"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you are probably right." — Henry Ford

With the advent of the commercial Internet, it was inevitable that filmmakers would be able to coordinate their efforts online, to work on projects of personal meaning and mutual benefit. Drawing upon the talents and skills of a community of artists, engineers and managers worldwide, a virtual studio literally and figuratively never sleeps. Whether doing service work for outside contractors, or developing independent properties that appeal to niche markets, the opportunity to create is limited only by one's creativity.

Producing films in cyberspace is not only a possibility, but an opportunity that has yet to realize its fullest potential.

This article will highlight three examples of animated films that were created using the Internet as an intermediary among project collaborators. These case studies are meant as encouragement for you, to stir your imagination toward the realization of your own creative goals and dreams.

Imagination

"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new heaven to the human spirit." -- Helen Keller

Cynthia and Geoff Wells, founders of The Digital Theater Group, have produced the traditionally animated film The Shadow of Doubt using online ingenuity.

The ten-minute film passes with grace and uncertainty through the memory of Talullah, as she returns to the Paris nightclub where she got her break years before. In thinking about the club owner, who was once himself a great musician but now content to serve drinks from behind the bar, Talullah reviews her life as a Jazz singer, and wonders with haunting doubt about her success and what it has done to her art.

Cynthia and Geoff Wells, director and producer of The Shadow of Doubt, and founders of The Digital Theater Group.

Cynthia and Geoff Wells are no strangers to the entertainment business. Cynthia, the director on the film, graduated from the California Institute of the Arts, and has over 80 animation and directing credits to her name. Before Shadow, she made Interview with Talullah, Queen of the Universe, a satiric docu-drama with the same protagonist that garnered her two Annie Award nominations. Cynthia directed the animation sequences in the Academy Award nominated feature documentary, A Sense of Life, and was supervising animator on Once Upon a Forest and The Thief and the Cobbler. She has also worked as an animator on such features as Anastasia, Space Jam and The Quest for Camelot.

Geoff Wells, for his own part, began his career in advertising as a graphic artist and art director in South Africa. He has since worked as a director of marketing in the motion picture distribution business, and now, in heading up the information technology department for a major television and radio network (Disney's ABC), he concentrates on digital convergence strategies and business integration in broadcasting systems. For Shadow, using his creative background and technical experience, Geoff wrote the screenplay, edited the sound and picture, penned the lyrics for the film's title song and produced it with composer Steve Orich.