The user-generated video phenomenon hasn’t, to my knowledge, extended yet to full-length movies, but that is about to change. The New York Times’ Ginia Bellafante has this piece about LiveMansion.com, a site that plans to mix social networking with film making by enabling users to create a movie. Members of LiveMansion will be able to compete for jobs in the film, from acting to directing, although a professional will write the script.
Members will also be able to vote on who gets which jobs. The most active voters can get points that entitle them to “producer” credits on the finished product.
The site is the brainchild of Ckrush Productions, a low-budget film outfit, responsible for such sterling titles as “Artie Lange’s Beer League,” “TV the Movie,” and an upcoming National Lampoon film starring Paris Hilton. (According to Variety, the budget for the LiveMansion film is in the $1 million to $2.5 million range.)
So, forgive me if I winced when I read Bellafante’s high-minded characterization of the effort as a “democratic enterprise.”
But its greatest innovation has been to imagine movie making as a completely democratic enterprise, eliminating the need for market research by allowing the audience to vote for precisely what it wants.
Granted, she also hits the nail on the head when quotes Ckrush’s president Jeremy Dallow as saying that the “The idea here is obviously to build up an audience for the movie beforehand.” It’s a marketing stunt.
Still, this crude attempt at directly leveraging the pull of Internet web sites to build buzz or to create an audience for films is unique. Instead of merely pitching video promotions to users, LiveMansion is actively engaging users in the film’s creation, deepening the commitment of potential viewers to actually see the film.
Cynthia Brumfield at 9:58 PM|Comments(0)
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