Posted on: Wednesday, February 7, 2001
iFilm site delivers content
By Burt Lum
Not long ago, Guy Kawasaki, Macintosh evangelist and CEO of Garage.com, said that Web sites having anything to do with content or communities were dead. From the investor point of view, he may be right. Personally, I’m still a big fan of the Internet as a means of delivering content and creating communities.
So when I got turned on to iFilm at www.ifilm.com, I was hooked. This site strives to be "The Place for Internet Film." As a viewer, the key to any good film site is to have a wide assortment of titles to showcase. From the iFilm home page, you can select from animation, action, sci-fi, comedy and others. The number of choices is not its shortcoming.
Another key attraction for any good film site is the quality of the films: iFilm institutes a rating system that allows viewers to rank each of the titles watched. It provides the viewer with the means to voice an opinion and offers a rating system that helps save time. This form of viewer participation promotes return traffic and gives the site "stickiness." Of course, you can watch everything available on the site, but if you are pressed for time, ratings are invaluable.
I would encourage you to discover what titles interest you, but for starters, here are a few that set me on my way. As I’ve always had a liking for animation, I started with "The Killer Bean 2," "Summoner Geeks" and "Samurice." The animation is quite good and probably a product of professional CGI (computer generated images) animators bored with their day jobs. For more realism, check out the action short "405." For erotic surrealism, "The Story of the Red Rose" is quite provocative.
The iFilm site is not only a repository of film shorts, but also a clearinghouse for information on major film projects, film studios and festivals. Best of all, iFilm is always looking for submissions. Perhaps the next "Blair Witch" phenomenon will find its start at iFilm. ;-)
Burt Lum, cyber-citizen and self-anointed tour guide to the Internet frontier, is one click away at burt@brouhaha.net. |
