The Digital Frontier

The above picture is of Ben Rekhi, who is the director & writer of a film called "Waterborne". It is the first feature google video is putting up on their web site for downloads of his movie. Rekhi is one of the first filmmakers to be doing this, and most likely he won't be the last. Alternative distribution for films and shorts are cropping up everyday. Technology is out pacing outmoded distribution outlets via the introduction of the i-pod, and the PS2 players. In "Waterborne", a film about a terrorist attack on LA's water supply, filmmaker Rekhi has bypassed traditional media distribution, and has put more of the power of distribution in his own hands. For awhile "Waterborne" was available for free as a downloadable movie at google's new site. It is now available as a download for $3.99, and will be released on DVD through MTI video in late February. Earlier this month Steven Soderbergh released his film "Bubble" in select theaters, and as a digital download at the same time, but then again that's old news covered elsewhere in this blog. You can also find an interview of Ben Rekhi at Etopia media, and find out how and why he went the way he did.

I'm personal excited about this new way of doing business. I myself am looking into this for my film, and seeing if a small time video producer like myself can distribute this way. Of course when posted one needs to generate traffic, and how does one compete with all the traffic the Internet brings to everyone. Is there an audience for a dark neo-noir like "Deadly Obsessions"?, and if so how do I draw them to the web site. All good questions which have answers, but my first hurtle is to get it on-line, and then draw people in. That's if there is interest. Remember folks it's all about the market place, and you live or die by that market place.

I wanted to make "Deadly Obsessions" because I wanted to prove to myself and others that it could be done. Getting it completed was a tough chore, and one I'm proud of. The next thing is selling the film, which is a much harder thing to do. I should be happy that there may be a possible market out there for this type of film. It's just I need to find my audience, and finding them and getting the message across is difficult, but not impossible. So for you doubters out there I have only one thing to say and that is "watch me". Hopefully another by-product of this endeavor is to connect with other like minded film-makers. If it only does that I'd be happy, and I've already started the process, so let's hope there's a movement on that front. Sometimes this business can be so competitive, and it plays one film-maker against another. Hopefully this alternative way of distributing ones film will empower filmmakers to ban together, and create better films. We'll nolonger be subservient to Hollywood distributors, but only to OUR audiences, who in the long run make us successful artists.