Peter Sinclair: Film producers exploit web

The huge success of Resfest 2000, America's annual touring digital film festival, signposts the way ahead for independent filmmakers — for where the "indies" lead, Hollywood eventually follows.

Inaugurated four years ago, Resfest has grown exponentially — a whopping 1200 submissions this year — as indies bypass the controls, cost structures and sheer inertia of the big studios.

With Sundance becoming more or less part of the movie establishment, shoestring operators with some off-the-shelf software and a bright idea are springing up to fill the void where "traditional" independents have been sucked into the black hole of Miramax and other majors.

Short shorts, long shorts, features, animation, live-action — Resfest philosophy is to move it and shoot it.

In this context one must again mention the runaway success of 405, the three-minute net movie which cost next to nothing and is now probably the most viewed short of all time. Bruce Branit and Jeremy Hunt used only a digital camera and a pair of computers to create a minimalist fantasy in which a DC-10 suddenly shows up in the rear-vision mirror of some guy tooling along the freeway. The pair are now being mobbed by moguls.

Others are choosing Macromedia's vector-based, low-bandwidth Flash, the web's hottest animation format, which translates well to the big screen.

And with last week's release of Microsoft's Windows Me featuring among other goodies new ultra-cool, multi-media editing capabilities — compress up to 23 hours of video in 1Gb — budding Eisensteins have a powerful and affordable new way to go.

The software automatically breaks lengthy video sequences into manageable bite-sized clips for easier editing and enables many of the tricks of the movie-maker's trade: cross-fades, stills, background music, voiceover — a simple but professional movie-studio for the home user showcased in an elegant and intuitive interface.

What's happening locally? I clicked to the New Zealand Film Commission's site to find out.

Digitally, it would seem, not a lot; although the site is a hive of more traditional activity. You'll enjoy its beautifully constructed assemblage of links and video-streams.

So I rang Caterina De Nave, once my boss as TVNZ's head of entertainment and recently appointed TV3's head of drama and comedy. Her most recent movie, Channelling Baby, is among those linked to the commission's home-page.

"One of the first things a clever producer does these days is set up a website," she said, but her response to digital movie-making is a resounding "Hmmm..."

Her immediate query: "Yes, but how do you make any money?" — there's none of your airy-fairy, art-for-art's-sake nonsense about Caterina.

I pointed out that the makers of 405 had done rather well out of the web, as had Stephen King with his serialised The Plant, and she eventually conceded that the digital format might be ideal for local moviemakers in search of a global breakthrough on a tiny budget — exactly what Bill Gates was saying in Sydney last week.

Would she consider going digital herself? "Come up with a bright idea..." she said.

Don't rush me, Caterina, I'm trying to think ...

Links:

Resfest 2000

Sundance Institute

Miramax

405 - the movie

Macromedia's Flash

Windows Me

NZ Film Commission

Channelling Baby


petersinclair@email.com