Will Pinterest Become the New Platform for Indie Filmmakers?

While some forward-thinking film professionals are already using Pinterest to market their films (see my February 2012 post about the inspiring Sheri Candler), I haven't seen any posts about how Pinterest itself can be a platform for indie filmmakers looking for a new outlet for their long-form motion picture storytelling.

Today I want to suggest how indie filmmakers might start using Pinterest as a platform for their motion picture scenes.

Current Pinterest users know (and love) Pinterest as a social platform for sharing still images that they've found online. But, instead of simply thinking about Pinterest as a way of engaging with a core audience and sharing found still images and text, what about using Pinterest as a platform for the original scenes you've shot for your movie?

Yes, Pinterest is a great tool for sharing images and "making-of" stories that can capture attention and engage users. But has any filmmaker (besides me?) considered the possibility of telling your entire motion picture story on Pinterest?

What would a feature-length (or longer?) movie on Pinterest look like?

Perhaps the best place to start is by taking a look at a Pinterest site that successfully tells a complex story in ways that build upon prior online experiences (e.g., a traditional website). If Pinterest can improve upon traditional websites, isn't it possible that, for certain low-budget filmmakers, Pinterest could also improve on traditional filmmaking? Take a look, for example, at how ad agency Holler Sydney is now using Pinterest in lieu of a traditional website. Notice how this ad agency's complex story (clients, services, staff, etc.) flows from board to board.

Could motion picture storytelling also be broken into component parts that are highly visual and interactive?

Instead of a DVD or on a traditional streaming service, what if your movie was available as a collection of motion picture scenes posted on Pinterest - with each scene as a separate board - with separate boards for every character and location?

Will users become more engaged when they can watch scenes in any order they like?

What are the storytelling possibilities when, in addition to a traditional movie scene, every user can dig into their own favorite scenes, characters and locations for more information - and perhaps even add their own content where appropriate?

What if the users were given an area where they could respond to your film - perhaps asking questions - or even suggesting and/or creating new scenes, characters or locations?

This is not just theoretical.

Pinterest is growing faster than any other social network based on the lure of powerful visuals and social-sharing. And, as of April 17th, 2012, any filmmaker can actually create a Pinterest site and embed Vimeo videos into Pin boards. The quality of Vimeo videos - an improvement over YouTube videos which Pinterest users can also pin - means that Pinterest is becoming a video platform to be reckoned with.

The ability to post your scenes to Pinterest boards raises a flood of very promising storytelling possibilities (and, I imagine, many more that I haven't yet thought of...)

Now that each Pinterest board can contain a high-quality video, who will become the first filmmaker to tell a long-form motion picture story as a series of boards?

How will storytelling evolve when scenes are displayed on boards - and boards can also include still photos, or maps, or text, or info about the characters, objects, locations and events?

How will social sharing and user-generated-content change motion picture storytelling?

Your thoughts?

Image from http://www.buyrealmarketing.com/pinterest-and-vimeo-integration

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Randy Finch's Film Blog:

Thoughts from a film producer about making and distributing films.