Week Fifteen Q&A

Navigating the Digital Divide

6. What are the current platforms and delivery systems for digital distribution?
There are two platforms; PCs and living room devices. The main delivery systems are downloading and streaming. Down loatd can be either protected (DRM) or DRM-free. Streaming video is difficult to copy.

7. What were the advantages and disadvantages of releasing Ed Burns’s Purple Violets on i-Tunes?
The advantages were that the film's method of release garnered a lot of publicity, and thus was acutally viewed more than if the film had attempted a small theatrical releas.

8. What is a digital media aggregator, and what is its equivalent in the traditional home video chain between the filmmaker and the consumer?
A digital media aggregator assists with representation of films to larger distributions companies (itunes). The equivalent in the home video chain is a distributor.

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?
Both Radiohead and 10 MPH sold their media (digital downloads) for a price determined by the audience in the hopes that hard-copy sales of the same product would spike. 10 MPH chose the .m4v format because Apple would not put their product in iTunes, so the company released an iTunes compatible download.

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?
Again, the 'new media distribution' concept garnered the project more attention. Thus, when the film debuted on YouTube/Myspace, distributers were ready to bid, based on both the media attention and the projected profits from the ancilliary materials the creators had sold (DVDs, iPod downloads, DVD downloads, t-shirts and donations).