Simon Wyndham
Well-known member
If someone released an indie low budget movie as a pay per download release at $6 a time, would you buy it (assuming it was good)?
Online film distribution
- Thread starter Simon Wyndham
- Start date
Rosestar
Well-known member
Simon Wyndham said:
I am not a real big fan of watching movies on my computer. If I had my druthers, I would love to down load MPEG2 encoded movies and be able to burn them to DVD for watching on my home theatre. However, I know that that is not going to happen soon. If the flick was something that I really wanted to see, I would get the download. I would like to see it cheaper, but you can say that about everything.
Kirk Gillock
Rebel with a cause
"online-downloadable-low-budget-digital-indie-movie" ...Could you use a few more adjectives to describe the movie? 
"assuming it was good" - How do we know we're not paying to see a 5 minute shot of your big toe? You'll need to promote it and get some reviews to convince potential viewers to trust you. Anything is possible, as long as you find the right niche and create great word of mouth advertising.
"assuming it was good" - How do we know we're not paying to see a 5 minute shot of your big toe? You'll need to promote it and get some reviews to convince potential viewers to trust you. Anything is possible, as long as you find the right niche and create great word of mouth advertising.
Simon Wyndham
Well-known member
Yes, I'm thinking in terms of whether you can see previews on the website etc. Often people will download huge programs on the internet rather than buying the boxed versions.
For example the movie could be distributed as a DIVX file that can be burnt onto a DVD and played on a DIVX capable DVD player. There are other things I have in mind that would be cool, but that would be telling
My thinking is that for us indie guys distribution and getting our movies seen is a huge, huge problem. I really want to see whether people would actually be prepared to pay for a download rather than just go off and get a pirate copy etc.
For example the movie could be distributed as a DIVX file that can be burnt onto a DVD and played on a DIVX capable DVD player. There are other things I have in mind that would be cool, but that would be telling
My thinking is that for us indie guys distribution and getting our movies seen is a huge, huge problem. I really want to see whether people would actually be prepared to pay for a download rather than just go off and get a pirate copy etc.
lanz
Member
Sorry, but there is no way...especially sight unseen. I can spend six bucks and go to a movie that cost millions, or a couple bucks to watch it on DVD.
Even if 100% of the people vote that they would pay for it, since most of us have probably made our own short films, I would think thar we are probably much more sympathetic to short films than the general public.
I am working on finishing up a 14 minute thriller. I just purchased a domain and plan on putting the movie on there for anyone to watch. What I also plan on doing is putting a PayPal link on there and ask for donations from people who liked the movie. Will everyone who liked it donate? No. Will they give $6 a pop? Probably not. But, personally, I am at a point where I want to get my name out "there" and have people see my stuff. If some of the people can share the love, all the better.
I'd be curious to see if anyone has a problem with the donation method.
Even if 100% of the people vote that they would pay for it, since most of us have probably made our own short films, I would think thar we are probably much more sympathetic to short films than the general public.
I am working on finishing up a 14 minute thriller. I just purchased a domain and plan on putting the movie on there for anyone to watch. What I also plan on doing is putting a PayPal link on there and ask for donations from people who liked the movie. Will everyone who liked it donate? No. Will they give $6 a pop? Probably not. But, personally, I am at a point where I want to get my name out "there" and have people see my stuff. If some of the people can share the love, all the better.
I'd be curious to see if anyone has a problem with the donation method.
thisiswells
Retired
The assumption I make is if an indie film is good then it will have festival play... in which case, there wouldn't be any type of downloadable version. If there's little public interest and lack of festival play this forces a project into alternate distribution methods, for example, being hawked online. Which isn't a bad thing.. Atom Films and iFilm have lots of interesting shows, but the idea of paying for something that lacks public interest probably means the movie sucks... Plain and simple and it isn't worth a dime. On the other hand, there would be projects that may be of interest to me, like a documentary on the "positive neurodegenerative inhabits of the kazawa atoll" .. that kind of thing sounds interesting and I'd probably pay a few bucks to support the type of person who would make a film with such an esoteric subject matter. But, generally speaking, if it's not in some form of festival or home video circulation it probably sucks.
Simon Wyndham
Well-known member
I think that assuming a movie is no good because it isn't in a festival or has distribution already is jumping to conclusions rather, Festivals will rarely take genre action films for example.
When you have your film distributed the distributor takes their cut, usually a large one. In a modern age I see no reason why guys like us should be grovelling to people to sell our films. As for the quality you might like to take a look at Soul Searcher if you ever get a chance. Very low budget does not equate with low quality. Looking at some of the things people have been showcasing on DVX User all this time I can't help but feel that they should be making money out of their efforts. Online distribution is an answer.
It looks like there is a lot of attitudes to be changed. Theres a whole lot of possibilities out there for low/no budget moviemakers.
Bigmagic, if the movie is downloadable as a high quality DIVX you will be able to watch it on your big screen. Thats the whole point. It's an alternative to purchasing a DVD, which would also be offered.
What I'm having trouble getting my head around here is that people will happily spend $20 on a commercial DVD even if the film is typical Hollywood fluff. Yet even if a low/no budget movie had previews on the website, perhaps even really good reviews, nobody would even pay $6 for it. Oh well...
When you have your film distributed the distributor takes their cut, usually a large one. In a modern age I see no reason why guys like us should be grovelling to people to sell our films. As for the quality you might like to take a look at Soul Searcher if you ever get a chance. Very low budget does not equate with low quality. Looking at some of the things people have been showcasing on DVX User all this time I can't help but feel that they should be making money out of their efforts. Online distribution is an answer.
It looks like there is a lot of attitudes to be changed. Theres a whole lot of possibilities out there for low/no budget moviemakers.
Bigmagic, if the movie is downloadable as a high quality DIVX you will be able to watch it on your big screen. Thats the whole point. It's an alternative to purchasing a DVD, which would also be offered.
What I'm having trouble getting my head around here is that people will happily spend $20 on a commercial DVD even if the film is typical Hollywood fluff. Yet even if a low/no budget movie had previews on the website, perhaps even really good reviews, nobody would even pay $6 for it. Oh well...
BLUESPIDER
DVXuser Ninja
I don't know about you guys but I don't like watching movies on the computer that much. I like being at maybe a movie theatre or some place other than home. I like watching movies with people. You can learn alot from an audience. Then agian it all depends on the movie. If its something incredibally amazing, I'll download it. Other than that, probably not intrested.
Now if it was porn, I'll consider.. :evil:
Now if it was porn, I'll consider.. :evil: