Tiny Furniture
It was made on a Canon EOS 7D. A digital SLR.
In case you’re out of the loop, "Tiny Furniture" is the hippest film out there. "The New Yorker" raved about Lena Dunham in an extended profile
and "The Wall Street Journal" lauded the film
You’d think a production these mainstream outlets featured would be state of the art.
Actually, "Tiny Furniture" is.
You see the means of production are in the hands of the proletariat.
Distribution of feature films is still controlled by the powers-that-be, but just about anyone can make a film these days. A Canon 7D retails for $1,699. You can buy it online for $1,329, just Google it. So the only thing standing between you and stardom is talent.
Think about that.
Used to be it was so expensive to make a movie. Now anyone can do it. But does your Director of Photography know how to wring the best out of the 7D? Even more important, how’s the script?
Anybody can write a great script.
And anybody can write a great song.
And the movie studios and major labels don’t want to admit this. They want you to believe that they’re the one true path to stardom, that only by going through them can you be anointed, can you make it. They want you to believe in their religion. Why?
So they can maintain power and continue to be rich.
In the music business the means of production are in the hands of the proletariat. You can certainly make a record in GarageBand, which comes free on a Mac, and most people can afford a Pro Tools rig. And anybody can employ Tunecore to get music for sale on iTunes.
But do you know how to use Pro Tools? Are your songs any good?
We’re going through a giant sea change. Power is being wrested from the mainstream. It’s not a concerted effort. There’s no organization. It’s just that using freely available tools creators are cheaply making their productions and when it comes to music and short videos, via YouTube/DailyMotion/Vimeo, you can go directly to the audience.
Hype is still not cheap.
Indies can’t get on the radio or in movie theatres, and mainstream media outlets favor their mainstream brethren.
But this paradigm is fading.
You see every day, more and more people reject the mainstream, they’re unreachable by mainstream hype/maneuvers. They live by trusted filters/recommendations, and these filters care not a whit if a record comes out on Universal or was made by someone in their basement.
In other words, digital tools are the content industries’ worst nightmare.
The problem isn’t P2P theft. The problem is control over creation. The mainstream has lost it. Yes, right now P2P makes it hard for everybody to get paid, but it also makes it easier for everybody to be heard, both the major label priority and the indie sensation.
The bar is so low now that anybody can play. Anybody can make a movie or record a track. But that doesn’t mean it’s good. Hell, kids learn how to make PowerPoint presentations in school, that doesn’t mean they’re ready to work for the Fortune 500. But some of them are. Some of them are just that damn good.
Some of those existing outside the mainstream system are as talented as those in it. But they don’t make Top Forty fodder, they don’t like to be told what to do, they don’t like sacrificing almost all of their upside to a corporation that doesn’t truly care about them.
These independent creators are a growing piece of the pie. And all the innovation is in the indie sector. And innovation is the key to the future. Whilst the mainstream producers are selling pap, indies are more interested in catching lightning in a bottle.
You too can now make a movie. Are you talented enough?
The camera "Tiny Furniture" was made on: EOS 7D
