DL: We've had so many failures in sound and sound levels. You can't mix wide dynamic range and have a prayer. You've got to compress things like crazy. The way you would mix for a feature film, a theatrical picture, would be a dismal disaster on the Internet. But once you learn how much to compress it, you're in pretty good shape. And another thing is that people's systems are so slow that you really have to desperately want to see something to wait for it to happen, and when that changes, that will be so beautiful.
PB: So when the Internet gets to the point where you turn it on like a TV or radio, you guys are going to clean up?
DL: I love money, but it's about quality. It will be the same freedom; it will just be way better quality. That will be a beautiful thing.
PB: How hands-on are you in the design and construction of the site?
DL: I am hands-on. I have learned a lot of things from Eric, because I will do something and he'll say, this is going to look like hell on the site. But I design the stuff and Eric tweaks it and makes sure it looks good on the site. We go back and forth over every single thing.
PB: Do you think in the future that most new, hot young filmmakers will make their name on the web first?
DL: Well, it's a great opportunity. A lot of filmmakers in the past have been discovered at a festival, and only because certain people saw the film. Where are you going to show your work these days, even if it's a feature film? The party is very closed and exclusive. So the Internet is a super opportunity to show what you've got, and the Internet is speedy. On the Internet, word travels fast, and it's very conceivable that someone is going to break through to the big time through the Internet.
PB: Have other filmmakers come to you about your site to ask advice?
DL: No, not a bit. There is something about filmmakers. I don't want to ask some filmmaker any advice and they don't want to ask me any advice. They want to do it themselves. And the thing is, they are looking at three years minimum, if they can find somebody as good as Eric. So it's a huge job and commitment in time. And you've got to go over learning curves on a lot of new programs, and you have to really want it. It's not like you can put up a couple pages and say you got a site.
PB: Does it feel good that you are out front and ahead of the curve?
DL: No, I don't even think about that. I'm not kidding you. What feels good is having a conduit finally built that's smooth and pokes into the ether. And we're set up now. It's like a little mini studio, and we're cooking with gas.
PB: Tell us about the live birdfeeder on the site. How did you choose that?
DL: Let's talk about the birdfeeder. The birdfeeder is a nightmare. I like to get a setup where insects or birds or animals are doing something for me. This birdfeeder is in a factory environment and it was meant to evolve, but it's a live stream, and that's tough to do. There are four cameras, each camera needs its own computer, and those four go into another computer, which goes into the server and it goes up for a live stream. So, the computers near the birdfeeder were crashing. We had to restart them like every day. And on the weekends, sometimes we'd forget. So those things were a nightmare. They worked for a while, but right now the birdfeeders won't even work for me. I see some phenomenal things going on, and I wish the members could see them.
[The live birdfeeder actually comes up on his computer.] Now, see, those there are bluebirds. When the bluebirds come in, all the other birds go away. They are like the F16 fighter planes. They come in and they dominate. Now, see, they've left. Now you count, I don't know how long, maybe 30 seconds, and you'll start seeing the little sparrows come in. There they come. See? The blue jays don't stay there too long. They're pigs. They throw away all the little seeds and they want to get the sunflower seeds. You start learning stuff like that. Now there is a cooper hawk that flies through and will grab a bird right out of the air.
PB: When there are no technological problems, when you can point, plug in and go live, give us some ideas of things that you are thinking about.
DL: Well, no, I'm not going to tell you what I'm thinking about.
PB: Will you have a David Lynch shower cam?
DL: That would scare people pretty bad and I don't want to do that.... For me, there's things that I could do that might make it sensational and stuff, but I wouldn't do that.
PB: For example?
DL: I could start a whole porn section and probably kick membership up quite a bit. But I'm not going to do that.
PB: You won't do that or you might not do that?
DL: I might not do that. [Chuckles] |
