Two years ago, I created StoryCode to connect filmmakers, technologists and other creative people stuck in the interstices of the evolving world of media. Our core strategy was to maintain a constancy in narrative, which could then open an exploration of immersive and cross-media approaches to storytelling.

We discovered quickly that practical knowledge was desperately needed: examples of how creators were actually working WITH the technology, tools and content of the social age were in short supply, and training was practically nonexistent. Mike Knowlton and I soon began hosting monthly events at The Film Society of Lincoln Center, bringing creators working in disparate parts of storytelling together to inform each other, learn, experiment, and build new collaborations. After nearly two years, and our first-ever Story Hack, we have a few thousand people in our orbit.

StoryCode is engaged in a constant dialogue about what we do, and what the possibilities of future storytelling could be. However, we felt the need to revisit some fundamental aesthetic concerns bound up in this transition from a more passive style of storytelling into the engagement model, which is now the norm for nearly every kind of media creator out there.

On October 12, we will host a formal conversation about an idea that’s still evolving: filmmakers adapting to the new landscape. I will moderate a discussion between two people whose work as filmmakers defined their early careers, but who are deeply entrenched in the broader worlds of media and storytelling: Mike Monello and Craig Singer. A producer of the legendary Blair Witch Project, Mike’s “post-film” work with his company Campfire pushes the envelope. Craig served as a judge at Story Hack: Beta, where we benefited from his versatility and broad knowledge of story and engagement.

The Museum of the Moving Image’s new exhibition Film After Film provided the perfect context for our proposed exploration. In examining what happens when filmmakers go beyond film, we will look both back at the history of the medium and forward at whatever myriad incarnations storytelling might inhabit. History is moving along at the speed it must. StoryCode and The Museum of the Moving Image are documenting the journey.

Filmmakers in a Post-Film Landscape will take place on Friday, October 12, 2012.
Get tickets.