What is MicroCinema?
The Term:
microcinema (MY.kroh.sin.uh.muh) n.
- A movie genre that features low-budget films shot mostly on digital video, edited on a computer, and then distributed via videotape or over the Internet.
- A small exhibition space used to display alternative and underground films.
Source: wordspy.com
The term microcinema was coined in 1991 by San Francisco’s Total Mobile Home Microcinema, where all the films are “underground” because they’re shown in the basement. The founders say they envisioned an alternative movement, a sort of cinematic microbrewery, and the word has come to describe an intimate, low-budget style of movie shot on relatively cheap formats like Hi-8 video, DV, and (less often) older do-it-yourself stock like 16-mm film. It’s a flexible term that can cover anything - animated shorts, bizarrely impressionistic video manipulations, hard-hitting documentaries, and garage-born feature-length movies. A classic microcinema offering is a film that probably would not exist if new technology hadn’t allowed its creators to cut costs or inspired them to try something different.
Source: wired.com
MicrocinemaScene uses the term “microcinema” as a polite label for micro budget or “no-budget” moviemaking; a category of cinema earning its own classification because so many people are now making movies outside Hollywood and the supposedly Independent Scene. It’s a flexible term that embraces all types of truly independent, regional cinema.
Independent cinema died in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s as smaller studios like Cannon and Concorde folded and others like Miramax and New Line Cinema were bought out by mega-conglomerates such as Disney and Time-Warner. The term “independent cinema” is one now referring to $2million to $10 million movies featuring A-list actors doing scale work for street credibility. As a result, the general public is often duped into accepting “edgier” Hollywood fare as “independent.”
The Moviemakers:
Whether they are the shrewd business types behind the growing crop of cheaply produced exploitation, cinema enthusiasts who decide to take matters into their own hands, or simply passionate artists using moviemaking to express a unique voice, the denizens of Microcinema are an ever-resourceful breed bound together by the shared ability to make pictures without throwing money at them. Because of the do-it-yourself (DIY) mentality behind Microcinema productions, the movies often lack technical polish, but excel when it comes to originality and vision. These are movies made by teenagers, college students and people holding down normal 9-to-5 jobs. Often armed with the latest technological tools, these are people bit by the movie bug creating work without industry contacts, power lunches, and red carpet premieres. They do not wait for “the green light,” but instead jump into each production with both feet, often answering to no one but themselves.
The Venues:
Both online and offline venues for Microcinema work are ever-increasing in number. Streaming movies online has become a regular practice for many moviemakers, whether it be off their own websites or off one of the many websites now showcasing low/no-budget fare. Such sites include Atomfilms, Tiggerstreet, Zomp Films, Ifilm, and Student Films.com. As technological advances change how movies are exhibited and produced, the movies themselves are changing some theater owners’ thinking about micro-budgeted movies. More and more, exhibitors are discovering that low budget doesn’t necessarily mean “low quality.”
Microcinema International has lead the effort in creating a global exhibition network for producers making low/no-budget productions. By visiting the Microcinema International website at http://www.microcinema.com, producers can find homes for their movies at various theaters and festivals that welcome movies produced outside the mainstream. Theaters include the VideoTheatreNYC, West Virginia’s Lascaux Micro-theater, and Missouri’s First Lambent Theater. The number of film festivals accepting Microcinema work has grown exponentially in recent years, thus it’s in producers’ best interests to seek out regional festivals where they can have their work shown.
Our Mission:
The writers, sponsors and administrators of MicrocinemaScene want you to know that truly independent moviemakers are still out there creating new work and offering fresh voices. Like the Independents of the past, Microcinema producers have a frontier spirit in their work. They’re doing things for the first time. They’re doing things their way.
MicrocinemaScene… Where moviemaking matters most.
