Can web 3.0 shape cinema 3.0? Towards community engaged independent film development and distribution

ABSTRACT

This article defines Cinema 3.0 in order to examine the opportunities for community-engaged film development and distribution. The emergence of Web 3.0 provides novel perspectives for filmmakers to realise independent screen productions. Through proposing Cinema 3.0, this article further develops Cinema 2.0 through decentralised approaches. The literature review indicates that more research is required in relation to independent film development and dissemination. This article will link Web 3.0, in particular decentralised approaches and applications, to independent filmmaking to explore how communities can support film projects. Through a case study approach, this article demonstrates the innovative potential of decentralised platforms. An imaginative and playful engagement with emerging technology is required to understand its limitations and how creativity can push our understanding about potential future scenarios for independent film. The argument is not that decentralised approaches will be the ‘holy grail’ for independent filmmaking, but for filmmakers this could provide an alternative to ‘get a project off the ground’ and reach audiences. Independent films are predominantly self-funded or crowdfunded and are often realised through the support of the wider community within which they operate. Decentralised platforms can further foster this support mechanism for independent filmmakers.

KEYWORDS:

• Web 3.0
• blockchain
• NFT
• cinema 2.0
• film 3

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my colleagues and the ASPERA Creativity Matters 2022 Conference team and the double-blind peer reviewers of this article for their insights.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Max Schleser

Max Schleser is Associate Professor in Film and Television and a researcher in the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies (CTMT) at Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne, Australia), Adobe Education Leader, Founder of the Mobile Innovation Network & Association (www.mina.pro) and Screening Director of the International Mobile Innovation Screening & Festival. Max is an award-winning filmmaker with expertise in immersive media, documentary film and creative arts 4.0 with a focus on cinematic VR and interactive filmmaking. His research explores screen production, emerging media and smartphone filmmaking for community engagement, creative transformation and transmedia storytelling. Max co-edited the books Mobile Media Making in an Age of Smartphones, Mobile Story Making in an Age of Smartphones and Mobile Storytelling in an Age of Smartphones and edited journals for Studies in Documentary Film, Ubiquity, the Journal of Pervasive Media and the Journal of Creative Technologies. His monograph Smartphone Filmmaking: Theory and Practice was published by Bloomsbury in 2021.