Great article by Mike Curtis at the ProVideoCoalition.
Be sure to read not just the article but also the comments. The first comment is nearly as long as the article...
For me, I'll just keep saying what I've been saying for more than three years: the future of indie filmmaking distribution is Direct-to-DVD and Direct-to-Download (for pay).
The latter is rapidly coming into its own thanks to AppleTV and Netflix boxes, etc. Basically it's getting easy for regular non-geek consumers to pull feature film length content to your living room TV, as opposed to your home office computer.
Of course it will take bandwidth, but the phone companies are seeking more ways to compete with cable. Cable is "stealing" phone customers from them, so they wouldn't mind stealing movie channel subscribers from the cable companies. Verizon's FIOS is now just upgrading their top speed from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps, and early reviews of FIOS indicate that the picture is significantly better than cable or satellite.
A TV channel for ATSC HD often gets 12 Mbps bandwidth (because the station wants to use the rest for additional channels). At 12 Mbps, 99.5% of the original HD signal has been removed. Cable and satellite are continually adding more channels, this is done by squeezing the bandwidth for each channel.
After cutting 99.5%, the picture still looks fairly good. After cutting 99.75%, only half as much picture information remains, and that shows to the point where some viewers start looking for alternatives.
The idea to seek theater distribution is becoming more and more futile for most filmmakers. And why not? Why seek it if you can't make money on it (or you can't get some production funding from a distributor)?
To many filmmakers, I think it is just a desire to see their names on a marquee, with a feeling that they've finally "made it." But this is not a business model.
If instead you just want as many people as possible to see your production, well that's another story. It's becoming easier through the paths I outlined above.
I also see specialty theaters using DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) DCP projection making it easier for some filmmakers to 'four-wall" in multiple cities together with a strong word-of-mouth marketing campaign.
DCI conversion has been really expensive ($20,000 for a feature film), but there is now a $699 plug-in for FCS that does the job, including even encryption.
Be sure to read not just the article but also the comments. The first comment is nearly as long as the article...
For me, I'll just keep saying what I've been saying for more than three years: the future of indie filmmaking distribution is Direct-to-DVD and Direct-to-Download (for pay).
The latter is rapidly coming into its own thanks to AppleTV and Netflix boxes, etc. Basically it's getting easy for regular non-geek consumers to pull feature film length content to your living room TV, as opposed to your home office computer.
Of course it will take bandwidth, but the phone companies are seeking more ways to compete with cable. Cable is "stealing" phone customers from them, so they wouldn't mind stealing movie channel subscribers from the cable companies. Verizon's FIOS is now just upgrading their top speed from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps, and early reviews of FIOS indicate that the picture is significantly better than cable or satellite.
A TV channel for ATSC HD often gets 12 Mbps bandwidth (because the station wants to use the rest for additional channels). At 12 Mbps, 99.5% of the original HD signal has been removed. Cable and satellite are continually adding more channels, this is done by squeezing the bandwidth for each channel.
After cutting 99.5%, the picture still looks fairly good. After cutting 99.75%, only half as much picture information remains, and that shows to the point where some viewers start looking for alternatives.
The idea to seek theater distribution is becoming more and more futile for most filmmakers. And why not? Why seek it if you can't make money on it (or you can't get some production funding from a distributor)?
To many filmmakers, I think it is just a desire to see their names on a marquee, with a feeling that they've finally "made it." But this is not a business model.
If instead you just want as many people as possible to see your production, well that's another story. It's becoming easier through the paths I outlined above.
I also see specialty theaters using DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) DCP projection making it easier for some filmmakers to 'four-wall" in multiple cities together with a strong word-of-mouth marketing campaign.
DCI conversion has been really expensive ($20,000 for a feature film), but there is now a $699 plug-in for FCS that does the job, including even encryption.