The Economics of Modern Art Cinema

I will preface this post thusly:

1. It does not take very much study of Auteur Theory to run into some of the fundamental conflicts I have alluded to earlier. One of the biggest is this: can film even be art (like a painting or poem) since it is a commercial commodity (like orange juice or gasoline).
2. I am in no way an advocate of art cinema. I think Ingmar Bergman and Truffaut made amazing, and important films. I think La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc is one of the most artistic works I have ever seen, in any medium. However, Bergman, Truffaut and Dreyer made some of the most boring movies in history. They are perfectly suited for the darkened screening rooms of film schools or the endless Netflix queues of budding critics. However, the will never be mainstream.

The new economics of the Long Tail and digital video production make modern art cinema a viable endeavor. Yes, today as much as ever, filmmaking is a capitalistic exercise. However, these new economics can open a lot of doors. Let's explore how the process of art cinema production might work today.

1. Message: At its core, art cinema tries to say something. All movies should have a message (explore the family storyline in the action film Last Crusade), but art cinema tends to value its message much more vehemently than filmmakers creating entertainment. Often avant garde filmmakers belong, or at least feel they belong, to a slighted political minority. They are searching for a creative outlet and a voice. Today, self-publishing, such as blogging, coupled with the intrinsic community building and information filtering properties of the internet allow anyone to have and hone their unique message. Further, there are pre-built niche communities that can actively seek and promote such new content. If you can harness these aspects of the internet and niche communities, you can have an audience for your art movie.
2. Production: For as little as a couple hundred dollars, anyone can buy a digital camera and couple it with free video editing software bundled with their operating system. Instant movie studio. You will have a difficult time moving your opus to 35mm, but likely, not more than a handful of your audience will ever be within driving distance of each other anyway, so theatrical distribution should not concern you. Of course there are technical limitations to a $200 movie studio, but you are not competing with Speilburg, you are competing with blogs and YouTube videos. Further, there are no conventions in art cinema. What George Lucas may see as a limitation can actually enhance your ability to craft you art piece. Carl Dreyer made Jeanne d'Arc without sound; instead he made one of the most visually compelling movies ever.
3. Clarity: This is really a combination of the above two points. If you know your message, and have an artistic vision, the production economy allows you to put your film together, from beginning to end without outside influence. Filmmaking has always been a very collaborative enterprise, because scores of people, or at least a handful were needed for production and post. Today you can write, direct, star, produce, edit and score your movie fairly easily, regardless of talent level. Again, this is a conventionless platform. You need not rely on anyone else's interpretation of your vision. In the end this independence and freedom can help you fully realize you vision as clearly as possible.
   
4. Distribution/Marketing: We have established that audience building tools exist, and that the cost of production is approaching zero. As a result, very little return from the finish product is needed to make the entire exercise economically feasible. You do not need to bankrupt yourself to make your works, and therefore you don't need to sell your work to Hollywood. In fact digital distribution can be absolutely free via video sharing sites and free blogging tools. You can now afford to give away your incredibly cheaply produced work for as long as you need to until you have cultivated an audience that can support you financially. Again, in art cinema, your production costs do not need to scale with scope. Later, you can use essentially free publishing-on-demand tools like Lulu and Amazon's offerings, free store applications via Amazon, which will also freely market your work through filtering and suggestion algorithms, and even freely set your prices based on market demands.

Let's design a theoretical example. Say I am someone completely unfamiliar with filmmaking, but incredibly passionate about fighting poverty in developed countries. I spend my time volunteering at shelters and soup kitchens; I attend rallies and local city council meetings; I spend 10 hours a week or so on internet message boards, forums and grassroots websites.

One day I watch some abstract art cinema piece recommended by a friend. I am moved by the starkness, the inherent power of the work. Suddenly I realize that I can make a movie with the same aesthetic but focus on my own message, ending poverty.

I journal for a few weeks, grab up every avant garde movie at my local arty DVD rental store and start sketching out my idea. Perhaps I tell the story of a man who is homeless due to mental illness; a simple story of the struggle to survive for one day in world that is abstract, disorienting and dangerous, told through the lens of his dementia. Or instead I craft a short montage of juxtaposed images and sounds, things I know from my daily life as an affluent person: cabs, office buildings, restaurants with the equivalents I might encounter if I lived in poverty: walking in dark and forboding alleys, panhandling amongst disgusted citizens, digging recyclable cans and bottles or food out of garbage cans.

I shoot my piece over a few weeks or even months, carefully selecting the images that encapsulate my developed notes. I spend months or even a year editing. During that time I tell my volunteering friends what I am working on, and ask for technical help from my grassroots web community. I am constantly fostering an audience from those who are already inherently interested in my message, who are searching for media that addresses their concerns.

After many months of working out of my element I complete my movie and post it online or organize local screenings with organizations favorable to my cause. My friends and web communities embrace it, my coworkers and family members humor me and then dismiss it and friends of friends or random people who stumble upon it are challenged by its message. In the end, I would consider such a result a success. I have invested nothing more than my time to a cause I believe in, and maybe just maybe, I am able to get my message across.

I may not give up my day job and have dreams of being David Lynch, but in the end I have accomplished my mission and created a unique work that adds value to its genre and medium. With such favorable economics, the barrier to entry for such a scenario and the risk involved is incredible low, but the potential reward is limited only by my message and my vision.

Even though I think that art cinema is a form that more often than not attracts pretentious and shallow work, I am glad that the scenario described above is at least economically feasible as modern broadcast and mainstream media continues its lowest common denominator driven production models. There are thousands of important messages or uniquely artistic voices that can be served by the advantageous contexts that we are currently apart of. This excites even the skeptic in me.