‘the web’ – coming to a cinema near you

Two industries have been squealing non-stop since Internet’s arrival in our homes. We consumers, as seen by most of the major record labels and film production companies, now finally have a means of doing what we’ve probably always yearned for: to rip and steal what they’re paying a lot of money for.

But for industry professionals fearing empty cinemas, Upload Cinema comes to the rescue (albeit not in a way they’d envision). For its feature length programs in the Uitkijk cinema in Amsterdam, Upload Cinema relies solely on the web’s immense and freely accessible catalogue – not on Hollywood distributors.

And in true crowdsourcing fashion, the organisation asks potential visitors to submit films they think deserve a place on the big screen. This month’s edition (‘Yes, also we are list-addicts’) comprised the best web videos of 2008. ‘No theme, no rules: just the most outstanding, creative and crazy web videos produced.’

From over 200 entries, Upload Cinema selected 36. All of them were a feast for eyes and ears, with this Star Wars a cappella tribute baffling and cracking me up the most:

And one of my favourites, Bert & Ernie’s Gangsta Rap (which I ripped and used for one of my own), also passed the screen:

But Upload Cinema is no cheap excuse for a Hollywood no-brainer. Taking a contextual approach, ViralBlog’s http://www.viralblog.com Paul van Veenendaal (replaced by his boss due to sickness) was invited to talk about viral marketing, and about the marketing industry’s slow-but-sure embrace of web-users as partners.

But will their productions snatch Youtube’s prime-space away from the people it was intended for – you and me? That’s not so clear-cut: viral’s production value – or rather: ‘unproduction’ value – is one of its main assets. Knowing that the brilliance you’re watching was created (and/or mashed-up) by some 15 year-old, not by a team of highly paid creative industry professionals, only adds to your viewing experience.

And marketers trying to make participatory culture work for them may only end up making their clients look bad – as the good people at Chevrolet found out the hard way:

(They’ve built a hybrid now)

But crowdsourced, unproduction value is not the end-all, for now at least. For the web boasts some prime examples of professional creativity, as demonstrated by Zune’s spec ad (less suited for broadcast tv, because not for the faint-of-stomach):

As of writing, Upload Cinema hasn’t archived this month’s selection yet, but it’ll probably be up there soon (without the Chevvy ad – I got that one from Michael Wesh’s excellent ‘Anthropological Introduction to Youtube’). Next session: Monday 2nd February.

Photo Live At Upload Cinema in Amsterdam by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten.