By Michael Torrice
ALWAYSi.com offers a library of independent, foreign, and classic
movies for viewing on the web. This subscription based site allows
users access to many titles that would usually only be available at
film festivals or small art house theaters. Filmmakers are also welcome
to submit their independent films to be shown on the ALWAYSi.com site.
After viewing these movies, users can rate and review the movie for
the site. This feedback allows filmmakers to hear criticism about
their work while also creating a forum to discuss the esthetics of
each film.
Many people inappropriately dismiss digital cinema because they believe
that people will not sit in front of a computer screen to view a movie.
Of course the technology does not allow for high quality streaming
video, but this only means that digital filmmakers are limited to
movies that do not require high quality visuals. Since most independent
films do not have the budgets for intense special effects, there is
no reason why digital cinema can not embrace the independent filmmaker.
ALWAYSi.com's focus on independent films therefore is ideal for its
media. Without needing to focus on special effects, independent films
can focus on the art of story-telling. Thus digital cinema sites,
like ALWAYSi.com, may usher in a return to strong stories and character
development over the eye-candy laden, thin substance movies that are
being shown on the big screens. What is more interesting about a site
like ALWAYSi.com is its submission policy. If, as prices drop on the
equipment necessary to make digital films, more people begin to make
their own movies, digital cinema sites will be filled with individuals
telling stories to others on the web. These sites will become the
virtual camp-fires of the future.
One such movie that focuses on solid story-telling that is featured
on the ALWAYSi.com site is the short film, Crosswalk. The story
involves the intersection of two men's lives at a crosswalk in a city.
One man has been told he only has six months alive, while the other
has just been denied a loan that he needs to support his wife and
sickly infant. Without giving away the twist in the plot, it is useful
to note the film's style of story-telling. The story is told by the
ill man to two of his friends. The audience is allowed to believe
that the ill man is recounting his encounter with the struggling new
father just after the incident. But at the end of the film, the audience
is shown that the story happened several years ago and that the status
of the ill man is much different than was first expected. This technique
of deceiving the audience and twisting the plot is often not used
by mainstream directors. Although only 20 plus minutes long, Crosswalk
successfully tells a clever story often not seen on the big screen.
If sites like ALWAYSi.com are successful, digital cinema will be able
to deliver to audiences all over the world unique stories that are
not often available to them.