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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.02 - MAY 2000
The Independent Internetby Heather Kenyon It is no secret
that we are in the middle of a revolution. The Internet is turning
We made Bob and Margaret in London with Nelvana in Toronto and so communicating and exchanging files using the Internet was invaluable. Besides the obvious benefit of working on scripts via email, sound files and pictures were also sent over the Internet. The extent of our creative control would not have been possible without the benefit of this technology. We were able to edit the voice tracks and leica reels and send the edit files to Toronto in seconds rather than days. It seems like only yesterday that the fax machine appeared to be such a wonderful new device, now we hardly use it. David
Fine
How has the Internet affected my life? Only in positive ways thus far. The nature of my material is a little on the Bohemian side I think, and so I was never really a regular pick in festivals. I used to do little shows in coffeehouses and bars, try to get all my friends to show up, and then lug my TV and VCR back home. I got used to thinking that's what being an independent was. It was fun, but being on AtomFilms changed that a lot. The Net is a pretty interesting context to work with, and I'm really happy that a lot of people are getting into material that may be more than a fart joke. Even though I am starting to do some business/ money, I haven't dealt with anyone who wants to mess with what I'm doing to make it more profitable. I'm really happy about that, because that's what's fun about being an independent in the first place. Lev The Internet is a vast as-yet-uncharted sea of potential! I have been waiting for these times for years, and my once imagined future is nearly upon us!
I'd tell people in the early ‘90s that soon people would be accessing my library of films on home computers. They'd shake their heads when I said it would be within ten years. The one thing that has suppressed artists working in the media of moving images is the narrow distribution outlets. Intense competition for theater screens or airwave channels gave power over content to businessmen. With the limitlessness of the Internet, our art form can be delivered to our audience directly without passing through the filter of a network executive or studio head. The marriage of powerful, inexpensive tools with broadband direct-to-consumer pipelines is revolutionizing our art. It is also finally making short form work commercially viable again. Not since movie theaters gave up shorts for trailers and commercials has there been such a market for short films. My first made-for-web project, born of an idea unsuitable for television, was snapped up and turned into a series in a heartbeat. And if no one had picked it up for their Web site -- it would have gone up on my own! The Internet means ARTISTIC FREEDOM!! Corky
Quakenbush |
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Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.