were part of a workshop entitled; Which Way To The Future?
Norm Bolen, President and CEO of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA), based in Ottawa, said the one constant at present is that the industry is rapidly changing.
"We're all living in a world where we see constantly changing around us," he said.
Valerie Creighton joined the Canadian Television Fund in 2006 as President and CEO. She said it's not so much a case of figuring out what the future will be as it is a case of learning how to operate within the future which is already here.
"I don't think the future is in front of us. We're in it now," she said.
"The real challenge ahead of us as a country is how do we carve out the space in that world?"
In February 2008, Cindy Witten assumed her duties as the new Director General of the National Film Board of Canada's English Program. She said the Internet, which seems to be leading the shift in things, can be a huge opportunity for filmmakers. She cited how the NFB now has 900 films available on line and is moving to upload its 13,000 film library.
"That's been a huge deal for us," she said, adding when people access the films "it reflects Canada to Canadians and the world."
With that in mind Witten said the Internet is a platform filmmakers can use to distribute their films, adding it seems a perfect medium for documentary film.
"I think the Internet is a natural for documentaries," she said, adding the 'Net is "where we go for information, or facts," now and documentaries are part of that.
Bolen said in an environment of change Canadian filmmakers need to concentrate on doing what they do well, but then taking it to a larger world stage.
"I believe as Canadians we've done a very job of creating our content in our own borders," he said.
However, Canada's industry can't operate in isolation, offered Bolen.
"The global village is the future," he said, noting he was just at Cannes, now Yorkton and will be heading to the festival in Banff. " I live in a global world."
Bolen said because of influences such as the Internet, "we're looking much more at a borderless world."
Creighton picked up on the idea of Canadians starting by doing what they are good at."We do content very well," she said, adding it comes down to creating a distribution model which ensures people can still see that content.
Creighton showed a video with a range of facts detailing just how massive change is, and how interconnected the world has become.
For example by 2014 it is estimated there will be more profiles on Facebook than people in the world, and one in three American teenagers text more than 100 times a day.
"I think people are more connected than ever before," said Creighton.
Daniel Cross is co-founder/president at EyeSteelFilm in Montreal, recently named by RealScreen Magazine as one of the top 100 non-fiction production companies in the world and recipient of a Genie award for Up The Yangtze. He said ultimately the key element of a film is finding an audience is the story.
"Content is king as far as I'm concerned and always will be," he said, although he too admitted an industry is flux. "We're creating new literacy and new ways of doing things."
Rudy Buttignol is President and CEO of Knowledge Network Corporation in British Columbia. He said the industry has become massive and finding niches will be important moving forward."Mass culture is bigger and broader than ever," he said.
Bolen said in terms of film more and more product is being created.
"The volume for content is growing exponentially so people have many more choices," he said.
Buttignol pointed to a less than four minute video of two guys lipsyncing to the song 'I'm a Barbie Girl'. The video on YouTube has had more than 12-million views.
"The point is you can't compete with that," he said, adding the conundrum is making film that can attract an audience in a way which makes a dollar.
Buttignol said the audience for YouTube illustrates another element of how media is changing."A fundamental change people want it anywhere, anytime," he said, explaining people want to watch what they want whether at home on their television, or walking down the street viewing it on their cellphone. "That's big shift."
Buttignol said while the way media is disseminated may change, filmmakers need to recognize their audience does not.
"Human nature doesn't change," he said.
In that regard Bolen said remembering who is watching remains important.
"We need to pay a lot more attention to our audience," he said, adding Canadian filmmakers must see their audience as an international one.
Canadians can find audiences, offered Creighton.
"There's room for Canadian artists to express themselves," she said.
Technology is driving the changes in the way people access media and film.
The next step in that technology appears to be the new iPad device from Apple, said Bolen, adding "people underestimate the impact of these devices "I think we're still in the early days of how the digital world is going to evolve."
Creighton said the changes will be dramatic.
"None of us will ever be the same when we get wherever it is we're going," she said.
