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atari 2600 · 09.10.2006, 02:16 PM

related link http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=8186
(article is too lengthy for a single post)

excerpt:
In an interview, filmmaker David Lynch talks with Tech Editor Bill Bernat about how TV is dead and his new number one passion is davidlynch.com -- the recently launched subscription and pay-per-view site, filled with streaming media and a great deal more.

By Bill Bernat
Earlier this week, streamingmedia.com spoke with David Lynch about his eponymous site, which uses stark imagery (primarily black, white, and red) powered by Flash to guide visitors through a constellation of animations, streaming video/audio, cartoons, e-postcards, screen savers, photography, and other creations.
“I’m 24/7” said Lynch, explaining his dedication to working on the site and how much he loves it. “It’s the greatest thing. This is the future. I’m pumped up morning, noon, and night. This is everything all rolled into one.”
Numerous pictures of Lynch, various handwritten notes from him, and other direct manifestations of his identity pepper the site. More significantly, though, his personality is ubiquitously accessible to visitors because he built the site, literally. He wrote all the scripts, took the pictures, made the movies, did the artwork, did voiceover work himself, animated in Flash, etc. Technical implementation was handed off as needed, but every creation is Lynch’s.
The site has such carefully constructed content in so many areas that when it was suggested that the streaming series was the primary focus, Lynch recoiled, and sounded like a parent who had just been asked to pick only one child as his favorite. “There’s a lot of main parts of the site. It’s a many faceted thing and that’s what the Internet can do.” Lynch went on to make sure the point was not missed, “There’s a lot of other things that I’m pumped up about, so we’re just starting. But there are many, many, many things.”
Still, it’s clear from the pricing that streaming media is a major component. For $9.97 per month, one gets access to the entire site, or for $7.79 one can subscribe to a single series for six months. A series license includes access to all five-minute episodes of a single series for a six-month period. A given series is posted at a rate of one episode per week.
First Series: Dumbland
The first series to appear is “Dumbland”, a nine-episode series that Lynch describes, in a handwritten note on the site, as “a crude, stupid, violent, absurd series.” It’s black-and-white Flash animation originally developed for Shockwave.com in a stock option deal, similar to Tim Burton’s Stainboy arrangement, and later given back to Lynch when Shockwave.com refocused during the dot-com bust. Four episodes are on the site currently, and a fifth is arriving shortly.
In “Dumbland,” Lynch does both the writing and voice-over work that is electronically modified to suit different characters. The variety of characters combined with sparse animation makes for a surprisingly powerful experience. The series is centered around a vastly dumb father and his wife – who is relentlessly terrified of her husband’s next, and always imminent, mean and angry outburst. It’s painful emotionally, and funny because it’s so absurd. The characteristic intensity of Lynch’s work is not lost at all in this medium.
Lynch doesn’t find Flash animation, or other web deliverable formats such as three-to-five minute films, to be restrictive artistically. Instead, he sees it as a matter of first understanding the parameters of a particular technology, and then writing and creating something that fits within them. “Even though the quality is kind of funky, once the quality is known, the ideas start flowing to marry with that quality,” said Lynch. “It’s the weirdest thing. Each kind of thing I’m exposed to yields ideas that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. So, it is a beautiful new world for me.”
The next two series, “Rabbits” and “Axxon N.,” will be streaming video. “Rabbits” is fully scripted and much of it has been shot and cut, but not all of it. “Axxon N.” is mostly scripted and, according to Lynch, “We’ll start location scouting and casting in earnest quite soon.”
Eric Bassett, managing consultant for davidlynch.com, sees different audiences for the two series, suggesting, “‘Rabbits’ is very surrealistic. It has mainstream actors but they’re in rabbit suits so you can’t seem them. ‘Axxon N.’ is more what I would call a mainstream series, more Twin Peaks-ish. The members, the hard core guys, will love ‘Rabbits,’ whereas I think ‘Axxon N.’ will cross over to just about everybody,” said Bassett.
For the record, Lynch doesn’t feel that the actors’ appearance in rabbit suits detracts from their presence on screen, insisting, “They are there. They are very real.”
All series episodes are five minutes in length by design, based on research done by Load TV, RealNetworks, and others, who found that streaming viewers attention wanes at three minutes and drops off sharply at five minutes. The ‘Rabbits’ series will not begin to post until after the ‘Dumbland’ series has completed, and ‘Axxon N.’ will not appear until ‘Rabbits’ has completed.. Eventually, each series will made into a DVD and available in stores.

09.10.2006, 02:16 PM	#11
atari 2600 invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 8,213	related link http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=8186 (article is too lengthy for a single post) excerpt: In an interview, filmmaker David Lynch talks with Tech Editor Bill Bernat about how TV is dead and his new number one passion is davidlynch.com -- the recently launched subscription and pay-per-view site, filled with streaming media and a great deal more. By Bill Bernat Earlier this week, streamingmedia.com spoke with David Lynch about his eponymous site, which uses stark imagery (primarily black, white, and red) powered by Flash to guide visitors through a constellation of animations, streaming video/audio, cartoons, e-postcards, screen savers, photography, and other creations. “I’m 24/7” said Lynch, explaining his dedication to working on the site and how much he loves it. “It’s the greatest thing. This is the future. I’m pumped up morning, noon, and night. This is everything all rolled into one.” Numerous pictures of Lynch, various handwritten notes from him, and other direct manifestations of his identity pepper the site. More significantly, though, his personality is ubiquitously accessible to visitors because he built the site, literally. He wrote all the scripts, took the pictures, made the movies, did the artwork, did voiceover work himself, animated in Flash, etc. Technical implementation was handed off as needed, but every creation is Lynch’s. The site has such carefully constructed content in so many areas that when it was suggested that the streaming series was the primary focus, Lynch recoiled, and sounded like a parent who had just been asked to pick only one child as his favorite. “There’s a lot of main parts of the site. It’s a many faceted thing and that’s what the Internet can do.” Lynch went on to make sure the point was not missed, “There’s a lot of other things that I’m pumped up about, so we’re just starting. But there are many, many, many things.” Still, it’s clear from the pricing that streaming media is a major component. For $9.97 per month, one gets access to the entire site, or for $7.79 one can subscribe to a single series for six months. A series license includes access to all five-minute episodes of a single series for a six-month period. A given series is posted at a rate of one episode per week. First Series: Dumbland The first series to appear is “Dumbland”, a nine-episode series that Lynch describes, in a handwritten note on the site, as “a crude, stupid, violent, absurd series.” It’s black-and-white Flash animation originally developed for Shockwave.com in a stock option deal, similar to Tim Burton’s Stainboy arrangement, and later given back to Lynch when Shockwave.com refocused during the dot-com bust. Four episodes are on the site currently, and a fifth is arriving shortly. In “Dumbland,” Lynch does both the writing and voice-over work that is electronically modified to suit different characters. The variety of characters combined with sparse animation makes for a surprisingly powerful experience. The series is centered around a vastly dumb father and his wife – who is relentlessly terrified of her husband’s next, and always imminent, mean and angry outburst. It’s painful emotionally, and funny because it’s so absurd. The characteristic intensity of Lynch’s work is not lost at all in this medium. Lynch doesn’t find Flash animation, or other web deliverable formats such as three-to-five minute films, to be restrictive artistically. Instead, he sees it as a matter of first understanding the parameters of a particular technology, and then writing and creating something that fits within them. “Even though the quality is kind of funky, once the quality is known, the ideas start flowing to marry with that quality,” said Lynch. “It’s the weirdest thing. Each kind of thing I’m exposed to yields ideas that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. So, it is a beautiful new world for me.” The next two series, “Rabbits” and “Axxon N.,” will be streaming video. “Rabbits” is fully scripted and much of it has been shot and cut, but not all of it. “Axxon N.” is mostly scripted and, according to Lynch, “We’ll start location scouting and casting in earnest quite soon.” Eric Bassett, managing consultant for davidlynch.com, sees different audiences for the two series, suggesting, “‘Rabbits’ is very surrealistic. It has mainstream actors but they’re in rabbit suits so you can’t seem them. ‘Axxon N.’ is more what I would call a mainstream series, more Twin Peaks-ish. The members, the hard core guys, will love ‘Rabbits,’ whereas I think ‘Axxon N.’ will cross over to just about everybody,” said Bassett. For the record, Lynch doesn’t feel that the actors’ appearance in rabbit suits detracts from their presence on screen, insisting, “They are there. They are very real.” All series episodes are five minutes in length by design, based on research done by Load TV, RealNetworks, and others, who found that streaming viewers attention wanes at three minutes and drops off sharply at five minutes. The ‘Rabbits’ series will not begin to post until after the ‘Dumbland’ series has completed, and ‘Axxon N.’ will not appear until ‘Rabbits’ has completed.. Eventually, each series will made into a DVD and available in stores.
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