Week 15

Week 15
Answers taken from Lance Weiler's Article “Navigating the Digital Divide”

6. What are the current platforms and delivery systems for digital distribution?
"The market is currently divided into two types of platforms: PCs (personal computers) and living room devices (set-top boxes, gateways and gaming consoles). The main delivery methods for both are downloads and streaming. Downloads can be DRM (digital rights management) protected files or DRM-free. "

7. What were the advantages and disadvantages of releasing Ed Burns’s Purple Violets on i-Tunes?
"The point of purchase presentation on Apple and iTunes helped it stand out from the hundreds of films being released. While the headline-generating iTunes release provided awareness for Purple Violets, the reality is that download services like iTunes have limited marketplace penetration. So similar to the strategy behind a theatrical release, Lubin and Burns are hoping that a national promotion within Apple Stores and placement within iTunes will help drive DVD sales when the movie arrives in video stores in the first quarter of next year. This fall Purple Violets climbed to number three on the most downloaded list behind Ratatouille and Pirates of the Caribbean, giving the film a wider reach than it would have gained from a limited theatrical release."The biggest disadvantage is that there is very little buzz outside of the WWW net.

8. What is a digital media aggregator, and what is its equivalent in the traditional home video chain between the filmmaker and the consumer?
"The equivalent would be the distributor and/or sub-distributor.
Purple Violets could not go directly to iTunes. The filmmakers needed to first go through a digital aggregator/distributor (in their case, New Video).
For those looking to break into online distribution through iTunes, living room boxes like Vudu and TiVo or traditional VOD providers such as cable, satellite and telcos, deals with aggregators are common. Aggregators assist with the vetting of titles similar to the way in which retail and rental outlets require producers to deal with a distributor. In fact in many cases an aggregator is a distributor or sales agent. Much of the industry has become risk adverse to dealing with single titles from producers. They prefer to work with distributors, aggregators, or sales agents who have a volume of titles that are properly cleared and vetted for release." The media aggregator is an entity that collects product and has a track record that is known to a buyer. This is important in picking a film for specific genres and audiences. There is less of an unknown factor to deal with in the business model geared for profit.


9. What are the parallels between Radiohead’s In Rainbows experiment and the digital distribution of the documentary 10 MPH? Why did the 10 MPH filmmakers choose the .m4v format?
"The .m4v files can be played on Quicktime player, iTunes or on an iPod device.
pick-your-own-price model the cash, this has helped DVD sales, opened up opportunities and given us instant reach all over the world.”
Radiohead sell direct to its own audience, but it allowed them to set their own price.
When it came time for Hunter Weeks to sell his doc 10 MPH, he and co-director Josh Caldwell took a DIY approach with the goal of reaching as many people as possible. In addition to DVDs, the team decided to offer digital downloads of the film in the iTunes .m4v format directly from their site. In effect, they created the same exact model that Radiohead employed for their release. the concept of selling multiple versions directly to one‘s audience offers independent filmmakers some interesting possibilities of their own." In both cases they are trying to eliminate the big companies or middle men. They are exploring the artist to buyer direct path so as to maximize their own profits.


10. Why did “giving it away for free” end up working better than a traditional $15,000 distribution offer for the filmmakers of Four Eyed Monsters?
"The free versions of the film assisted with sales of not only the movie but also merchandise. To date Four Eyed Monsters has sold 1,479 DVDs, 85 iPod downloads, 146 DVD downloads and the collaboration with spout.com has yielded more than $50,000 in sponsorship monies." Giving it away made it famous. They parlayed this into other sales that were connected to the film. Any kind of PR is good PR in regards to film sales.