The rise of the “produser” is symbolic of the power that DIY media has suddenly acquired. Where before user-led content creation was strictly for hardcore fans of science-fiction, and for aspiring filmmakers with a very slim chance of cracking the mainstream, it is commonplace in the 21st century for one to make ones own fun, and stands to profit from it.
However, with the advent of video hosting and sharing websites such as youtube.com, this line between producer and audience has never been blurrier. Now that anyone can generate their own content, what use are professional media producers anymore? When a teenager can produce a $500,000 ad campaign on Avid for practically zero cost, producers should begin to worry about their status in the industry. However, despite whatever video editing skills they may possess, the majority of produsers devote their time to producing content that is of a less than professional bent, many of which infringe on copyright and intellectual property ownership laws.
The Anime Music Video genre, which exploded onto the web thanks to youtube.com, although existing in a legally gray area, will not be a calling card in the industry for people hoping to break into the entertainment industry. John Banks articulates that “the relationship between audiences/consumers and corporate producers is undergoing significant transformation”. Entities such as “audience”, “fan”, “corporation” and “consumer” are relational – they emerge from continually transforming networks of relations. It follows from that, if the relationships are undergoing potentially significant transformations then the entities themselves are in the process of being restructured and reorganized”.
Key to this reorganisation of audience transformation and participation is the idea that anyone can do it. That kind of psychological incentive – that people actually watch You Tube, and that people in the “industry” watch to scope out new talent – is one of the driving forces behind the surge of You Tube celebrities such as lonelygirl15. Short filmmaker “celioclaire”, as a result of winning this contest on Youtube, was flown to Los Angeles in order to meet with Fox Searchlight pictures, and they are currently interning for Oscar-nominated director Jason Reitman.
That Youtube.com is the culmination of decades worth of DIY filmmaking comes as no surprise. Spider-man director Sam Raimi started off his career making self-financed cult classics such as The Evil Dead (banned in the UK until 2001) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn, Desperado) spent a whole month having medical experiments carried out on him in order to raise the $7,000 needed to finance his first film. Now that the producers of tomorrow have a platform to broadcast their work on for the consumption of all, it stands to reason why people would want in.
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Matt,
I found this post very interesting. Being a student of Media and Communication and currently studying the concepts of produsage and DIY media, I found it very interesting to read about real life examples of these, and the success people have found through DIY media. Although you make some very intelligent and valid points, I did find myself questioning some of your arguments. You posed the question, “now that anyone can generate their own content, what use are professional media producers anymore?” Although some produsers have found success through DIY media, as you have demonstrated in your post, many do not have the skills and necessary qualifications to produce something ‘mainstream worthy’. You mentioned that producers should begin to worry about their status in the industry… do you really think so? Although there may be some competition from produsers, many professional institutions would not invest large amounts of money in someone with little to no industry experience. The film and advertising industries are competitive as it is, and although it is a possibility, not many institutions would invest their money in someone without any credentials.
Overall you have presented a very insightful argument, supported by a variety of relevant examples. I just feel that although people have found success through DIY media, they are still very much a minority in this world and are yet to be a real threat to media producers.
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