After nearly eight years of moving the filmmaking needle in the Lehigh Valley, PA, FIFO (Fade In/Fade Out) our non-profit filmmaking consortium, is starting the discussion about making movies outside the usual paradigm.
We're starting with writing, and moving through the collaborative dynamics of content generation, distribution and economic development. Any and all ideas, concepts and contributions are welcome.
I asked someone else this question in the chat box above, but what do you think about filming feature films in the time of COVID through a zoom like situation where each actor performs their part in their own homes and through split screen it is put together? Your thoughts?
Your Zoom-like concept came up early in our online discussions, along with green screen shooting and self photography, using smart phones. At first, no one could get past the obvious question of production quality because they were hung up on whether the streaming giants would even consider productions made so rudimentarily. But what if the streaming giants aren't our targets? What if our goal was strictly exposure during this social and economic shutdown period? To get our films and stories out to as many viewers as possible, thereby building our own followers, our own markets, so to speak.
That's when we leap-frogged our own technological, production obstacles and started considering the possibilities instead. Now we're coming up with individual and collective ideas as to how to create quality productions within the current constraints.