The new Spielbergs are in the living room
Watching a film used to be easy. You went to the cinema or waited until it was shown on television. The advent of chain stores such as Blockbuster enabled us to watch what we wanted when we wanted, while the success of online ordering through the likes of Netflix.com or Joost.com. Set up by the founders of Skype, the internet phone company, it uses similar technology to harness spare capacity on our hard disks to build a global network of streamed video. It is a brilliant idea - as long as the network can cope with data-heavy video streams, and assuming people will watch streamed video content on a computer rather than a television set.
Into this crowded arena come the startups that will not only let you watch but also upload your own films for potential global distribution. You can already do this through YouTube or even from your mobile phone (via Kyte.com), but they are overwhelmingly fun flicks, not serious cinema. Babelgum.com enables you to watch streamed video and (soon) to upload your own content to be viewed and discussed online.
Jaman.com stands out because it has spent two years and millions of dollars developing a new method of peer-to-peer delivery. It enables a film from its library (actually extracted bit by bit from the hard disks of other people who have already downloaded it) to be stored for seven days on your own computer in "high definition" form.
It may not match real high definition but it is better quality than most downloaded films. Jaman's business model builds on the fact that 90% of all films don't get global distribution. If a film is big in India or South America but not in Europe or America, then Jaman will provide an international platform. Ditto for indie films. It has 2,000 films, soon to rise to 10,000. It charges £1 for a film for seven days and has an algorithm enabling a film to download on to your hard disk as you are viewing (avoiding streaming problems) so that you can begin watching it 10 minutes or so after it starts to download. It has a Last.fm-type community service linking you to like-minded people who enjoy similar films, including a facility to make comments time-coded to appear at the right moment during the film.
More importantly, it enables would-be Spielbergs to upload their own films on to the site with the prospect of being upgraded to a special place where they can be downloaded for a price, with the creator getting a 30% share of the revenue.
This week's Raindance Film festival in London claims to be the first simultaneously to show its movies via the web. Elliot Grove, its director, claims online distribution gives aspiring filmmakers "an opportunity to find an audience without having to go through the traditional Hollywood system". It is quite likely that tomorrow's film directors will emerge from sites such as these without having been through film school at all.
Victor Keegan
The Guardian Thursday September 27 2007
Guardian Unlimited
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Watching a film used to be easy. You went to the cinema or waited until it was shown on television. The advent of chain stores such as Blockbuster enabled us to watch what we wanted when we wanted, while the success of online ordering through the likes of Netflix.com or Joost.com. Set up by the founders of Skype, the internet phone company, it uses similar technology to harness spare capacity on our hard disks to build a global network of streamed video. It is a brilliant idea - as long as the network can cope with data-heavy video streams, and assuming people will watch streamed video content on a computer rather than a television set.
Into this crowded arena come the startups that will not only let you watch but also upload your own films for potential global distribution. You can already do this through YouTube or even from your mobile phone (via Kyte.com), but they are overwhelmingly fun flicks, not serious cinema. Babelgum.com enables you to watch streamed video and (soon) to upload your own content to be viewed and discussed online.
Jaman.com stands out because it has spent two years and millions of dollars developing a new method of peer-to-peer delivery. It enables a film from its library (actually extracted bit by bit from the hard disks of other people who have already downloaded it) to be stored for seven days on your own computer in "high definition" form.
It may not match real high definition but it is better quality than most downloaded films. Jaman's business model builds on the fact that 90% of all films don't get global distribution. If a film is big in India or South America but not in Europe or America, then Jaman will provide an international platform. Ditto for indie films. It has 2,000 films, soon to rise to 10,000. It charges £1 for a film for seven days and has an algorithm enabling a film to download on to your hard disk as you are viewing (avoiding streaming problems) so that you can begin watching it 10 minutes or so after it starts to download. It has a Last.fm-type community service linking you to like-minded people who enjoy similar films, including a facility to make comments time-coded to appear at the right moment during the film.
More importantly, it enables would-be Spielbergs to upload their own films on to the site with the prospect of being upgraded to a special place where they can be downloaded for a price, with the creator getting a 30% share of the revenue.
This week's Raindance Film festival in London claims to be the first simultaneously to show its movies via the web. Elliot Grove, its director, claims online distribution gives aspiring filmmakers "an opportunity to find an audience without having to go through the traditional Hollywood system". It is quite likely that tomorrow's film directors will emerge from sites such as these without having been through film school at all.
Victor Keegan
The Guardian Thursday September 27 2007
Guardian Unlimited
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
