When the independent digital cinema age fell upon us in 1998/1999, we all thought the next Spielberg would come from Ohio (the "fat girl" with her dad's camcorder that Coppola spoke of). When that didn't exactly happen, I thought it was over.

Then I started to realize that YouTube and others may have brought about a DIFFERENT dynamic: Internet video! Now I see things on TV like "shoot your own commercial" for that little toy that allegedly reads your mind, Q21 or something. And even with On The Lot's ratings down, Verizon's offering a contest to make a film.

Heck, even DVi has a filmmaking contest going on:

http://dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=144

I think homegrown movies, videos, etc., have finally caught on, just not in the place we thought (theatrical, TV, etc.). This is pretty exciting!

heath

I think that someday, in the far-off future, home movies/video will be the best source for historians to see how life REALLY was 'way back when.

The big problem, tho, will be finding a way to play this stuff back. I think NASA is already having problems with old data tapes - the hardware/software has died.

I think the continual integration between people and computers naturally led video to become a big hit on the internet, and I think it will remain there. Once there was the capacity for it, and the ability to access it with such ease it took off. The new integration going on between the computer and the TV set makes the possibilities for video on the internet endless. Apple TV (now supporting youtube), home theatre PC's, they are pushing the content onto our TV screens. Your right, the possibilities with the internet are exciting and its definitely opening doors for new pioneers in all fields.

Good point Heath!

Woohoo! That means I can still make it big! lol. Yay!

I think it would be interesting to put together a hole "box" of modern day equipment. Kinda like a time capsule. Put together a bunch of footage on an external harddrive, burn some to HD DVD's and then put a computer that can handle this stuff, and then leave a note of instructions for using the gear, and then put it somewhere that it would not get stolen from. I think it 'could' be an interesting thing (providing we are still around in the next few years to come)... I don't know, I am just typing stuff. lol!

Cool stuff Heath, I never really looked at it this way..
~Gabriel

Ah, the ability for everyone and anyone to pick up a cam, shoot some stuff, whack it all together on their puter and fire it off for the world to see ....


Too bad that most of the young folks I know can barely create a properly formatted letter or essay anymore

Oh well, maybe I should be shoved into that time capsule as well ... lol

The fat girl with her dad's camcorder won't get far if she doesn't know how to tell a story. Good storytellers are in shorter supply than the equipment, thanks to the digital revolution. Before one might have argued otherwise. For personal reasons, I think it is better this way (I would never have been able to afford learning on film.)