original source: NRC Handelsblad

translation by: Tessa

 

(These are only the relevant parts about Black Button)

 

 

Instant Fame

Continuous debutant-festival on YouTube internet and art.

YouTube is the perfect stage for starting artists: easy to post, direct response from viewers and there is always the possibility of your great break-through.

by Ron Rijghard

 

<snip>

When your movie is not selected for screening at a filmfestival, YouTube can show the jury wrong. At the end of January, 25-year old Australian Lucas Crandles uploaded his short movie Black Button to YouTube, after the movie had been turned away for Tropfestival in Sydney. "We decided to show it to the 'forum of the world'", says Crandles. Not that Tropfestival was a small forum. Over 150.000 visitors in movie theatres all over Australia saw the sixteen selected short movies, that a jury had picked out of over 600 applications, on February 18.

"We thought it unfair to be turned away after a test-audience had reacted so positively", Crandles goes on. "On YouTube, there is no jury with a hidden agenda and you can speak out to real moviegoers all over the world. That's what gives YouTube its power: the viewers are boss and everybody can post his own opinion. I believe YouTube to be the end of the shortfilm festivals and at the same time a real revival of the genre."

This hardly hides the makers dissapointment of being turned down, but Crandles has become thrilled again. "The responses are phenomenal. I get personal emails from fans who enjoyed the movie. Getting turned down has turned out to be a blessing, for it has opened my eyes to the possibilities of the internet. Broadcasting on YouTube was not something I had considered, but I will put all my future projects on YouTube."

Crandles is very proud to see that his movie got attention on its own. Usually it's the Editor's Pick (20 vids featured by the editors on the frontpage of every category) that decides which movies will make it and which won't.

<snip>

9 March 2007

Back to Black Button