Short FIlms/Animation
Christina Curtis
"Some day everyone will watch movies this way." At least,
that’s what Movieflix.com claims every time you watch one of the hundreds of films
they have available, free of charge. All you need is a really fast connection, a good
computer, and some sort of video player, preferably the latest edition of Real Player,
Windows Media, or QuickTime, and a little Shockwave never hurt anyone. Of course,
Movieflix is just one of many online movie sites, of which there are more than I would
ever care to count. It must be stated at this point that a vast majority of the movies
– shorts, webisodes, animation, and full-length films – suck, to put it simply,
and should be avoided at all costs unless you want to feel two hours stupider, in which
case knock yourself out. This once again goes to prove that indie doesn’t always mean
good.
To be honest, the history of online movies isn’t extremely
complex. It is, more or less, the history of film, from Charlie Chaplin to the golden days
of cinema to Sylvester Stallone trying really hard to be taken seriously as an actor.
Simply it is a matter of transferring an already existing medium onto a much more
accessible database. Accessibility, in fact, seems to be the key. All but the most
pretentious sites are free, relying instead on the age-old method of tedious advertising
and submission fees. Most sites will accept just about any movie, for a small fee, of
course, and most filmmakers happily do so in the hopes of being discovered by the real
moneymakers. Ifilm.com promises such a glorious occasion:
There is no more efficient, cost-effective way to get your film seen
than by submitting it to IFILM. We've struck a number of online and offline distribution
deals that provide our filmmakers with options for getting your films onto other Websites,
as well as onto DVD's and television and into movie theaters.
Come one, come all directors, scriptwriters, and dorks with cameras,
they seem to say, we are the yellow brick road to fame and fortune.
If I’m a little sarcastic, I do apologize. This does, however,
bring us to the question all filmmakers, and indeed movie buffs, are itching to ask. Is
online publication the future resting-place of the movie or is it, as its current
conception would suggest, merely a stepping-stone from indie creativity to mainstream
money? I hesitate to use phrases like "indie creativity" for the simple reason
that there is no such thing as guaranteed quality; mainstream success does not necessarily
require narrative whoredom any more than indie status automatically entails true artistry.
The obsession with subversion gets a little old after a while, however, I am not answering
the question -- nor do I intend to. As technology improves, and accessibility becomes
more, dare I say, mainstream, who knows what can happen. Who, for that matter, really
cares? Watch whatever you want in whatever form(s) you choose to watch it – online,
offline, doing lines if you so desire. All that matters is that you have fun, waste a
little time, and hopefully avoid learning anything in the process.
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