4 ms·

Hi Daniel- I guess what my argument comes down to is this: if I were an indie director, given the choice, I would prefer to get my movies seen by more people,

by d4ft 17y ago

Hi Daniel- I guess what my argument comes down to is this: if I were an indie director, given the choice, I would prefer to get my movies seen by more people, and make less money (at least in the beginning), than set a price and make people pay, which will inevitably decrease viewings. I think the best way to accomplish the former, would be to put it on youtube and promote it. Yes, casual browsers would be lost. But, with the pay-per-view model, we are not getting too many casual browsers anyway, since they have to pay. So, perhaps the best way to do such a thing would be to have a youtube for indie movies and just let them be free. Further, I also see problems with the distribution model. If we store these movies in the cloud, you need internet to watch them. That kind of sucks. If you store them locally, they take up a ton of space. That also sucks. If we can delete them after we watch and then download them later, that still necessitates an internet connection, and kind of sucks anyway. As a final note, I guess I haven't convinced myself either way, so thanks for playing along.

j_baker 17y ago
More people != a good movie. I think a director is more likely to want a way to direct their movie at the audience it's intended for more than anything else.
- chrischen 17y ago
  Exposure to more people increases the chances of someone interested seeing it. So unless your movie is a sex tape, I'd say it's desirable to have it seem by as many people as you can, as long as the cost isn't too much to distribute it for free.
chrischen 17y ago
Let me clarify a few things: a) this is a DRM-free digital downloads platform. When I said "store in the clouds," I meant that additionally they are stored on our servers so you can re-download them. b) Your point about giving away films for free is actually what indie filmmakers are saying. The person I consulted with specifically asked if I could let people pay what they want, and I've heard filmmakers on the internet talk about giving away films for free for exposure. This is also an example of the nuances to distributing online that I was talking about, that I will try to resolve for indie filmmakers. So on the platform, you can set your price to free if you wish. And one of the other features we want to offer is cross-upload (of trailers and promotional material) to Youtube/video sites. This way your film will get exposure to Youtube's userbase, but you retain all control of the full length film on our site.
DanielBMarkham 17y ago
Yeah I haven't convinced myself either, just trying to work through the idea in my head :) There are a lot of problems with definitions and such. What's an Indie movie? Is it different than the usual YouTube amateur dreck? Who is really the customer, the watchers or the producers? How does reputation, goal-seeking, and game mechanics fit into the usage model? Why would I come back to the site? What kinds of real-world strategies are going to get you around (and make you attractive as a pickup for) big-time distributors? What are the distributors afraid of? What can't they master? Lots of loose ends. I love movies, and I'd love to see some good Indies, but the signal-to-noise ratio would have to be abnormally high for me to be a regular participant. Videos, shorts, and movies are a much different art form than, say, music or blogging. It's a neat overall idea. Like everything else, though, the devil is in the details.
- chrischen 17y ago
  Let me define what an indie in my scenario is: any one/group trying to distribute video content he/she/they created without the aide of a third-party distributor, whether it may be a direct-to-dvd company, or Twentieth Century Fox. Now the main target of this service, at least initially, is to find an audience for and distribute the films that a) can't find even a direct-to-dvd distributor let alone Fox b) have found a direct-to-dvd type distributor but have found it unfulfilling/unsuccessful Like I've said before, I believe the internet will allow films to find audiences they may not have if it only went to DVD or on Netflix, or Blockbuster online. For this reason initially we want to target the low end of content on the quality spectrum, charge them to try to distribute their films using our platform online, and go from there. So their goals may not be to get picked up by a big time distributor. Our goal is to simply let them get some sort of return, or exposure, for their film (or web series). One of the directors I'm consulting with had found a distributor, but has decided that looking back he would have self-distributed. He still has the internet download rights to his film so he is planning to use the service when it goes live. If you have any specific concerns, please ask so I can alleviate your concerns, or revise my ideas. I've thought this over a lot and am perfectly comfortable revealing my secrets.
  - DanielBMarkham 17y ago

by d4ft 17y ago

j_baker 17y ago

More people != a good movie. I think a director is more likely to want a way to direct their movie at the audience it's intended for more than anything else.

chrischen 17y ago
Exposure to more people increases the chances of someone interested seeing it. So unless your movie is a sex tape, I'd say it's desirable to have it seem by as many people as you can, as long as the cost isn't too much to distribute it for free.

chrischen 17y ago

Let me clarify a few things: a) this is a DRM-free digital downloads platform. When I said "store in the clouds," I meant that additionally they are stored on our servers so you can re-download them. b) Your point about giving away films for free is actually what indie filmmakers are saying. The person I consulted with specifically asked if I could let people pay what they want, and I've heard filmmakers on the internet talk about giving away films for free for exposure. This is also an example of the nuances to distributing online that I was talking about, that I will try to resolve for indie filmmakers. So on the platform, you can set your price to free if you wish. And one of the other features we want to offer is cross-upload (of trailers and promotional material) to Youtube/video sites. This way your film will get exposure to Youtube's userbase, but you retain all control of the full length film on our site.

DanielBMarkham 17y ago

Yeah I haven't convinced myself either, just trying to work through the idea in my head :) There are a lot of problems with definitions and such. What's an Indie movie? Is it different than the usual YouTube amateur dreck? Who is really the customer, the watchers or the producers? How does reputation, goal-seeking, and game mechanics fit into the usage model? Why would I come back to the site? What kinds of real-world strategies are going to get you around (and make you attractive as a pickup for) big-time distributors? What are the distributors afraid of? What can't they master? Lots of loose ends. I love movies, and I'd love to see some good Indies, but the signal-to-noise ratio would have to be abnormally high for me to be a regular participant. Videos, shorts, and movies are a much different art form than, say, music or blogging. It's a neat overall idea. Like everything else, though, the devil is in the details.

chrischen 17y ago
Let me define what an indie in my scenario is: any one/group trying to distribute video content he/she/they created without the aide of a third-party distributor, whether it may be a direct-to-dvd company, or Twentieth Century Fox. Now the main target of this service, at least initially, is to find an audience for and distribute the films that a) can't find even a direct-to-dvd distributor let alone Fox b) have found a direct-to-dvd type distributor but have found it unfulfilling/unsuccessful Like I've said before, I believe the internet will allow films to find audiences they may not have if it only went to DVD or on Netflix, or Blockbuster online. For this reason initially we want to target the low end of content on the quality spectrum, charge them to try to distribute their films using our platform online, and go from there. So their goals may not be to get picked up by a big time distributor. Our goal is to simply let them get some sort of return, or exposure, for their film (or web series). One of the directors I'm consulting with had found a distributor, but has decided that looking back he would have self-distributed. He still has the internet download rights to his film so he is planning to use the service when it goes live. If you have any specific concerns, please ask so I can alleviate your concerns, or revise my ideas. I've thought this over a lot and am perfectly comfortable revealing my secrets.
- DanielBMarkham 17y ago