The present disclosure is directed to processes for forming or otherwise creating a transparent, conductive film from a heavy hydrocarbon material. It allows for what is often considered to be waste material to be transformed into a useful product, such as a heating element. Such heating elements can be incorporated into many contexts where it can be important to have transparency and/or a thin heating element, such as in windshields. The process involves dissolving a heavy hydrocarbon material in a solvent, casting the heavy hydrocarbon solution that results from the dissolving onto a substrate to form a film, and then annealing the film. The disclosure also provides for objects in which such resulting films can be used, such as Joule heaters.