Internet: portal to indie film?
Posted in
Film on Mar 09, 2006 at 7:16 PM
Recently, I’ve been researching websites dedicated to promoting or
showcasing independent films.
While there seems to be some disagreement about what constitutes an
independent film, it is generally regarded as a film initially produced without
financing or distribution from a major movie studio. In the US, the “Big Six”
major movie studios are 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony Pictures,
NBC/Universal, Warner Bros., and Buena Vista Motion Pictures. Furthermore, each
of these consist of multitudes of smaller studios, such Dreamworks under
Paramount pictures, Miramax under Buena Vista, etc. Interestingly, many of the
major umbrella studios also have smaller studios dedicated to making smaller
budget films, including Warner Independent Pictures, Focus features, and
Paramount Classics. Still, as you can imagine, there is a quite a range for
what qualifies as an indie film, anything from a multimillion full-length,
privately funded picture to a backyard film shot with a handheld.
Like for independent music artists, the internet seems to provide an
ideal medium for amateur or non-traditional filmmakers to produce films that
might never be picked up by major motion picture studios. And with video moving
to digital, it seems almost anyone with a good idea, enough drive, and a
camcorder can be on his or her way to the big screen. Is Hollywood defunct?
There is a growing
sentiment that a limitless and egalitarian internet may be the perfect match
for popularizing innovative, edgy, and insightful films that many larger
studios pass up for sequels, Bruckheimer action flicks, and, god forbid,
Cheaper by the Dozen 3. The notion that the internet will be the equalizer in a
constant struggle between David and Goliath, between the fledgling auteur and
the powerful movie exec may be more naïve than it initially appears. Mark
Holcomb wrote a very interesting article about how the net poses as many
problems as the studio system does for beginning filmmakers. In particular, he
points out that present internet film sites seem to merely “mimic the values
their Hollywood brethren – and, increasingly, rely on industry capital and
cachet to survive” (http://www.mediachannel.org/originals/fauxindie.shtml).
I invite you to read his
article and consider his points. In future posts, I hope to explore this issue
in more depth and understand how the industry model is quickly changing in
response to new opportunities. Obviously, the movie industry is not blind to
the incredible potential that the internet holds as an apparatus for
distribution. More likely than not, they will figure out methods to capitalize
on emerging mediums and use them to their benefit. I think the more important
question is not whether the movie industry will continue to make money (they
will), it is whether the internet will provide a way to watch a greater array
of diverse, creative, and thought-provoking films that seem to be in short
supply in a currently bloated and risk-averse Hollywood system.
