Amazon to offer independent films in HD format online

[Cochise]

Originally Posted by HomeTheatreFreak

Only the very few that go on to become very popular or the ones that get selected for the Palm d'Or at Cannes. I dont think you realize just how many indepedant films get made every year especially since the advent of digitial cameras have brought the price of films down drastically. I would estimate that roughly 90% of all indepndant films never get touched by a major film studio.

And I would imagine the lucky ones who do get "touched by a major film studio" see those major studios keeping 90% of the revenue.

This sounds like a great way to gain much broader distribution of indie films and keeping those indie producers in control of their product. Great news for HD DVD as well.

[HomeTheatreFreak]

Originally Posted by CochiseGuy

And I would imagine the lucky ones who do get "touched by a major film studio" see those major studios keeping 90% of the revenue.

This sounds like a great way to gain much broader distribution of indie films and keeping those indie producers in control of their product. Great news for HD DVD as well.

I agree and I think for people that really enjoy differnt kinds of cinema and really enjoy pushing the envelope in terms of what they watch that this could ultimately be a great way to get your hands on some great independant films and in HD!! I think its great just because it gives filmakers who arent super rich and who dont have hollywood connentions the chance to get thier film on the market without having to spend a boatload of cash on a huge disc pressing that might ultimately never sell. I really think the idea of pressing induvidual discs as thier ordered is a revelation for this kind of business. It takes away the risk of losing massive amount of money and gives these people the chance at making some money.

I really do think this is the neatest idea I have heard of in a long long time. I really didnt even know this kind of sytem even existed. Its great news for independant film makers and for HD DVD. They should do this with SD DVD as well IMO.

[gtr]

Great news,HDDVD for independant movies and Bluray for hollywood movies

[cloudy]

This is great news in more ways than one.
First off, it is supported by Amazon AND Microsoft. If Microsoft is behind it, they will most likely be willing to put a lot of money into it.
Second, This will most likely Catapult HD-DVD into the "Favorite Format" for professional review cridics. Most professional cridics prefer the Indie films over the blockbusters, because indies are more known for their originality and substance, and lack of CGI special effects. Pro cridics love that. Which means (in theory) the cridics we hear on TV will be more likely to Back HD-DVD.
Combined with the news about China, and web-enabled features with new firmware upgrades (among many other things), I would say HD-DVD is really making that "Blockbuster" announcement seem like childs play.

BTW, thank you Diablo for putting this thread here, instead of the smackdown area, where the TWITS would just TRY TO make it sound like no big deal.
This is a pretty big deal. It proves that the lower cost of producing HD-DVD is an advantage in more ways than one. It gives "the little guy" a chance to compete with the studios that are "supposed" to give Blu-Ray the automatic win in this format war.
There are A LOT of great indie films out there.

[HomeTheatreFreak]

Originally Posted by cloudy

There are A LOT of great indie films out there.

Tons!! I hate to admit this but the main reason I use p2p is for this reason. I belong to a couple sites that specialize in limited & independant releases and me and my wife literally find 2-3 times as many films that we really enjoy from these sources than we do from Major Hollywood studios. If we find films we enjoy I do everything in my power to try and track down a copy for purchase but alot of times its runs the gamut from extremely difficult to almost impossible. Hopefully with a system like this that will no longer be the case.

[amirm]

Note from Blurry: I just copied this post from the insider thread since it seems relevant to the discussion in this thread.

Originally Posted by imdaly

Hey Amir,

So I just saw the news about Amazon's HD DVD On-Demand-type deal, and have to say that this seems pretty cool! I also saw you quoted in the article.

So I've got an incredibly broad question for you:

Are there any further details about this that you can give us that weren't mentioned or perhaps explained in well enough detail in the article?

Here's the link to the article if you need it.

Sure. I just typed a long repsonse for the other forum. I hope it is OK to repeat it here. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

The program is for this year, and even shorter time frame than end of the year. I suspect there will be hundreds new titles by fall and well surpass the 1000 mark by the end of the year. Indeed, our biggest worry is what to do when far more demand materializes than the current target.

At high level, this is super important news for movie fans, independent film makers, and of course, HD DVD.

1. If you are a movie fan, you will soon have access to more titles than both formats combined today. But more importantly, you will see a lot of fresh content, and not standard big budget movies you may already own on DVD. The content owners will negotiation the price with Amazon but I expect titles to retail for less than current Hollywood movies. So you will be able get great value to boot.

We already have a better breath of content due to deeper catalog from likes of Universal, wider availability of replication which attracts many smaller companies, and absence of region coding which allows you to import foreign films. This will provide an entirely new dimension to that offer.

2. For independent film makers, this is an incredible opportunity. Through this program, http://www.customflix.com/hddvdindies, they will get unprecedented level of distribution and access to their target customers. Amazon is the premier retail site for the discerning audience which is interested in their creativity. This, coupled with the fact that Amazon is the top retailer for HD optical and hardware, the program is liable to do for independent film makers, what Youtube did for personal videos. With cost of distribution zeroed out, and the best retail brand behind their content, they will not find a better way to get into film business.

Of course, Amazon will be screening for quality content but the analogy of YouTube still holds in taking away the cost of getting distribution. But more importantly, unlike YouTube, they will be able to make money from it, letting them fund new projects to develop their talent.

I know a good friend of mine would have wished this program had existed two years ago. He spent $400K of his own money, shot the whole movie in HD, just to get out of film making business because he couldn’t get people to carry his movie.

There is also another dimention of productivity not available to filmmakers before. With HDi interactivity and mandatory network connectivity, these film makers will be able to connect with their fans/customers directly and get valuable feedback on which direction to pursue, enrich the content with extras, and connect the customers who have similar interests together (see the review of the movie Blood Diamondon networked community features: http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/blooddiamond.html.

Keep in mind that due to sharp reduction in the cost of HD production, many of independent movies are shot in high-def already but currently reduced to DVD resolution. With this program, they will be able to distribute their content in original resolution.


3. For HD DVD, this is an amazing vote of confidence from the top retailer in this space. Amazon sees the strength of HD DVD, both from technology point of view, and the fact that their own numbers show it to be the highest sales ranking of any HD optical format (Toshiba HD DVD players are always in top-10 list of DVD players). They are also an active participant in DVD Forum so they are very familiar with HD DVD specifications. So for them it was natural to use HD DVD for this program.

What’s more, this announcement shows more innovation yet again from HD DVD camp. We pushed the envelope on interactivity better than any other. And now, with manufacturing on demand, we pull ahead with new ways of getting HD content distributed to consumers.

Using this process and HD DVD, Amazon is able to get a competitive advantage as compared to traditional stores because they willl be able to essentially have limitless amount of content. By working with us to produce a highly optimized and automated process using VC-1/HDi, Amazon is able to cut costs and run programs like this. No other format would enable them to do it this as well.

Note that discs produced this way will look no different on Amazon than any other commercially produced HD DVDs. In other words, in a few months you will see 1000+ HD DVDs in Amazon inventory with no distinction between MOD and mass replicated content. As such, customers are going to see the incredible depth of offerings in HD DVD, all presented to them in a familiar setting. The only notable difference being that titles get produced on demand after the order, making every title "available in stock" regardless of demand. Such a system removes any cost a retailer may have in stocking “two formats” as there is no shelf space wasted. Yet, the breath and quality of the content increases substantially.

Personally, I am exceptionally pleased to be associated with this effort. In our foray in Digital Cinema with VC-1 a few years ago, we sponsored Sundance film festival and had the pleasure of meeting Robert Redford and seeing his passion around getting new creative talent into film making. I got to meet a number of the directors/producers of indie content, hearing their concerns about getting distribution. Digital cinema allowed them to reduce the cost of projection, but not retail distribution. This announcement removes that final barrier between them and the movie buffs who enjoy content that makes them think, as much as entertain. It is a great win-win-win situation for everyone involved.

Now, how to find the time to watch 1000+ movies! I guess this is a good problem to have .

[Volume 11]

Originally Posted by HomeTheatreFreak

This could ultimately end up being a huge positive for me. me and my wife love independent films and we have actually been to Sundance twice. We usually have to download illegally or purchase sundance films from other countries which is a pain in the arse. If they cold use such a system to offer a large selection of independent films for HD DVD I for one would buy alot of titles, of course if they were the right titles.

Again depending on the selection of films they offer this could end up being huge for me. Very nice indeed and actually really cool if you think about it. The whole process of makingthe discs per order and stuff is pretty cool and I never even knew that had such services. Very cool idea and one I hope to take advantage of.

90% of my collection is foreign or independent, so for me, this is one of the reasons I adopted HD DVD over BD. This news has the potential to be huge for HD DVD, as many people love indie films and want them on HD DVD (myself included).

HD DVD may not be flashy with their news releases, but hell if they arent making the smart long term decisions.

[Blurry]

Wow, this sounds really great! Here are some of Amir's comments which struck me:

The program is for this year, and even shorter time frame than end of the year. I suspect there will be hundreds new titles by fall and well surpass the 1000 mark by the end of the year. Indeed, our biggest worry is what to do when far more demand materializes than the current target.

More than a 1000 titles by the end of the year, enough to get me drooling.

We already have a better breath of content due to deeper catalog from likes of Universal, wider availability of replication which attracts many smaller companies, and absence of region coding which allows you to import foreign films. This will provide an entirely new dimension to that offer.

I have to agree with him here, I think as HD DVD supporters we lose track of the wider availability of movies through these various opportunities, especially through import and now from independents. In fact, with Amazon committing more deeply to HD DVD through this program, perhaps they will start doing more to promote the format, such as selling import HD DVDs themselves (which the already do with SD DVDs and CDs).

I am not going to quote them all, but he does make a number of other important points, such as Amazon being the largest retailer of HD, and this will only boost HD DVD's clout for people going to that site to buy HD.

Also, since Amazon controls the replication process, it can automatically pave the way for some additional networked content enhancements down the road for these titles.

Anyways, really exciting stuff...

[Blurry]

Also, something exciting for me is Lynch is now distributing his movies independently in the US, perhaps we will be seeing his "Inland Empire" in HD soon because of this offer. I will gobble that up. Plus he is so creative I could easily see him releasing more movies directly to this service.

[Volume 11]

Amir- Id be proud, too! This is such amazing news, and often in this big budget hollywood blockbuster world thousands of great indies get left in the dust, or never even released (as in your friend's case).

Please tell whoever you need to that people on this forum are excited about this news release...Id love to see this get even bigger and more ambitious as time goes on and support for the format grows.

[JAG1977]

Originally Posted by INDY-HD-DVD

You have to admit that this will help them get exposed to the major studios.

Yeah sure, and if any become sleeper hits they'll either be picked up or released on Blu-ray through this scheme.

This particular promotion is for HD-DVD but there are Blu-ray titles released through similar means.

[Vriess]

Hopefully sites like this will review some of these discs as they are released. I'm sure there are good independent films but I tend to get no exposure to them.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by Vriess

Hopefully sites like this will review some of these discs as they are released. I'm sure there are good independent films but I tend to get no exposure to them.

Since this is going to open up a wealth of new titles, I am thinking of asking Jed to open up an independent movie subforum to this one - perhaps eNoize could also maintain a separate Tier scale as well (though he has a lot on his hands already). I will wait until things are more in gear before doing that, though.

[Brad1963]

Woo Hoo! I'm anxious to see what will be offered. There are so many Indie films I would love to have in Hi Def.

[Volume 11]

Originally Posted by cloudy

This is great news in more ways than one.
First off, it is supported by Amazon AND Microsoft. If Microsoft is behind it, they will most likely be willing to put a lot of money into it.
Second, This will most likely Catapult HD-DVD into the "Favorite Format" for professional review cridics. Most professional cridics prefer the Indie films over the blockbusters, because indies are more known for their originality and substance, and lack of CGI special effects. Pro cridics love that. Which means (in theory) the cridics we hear on TV will be more likely to Back HD-DVD.
Combined with the news about China, and web-enabled features with new firmware upgrades (among many other things), I would say HD-DVD is really making that "Blockbuster" announcement seem like childs play.

BTW, thank you Diablo for putting this thread here, instead of the smackdown area, where the TWITS would just TRY TO make it sound like no big deal.
This is a pretty big deal. It proves that the lower cost of producing HD-DVD is an advantage in more ways than one. It gives "the little guy" a chance to compete with the studios that are "supposed" to give Blu-Ray the automatic win in this format war.
There are A LOT of great indie films out there.

I think most of the press releases from both sides have been weak, along with the price drops and BB announcement.

However, this is the first piece of major news in the HD world that I think is a big deal and will have many implications and long lasting POSITIVE effects in the future. If BD announced this program and not HD DVD I would openly admit its a big deal and be thinking about a dual format or PS3 purchase down the line.

The ramifications (speculated of course ) of this could mean all film schools adopting HD DVD as their format, along with indy filmmakers and graduates wanting to get their films made but arent related to Tom Cruise or a Studio Exec.

This is nothing but 100% amazing news.