Will It Work?
By Bob Kaehms
There are three audiences in the world, according to Jon Bornstin, in his book The Hollywood Eye (Cornelias & Michael Bessie Books, 1990): the voyeur, the vicarious, and the visceral. The question that every good filmmaker should ask, according to Jon, is not whether a film is wonderful, but "Does it work?" He provides insight into the filmmaking process, convincing me that today's Internet is no place for the feature film. Filmmaking is an art, and film is a finely crafted container for space, lighting, and story, all within a continuum of time. It is not meant to be rearranged to fit in a browser, or reordered to facilitate a search, or resegmented for nonlinear viewing.
So perhaps there's another genre, as yet untapped, that can evolve with broadband. A look at the history of radio provides insight and amusement. In Leonard Maltin's book The Great American Broadcast (Dutton, 1997), radio broadcasting appears remarkably similar to today's Internet.
Originally seen as a means for businessmen to send wireless communication, Maltin points out that even in the late teens and early '20s, radio listeners were referred to as hobbyists, and radio a novelty.
Phenomenal growth was evident as David Sarnoff outlined a plan in 1916 to send music through the airwaves. In 1922 he introduced the Radiola, at a cost of $75. First-year sales hit $11 million. The total three years later was $60 million.
Like the rogue Web sites that helped bring corporate America to the Internet, Frank Conrad's transmissions through a transmitter in his garage helped Westinghouse discover radio, and when a vice president found an ad in a Pittsburgh paper offering equipment for sale "for those who want to tune in the Westinghouse station," he realized the impact on the community and quickly moved to formalize the broadcasts.<>
