Thursday, November 24, 2005

Blomkamp's Distinct Boondock Business Models

Ok, yesterdays link for the short film didn't last long but now you can see it here. It's quite cute and well worth a look but even more impressive, by the same director, is Tetra Vaal Robot. On first sight I was kind of dissappointed because I assumed it was a guy in a suit. However, on further watching, I soon realised it wasn't. Neill Blomkamp is surely going to be someone we'll be hearing alot more about.

Comixpedia linked to an interview, over at The Onion A.V. Club, with Aaron McGruber where he talks about the animated version of his comic strip The Boondocks. Haven't seen the show yet but I'm pretty impressed at how he kept so much creative control.

Over at Comicon, Joey Manley's talking about webcomic business models. It's nothing startlingly original but he does have some interesting insights. I will say one thing though, I don't understand why he's so astonished that people are making a living out of webcomics. Right from my first encounters with the web, I assumed it was only a matter of time before it became a hive of independant content developers making a living outside the confines of mainstream media. You see traditionally people trying to self-publish indie comics, or anything else for that matter, always hit the same wall, finding a sufficent audience within reach of their limited distribution arm. It was a difficult and prohibitive obstacle but it's not there anymore. Whether your comic is a pretty standard cutesy strip, something a little more off-beat or geeky based; it will find an audience of some sort - assuming of course that it's any good. Now that doesn't mean you'll definetly make money, at least maybe not enough to live on, but it's only obvious that some people will. Yes, there was some initial craziness that back-fired badly and finding the workable business models took time but it's really getting there now. It means you have to be more than a content creator but there you go - learn to live with it and the benefits could be quite phenomonal.

It's also now about time for other artists (said through gritted teeth) to see what's happened here and start adapting it to their ends. The potential that webcomics (and blogs) have shown could, with some imaginative thinking, be applied to musicians/bands in a way that I don't think I've seen done yet. Of course, they'll have to break with the whole single/album mentality that has become so ingrained. Once they do that and they start realising the possible benefits of file-sharing, well maybe they'll start noticing how obselete the record companies, whose attention they so crave, are beginning to look. For film-makers/animators it's a little trickier, due to the prohibitively high production costs, but, in time, I'm guessing there'll be a way of working it. At least, I hope so.

Oh, oh and if you're still reading, check out our new t-shirts and stuff - that's not a request by the way, I get the distinct impression you people think I'm asking you to do these things but I'm not; I'm ordering you, now do it. We have a European shop and one for the rest of the world.