Creating a new interactive film industry

Participation has become an essential part of the Internet. However, there is still a lot of reluctance in taking up the new possibilities that this way of doing things harbours. Since the Berlinale 2008’s keynote speech by Don Tapscott it seems clear that collaborative filmmaking is the future; a future, which Hercules Filmnetwork actively embraces.

Upgrading the film industry

Hercules Filmnetwork is a platform for collaborative filmmaking, based in Vienna, Austria. The core team consists of mastermind and CEO Roman Tolic, chief development officer and product designer Martin Kremecek, and actor and scriptwriter Thomas Nash, as well as an international team of specialists located in Austria, Ukraine, Serbia and California.

Seven years ago, Roman wanted to produce and direct a feature film, for which Thomas Nash has written the script and in which he would have played the lead character. Roman was looking for financers, but after failed to get funding from various public funding agencies, he came up with the idea to create a system to crowdfund the movie via the Internet. At the time, broadband wasn’t as common in Austria as it is now, and Web 2.0 was still in its infancy. After developing his first ideas for such a system, Roman came up with many new features and soon realised that the approach could not only help themselves finance their movie, but revolutionise the whole film industry. FILM 2.0 was born!

Several years of R&D later there are about 600 private beta testers using Hercules Filmnetwork. They have already completed a bunch of film projects, like for example the school comedy feature film Summer Samba. The users’ feedback was highly useful for Hercules in terms of getting the platform ready for its official launch in 2011.

Roman Tolic says “We now have the opportunity to not only release a great application, but to help introduce a new way of doing things in the film industry. It is our vision to bring people together and support filmmakers in generating new forms of financing, building communities, making films and finding new ways for distributing their movies.”

Produce your movie online

Hercules is aimed at professional film producers, and provides a comprehensive online framework for filmmaking. Filmmakers can join in any stage of production and use Hercules for whatever they require. They can ask the community for help, like finding loctions or crew. They also have the possibility to find funding for their film via social networks. This process can be open or in a private forum, giving various users the appropriate permission.

“I can build my community before and during production, create fans and customers and can also use tools like merchandising, film-on-demand, online-sponsoring, online-donation etc.” That way, using collaborative features, films can be completed using Hercules Filmnetwork. It’s a one-stop-shop for web-based films and productions.

Paradigm shift in the film industry

However, many filmmakers haven’t quite embraced the possibilities this new paradigm harbours. Thomas Nash says “Facebook and other social networks have taught people how to use platforms like ours, but there is still a lot to be done to raise awareness for people who are not regular web 2.0 users. Many people don’t realise the potential yet, and they ask ‘What’s this about?’ They want instant results.” There is no doubt that social media channels are highly beneficial for filmmakers. Projects like Iron Sky and the crowd-sourced project Live Music have demonstrated very impressively how the system can work. Roman agrees, “What we are building is a web-based film industry, and this requires a completely new approach to the way things are being done.”

Hercules Filmnetwork has strong partners who help them raise awareness for this new paradigm. Together with Unido for example they are building new structures for the Carribean film industry, thereby giving filmmakers insight into how the industry can utilise these tools to face new challenges - now as well as in the future.

How to build a community

One of the main questions is how to build a community that finances and markets a film. “We are assuming that there are a lot of people out there who are interested in films and the filmmaking process. The market is being democratised, as everybody could be a director. Hercules Filmnetwork is trying to bring professionals, budding professionals and amateurs together.”

That’s why Hercules Filmnetwork is providing a range of tools, like for instance a video conferencing tool, a shop for DVDs and merchandising articles, but also a Video on Demand service. The community is being engaged through various measures like news from the Hercules team itself, but also through input from users and producers. As Thomas notes, “We see that our news articles are popular, especially when they incorporate specific film projects.”

Recent projects and upcoming challenges

After the premiere of Hermann Aichwalders short film Too Long Fu, starring Thomas Nash, which had 1300 attending guests, Thomas is now fully committed to testing Hercules Filmnetwork. The coming months will be devoted to functionality and usability tests, using his own film project Blonder Engel, a screwball comedy about the confrontation between a scriptwriter and an amateur director, which will be co-produced and directed by filmmaker El Moshinszky. Thomas will also help with implementing new features, like business support for professional producers, and the afore-mentioned video conferencing tool. The aim of the exercise is to have a stable, tried and tested system by the end of the year to enter the international market. Till then, the Hercules Filmnetwork team would be happy to welcome you as a beta tester. Simply send them an email to contact@herculesfilm.com to sign up!

Social Media Links

• Hercules Filmnetwork on YouTube
• Hercules Filmnetwork on Facebook
• Hercules Filmnetwork on Twitter
• Too Long Fu on YouTube