The common thread between Star Wreck, a parody of Star Trek, and Sita Sings the Blues, a comic adaptation of the Hindu epic, The Ramayana, is that both were released
online for free and were able to return a profit for the producers. The reason
behind their success was that the filmmakers were able to create the right kind
of buzz online using social networking sites and through blogs. Both the movies
clocked up close to 9 million views. Online sales of merchandise and DVDs
contributed significantly to the profits. The key takeaway was that that the
more freely one distributes the film the more audiences will help one market
it.
Though releasing movies online
does help to reach out to a wider audience however there are issues abound. Not
all movies are able to cover the costs involved in the cinematography,
direction, sound, set design, score, special effects etc. And charging a basic
fee doesn’t help matters either, case in point, House of Cards, a critically acclaimed TV series by Netflix (an American provider of
on-demand Internet streaming), which was available the very next day of its
premiere on torrent sites.
In the Indian context, movie
watching is a social activity; people want to leave their houses and spend
money on a nice evening. Compounding things further is the fact that most of
the Hollywood movies coming out nowadays are tentpole films (Avatar, Iron Man, Avengers, etc) that
mandate viewing on the silver screen.
Screening movies online is a
feasible proposition for indie filmmakers whose films don’t revolve around
elaborate set pieces, A-listers or special effects. Such films aren’t made to be seen in cinemas.
The way forward is that independent filmmakers craft their works in such a way
so that viral marketing campaigns help them garner maximum eyeballs and also
catch the attention of distributors who have slashed their funding since the
economic crisis and would willingly back smaller films with lesser risks involved.
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