Second Unit
 

The "second unit" is a separate production crew that shoots footage that does not involve the main characters (and if it does, they are so far away, like in an extreme long shot, you cannot recognize them). What they shoot would include background shots, remote locations, special effects, and scenes that are not key to the plot.

Jay

Cleveland- what Jay said ;)

Andrew, I'm WAY into this idea and have been for a while.

If and when you make the site...can I suggest making it user friendly for the people actually downloading the clips. Maybe have a simple interface for the people posting so they can click "This is absolutely free footage and you can use it anyway you want to" and "This is not free footage....blah blah."

It's probably the most confusing thing about downloading footage from anywhere....is it really free to use?

I'll be posting clips on the site (if you make it??), so I hope you do it!

The difficult part is going to be delivery of the high quality footage. I think going the bittorrent route would be the best bet, but it would require people keeping the seeds going. Probably the easiest (both to create and use) way would be to make a straight up bittorrent listing, where people can just post their clips and seed them for as long as they like, then they would essentially dissapear once the seed dies. Check out http://bt.etree.org/ for an example of what it would be like (with stock footage clips instead of music of course).

so no1 has any African plains footage? hrm... i wish i had an African plain to shoot movies on =). i suppose you can't get EVERYTHING you want =).

Bt
 

This is almost exactly what i've setup, I think it would work well. You could host it easily too. http://dvpub.info

By the way, was there ever a channel setup for requests?

Hey guys,

That site looks perfect for a stock footage type thing. I've got some raw HDV footage ready to go once you're done!

If Andrew isn't going to setup anything, feel free to post it on dvpub.info, the biggest hurdle you'll have is if you are using a firewall or not, do you know if you are?

Hello,

I could use some B Roll of someone welcoming guests into their home. The old Donna Read type stuff might be appropriate? I might de-saturate it and add film scratches, etc. to give it that old time feeling.

I won't be able to set anything up for at least a few weeks, as I'm moving from D.C. to Boulder, Co next week.

Jeremy, your site looks good, the only thing is that posting new torrents can be pretty complicated for people who aren't computer savy. Maybe a good faq and some software links would help get the ball rolling.

I can find my way around computers pretty well but I would not consider myself an advanced user by any means. Not like people who have had several college classes on them anyway. I don't even know what a torrent is. Much less how to post it. However a good comprehensive how to post would help me to get involved.

Hello,

I just browsed the site, but if it requires loading software, count me out. A simple web based or FTP operation would be most appropriate for most users.

JMHO

Bit Torrent
 

Hello all, I'm a bit surprised to see my website idea (http://dvpub.info) was met with such skepticism. I've used Bit Torrent quite a bit and know that it would work well for this assuming there was enough interest.

Downloading and uploading was explained fairly clearly for anyone that took the step to look at anything other then just the opening page of the site, all the software was provided easily with simple directions.

The obvious problem is that the massive size of DV files and a traditional sever setup, where a user could upload or download files though ftp would be excessively expensive for the bandwidth and space needed. Although Andrew could potentially do this as he has a server that may be up to the task.

I'm taking the site down for now, if anyone becomes interested in it again let me know.

Thanks.

I would like to help with the idea and also have some server space avail.

Please hit me up at resmedia -at@- gmail dotcom

I'm not too sure about bit torrents, large files can still give me a hard time.

However, I'm still looking for African footage, raw file on DVD or miniDV preferred.