Current Issue: Spring 2007 (Vol I)
Taking Web 2.0 to the Movies
"It’s definitely better now,” said a relaxed Mark Zuckerberg as he commented on Web 2.0’s advantages from a swivel chair at the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California. “I think in the newer round of Internet companies the trend in technology has been toward doing stuff with cheaper computers, you know, then doing it a lot and then distributing it with the help of the masses.”
Having reached more than a million members before ever needing outside funding, Facebook is a success story for the recommendation economy. Now with the captivated attention of 14 million members, a slate of brand name old-people-with-money behind it, and a valuation near $1 billion, the self-funded college project has become ingrained in mainstream culture.
Zuckerberg’s Facebook represents the tip of the iceberg of what insiders are calling Web 2.0, and the spotlight is now shifting to the huge mass surfacing from below. The force of the user-generated era of the Internet—aptly dubbed Web 2.0, in which individuals can contribute content or comments through blogging, video-sharing sites, and any site employing the wiki “wisdom of the crowds” phenomenon—has leveled many of the barriers that separated Ivy League graduates from office water-cooler jockeys and procrastinating college students. “Video-sharing sites (Google Video, YouTube, iFilm) are empowering whoever it is that wants to have a voice and has valuable video, to distribute that video, and circumvent the old, you know, very controlled pipes that media was once pushed down,” says Dave Dundas, founder of video-sharing site YouAreTv.com. The way has been paved, and the message delivered: just gather an audience and the rest will fall into place.
So in the documentary world—a segment of the film industry cluttered with young idealists concerned more with spreading a message than turning a profit—the convergence of Web 2.0 and a recommendation economy (named for the word of mouth growth that propels obscure websites and online video into the worldwide spotlight) have changed the rules of the game. The industry hierarchy has been flattened. Passionate filmmakers around the globe have uploaded documentaries ranging from human rights atrocities in third world countries to high-profile political cover-ups, entirely for the Internet masses. And the masses are watching. They are watching a lot, feeling moved, and then telling their friends to watch. As innovator Ken Burns told a group of students at the Telluride Film Festival, “We (documentary filmmakers) are taking over.”
But the growth in popularity for meaningful documentaries is not the only seismic shake-up in the industry. The disheartening shift for industry executives is that filmmakers no longer have to choose between spreading their message for free or trying to turn a profit. Now they can both spread their message for free and turn a profit. Unlike a feature film that relies on a distribution deal to offset production costs, documentaries can be shot, edited, and produced for less than a semester’s tuition at most universities. So taking cues from Mark Zuckerberg, or any other bootstrapping dorm-room entrepreneurs from Web 2.0, college-aged documentarians are taking the initiative, thinking “outside the box,” and independently producing professional quality video for a generation starved for fresh excitement and controversy.
In this light, the success of the independent documentary Loose Change may not be as astonishing as it is auspicious. Despite working and living in a shared $700- a-month one-story house in rural Oneonta, New York, spreading the message of an alleged government conspiracy surrounding the September 11th terrorist attacks has been easy for Dylan Avery and Jason Burmas. Their movie, which aired on a lone web site initially attracting twenty visitors a day, is now “spreading like a virus, and it’s awesome.” Researcher/writer Burmas continues, “It’s like our own little Fight Club. Where someone sees it from two in the morning from their crappy job, you know they came home, someone sent them a link, they’re like, ‘I’ll check this out for five minutes.’ All the sudden they’re watching it for twenty, and they can’t stop watching it. Or they’re just not going to bed that night, and as soon as they see it, they’re like, ‘Wow, I need to email this to everybody.’ And that’s how it’s worked. So what’s it doing to activate people? Well first it’s waking them up to the dream world that we’re living in.”
“We’re definitely in something big,” says director/producer Avery, while flipping the steaks at an impromptu cookout for the occasion. (It’s rare for American media to visit their rural upstate New York location. Most guests are from international media, so having another twenty-two-year-old conducting the interview warranted a cookout).
“I mean it’s beyond us now,” interrupts Burmas, gripping a fresh Corona in his hand. “Over 20 million views on Google video. We were number one for over a month, we even beat the Colbert speech at the White House Press dinner. We’re number four today. I mean, number four, number fifteen, number twenty, you know, there’s all different kinds of versions out there. It’s in every language.”
Though the creators of Loose Change never intended to stumble onto an innovative industry-breaking revenue model, they did. When they began selling DVDs online to complement the low-resolution free download available at various video-sharing sites, people actually started buying the hard good DVDs. And now those people are buying even more hard goods in the form of hooded sweatshirts, t-shirts, and other paraphernalia.
But early on in Loose Change’s experiment with free-market capitalism, selling DVDs at their website just offered another avenue to spread the message. “I really think it’s been viewed by over 100 million people by now,” said Burmas with a smile of contentment, knowing that in Hollywood terms his movie has been viewed more than every Jessica Simpson movie combined. “We encourage the copying of [our DVDs]. It’s bootlegged over 100 times a day on eBay, for like four dollars, and God bless ’em, you know. We encourage people to copy the DVD. People hold screenings in theatres and all over the place, and it comes to the point now, you know, [where] we have to wait for someone to send us an article about us, because we just can’t keep up.”
Despite their positive attitude towards third party bootlegging—a practice de spised at distribution companies for the cut in profits—Burmas estimates that (as of Sept 1, 2006) 75,000 DVDs have been sold through the website www.loosechange911. com. (Though this number does not include the thousands of DVDs they give away for free to those who had a family member or friend die on 9/11). On a sale of 75,000 DVDs, that corresponds to a pre-tax profit of $1.2 million. Compared to the $6,000 it cost to produce Loose Change, a $1.2 million payday indicates a 200-fold return on their investment. In other words, the type of success every studio executive dreams about at night. When compared to other mainstream social or political documentaries like Murderball, Super Size Me, and Born Into Brothels—which each sold rights for approximately $1 million to established distributors—Loose Change not only put its creators in financial command but kept them autonomous from corporate creative control.
For the entire film industry, this is an alarming trend. Up until very recently (and perhaps still today), most mainstream documentary filmmakers had to pass through Hollywood (or New York) at some point. That’s where the middlemen lived. Filmmakers had to beat down the doors until someone not only gave them the means to make a film but also to distribute it to a worldwide audience. We’re now catching a glimpse of a new world wide web where access is open to all and compelling stories simply win out.
Matt Wiggins is a senior in the school of Arts and Sciences majoring in Political Science. He took a leave of absence from BC during the fall of 2005 to produce and direct a documentary entitled “The Young Americans Project.” The interviews for this article were conducted during the three months he spent on the road, exploring the future of America and acquiring significant “life capital.” To learn more about the project, visit http://www.tyap.com. Matt enjoys spontaneous adventure, people who don’t take themselves too seriously, and late night at Lower Dining Hall. After graduation, he will be moving to Santa Monica and working at an activist hedge fund. In the near future, he would like to be in a position to take risks on young, unproven college students who have good ideas that will better society.