Until recently, filmmakers hoping to reach large audiences with their short films had few opportunities. A select number of shorts showed at film festivals, the Bravo cable network or Channel 11’s “Image Union.” With so few outlets, short films lacked profit potential: Thus, few film distributors bothered with them. The Internet alters that bleak situation. E-cinema Web sites — exhibiting hundreds of short films — connect filmmakers to a worldwide audience with round-the-clock viewing venues on the Internet.
With dozens of sites competing in a media acquisition frenzy, the dribble of available shorts suddenly has become an ocean; nevertheless, compelling content remains elusive. Big sites bog down with lots of aimless, stream-of-consciousness narratives and juvenile spoofs: Every site has its own “Star Wars” and “Blair Witch” parody. Choosing the worthwhile from the flood of unknown films makes for a time-consuming fishing expedition. As a guide to navigating the media streams, here are some diverse Web sites worth catching on the cyberspace cinema circuit.
– The big tuna of on-line short-film Web sites, AtomFilms (www.atomfilms.com) comes on strongest with the most films, the biggest hype and some of the best work. Its classy flash-animated home page boasts all the Oscar-nominated shorts, including the winner, the wacky live-action comedy “My Mother Dreams the Satan’s Disciples in New York.”
Highlights also include the best of the South by Southwest film festival, EuroChannel — a selection of European shorts — and an audience-chosen top 10. AtomFilm’s more than 300 shorts vary widely in quality, but decent catches include crass comedies such as the over-the-top talk-show goof “Like News,” which lambastes various celebrities like David Crosby and John Rocker.
– iFilm (www.ifilm.net) wants to be more than an on-line exhibitor and distributor. It strives to be the center of the digital filmmaking universe. Chock to the gills with filmmaking resources, festival links, a message board and film school information, the site provides a greater sense of community than other streaming sites. Each film comes with viewer reviews and numerical ratings. One highly rated film, “Oregon,” a taut, stylish sci-fi thriller, looked sharp, but several audience-approved comedies fell flat. Worn-out jokes marked “The Second Comeback” as Jesus hires an agent to make over his image.
– With its uncluttered design, staff reviews, helpful information about films and filmmakers, a daily highlighted film and viewer picks, Shortbuzz (www.shortbuzz.com), which is owned by filmmakers, does the best job helping visitors hook up with films that reflect their interests. Finding gems was easy. The mockumentary “Suburban Guerilla” humorously documents the exotic tribe that inhabits America’s tract homes, uncovering the hidden meanings behind family rituals.
Content aside, the viewing experience on all these sites is far from perfect. Requiring free browser plug-ins RealPlayer G2, QuickTime4, Flash or Windows Media Player, the blurry, choppy images play back in micro-size windows. Longer films play less well than shorter films. Bandwidth is the key: A broadband connection — cable, DSL, T1 — gives you the best chance of smooth viewing. A 56k modem connection makes for a tolerable, somewhat herky-jerky experience, while anything less than a 56k connection will cause frustrated viewers to run screaming from their computer.
– The Bit Screen (www.thebitscreen. com) wisely limits its films to less than 10 minutes. Uniquely, it showcases shorts created for the Web, with the Web’s limitations and interactivity in mind. For example, “City Hall 2.2” randomly configures its images and audio each time it loads, thereby displaying unique versions of the same story. A discerning site, The Bit Screen features four shorts at a time, providing extensive information about each.
– An even more discerning and elegant site, UD99 (www.desires.com) – formerly the hip e-zine Urban Desires — highlights only one film at a time and packs 14 others into a less-than-obvious archive. “Eleven Eighty-Two” — UD99’s highlighted film — offers a glimpse into the life of a prison security guard in Mansfield, Ohio. The technically innovative film obliquely explores a town where prisons have replaced factories and the starting salary is $11.82/hour. The 14 films in the archive have been screened in one or more film festivals.
– With a slant toward the dark side, Underground Film (www.undergroundfilm.com) features work dominated by violence, sexual obsession, drug addiction and generally repulsive behavior — often amateurishly directed by Ed Wood wannabes. The hideous “Barn of the Blood Llama” features inbred hippies trapping various passers-by at their World O’Wool llama farm. On the other hand, “Head Gear Girl” — a depiction of youthful cruelty — was surprisingly touching. Like iFilm and Shortbuzz, the site gears itself to filmmakers and, uniquely, devotes space to screenplays and sample musical scores.
– Despite the ravenous desire for content, only Insound Cinema (www.insound.com/cinema) explores the history of the short film. The site currently features The Cinema of Transgression, blatantly offensive films made in the ’80s by a group of nihilistic New Yorkers. Connected to the New York Underground Film Festival, Insound also streams filmmaker interviews and shorts. Good catches include music videos from cult bands like Apples in Stereo as well as weird animated shorts.
– A refreshing island of fanciful animation, the colorful and clever Mumbleboy (www.mumbleboy.com) bursts with youthful enthusiasm. This charming, playful site contains graphics, a diary, audio files and lots of delightful Flash animations. Scored to catchy, original, cheap synthesizer music, the best eye candy shorts included “All Girl Summer Fun Band,” “The Sensualists,” “Cloudy Baby” and “Bjork” — a loving homage to the Icelandic dance pop star. There also are links to like-minded animation/graphics/cartoon sites such as Human Face (www.humanface.com).
For the more reality-oriented, Document (www.documentmag.com) capitalizes on high profile Sundance documentaries like “Sex: The Annabel Chong Story,” “The Brandon Teena Story,” “20 Dates” and “Home Page.” Making use of the Web’s interactivity, Document features interviews with directors that link to appropriate clips in their films. Besides this, the site’s main strength lies in its willingness to explore the boundaries of nonfiction film. For example, you can access odd and oddly compelling, minute-long bits of “reality footage” like “The Fire Knife Toss Championship” in Hawaii. “Witness” videos, meanwhile, document worldwide civil rights abuses, filmed by human rights activists.
Document, along with the rest of the Internet cinema circuit, promises to democratize information and entertainment access, providing viewers with an alternative to mainstream movies and TV while providing filmmakers a worldwide audience — all beyond the control of powerful media giants.
Plugging into Streaming Media
Several leaders have emerged in the race for player superiority.
The short film Web sites supply links to the sites where these players can be downloaded for free.
1. Real Player G2 (Mac, Windows): Most streaming media on the Web can viewed with the Real Player technology. Not a versatile player, it covers the most popular file formats like MP3, JPEG, MPEG and Flash.
2. QuickTime 4 (Mac, Windows): Apple’s QuickTime software comes with the MacOS. Incredibly versatile, it plays nearly any kind of audio or video file. The latest release has been optimized for the playback of exceptionally high-quality video streaming.
3. Windows Media Player: Microsoft came late to the field and the adoption of this player has been relatively slow because of its unstable reputation, though it plays popular file formats like AVI and MPEG movies adequately and handles audio files well. A beta version is available for the Mac.
4. Flash and Shockwave (Mac, Windows): They deliver high-impact, extremely compact animations on Web pages. Not truly steaming technologies, they display frames as quickly as they are downloaded.
