| Independent
filmmaking
Independent filmmaking often takes place outside
of Hollywood, or other major studio systems. An independent
film (or indie film) is a film initially produced without
financing or distribution from a major movie studio. Creative,
business, and technological reasons have all contributed to
the growth of the indie film scene in the late 20th and early
21st century.
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On
the business side, the costs of big-budget studio films
also leads to conservative choices in cast and crew. There
is a trend in Hollywood towards co-financing (over two-thirds
of the films put out by Warner Bros. in 2000 were joint
ventures, up from 10% in 1987).[citation needed] A hopeful
director is almost never given the opportunity to get a
job on a big-budget study film unless he or she has significant
industry experience in film or television. Also, the studios
rarely produce films with unknown actors, particularly in
lead roles.
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Before
the advent of digital alternatives, the cost of professional
film equipment and stock was also a hurdle to being able
to produce, direct, or star in a traditional studio film.
The cost of 35 mm film is outpacing inflation: in 2002 alone,
film negative costs were up 23%, according to Variety.[citation
needed] Film requires expensive lighting and post-production
facilities.
But the advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more
importantly, the arrival of high-resolution digital video
in the early 1990s, have lowered the technology barrier
to movie production significantly. Both production and post-production
costs have been significantly lowered; today, the hardware
and software for post-production can be installed in a commodity-based
personal computer. Technologies such as DVDs, FireWire connections
and non-linear editing system pro-level software like Adobe
Premiere Pro and Apple's Final Cut Pro, and consumer level
software such as Apple's Final Cut Express and iMovie make
movie-making relatively inexpensive.
Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production
have become more democratized. Filmmakers can conceivably
shoot and edit a movie, create and edit the sound and music,
and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while
the means of production may be democratized, financing,
distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish
outside the traditional system. Most independent filmmakers
rely on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold
for distribution.
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Animation
Animation is the technique in which each frame of a film
is produced individually, whether generated as a computer
graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly
making small changes to a model unit (see claymation and
stop motion), and then photographing the result with a special
animation camera. When the frames are strung together and
the resulting film is viewed at a speed of 16 or more frames
per second, there is an illusion of continuous movement
(due to the persistence of vision). Generating such a film
is very labour intensive and tedious, though the development
of computer animation has greatly sped up the process.
File formats like GIF, QuickTime, Shockwave and Flash allow
animation to be viewed on a computer or over the Internet.
Because animation is very time-consuming and often very
expensive to produce, the majority of animation for TV and
movies comes from professional animation studios. However,
the field of independent animation has existed at least
since the 1950s, with animation being produced by independent
studios (and sometimes by a single person). Several independent
animation producers have gone on to enter the professional
animation industry.
Limited animation is a way of increasing production and
decreasing costs of animation by using "short cuts"
in the animation process. This method was pioneered by UPA
and popularized by Hanna-Barbera, and adapted by other studios
as cartoons moved from movie theaters to television.
Although most animation studios are now using digital technologies
in their productions, there is a specific style of animation
that depends on film. Cameraless animation, made famous
by moviemakers like Norman McLaren, Len Lye and Stan Brakhage,
is painted and drawn directly onto pieces of film, and then
run through a projector.
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