5/06/2006

A Swarm of Angels � Remixing cinema

OK, so this whole project (A Swarm of Angels � Remixing cinema) leaves me feeling a bit uncomfortable. The idea is to get 50000 people to each contribute 25 British Pounds to help this guy make a movie. Cory Doctrow blogs about it on Boingboing, but doesn't disclose his involvement, which is revealed on the site. [EDIT: My apologies. Cory did mention his involvement when he mentioned the site on boinboing. I missed it. I apologize, and hereby submit myself for 30 lashes.]There's nothing on the site that talks about remuneration for the head guy or his advisors. Even if that is on the up and up, do I really want to give 25 pounds to someone so that they can make a movie, and then I don't get anything in return other than a chance to watch the movie, which will be distributed free anyway? What about a piece of the tie-ins? A big chunk of the money on any film is made from the branded merchandise. I mean, if this thing is successful (which I kinda doubt), there could be millions in the merchandise.

The whole thing smells of scam (or at leastlike people being taken advantage of) almost as much as does the email printed in my previous post. [EDIT: This was unneccessarily caustic. See comments] Maybe I'm wrong, and I've emailed them to get their word on the matter. And if I'm wrong, I'll be happy to provide updates, and even get on board. But as it stands now... I'm just not sure. Stay tuned.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a bit disappointed about your troll/post on your blog, where you disparage this project I have spent a lot of time conceptualising, planning, and preparing for, without getting any facts first, or allowing me to respond.

Publish first, ask questions later?

I am not some nigerian scam merchant. I have a track record of innovative filmmaking, groundbreaking digital film projects, a respected author, with an excellent reputation in my field.

Please give me a little time to respond, and then I hope you might change your opinion and acknowledge you were hasty in your judgement.

I of course expect doubters, but then I also expect a fair chance to convince people of the merits of ASOA, and my good intentions for the project.

At least you emailed me, after you posted :-)

I hope you can understand my annoyance, but I hope I can win you over.

Kind regards,

Matt

TheFishmonger said...

Matt-
I'm sorry you see my post as trolling. I was merely voicing my concerns about the lack of certain information on your site, information that I feel is critical to the success or failure of your project. The questions I posed seem obvious to me, and the lack of information on those topics on the site still troubles me. I eagerly await your response, and only posted my doubts because I find the idea interesting. And, as I mentioned in my initial post,I'm withholding judgement until I hear more.
Finally, I apologize for the tone of the final paragraph of my post. I should not have compared you to the dangerous and often-violent nigerian scammers. It was much more caustic than I intended, and I will strike it now, as I did my unfair criticism of Cory Doctrow.

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