The Web: Little Screen, Big Opportunities, Part II (page 2)

Like David Garrett, Christopher Bell is convinced that content is critically important. He, too, originally set out to make a film to be shown at film festivals, but his quirky labor of love, Billy Jones, took him three years to complete, and by the time it was finished, the Web had matured enough to be a desirable venue. Like Sunday's Game, it made its debut on the Internet site, Ifilm. And it seems to have brought Bell the kind of attention that would be hard to attract in the film festival world: he won top honors at the first annual Yahoo Internet Life Online Film Festival, and he's had a flurry of meetings at top studios and talent agencies.
Billy Jones is a dark comedy about a 12-year-old smoker, and not only contains a strong anti-smoking message, but is done in a highly original visual style. Bell said that he was inspired to make the film because a good friend of his was hooked on smoking. "It's a story I really wanted to tell," he commented recently. "And I got other people to believe in what I was doing, too, and to do top quality work on it... sometimes for free." Though produced on a small budget by Hollywood standards, Bell paid close attention to every detail. "Everything in a frame should have a reason for being," he stressed. "Especially on the Internet, you need to avoid visual clutter.
Another director whose work unexpectedly found a home on the Internet is Rafael Fernandez. His short, Oregon, is a minimalist, chilly sci-fi story that has received glowing comments from viewers who have watched it on the Web. Made on film, Oregon debuted simultaneously on Ifilm and at the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival.
Like a number of other Internet success stories, it was Fernandez' first production. Before making Oregon, he had spent five years working as a computer programmer. Though he had studied writing in college, he had no other skills relating to making a film.
So, to make up for his lack of production experience, he assembled a "kitchen cabinet" of friends and acquaintances that were experts in various specialties. He was still working at his day job while shooting the short. "It almost killed me," he confessed recently.
Like Garrett and Bell, Fernandez believes that to be successful on the Internet, you must first start with the subject matter. As for shooting, he advises keeping the real estate the small screen space in mind, and avoiding such obvious pitfalls as giant establishing shots or shots of tiny, intimate details. Overall, though, he believes it isn't necessary to worry about the technology or the present limitations of the Internet. "You can get around the limitations," he asserted recently. "And the technology is going to catch up, anyway. I think of the story I want to tell first, and the venue second.
Although he was initially hesitant about putting Oregon on the Web, it proved to be a good move for him. It led to numerous professional contacts and opportunities. Overall, he feels that the gamble he took in making his short has more than paid off. Currently he has a contract to make music videos and a possible deal with the Sci-Fi Channel. "It's been a life-altering experience," he affirmed.

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