Proposed IPTV Documentary Channel
One the more vexing problems facing documentary creators is where to show their work. Its not that viewers aren't interested -- believe me, they are. Instead, we find a multitude of reasons for decreasing outlets for independent documentaries including: declining number of non-chain cinemas, declining broadcast outlets both public & private, proliferation of cheap production equipment enabling a flooding of the market with poor quality efforts, and so on.
The internet is often touted as the last great saviour of film distribution though I think people will agree that so far its been a mixed bag with many failures overshadowing few successes.
What I would like to propose is a Documentary Channel using the latest IPTV technology.
The focus of the channel content initially would be:
- "End-of-life" documentaries that would otherwise end up in a closet or basement, unseen after conventional distribution channels have been exhausted.
- bandwidth would be subsidized, initially by broadcaster, later by grant or even minimal advertising if need be.
- must fit Verstehen Video Project mission of focusing on matters of social justice, social inequality, or social control.
- choice of which films to show would be selected by a small group of peers.
I don't see why this couldn't be expanded in the future but it seems like a reasonable place to start.
The first question is no doubt, How are the filmmakers compensated? The answer is that they aren't (at least by us). Rather, the channel would offer a "second chance" at viewers for videos that would have no outlets. Filmmakers would retain all rights, of course.
Quality is an issue and I am pleased to say that our iptv partner has excellentimage quality at low broadband bitrates.
There is much work to do and I am looking for people to help out.
Persons interested in contributing to this project, either with ideas, comments or films, please contact Paul Cady by email:
pcady at verstehenvideo.org
Initial document: July 7, 2008
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