Two of the sessions interested me in which the topic was about the idea of “360″/Crossover production, that there are many ways to distribute your content, and what is the best way to go about it and what does it mean? This discussion continued online at www.reelisor.com which is a network for European Documentary Professionals.

Jonas Klevhag from Anagram Produktions said “Although there’s plenty of good definitions of 360, I think Tom Koch from PBS Distribution captured it well during his panel in Manchester. Cross platform or 360 is about putting the idea at the centre of the development process, regardless of platform. To use whatever platforms or media it takes to get attention and communicate your story.
The exceptional story telling skills of documentary film makers will never go out of fashion. New media offers a fantastic opportunity to explore alternative ways and combination’s to tell the stories.”

While what he states is true, these are two different thoughts. The first one being more about using different platforms and/or media to get your story out there, noticed, generate buzz. While the second thought seems to be about using new media to tell the story. So one is about marketing/social media, and the other about content distribution vehicles such as You Tube, Netflix, indieflix, Jaman, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon VOD, mobisodes (mobile video), games, broadcast, DVD, etc.

So it seems that what should be discussed is what works for the project. Which tools/platforms will help build an audience, help get distribution and financing, and get the story told? What might work for one project, might not necessarily translate to another. A cohesive plan needs to be thought out, starting from preproduction all the way thru to distribution. The question for filmmakers is usually “how am I going to finance this”, but in truth, most of the platforms/tools do not cost money, but time, so how much time are you willing to invest is the question.