tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post5593757533440905067..comments2023-09-16T07:19:12.058-04:00Comments on John Oak Dalton: Grassroots DV is Dead; Long Live Grassroots DVJohn Oak Daltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07831008101574718560noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-28554262865322633452008-08-05T13:36:00.000-04:002008-08-05T13:36:00.000-04:00yeah, we're swimming in a sea of video. yeah, lots...yeah, we're swimming in a sea of video. yeah, lots of people are trying to make their own movies. thing is, it's still an art. no matter what, there are certain things about filmmaking that are inescapable. not everyone is going to know how to shoot, light and edit in a cinematic way. sure, we're flooded with video content, but what about GOOD MOVIES? those are still rare and not everyone can make 'em, no matter how expensive their gear is.<BR/><BR/>what i'm seeing now doesn't make me hopeless, or cynical, or jaded. it inspires me. nowadays, it is common for me to rent a DVD from netflix that looks absolutely horrible. and i think, i KNOW, i can do better than that. there's more opportunity now than there ever was.gOnZoRiFFiChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08236748506041628271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-18023828960275324632008-07-27T21:31:00.000-04:002008-07-27T21:31:00.000-04:00Well, MCS would have gone dark a year before if Ch...Well, MCS would have gone dark a year before if Chris hadn't taken it over. It was too hard to carry it all more or less on my back. But again one person or just two or three people can't carry the whole load. More people have to give to make it bigger, rather than just post about their own work or ask for reviews of their own things. The whole community has dimmed, and its not on one person.<BR/><BR/>A word about reviewing: sending a DVD anyplace--Fangoria Magazine, Joe Bob Briggs, the New Yorker--doesn't guarantee a review from anyone. <BR/><BR/>At its height on MCS I was getting three to five DVDs a week. At one point I had more than fifty DVDs stacked up. I tried to watch them steadily but also had a day job and family. Still, I have written more than 200 reviews for the site. I don't know many people, if anyone, who has watched and posted on so many microcinema projects (right now I am the #1 contributor to the micro wiki at ReWind Video). <BR/><BR/>Most people were pretty cool but sometimes you get people who would send you a DVD on Friday and expect the review to be posted Monday morning.<BR/><BR/>Somebody told me that the 80/20 review doesn't apply to the net; that it's really like two percent of the people are making 98 percent of the content on the web. I think that might be true. Like I've said, content is a hungry beast.John Oak Daltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07831008101574718560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-89854512813798139662008-07-27T00:16:00.000-04:002008-07-27T00:16:00.000-04:00Just a word about Microcinema Scene: it not less a...Just a word about Microcinema Scene: it not less active than it used to be, it is dead. <BR/><BR/>Why? Because it became little more than Chris Sharpe's website of self promotion. Since last summer, when "Sex Machine" got its release, the site simply stopped serving micro-budget filmmakers. DVDs sent in, reviews never written - it became a total joke.<BR/><BR/>And word travels quickly.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-91291089580192207002008-07-26T22:50:00.000-04:002008-07-26T22:50:00.000-04:00All,A lot of food for thought here, thanks.JODAll,<BR/><BR/>A lot of food for thought here, thanks.<BR/><BR/>JODJohn Oak Daltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07831008101574718560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-76616402308698106972008-07-17T09:03:00.000-04:002008-07-17T09:03:00.000-04:00All of you are right, and John your right about ...All of you are right, and John your right about Your assessment about the Microcinema adopters moving on to family and responsibilities and the new people are in the youtube, facebook, myspace world of virtual community is right on the money as Pete pointed out.<BR/><BR/>I've beeen trying to get people of like mindedness together for sometime, but failed. Now it's all about the short attention span theater as I like to call it. The web has done that, and a lot of the movies I do see are as amir says "Scattered and uninspired...."<BR/><BR/>I've been a bit conflicted about whether to dissolve my company or not. I have a strong feeling I want to continue, but maybe the old way of doing business just doesn't make sense. I still like the notion of a band of filmmakers banding together to work on each others films like the new wave did, but I find it hard to find talent that agrees with me. Everyone is doing their own thing, and pulling in a million different directions, and the web is about the here and now.<BR/><BR/>Of course I'm one of those filmmakers as Pete has said that has a family and responsibilities now, but my love for film still burns, so hence the conflict.<BR/><BR/>I agree with Jon that "People are still making DV movies, and 97% of them still suck". I agree that maybe the 3% Jon speaks of will break through, but only through the honest encouragement of others will we improve.<BR/><BR/>Great insight guys.Karlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11072970288106121168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-82709313546662298472008-07-15T22:03:00.000-04:002008-07-15T22:03:00.000-04:00well John, i will soon reveal my addendum to all t...well John, i will soon reveal my addendum to all this internet stuff by releasing a sketch piece film, for a critical look at how people view media now.....<BR/><BR/>This was a fiction i was working on last year, told in a youtube type doc format.<BR/><BR/>I will most likely offer it for free and cut it in pieces as a sort of grand experiment.<BR/><BR/>My feature film "whale", which is a no budget feature has taken me over two years because of its importance to me. <BR/><BR/>But this film is quite the opposite and will be cut on the cusp, as if it fits more with the current crop of filmmaking.<BR/><BR/>I am curious which will be seen more?<BR/><BR/>This will be my experiment into complete indulgence, as a critical look into it, since it seems like all these microfilms are self-absorbed pieces cloaked as something else, without even being critical, social, political, aesthitic or even true Slices of Life. <BR/><BR/>I don't mean all of course, and i hate to generalize but...<BR/><BR/>we shall see. <BR/><BR/>Best<BR/>AMAmir Motlaghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05345452116261877111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-55680541131576888522008-07-15T19:48:00.000-04:002008-07-15T19:48:00.000-04:00'Scattered and uninspired....'Ain't that the truth...'Scattered and uninspired....'<BR/><BR/>Ain't that the truth Amir. <BR/>Back when Wally and I started Rewindvideo, we saw a distinct need for a sense of community amonst us would-be auteurs. And at the time I guess there was a need, because the site flourished, and things were good. But things change, and the eventual disappation of that community I think was a natural outcome. The filmmakers grow up as John noted, some move on, some move out. Different people have different ideas on how such a community should operate, and so you get more websites. And then the mega-community sites like Facebook take over, the mega-video sites like YouTube take over. It's not a bad thing, it's just the way the web grows. And here we are. Rewind lived out it's purpose, so I reformatted it to have some lasting albeit passive function, putting it out to pasture so to speak.<BR/><BR/>But is grassroots DV dead? No. The means by which we used to distribute and promote - that's dead.<BR/><BR/>People are still making DV movies, and 97% of them still suck. We continue to keep our eye out for the 3%, and until then we try to encourage one another to improve.<BR/><BR/>And DV life goes on, at least in our own little circles.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-31353837566141446272008-07-15T17:19:00.000-04:002008-07-15T17:19:00.000-04:00Its a world full of sketches now, "sketch filmmaki...Its a world full of sketches now, "sketch filmmaking".....The web has become a popularity contest.<BR/><BR/>These micro movies being put fourth these days is more about keeping yourself into the public sphere, quantity over quality.<BR/><BR/>Scattered and uninspired....Amir Motlaghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05345452116261877111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-26463224137747413382008-07-15T12:32:00.000-04:002008-07-15T12:32:00.000-04:00This is a very volatile time in the small budget f...This is a very volatile time in the small budget film world. Your assessment about the Microcinema adopters moving on to family and responsibilities and the new people are in the youtube, facebook, myspace world of virtual community is right on the money.<BR/><BR/>I too feel that the older I get the younger the fellow filmmakers seem to be. <BR/><BR/>What is more amazing is that studies have shown that the lifespan of a video released on the web is three weeks, but the peak visits being on the third day (unless it becomes viral). My release of Club God fits that mode exactly. Every site that I have it posted peaked at day three. There are still a few stragglers, but the rush is over in a hurry.<BR/><BR/>I recently started Sonlight Pictures and I find it hard to keep up in this new paradigm. Having a website and a blog and multiple youtube-ish websites and facebook, etc., etc. I'm having to replicate the same information on five different websites just to try and rise above the massive internet noise.<BR/><BR/>I can't wait until the market figures out a way to monetize it all, because it costs money to make films. It always will. The expectation is that people can watch it for free. That model will fail every time. <BR/><BR/>When they finally figure it out, then, I'm hoping, the process of getting something out there will be simplified and more efficient.<BR/><BR/>As for the question if you should continue writing and such, well, I guess that all depends on whether you feel if you still have something to say, or whether you still have the creative itch to scratch. <BR/><BR/>Love the post. My thoughts exactly. We're about the same age with kids about the same age so I'm with ya on it 100%.Pete Bauerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11906198705434157486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700163.post-81279772439348511232008-07-15T11:27:00.000-04:002008-07-15T11:27:00.000-04:00Nice!Have you ever seen "The Tape" with Ethan Hawk...Nice!<BR/><BR/>Have you ever seen "The Tape" with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman? It's a low-budget indie film (an hour long?) -- the entire film is shot inside a motel room. But it's really well done.<BR/><BR/>M. Night Shyalaman's early movies have similarly showed that you don't need special effects to have a good film -- just good acting and good mise en scene.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02907462646559254985noreply@blogger.com