Because the main purpose of creating them  is to make the movie accessible and understandable to the hearing-impaired audience, a number of  special considerations come into play.   Firstly, since the main character (Tim Patterson)  signs frequently, is it necessary to caption every line of dialogue.   Secondly, because the story is so much about  how Tim hears (or doesn’t hear) and there  are many many sound effects (often in layers),  there is the question of  how much detail about the sound to include in these captions.

My strategy is to be conservative and include (at least initially) as much as possible, and then depending on the input I get from the distributors and the audience, to make adjustments.

I don’t want the captions to become a distraction, but I also want to make sure that there is enough information to make the experience of watching the film as full, complete, and satisfying as possible for the hearing-impaired audience.

Maybe (he says, thinking out loud) when I’m done with the first pass, I should watch it with the sound turned off.     Any thoughts out there?

One of the presenters at the independent  film symposium held in conjunction with the recently completed LA Film Festival was Nolan Gallagher, the founder of Gravitas Ventures.   Gravitas is a VOD distributor and they’ve become a major player over the last few years in independent film distribution.    One of the facts he presented was the current size of the VOD cable market.  In other words, the number of homes in the U.S. who have VOD capability either through their cable companies, their phone companies, or their satellite companies.  It’s  50,000,000!

That is an astounding number.  And more importantly, it can now make VOD a viable and credible piece of a independent film’s distribution strategy.   In fact, there are an increasing number of independent films using VOD as their initial,  and even their primary distribution mode.

This distribution method is particularly attractive to low-budget films with genre appeal and the deals being offered by a number of VOD distributors are very attractive.

Moreover, the prospects appear to be even better in the future as the number of homes with VOD capability continues to expand.

Stay tuned as we explore the possibilities.

In order to do that, I need to create a captioned version of the movie that includes not only the dialogue but indications of sounds and sound effects.  Because, again I’ve  opted for good and cheap way, I’m doing the work myself which it means that it goes relatively slowly.

But one of the benefits is that I’m becoming more familiar with Final Cut which I hope will stand me in good stead when I work on other film projects.

Sometimes the things we work on pay benefits far beyond the scope of the original intent.

Tim' Workspace

The symposium, which was held at the LA Film Festival and put on by Film Independent, may be a tipping point in the new world order of independent film  marketing and distribution and, to a certain extent, finance.   In the Grammy Museum Auditorium, which held about 150 people, were virtually all the people and companies on the cutting edge of independent film distribution along with many filmmakers as well as journalists.   What came out of the conference overall was a viable vision of the future and the tools by which to make it happen.  Very exciting stuff.   More on the specifics in my next post.

While the the response from traditional distributors, agents and representatives has been mainly positive, the combination of difficult economic conditions  in the low-budget independent film business and the lack of marketable stars in the film have made it nearly impossible to do more conventional and traditional distribution deals for “Claustrophobia”

I’ve been talking with one of the best on consultants in the business of independent film marketing;  he’s urged me to market the film directly to the hearing-impaired community,  sell the film either directly through my own website (in conjunction perhaps with sales through other major on-line distributors) and continue to pursue more genre oriented film festivals.    I’m currently working on all three.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress, and as I get closer to a launch date, I will no doubt be asking  for your help in getting the word out.  More soon.

Recently, I changes hosts for my website and one of the results was that this blog no longer linked to the site. (Sorry)    It took me several weeks to realize it and then several more weeks to fix the problem.  (Thank God for Apple’s One-To-One tutorials or I’d probably still be trying to figure it out.)   Trying  to stay on top of all of this stuff is a challenge to say the least especially since I’m doing virtually all of this stuff myself.   But at least I’m learning (I hope.)     More on my progress in marketing “Claustrophobia” in my next post.

Chief among these audiences is the hearing-impaired community.  (The main character of the film, Will Patterson,  is deaf and the actor who plays him, Russell Harvard, is also deaf.)   My plan is to contact various organizations and individuals within this community either through e-mail, social networks, or personal contacts to see what common interests we may have or might develop.

In the brave new world in of independent film distribution, filmmakers and producers must be pro-active in reaching out and nurturing their audiences.   In this spirit, if anyone following this blog has and thoughts or suggestions,  I would welcome the input.

In the meantime, I been talking with one the leading consultants  on independent film distribution. He has been very very encouraging and believes there are a number of viable ways forward from this point on.  I will at some point (hopefully sooner rather than later ask all my friends and colleagues participate in spreading the word about the movie through e-mails and various social media.   In the meantime, I’ll be posting more frequently than I have been doing in the last couple of months.

Even if you are able  to secure a traditional deal for some or all of the rights, the filmmaker has to become part of the distribution and marketing of his or her film in order for the film to be successful.   Using the examples of perhaps the two recently most successful  indies,  ”Paranormal Activity” and “Precious”  in both cases, the filmmakers have been instrumental in getting the word out to the audiences even though the films are being released by traditional distributors.

Of course, if I am not able to sell some or all of the rights to “Claustrophobia”, it becomes my job to be the distributor in fact.   At the moment, it is unclear what path the film will follow (traditional, DIY, or a hybrid of both.)

In any case,  I will be putting the word out soon through various social networks and a widening circle of friends and follows to help me reach “Claustrophobia’s” audiences.    I’ll talk more about this later.

Last weekend  I attended Film Independent’s “Filmmaker Forum” at the DGA in Hollywood.    While there was some doom and gloom about the current state of affairs,  there is beginning to emerge a clearer picture of  the way forward.

Because both theatrical and DVD sales have gone over a cliff,  what is beginning to emerge is  a VOD model as a major ancillary (and perhaps, primary) mode of distribution.    We are not there yet mainly because the infrastructure has not been put in place, but it appears it will be within a few years (1-3).

However, distribution companies are now beginning to pay more and more attention to aquiring those rights either separately or as part of a larger package.   This is good news for “Claustrophobia.”      I’m beginning to attract some interest from various distributors, reps, and agents and the VOD rights are a significant part of that interest.  I’m not prepared to be specific yet  about who is expressing interest.   I’m just in the beginning stages of discussions,  but the progress is encouraging.    I’ll talk more about this later.   In the meantime, wish me luck.