How to promote film use?

cliveh

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I don't think it is necessary to promote film use, as the quality and history speaks for its self.
 

Bernard_61

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a Kodak Portra 160 NC-2 35mm drum scanned at 12.000 dpi:

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Impressive quality, colour and details! A good reason to shoot (Kodak) film
 

lxdude

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cliveh said:
I don't think it is necessary to promote film use, as the quality and history speaks for its self.
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And promoting it means to make others aware, so they will listen.
 

Nige

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spotted in local (to Melb) large camera retailers advert in paper yesterday... a K (Pentax) mount SLR (Promaster) with 50/1.7... almost tempted to buy one just for the hell of it!!!
 

markbarendt

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cliveh said:
I don't think it is necessary to promote film use, as the quality and history speaks for its self.
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Really, I can't remember how many times people have asked me, "can you still get film for that?" are are utterly surprised when I say yes.

If people don't know it exists, they won't buy it, regardless of history and quality.
 

Felinik

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I've been scanning this thread, many ideas, but in the end this is nothing that can be done in any larger scale.

Most people act and react and take action based on completely other parameters. Inherency is one of them, unless you have a strong urge to belong to a specific group of any kind, a thing like this is not very likely to happen.

Take Hipsters, a group with values based on being retro in a hip way, doing the right retro things, such as shoot film, amongst the people who strongly identifies themselves with the values of this group, it's going to be very easy to sell the idea of film photography to those who have not yet already picked it up.

In general, the rest of the population values the pragma of digital shooting, not even thinking about film photography as an alternative since it's not filling any higher values in how and with what and who they identify themselves. Should you mention it to them you'd get "why? its expensive, I dont see what I shoot, and it takes time to get the pictures", there's zero in the concept that reaches the core values of their identity.

One of the only potential groups of people to reach out to would be people in a certain age group that grew up with it and who may have been shooting when they were younger, who now have the time and maybe the money to do it again, there you have the emotional connection again, and this is what makes the difference.



This applies to all kind of marketing for any products/services etc.
 

abeku

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I'm brainwashing my kids. Whenever I take a picture of them, they ask me if they can see the image on the back of the camera (that some modern cameras can do), I always tell them I'm using a "real" camera. There's nothing like the real thing, right?
 

Ken Nadvornick

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markbarendt said:
Really, I can't remember how many times people have asked me, "can you still get film for that?" are are utterly surprised when I say yes.
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Just for grins, try answering, "No, sadly you can't anymore..." as you stand there holding the camera.

The reactions can be hilarious.



Ken
 

dwross

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It's kinda fun to say, "I make my own."
 

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MDR

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I now it's moving pictures but after watching the witchery add shot on Super8mm I just thought wow this is beautiful, forget the content just the look.
http://cinelicious.tv/we-love-film/small-formats
No digital capture can ever look this beautiful and its made on an inferior film product, the wedding movie on this site is also beautiful and shows how film can succeed in a traditionally digital and video dominated market.

If more people came to see how beautiful film can look they might choose film over digital capture (maybe). Due to the overstylized look of today's blockbusters few people get to enjoy the genuine film look. It's no wonder people can't see the difference between film and digital if 99% of all blockbuster look plasticky and overprocessed in post.

Kodak should also never have introduced vision 3 no grain is a sin not a virtue.

Dominik
 

Steve Smith

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Ken Nadvornick said:
Just for grins, try answering, "No, sadly you can't anymore..." as you stand there holding the camera.
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The last time someone asked me "Can you still get film for that?" I said "No, I just like the sound of the shutter".


Steve.
 

amsp

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Damn, those videos made me want to go out and shoot super 8. Thanks for sharing!
 

Bruce Robbins

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Blogging!

I started a website dedicated to film and darkroom work when I gave up digital a year ago. You can see it here if you're interested. My main aim was just to encourage photographers to do the same as me. It helps when you can direct people you're trying to "convert" to a website that lets them know what it's all about.
 

Kav

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Yesterday I did a photo demo. I was invited to an art walk as one of the artists. I was going to be the only photographer, and I wanted to make photos but do it fast enough to keep the interest of people milling about. So I shot portraits with my 4x5 Speed Graphic on a photographic paper that makes a positive image, then developed them on the spot. For the most part they turned out pretty good for exposures working there way to the 15 second mark as the sun was setting. The reception was better then I expected. I got word that people were telling there friends to "go see the guy making photos at the end of the street. I also brought out my Hasselblad, 35mm Nikon Cameras and a Nikonos-V. One young man was just beside himself to get to play the the Hassy. I got to talk to a few old timers about how they shot Speed Graphics back in the day, and the kids liked watching the whole process from getting everything on the ground glass to poring "stinky stuff into the magic black box" and waiting a few minuets for a photo to come out.

Here's a few:




 

ajuk

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I made a few of these.

I think it's a shame my link to the old Royal Mail Think of a Letter campaign ad got ignored.
 

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brianmquinn

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I agree, but they are idiots. Someone has to save them. By “them” I mean the real people that do the work of making film and us, the people that shoot it. Let the executives fry in hell.
 
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Ken Nadvornick

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brianmquinn said:
Let the executives fry in hell.
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But only the ones who worked so hard to kill the medium for what they thought was going to be their own benefit.

If it weren't for the executives at Ilford, Adox and Fuji—and the others at a number of the surviving hardware manufacturers—we might not have a viable situation at all right now.

Ken
 

Henning Serger

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RalphLambrecht said:
WHY SHOULD WE PROMOTE FILM USE? IS THAT NOT THE JOB OF FILM MANUFACTURERS?
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Ralph,
of course that is the job of the film manufacturers.
They make a living from it.
If they want to keep their income, and if they want to increase their income, they have to do marketing for film.

Impossible Project and Lomography have completely understood that. And have developed very successful marketing strategies.
As a result they have increasing sales.

But it is of course not only the job of the film manufacturers.
It is the job of all who make a living from film.

Therefore it is also the job of the film distributors like Freestyle, Fotoimpex, ars-imago, macodirect etc.

And the job of the labs, the scan services, equipment manufacturers etc.

No question that it makes much sense that we support them and help them.
Probably lots of film fans are willing to do that.
Lots of us are already doing this for years.
But they don't want to do it alone. Those who make a living from film should show their commitment and start action in developing marketing strategies.

With marketing for film as a photographic medium film has a chance for a sustainable future.
Without marketing.......it will be hard.

Best regards,
Henning
 
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