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If you missed the video, you can find it on Usenet, via BitTorrent and YouTube on the web. It is also being repeated on Al Jazeera several times.

Makes me wonder whether it’s the best time for me to put myself out there?

- Original air date: Saturday, June 14, 2008
- Channel: Al Jazeera (English)

Al Jazeera is available on satellite and online via Zattoo

They should take a lesson from the much hyped, and quickly ceased, 3G broadcasting idea from years ago. The main reason for it failing was that people really didn’t much appreciate the idea of ruining their eye sight by staring at something the size of a post-it note (in the best cases).

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DVB-H is the same thing but for free (like 3UK tried after there were no takers). Unless you can plug-in some kind of 3D goggles or have a projector, it won’t fly. Even on an iPhone or similar sized device, it’s not much fun. It will be a novelty at best and a complete waste of marketing euros in the worst case.

The future really is bright, if not with a slight orange glow. Want to play the latest game? Watch the latest movie? Listen to the coolest tracks? But are too fat to nip down to the shops? Fear not, just download it straight to your computer and save more than calories! But then there’s the catch…

All but a very few of those brave new online download retailers offer their goods to non-USA citizens. iTunes music store being one thorn in my eye. But there are others. Check out the all new BitTorrent.com site, now with fancy music and video downloads. But it’s for USA folk only

I understand it’s because of rights issues and licensing. To be honest I think it’s because US companies simply don’t care too much for markets outside their homeland. To be fair, there are new download services – like musicload.de in Germany for example – outside the US of A but they only carry crappy old content and it always lacks the original language or quality.

While we are on the topic of downloading legal content (for a change), what’s up with the whole numbers anyway? AACS used stupid software to protect their goods, serves them right. It’s comparable to a careless shop owner who sleeps at his desk only to discover people freeloading on his merchandise, and complaining about it. How do you want to sue over 700,000 16 year old PFY’s across the world?

Until those large corporations realize that they are about 100 years behind the times and that we live in a truly global village, i doubt that people will stop damaging their bottom lines (no pun intended).

When I was little I instinctively knew what I had to do and whether it was right or wrong. Even growing into adulthood I kept this child-like attitude and naiveté, and it was good because although it got me into a lot of trouble it made me go further then I normally would have. Be free to dream and just go on trying to live that dream.

Then something changed. I could bore you with details but the back-story shall be reserved for those who venture into my path

Reading Anmol’s post changed something small and although I could feel the tickles, I didn’t know what would happen. While surfing, looking for certain pictures to entertain a slow weekday evening, I came across something that turned out to be something more than I bargained for.

That’s when I found Toxy (aka Val) a model, artist and entrepreneur from Canada. She’s a character, a “type” of person that interests me because she’s doing something I’m not but aspire to do. She’s living her dreams. She’s re-creating the images in her head with the help of her photographer and videographer friends like Imunme.

The best word I find to describe her art is “noire”. Like film noire or those really dark and artsy horror / splatter films (think Sin City or Dark City, Pi, …). Nothing too abstract but playing on the borderline. Pushing it a little further, sometimes perhaps crossing it. The emotion the light and images produce have touched another trigger in me. Made me remember that I actually love this stuff and aspire to turn those fantastic themes in my head into something I can communicate to others.

Here I am, typing away at 3am on a Friday night after spending the last three hours watching “heroes“! It’s another trigger. Not that I want to be heroic, in fact I hardly know how to spell that. But it’s sci-fi’esque, comic art with a touch of this “noire”. Call me unhappy, frustrated or bitter. But I really think this big camera sitting on my floor should be put to better use than filming ice hockey and motor racing (albeit much enjoyed).

Am I feeling stuck in a (day) job that doesn’t make me go anywhere?
Yes

Am I unhappy being in a place surrounded by people and a culture I cannot relate to?
Yes

Am I sad for having lost¹ someone who I called the love of my life?
You bet

Can you relate to this?

I think it’s time for me to stop playing all those “movies” in my head and get the hell out there and start living my life again! So who wants to come creating with me?

BTW Jens called after a long time again. Another button pressed and in due time… . I wonder what will happen next.

1 – No, she’s not dead! We just mutually agreed that long distance doesn’t work for us…
Photo copyrighted by Imunme / Toxy

The big players believe in set-top boxes and video stores online. There are already a lot out there and so far my experience with them has been a bit of a let down. Think of an online video store where you can rent movies and series (i.e. Discovery Channel) at extraordinary prices. I bet it won’t be long before they ask us to coffer up for “Pimp My Ride”! Some of the online retailers work with Windows Media Center but the experience is cumbersome and it’s too expensive to use for more than perhaps the odd movie on the weekend.

So what does the other side look like?

Joost has a sleek interface which takes a little getting used too but it’s remarkably fast! Video quality is also very good considering it starts almost quicker than a YouTube clip but can be viewed in full screen on your TV. The only two things missing are remote control support (so it can be a true TV / cable box replacement) and content I want to watch.

The latter is quite an important point since no matter how good the technical side, without content I want to watch it’s no use to me. So who is going to provide it? Joost is looking to sign up more TV content from people like Endemol (Big Brother, game shows, reality TV..) and you. You read that right, you. If you happen to sit on a bunch of broadcast quality goods and need an audience, get in touch with them.

However, unless I can watch my favorite shows – like Lost, 24, BSG, Scrubs.. – I’m not going to be using it much. What’s the best solution for people like me then? Simple, if you are outside the USA or UK stick to RSS feeds for your Torrents. It’s not the preferred way, and I would be more than happy to either endure some Ads or even pay for a season ticket, but until there’s something useful out there that’s the only way.

Or is it? Thank god for iTunes and their season tickets! Oh wait, that’s for folks in the USA only (again)

So what are you gonna do?

To cut a long and interesting story short, people will be able to enjoy high quality TV content on their computers using established P2P technologies (like those of Kazaa, Limewire, etc and Skype) where users interconnect to share data quickly. Joost, as the project is now officially known, has already got backing from two major TV players in Endemol (producers of “Who wants to be a millionaire”, “Big Brother” and most of the shows on TV these days) as well as Warner Music.

I suggest you read more about it on their blog or on The Register. Also, why not give it a whirl to see it for yourself and register as a beta-tester? If you are a content producer it might be a good idea to talk to them now while they are still in beta and are looking for fresh new content too! Enjoy… .

Links:
- Joost Blog
- The Register article on Joost
- DV Guru post on Joost

He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary by helicopter where he remained in critical yet stable condition for a couple of days. Richard, or “Hamster” as he’s known to his fans, is making good recovery although he suffered severe brain injuries.

Top Gear is well known for it’s obession with cars and speed, crazy stunts and political in-correctness. For the first time something really bad happens and people start slagging the show off. Although everybody knows not to try what Top Gear does at home, people are calling for more restraint and even for the show to be taken off the air. The shows producers and talents know the risks and they love it. We all watch the show because they dare doing and saying things we would like to do ourselves but can’t. In my opinion it would be a grave loss if the show were to be cancelled and if I were a man of faith, I’d pray that Richard is going to be OK. I’m not, though my best wishes go out to him and his friends and family. If he or Top Gear were to go, I’d be more than sad.

Sources:

• BBC News Story
• Top Gear Website
• Richard Hammond IMDB Profil

If you haven’t heard of free running or David Belle, go check it out. If you want to watch a good non-Hollywood action flick go watch District 13. It’s dubbed (original is french) but it’s a good one. My only critique is that although I really liked David Belle in the lead role, I was left wanting more of the trademark free running action and a better soundtrack for those scenes they actually run around.

[photopress:d13_poster.jpg,thumb,left][photopress:David_Belle.jpg,thumb,left]

BBC Trailer with David Belle and a really nice soundtrack:

District 13 trailer:

I emailed James Longley who produced and directed the picture, to ask him when I would be able to see it. Iraq in Fragments goes on nationwide theatrical release in November 2006 with TV and DVD to follow shortly after. James is hopeful that distribution might even reach our side of the Atlantic and might even be made available online.

I hope James find a distribution partner and decides to put it up for download (paid of course) on iTunes or (for us non-US users) as Bit Torrent. If you are interested in seeing the film in your country, or in a particular theatre in the US, I strongly suggest you drop James and email and let him know

Link: http://www.iraqinfragments.com/

Currently there are 12 TV channels to choose from and you get a free decoder to uncompress the WMV files for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Files are only available as WMV but DivX is in the pipeline also.

The book is about Swofford’s life and how he became to be a marine, and stuck in the suck of a pre-Desert Storm conflict. If you are interested in military history or want to know what life as a soldier marine is really like, this book is for you! Many a reader and viewer comment on the foul language, absence of action and general lack of excitement. Well, that’s life for you. Like with filmmaking, you sit around for ages to suddenly spring to action for a very short while and wonder whether the years of perparation, training and boredom are really worth it.

Foul language is common amongst military personell, especially the common folk make good use of it. What language would you choose if you had to through hell during training, face incredible boring periods that is the daily grind and then get your ass shot off because some politician says you should to save a family you rather forgot about, then the absence of etiquette is understandable and even required. I have yet to watch the movie adaptation of the book though and am looking forward to it. If you have seen the movie or just read the book, I am very much looking forward to hearing your comments. Fire away

If you are interested in the evolution of independent broadcasting on the Internet or want to find out more about this new trend, then I strongly suggest you visit these fine sites:

Video Blogging Links:

• Akimbo – Subscribe to several vlogs, in addition to its other video-on-demand programs
• VloggerCon – Video Blogger conference in New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles
• Y! Video Blogging Group
• VlogDir – Video blog directory site
• WatchThis – Annoucements and recommendations of interesting feeds
• WikiPedia entry on vlogs
• CreativeCommons License

First of all you still need to work the good old-fashioned way by submitting to film festivals and stuffing DVDs into people’s pockets. Secondly get yourself a free website from Blogger.com and add crew and cast profiles, screenshots and anything else that is interesting to other film folks and potential fans. Then find a free or low cost film host. InternetVideoMag.com have done the hard work for you by scouring the net for suitable providers.

Be aware that those free hosts are limiting size and bandwidth/traffic, so only put a small (previews or trailer) versions online and encode it using the DivX codec for quality and compression. If you want to take things further and don’t limit yourself to size and in quality I suggest using Bit Torrent, which helps distributing big files to many people.

What you’ve got so far is a place where people can find out about you, your film and can download it. But how do you get the right audience?

This one will probably require the most work and may take some time to fine tune. I would submit my website to DMOZ.org, the world’s largest human edited directory, for starters. Then Google for message boards, websites and Usenet groups that have an interest in the content of your movie. Usenet is especially useful because it is widely used by people looking for cool new films and with the right Usenet provider (such as easynews.com) you can upload and download your stuff nicely. Most ISPs offer newsgroup access as part of their Internet access package but are quite limited.

Delirium Vault is also a nice place for people with a keen interest in Art House, Film Noir, Japanese and other indie specialities – even Silent films. Where ever you choose to go, make sure to observe the house rules and don’t just spam the sites with meaningless advertising messages! This is extremely counter productive if you want to make a good name for yourself and get people talking.

Which leads us to the main factor in promoting your film successfully: word of mouth. What most people without much Internet experience need to understand is, that the Internet is the best WOM medium there is right now, because it’s ultra fast, reaches the largest possible audience and combines delivery of goods and services.

To participate in message boards and newsgroups is one thing but you can go further by taking time identifying leading people in them that can help build your profile and promote you. This isn’t a quick thing to do and probably takes weeks or months as you first need to build trust between you and them, get them excited about what you do and give them something in return. That may be tickets, mention on your website and film credits, to getting a part in your next venture or what ever they want. Be careful here because building trust between people thousands of miles apart from each other is difficult and requires finesse. Also, if you piss them off the whole thing might backfire. But then again, this whole shebang isn’t much different to what you would do offline, just bigger, faster and probably a lot cheaper.

Once you have connections to a few selected leading people, they will start bumping up your messages. Be it a creation of a separate forum, making announcements or sticking posts so they show up on top, what ever they do it will help get people look at your site and watch your movie. Once that happens and people like it, the whole thing will take on its very own momentum. When you’ve build it, more and more people will visit, come back, discuss, spread the word and bump up your websites popularity with search engines at the same time. Which leads to more people visiting and people start wondering why they can’t see your film in their local cinema or demand high quality DVD copies.

Bingo, you are there. Now you can start talking to cinema operators and distribution companies with the backup of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people. Lobby them safe in the knowledge that you already have an audience and a product that sells. You can start recouping money by selling DVDs and other merchandise and have a strong position to negotiate distribution and other deals from.

For your next project you already have an existing base audience, your own distribution channel and people to help market your film for you. You can replicate, add and go even further this time, although how much you succeed depends entirely on you and the quality of your products of course. Good luck and let me know how things are going.

Related Links:

• http://www.blogger.com/
• http://www.internetvideomag.com/
• http://www.dmoz.org/
• http://www.google.com/
• http://groups.google.com/
• http://www.delirium-vault.tv/
• http://www.filmmakerforum.com/
• http://www.filmmakerforum.co.uk/
• http://www.raindance.co.uk/