Average Joes have increasingly become part of the news landscape, with the media they produce often forming part of the story itself, be that through a photo they’ve taken, a video they’ve shot or a text based update they’ve shared.  The ubiquitous nature of smartphones coupled with the rising quality of photo and video capabilities on those phones have made using such footage a viable proposition for many publishers.

Now, a new app is emerging that is seeking to do for movies what the smartphone has done for news.  The app, called Film Crew, enables film makers to turn to the crowd for video footage taken using their smartphone, thus allowing folks like you and I to get our stuff into the movies.

Here’s how the service works.  If you’re a film maker, of whatever sort, be that an advertisement all the way to a Blair Witch style feature film, you can list them through the app.  As part of the process, you can then detail the kind of shots you’re in need of, and can offer some direction tips for smartphone users for things such as the setting, dialogue and character actions.

From the end user perspective, they can then follow these instructions in the creation of their clips, which directors can then edit and include in their final work.  Once the shot has been finished, they can upload it to the app, whilst of course sharing it with friends on their social networks.  They also get five minutes of fame by virtue of appearing in the credits of the film as a crew member.

The app is available for free on both the App Store and Google Play, and turns anyone with a smartphone into a camera operator for projects bigger than they could otherwise complete themselves. Filmmakers also benefit from getting a unique multi-faceted perspective for their movie.

We’ve already seen amateur footage change the news landscape, whilst services such as Crowdsync have changed how music concerts are filmed by crowdsourcing amateur footage from fans in the creation of music videos of gigs.  I believe Film Crew is the first site to attempt a similar thing for making movies however, which makes the project certainly one to follow.

If you’re interested in the project, you can see some examples of the kind of end product produced by this approach here.