The film, This Is Not a Love Song, is a thriller written by The Full Monty creator Simon Beaufoy and is directed by Billie Eltringham, who directed The Darkest Light (also written by Beaufoy). It will be streamed from www.thisisnotalove-song.co.uk in Windows Media format.
The first couple of thousand applicants will be able to see it free of charge; thereafter a nominal £2 or £3 will cover costs, chargeable to the viewer’s cellphone bill.
As well as streaming an Internet broadcast, the film will show in four cinemas on the same evening — one will show a streamed version, another will show a 35mm print, and another one in Digibeta.
Beaufoy explains that this unorthodox means of getting to the viewer reflects the way the film was made. ”We did everything the wrong way around this time,” he says. ”I had the idea, got the money for it [from the United Kingdom Film Council], wrote a four-page outline, cast it, workshopped it and wrote the script. Normally it would be written and waiting on someone’s desk for months before you find the money.”
Part of the appeal for the film council was the way the film was to be shot. Paul Trijbits, head of the New Cinema Fund for the council, points to the films of the Dogme movement as the model.
”It was made using small digital cameras, which meant that costs were much lower. Normally, if you have standard equipment, it takes a crew of 60 to 80 people just to move it around. You can imagine what happens to the costs if you’re using little Sony P100s.”
Beaufoy confirms that cost was always an issue for the project. ”We kept the budget low; the brief was that if you wanted two locations, you’d better find a place that looks like two different locations if you turn around 180 degrees.”
Among the major advantages of using digital techniques for the film was the time they saved. Producer Mark Blaney explains that it was written in just under two weeks and shot in 12 days. The Internet, he says, was an unusual way of getting to the potential viewer equally quickly. Beaufoy is more outspoken: ”American blockbusters have a real stranglehold on cinemas. If it hasn’t got big stars or if it’s not a really anodyne piece of work for 18-to-24-year-olds on a Friday evening, it won’t get shown,” he says.
He says that people who have seen This Is Not a Love Song have reacted very positively. Nevertheless, as a two-hander with controversial themes (it deals with child murder), it is not likely to be a big draw.
Beaufoy is confident the audience is there — although how many of them will be able to watch the new film is unclear. Blaney confirms that it will be streamed in different sizes to accommodate different Internet connection speeds.
Trijbits concedes that on a 56K- modem connection, the film will appear small, and possibly jerky; audiences are unlikely to stick with that for the full duration. For Trijbits, however, this e-film debut is as much about the proof of a concept as it is about reaching the right audience.
Eltringham has reservations about the size of the screen on some connections: ”Like a lot of directors, my ideal is to have it seen in a cinema with lots of people sharing reactions,” she says. ”But there are so many films today that just don’t get shown, and it’s heart-rending. Visually, the [Internet] technology isn’t there yet and I’m sure it’ll get better in future, but I don’t mind being the first to do it.”
The Internet and the film industry are not complete strangers. Outside the file-sharing market, through which fans swap complete movies, companies have been making trailers and other promotions available on their websites for some time.
And it is not just window dressing. Yahoo! UK was behind part of the marketing for Red Dragon in Britain, streaming teasers to users’ e-mails just before they left work, and its independent research suggested that ticket sales increased by 8 134, marking a 508% return on investment.
Alison Reay, UK sales director at Yahoo!, confirms that the client was pleased. ”They had expected increased awareness, but not necessarily an increase in sales,” she says.
Not that selling tickets is always the objective of an online promotion. Towards the end of last year Die Another Day was promoted heavily online, not just with trailers but with a viral campaign, where a database full of people was e-mailed and invited to play Bond Blackjack on a web page and get entered in a prize draw for a holiday.
Although click-throughs to the ticket booking site were healthy, Nick Margolis, account director of the e-marketing company Inbox confirms that bums on seats wasn’t the objective. ”We were asked to grow the database,” he says. ”They had about 250 000 on the list and wanted around 7 000 more.”
With friends recommending each other to try the game, and thereby getting the target audience exactly right, the database grew by 11 000.
Meanwhile, Beaufoy talks about the potential of online distribution. He confirms that a second movie is planned soon. ”We’re going to do another one I’m writing and will be shooting in September. Normally we’d be waiting three years after writing before it would be produced.”
It is a resolutely low-budget way of making movies, but Beaufoy doesn’t think this will put filmmakers off.
”If it’s a choice between possible big money but having your work sitting on someone’s desk for three years and actually having your film produced, I’d go for produced every time,” he says. — Â