October 6, 2010
FNB Innovator: Heather Menicucci
FilmNewsBriefs sat with Heather Menicucci, who is leading the initiative between YouTube and Howcast, which is essentially a semester’s worth of information about digital filmmaking.
FilmNewsBriefs: Could you describe the partnership between Howcast and Youtube?
Heather Menicucci: Howcast is a top 100 content partner for YouTube, which means we work closely with their community management, partnership, and audience development teams to give them content that resonates well with their audience. We also have an ongoing dialogue with YouTube about the platform and have even gotten the opportunity to test new features such as Moderator and Live-streaming. It’s a great, collaborative relationship that lets us better engage with our audience on the largest video platform in the world.
FNB: What’s the number one goal you hope to achieve from this relationship?
HM: I’m always on a bit of a crusade to convince filmmakers that web video is valuable for their craft and ultimately their careers. I hope we can encourage more filmmakers to explore both producing video for the web and distributing their other work online.
FNB: After five years of YouTube and amateur filmmaking, why do you feel now is the right time to teach technique?
HM: I actually think technique is improving, even amongst amateur filmmakers — every time video makers, amateur or otherwise, create, upload, and get feedback, they learn something new. After five years of YouTube, there are a lot more aspiring film and video makers, so now seems to be a great time to talk technique. At the same time, more traditional filmmakers are embracing the web right now, and they’re curious about best practices, too.
FNB: How much of these lessons came from audience demand?
HM: In the Howcast Emerging Filmmakers Program, we’ve been working with filmmakers from all over the world for about three years, so much of these topics come from questions we’ve heard through that experience. We’ve worked closely with YouTube‘s Creators Corner in the past and through that experience we learned what their filmmakers are interested in. We also really want to promote the interactive element of this project. We hope that audiences will add all their questions as comments to our posts. We’re going to offer a Q & A session every couple weeks. Please, keep the questions coming. We want this to be relevant!
FNB: Why is Youtube the right partner for this venture (over Vimeo or other video player)?
HM: We’ve worked with YouTube before on two projects geared toward their filmmaking audience — live sessions on filmmaking tips — and we got a great response! We think this is a great opportunity to build on those projects. We also spend a lot of time watching videos on YouTube too, and we know there are a lot of eager, talented filmmakers in the community.
FNB: What level filmmaker are you targeting?
HM: Filmmakers in our program range from college students to established commercial directors, and everything in between. The web has democratized video production. There are many feature film directors who, when it comes to online video, are newbies. We’re targeting anyone who is just beginning to explore creating for, uploading to, and building an audience on the web, regardless of their level of filmmaking.
FNB: How do you hope this will engage the community? That is, the video response, and what the filmmakers learn.
HM: We hope that we’ll inspire filmmakers to try their hand at creating videos for web audiences, but first and foremost, we’re here to answer any of their questions — via email, live event or discussions in blog comments. Our producers would also be happy to offer feedback on their work, so we invite them to send us links and make some Howcast spots through our Emerging Filmmakers Program.
FNB: Will there be a place for filmmakers learning lessons to post questions and their work?
HM: Yes, we really want this to be an interactive experience. Each blog post invites questions from viewers who can add them in as comments. Viewers can also visit our Facebook page and post questions there: www.facebook.com/howcastefp or email us at emergingfilmmakers@howcast.com.
FNB: Are you just teaching these filmmakers technique? Or how to make a living from their films?
HM: From who to follow on Twitter to why other filmmakers upload, we’ll be focusing on three main topics — career building, production techniques, and audience building and distribution. We’ll definitely cover some best practices for making web video on a budget and we’ll explore what it means to find success as a web video producer.
FNB: Is this something Hollywood should pay attention to?
HM: Hollywood is already starting to pay attention. A project like the LXD web series, created by Step Up 2 The Streets director Jon M. Chu, is a great example of Hollywood embracing the web. Independent filmmakers like Producer Thomas Woodrow of Bass Ackwards and Lance Weiler of the Workbook Project are doing some exciting things with web distribution and multi-platform production. Making media is already not just about producing for theaters or television and I think Hollywood is aware of that. Theatrical and television directors are producing for the web, and web video makers are getting noticed by more traditional outlets. The convergence is happening and the web is offering up an exciting pool of fresh young talented media makers.
Posted in: Bass Ackwards, Emerging filmmakers program, Heather Menicucci, Howcast, Innovator, Jon M. Chu, lance weiler, live streaming, LXD web series, Step Up 2 The Streets, Thomas Woodrow, woorkbook project, YouTube