eVariety – Justin Oppelaar
\n10\/01\/2000<\/p>\n
With all the crowding by online media pundits lately about the impending broadband Internet revolution, you\u2019d think everyone is now hooked up to the fat data pipe, enjoying all sorts of multimedia content at lightning speed. Hardly.<\/p>\n
While \u2018Net monitor Jupiter Communications predicts that over 15 million U.S. homes will have broadband access by 2003, that\u2019s still only a small fraction of all homes wired to the Web. And currently, so few users (only a couple of million) enjoy a fast connection that major media companies are still sorting out how to make broadband content commercially viable. But don\u2019t tell that to the throngs of online entertainment sites that have sprung up over the past year. Much of their content demands levels of bandwidth that most Web surfers won\u2019t have for nearly a decade. But the desire to be a mover in what will eventually be a giant market is so strong, they\u2019re diving in anyway.<\/p>\n
Offering up everything, including short films, animation on demand, interactive multimedia and live radio Webcasts, these sites have inundated surfers with new content, but have spawned only a few breakout hits.<\/p>\n
Among them are MediaTrips.com\u2019s \u201cGeorge Lucas In Love,\u201d a spoof that, when released on VHS, topped Amazon.com\u2019s bestseller list for several weeks. IFilm.com\u2019s \u201c405,\u201d about a commercial jet landing on that famous Los Angeles freeway, has also garnered substantial buzz and recently won its creators, Bruce Branit and Jeremy Hunt, a deal with Creative Artists Agency.<\/p>\n
SONGS AND SHORTS ARE ONE THING, but one online entertainment firm, Pennsylvania-based SightSound.com, has decided to take it to the next level, even as some critics wonder whether there is a next level.<\/p>\n
SightSound\u2019s 32-minute \u201cQuantum Project,\u201d starring Stephen Dorff and John Cleese, cost $3 million, and is available solely via the Web. Customers shell out $3.95 per copy, or slightly more than the average rental fee at a video store.<\/p>\n
For their money, users get the file, which weighs in at 165 megabytes for the high- resolution version, as well as a decryption key needed to make the file viewable.<\/p>\n
Pic was produced by indie house Metafilmics, best known for the expansive (and expensive) 1998 Robin Williams film \u201cWhat Dreams May Come.\u201d Barnet Bain, who co-produced \u201cQuantum\u201d along with Stephen Simon, says he jumped at the chance to leapfrog the Hollywood establishment and pioneer features on the Web.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realized that there was a very brief window of opportunity in which a small independent could be a leader,\u201d Bain says. \u201cWe have a chance to do the equivalent of making \u2018The Jazz Singer\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
To many Hollywood veterans, it may smack of heresy to put the release of \u201cQuantum Project\u201d on par with the first talkie, but \u201cQuantum\u2019s\u201d creators and backers believe the effects on the industry could be equally dramatic.<\/p>\n
Scott Sander, SightSound.com\u2019s CEO, says the film\u2019s biggest impact could be on the realm of traditional movie distribution, especially in light of recent concerns over online piracy via file-sharing utilities like Gnutella and Freenet.<\/p>\n
In fact, the company\u2019s model of distributing the \u201cQuantum\u201d download for free and then selling a digital key to unlock the file is well suited for thwarting piracy on those networks, he contends.<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2018Quantum\u2019 acts just like a vaccine\u201d in file sharing networks, Sander says. \u201cWe are able to take it and (safely) pump it into Gnutella\u2019s file sharing network.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since people who swap and download the file still need the key to open it, the piracy element is effectively defused, he said. That means SightSound.com has already solved a problem to which the film industry is only beginning to awaken, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying they need to change their business practices overnight, but one thing the Internet has taught us is that there are brutal repercussions for waiting,\u201d Sander says. \u201cJust ask the music industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing the film does keep a keen eye on \u2013the gross- is still a well-kept secret for \u201cQuantum Project.\u201d Sander, again citing the IPO quiet period, would only reveal that it has been downloaded in 60 different countries. However, Sightsound recently inked a deal to bundle a free copy of Quantum Project with downloads of Microsoft\u2019s Windows Media Player 7, implying that outright sales may not be as robust as had been hoped.<\/p>\n
But Sander insists that his focus is on a different number. \u201cThe traditional Hollywood way to look at \u201cQuantum\u201d is to say \u2018what did you do on opening weekend?\u201d he said. \u201cHere\u2019s the key number: everybody bought it; nobody stole it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adds Metafilmics\u2019 Stephen Simon, \u201cQuantum\u2019s” co-creator: \u201cI really don\u2019t think this $3 million was extended by SightSound.com with the idea that they\u2019ll get 750,000 people and break even,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was (more) an effort to be a pioneer in a new realm.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s a substantial price to pay for the privilege of being first in a very unproven market \u2013especially when longer-format entertainment isn\u2019t necessarily the best thing to watch online, according to Matt Hulett, chief marketing and online officer at Atom Films.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe short is going to be the preferred medium in an online environment, even after broadband access is widespread,\u201d he says. \u201cWatching movies on a PC, you\u2019re pretty much set up to be distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like to use the \u2018sitting forward versus sitting back’ analogy,\u201d says Gene Klein, content VP for Gotham-based indie film site Reelshort.com. \u201cIf you\u2019re watching a half-hour movie on a PC at your desk, that\u2019s a long time to be sitting forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Beal, CEO of Gotham-based entertainment portal Sputnik7.com, is impressed by the initiative taken by SightSound.com in producing \u201cQuantum,\u201d especially since it takes steps toward upending the traditional Hollywood model for distribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe film business\u2019s distribution channels haven\u2019t really evolved,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been pretty much controlled exclusively by Hollywood.\u201d \u201cQuantum\u201d could have a hand in changing that, he added, but the real test will be whether it becomes popular enough to warrant release on several different distribution channels \u2013the Web included.<\/p>\n
Even as \u201cQuantum Project\u201d is being debated in \u2018Net circles, another filmmaker is laboring to break into the longer-form Web film market on a markedly different path. Los Angeles-based former programing designer Helmut Kobler is fashioning a 23-minute science-fiction film in the California desert on a shooting budget of $80,000.<\/p>\n
Production of the pic, called \u201cRadius,\u201d is being painstakingly documented on Kobler\u2019s Web site, www.makingofmovie.com, for both marketing and interactive education purposes. \u201cWe thought of it as a way to create awareness even before a frame is shot, a la \u2018Blair Witch,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kobler, like Metafilmics\u2019 Simon, is not banking on the possibility that his film will be profitable. Compared to \u201cQuantum,\u201d however, \u201cRadius\u201d is a relatively minuscule financial risk, and the upside in terms of exposure and experience is considerable, he said.<\/p>\n
The director has not yet gotten a distribution partner for \u201cRadius,\u201d but he said he has talked to several Netcasters, including MediaTrip, about a possible deal. The film would be distributed free, perhaps in multiple episodes, with an eye toward a DVD release and potentially a licensing deal thereafter. \u201cI want to be seen in as many places as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Despite the divergence between his strategy and that of SightSound.com, Kobler gives credit to \u201cQuantum Project\u201d for its ambition and pioneering spirit. But he maintains that pay-per-download still needs time for fine tuning and market acceptance before it can become a viable commercial model.<\/p>\n
The original concept of \u201cQuantum\u201d was definitely interesting to me, and it still is,\u201d he said. \u201cBut whenever there\u2019s new territory being explored, there are always going to be some mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
eVariety – Justin Oppelaar 10\/01\/2000 With all the crowding by online media pundits lately about the impending broadband Internet revolution, you\u2019d think everyone is now hooked up to the fat data pipe, enjoying all sorts of multimedia content at lightning speed. Hardly. While \u2018Net monitor Jupiter Communications predicts that over 15 million U.S. homes will … Continue reading ““EXPENSIVE LESSONS””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sightsound.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}