Carma - soup to nuts in a digital world

07/07/07 (and Friday the 13th) just passed by. My involvement with Carma has made me notice these little things (after all, the tag line for the movie is: 4 is the number for death - playing on the fact that in Chinese, the words for 4 and death sound like each other!) .

Carma is an early example of a trend we see today where movies are getting closer and closer to going digital (produced, distributed and marketed... starting with the marketing) all the way (can Bollywood be far behind?). Cost advantages and economics aside, the attention-getting effects and value of interacting with fan bases online are hard to ignore.

I think Hollywood + the experience of watching a movie (what with overpriced, overbuttered popcorn) on a big screen will not go away. But digital production/distribution gives 100s of deserving films a voice and a chance to connect with niche fan bases (they would otherwise wither on the vine at some Blockbuster stand - if that!). I'm excited about services like Jaman that now make it easier for filmmakers to find that audience (Note: Carma launched independent of any of these services on an online pay per view with DVD quality).

Here are some snapshots from the digital journey:
#1: Ray wrote the story on his PalmPilot and then the screenplay on Final Draft (which is now industry standard)

#2: Shot with a Panasonic Standard Definition AGX-DV100A (before HD cameras became the norm) around 04/04/04 :)

#3: Movie Trailer online with Academy Award nominee Karen Black's haunting voice-over

(We edited the movie and the trailers on the industry-standard digital editing tool Final Cut Pro on a pretty standard MacBook)

#4: Carma wins BEST DIGITAL PICTURE at Pathway Digital Film Festival as part of its year-long festival run (one of 3 BEST FILM awards).

#5: First ever flash mob to promote an indie film co-ordinated online.

#6: Launch on an online pay per view system with the ability for fans to make $ distributing the film.

#7: Carma's TV appearance on THE NEXT STEP posted online by show anchor Dr.Daniel Kottke (Apple's employee #1 in a former life). Talks about a lot of the above in considerable detail (and has a generous 2.5 minute clip from Carma around minute 32):

Two very analog (!) milestones for the movie were a) signing up Karen Black to anchor the movie as the voiceover of the MA (you may have seen her in Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and Hitchcock's last film Family Plot) and b) signing up Harris Tulchin's Hollywood offices to be producers' rep for the film.

One festival director called Carma Lynchian - one of the best compliments we've gotten. See reviews and some nice buzz for the film and the launch.

FilmThreat Review
IP TV Interview transcript
Voxilla Piece about the technology side

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