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SCMP Reporter

Independent film-makers have found it tough to get a break. After the initial cost of putting a movie together, getting a distributor to so much as glance at the creation has been virtually impossible.

And without that big break at Cannes or Sundance, the audience is likely to consist of yourself and your family.

Now that the cost of producing a digital movie has dropped to the price of a good PC, anyone can make a movie. And with broadband connectivity, global distribution is free.

The Web is awash with movies. From full-screen Shockwave animations, Quicktime downloads and RealPlayer video streams, full-motion Internet video has become the easiest way for young film-makers to be noticed.

Finding good movies can be a little more tricky. Take a look at 16 Color, at www.16color.com, to see how bad Web movies can be. In mitigation, beyond its general tackiness, 16 Color does have a great point to make - anyone, anywhere can make a movie.

The 16 Color movie machine lets hopeful Walt Disneys create their own tiny 16-colour animations. You can make your movie live on the Web with Shockwave, or download a Mac or Windows program to create offline.

The site has more than 7,000 movies in its library.

One of the best sites to visit for quality films is iFilm.com, at www.ifilm.com, with more than 12,000 films and links to thousands of producers' sites.

For movie makers, this site is a great first stop. Film distributors do appear to follow iFilm new releases, because many have gone on to win commercial contracts.

One of the best recent iFilm debuts is the Killer Bean. Programmed by former actor Jeff Lew, the Killer Bean is a little different to the average Web movie.

For one thing, the latest episode - featuring guns, death and violence with Matrix-style special effects - took three years to produce.

You can view the whole Killer Bean series at www.thekillerbean.com

Since the premature demise of the Steven Spielberg backed Pop.com, the biggest name in mini movies has been Atom Films, (almost a dotcom casualty itself until its recent rescue by Macromedia). Atom Films runs its business like a Web-based cable-TV firm.

The company signs up movie makers to exclusive distribution deals, reselling movies to cable and Internet companies and on compilation DVDs.

As it pays for its content, Atom Films has a smaller library - about 1,000 titles - but a high-quality one.

Some people might question the quality of Atom's tagline, though: 'Get into our shorts.'

Multimedia developer Load Media Network has launched a video portal to showcase its capabilities.

At www.loadtv.com, LOADtv lets you view Jackie Chan martial-arts action, comedy from Saturday Night Live, music videos and a whole series of profile pieces on Pamela Anderson.

Software developer Eveo also uses a video portal to promote its products (in this case, its video database). The site, at www.eveo.com, offers 2,000 videos and links to 1,400 film-makers.

Entertaindom, at www.entertaindom.com, runs along similar lines, with a similar selection of chat, documentaries, cartoons and music videos.

Without doubt, its ace offering has to be Kung Fu 3D, starring everyone's favourite imitation Chinese kung fu master David Carradine.

If all of this seems a bit heavy-duty for your mobile connection, New Venue has one possible solution. New Venue, at www.newvenue.com offers a similar, if much smaller, selection of independent movies to iFilm. But its speciality is the Takeout section at www.newvenue.com/takeout, where you can download movies small enough to store and view on a Palm - or more likely the higher capacity Sony Clio and Handspring organisers.

Movies can be viewed in a range of colours, from four greys to 256 colours, and while you do not get full-motion video, the quality is frequently high. The best movies get the chance to enter the Aggressively Boring Film Festival - the first palmtop film awards.

Finally, Scour.com, which was bankrupted by movie-industry lawsuits, is still online thanks to an 11th-hour resuscitation by content security firm Centerspan.

You will have trouble downloading pirated blockbusters now, but Scour still has links to thousands of movies around the Web.

If you cannot get a deal with Atom Films, a link to Scour will cost you nothing.



The Web is awash with movies