DIY or DIE- SINK or SWIM
I've been thinking a lot about survival...how to survive as an independent interneTting artist type person... I survive because of affordable and powerful hardware like the Workstation and lil render farm I put together... big cheap drives... cheap ram etc... A free international exhibition platform like youtube... and I survive because of you... all my supporters who pitch in when things get rough...
Now since what I make is so "counter culture"...its like really far from teh mainstream and the bland tastes of the masses... I don't have an audience big enough to make thousands of dollars from adsense revenue on my vids etc... or raise like $50,000 through donations.... but the reason I survive is because I don't need it ^ ^
I'm sure there's a thousand people out there right now trying to raise money to get people to make they 3d animated feature film for them... while I sit here in a bedroom grinding out frames all night... If your one of those people... NO ONE is going to give you the money or do anything for you! Especially if your idea is original and you've never directed anything before...So just learn the shit and do it yourself! These are the times we live in now! I'm just one guy who's capitalizing on all the affordable tech... anyone else can as well...
If I didn't learn how to do EVERYTHING there is to know to make a 3d animated feature film I would have to pay people to do things for me... So all of a sudden I would need $500,000 to pay people to work on it for a year or two... proB more money than that actually... so I would not survive... I would not exist...
Thats why its DIY or DIE! If your doing mainstream stuff maybe you have an audience big enough to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars... if so thats great for you.... BUT if you want to make stuff thats nowhere near teh mainstream be ready to do it all yourself!
If you're making derivative mainstream stuff the BAD thing is then you are competing with the majors and the stuff they make... and thats a hard battle to win eyeballs in... seems the only people that have success with that is with parody stuff... spinning off or playing off of things the majors make... AND from what I've seen there isn't much original stuff going on in the majorS...
So be derivative and syphon off the mainstream trying to play with the majors or be ORIGINAL and make your own little place in the world for yourself... NOW plenty of people are doing they DIY thing making parodies and spinning off of popular things and finding success today.... BUT if I may I quote a line I've heard on the Accidental Creative podcast "COver bands don't change the world" You may be popular today and everyone instantly recognizes yer thang BUT you will be forgotten tomorrow... AND you just become one of many drones all replaceable and forgettable over time...
Its not really about the money either... I've spent about $20,000 to make HSM and that money is spread over two years.... How much money do people spend on BULLSHIT every year? Probably enough to make a film... Its not really about time either... Right now I'm working 8 hours a day on the film to complete all the animation in 12 months total... cut that to 4 hours a day for someone working full time they could do it in 2 years.... How much time do people spend on BULLSHIT every day?
Now after answering those questions... is the reason you're not making your film because "its all too difficult"? If so.... GTFO because your not hardcore enough to be a DIY er DIE'ER in todays world... yer a dinosaur waiting for the old days to come back so you can just be a "director" The age of the UBERECTOR is upon us so get with it or NEVER see your film made. If your going to ask people for money YOU BETTER BE FUCKING HARDCORE and DO YOUR BEST because those people placed they trust in you and gave you they hard earned money so you better be hardcore.
Its like waiting for all the waves to die down in the ocean before you jump in and swim... the waves will always be there... the sea is not going to part for you like you may have heard that it had for others...those times are gone....but you have to go anyway...its not as rough as it looks but you do have to swim for yourself there are no more boats to make your journey warm and comfortable... you have to cut through the cold dark sea on your own... with your passion burning giving you a light to guide you through the next wave... now imagine the feeling that comes when you reach that island of your dreams that you made...and soon everyone will visit and marvel at this new thing ^ ^ Would it be the same if you took the warm comfortable boat ride to an island that was already made?
Brought to you by professional weirdo M dot Strange.