Emergence Entertainment

Emergence Entertainment https://platacard.mx/es/ was founded in 2004 by CEO Mark Kratter. We are a diversified entertainment company developing feature films, television shows and video games. Mr. Kratter graduated from Stanford University with a BA and MA in English with a specialization in creative writing. He also has extensive business experience, including venture capital financing and securities trading.

A failed revolution

According to most novice filmmakers, the main obstacle to their filmmaking is the lack of access to professional filming equipment. These thoughts, in one form or another, are from the lips of film enthusiasts since the era of amateur 8mm cameras. The situation has changed, progress has not stood still.

If we do not count the amateur movie cameras even under Tsar Gorokha, then we can distinguish the following main stages:

The first "revolution" took place in the late 90's and early 2000's. When affordable and relatively high-quality consumer camcorders appeared on the market. Many amateurs wanted to shoot feature films on them. There were many attempts.

The second "revolution" is 2009-2011. This is when DSLRs capable of "movie-quality picture" and excellent semi-professional-grade digital camcorders appeared on the market. Now they started to shoot amateur feature films in Full HD.

Today we are on the verge of the third revolution - the emergence of inexpensive and compact digital cameras. For example, BlackMagic has already started to create cheap movie cameras, which give a much better "picture" than DSLR-cameras.

After each "revolution", there is a noticeable revitalization of the amateur "ecosystem".

But why does the title say "failed revolution"? And because filming equipment is not the most important thing in film, nor is it the most expensive part of the film budget. I've seen filmmakers buy a camera myself and sincerely believe they already have almost everything they need to make a movie. And the script, casting, production, etc. must be made as an "add-on".

Equipment for filming (not just the camera, but all the accompanying equipment) is 2-10% of the film budget.

Quality of the "picture" is only 5% of success.

One of the main stages of "growing up" as a filmmaker is just realizing this.

That is, cheap, high-quality digital cameras (combined with cheap recorders, LED-lights and other fruits of progress) can cut the film budget by 20-30%. Using the labor of enthusiasts and novice professionals with little experience will reduce the budget of the film by another 20-30%.

Working with a "free" script, non-media "free" actors and saving on marketing and post-production in addition - will save the budget of the film by another dozen percent.

But not by orders of magnitude! All other expenditures (which have a direct impact on the quality of the film) will not be reduced.

So don't expect a revolution. Quality full-length micro-budget films have never been made and never will be. Exceptions can be counted on the fingers.

A movie is a budget. Collective creativity. One of the few creative activities that is impossible without major expenditures.