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Film Distribution Comes To The Internet

Dooferlad writes "thisisnotalovesong.com hosts something of a first - a film that is being distributed over the Internet because independent films are being pushed out of the box office by blockbusters. At a time when everything on seems to be a sequel it would be nice to have something original on the silver screen, but unless you live near the 5 cinemas in the UK where this is been shown you will have to do with your own small screen. The film is being distributed in Windows Media format, either streamed or for download. The code you pay for (2 to 3 UK pounds) allows you to watch as many times as you like. The catch for most of you reading is that it is only for people in the UK. More coverage is available from the BBC."

11 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. UK & Windows Only by PhoenixK7 · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's UK and Windows only, and it isn't the first independent film to be released on the internet. See here. Took only a few seconds of googling to find it.

  2. The other half of the catch... by the_pooh_experience · · Score: 2, Informative
    By now, no one here is surprised, but I can guess that most are outraged... according to the movie website:
    - To be running Microsoft Windows XP, 98 SE, Me or 2000
    - To have Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 Series installed
    The good news is you download the file (not streaming) and can watch it as many times as you want for somewhere under about 4 USD!
  3. So what is the movie about? by the_pooh_experience · · Score: 3, Informative
    According to the movie's website
    This is not Badlands.
    This is not The Blair Witch Project.
    This is not Deliverance.
    THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG.

    A film by Bille Eltringham

    Synopsis
    Spike and Heaton are the unlikeliest pair: two loners who have found each other. Taciturn, competent, unreadable, Heaton is someone we are instinctively afraid of. In contrast, his side-kick Spike is manic, child-like, unstoppable: someone we are instinctively afraid for. But when Spike commits a terrible crime, Heaton decides to stand by him - an act of astonishing, almost foolhardy loyalty. There begins a chase across a vast Northern landscape of moors, rivers and dark woods, the increasingly exhausted fugitives being hunted not by the police but by a posse of farmers intent on revenge. As exhaustion and hunger take hold, Heaton injures his leg and the roles are reversed. Suddenly Heaton needs Spike's loyalty. But as the farmers close in, Spike is forced to decide whether to stand by his wounded friend or run for the safety of the city. No ordinary chase film, This is not a Love Song is a love story trapped inside the body of a thriller.

    With a fervent desire to break the increasingly uncreative strictures of traditional film making, every stage of This is not a Love Song was approached afresh. Cast before it was written, workshopped with the actors and filmed in only two weeks on a tiny budget, the film champions DV not as film's cheap cousin but as a format with its own unique beauty.

    A Footprint Films production in association with Strange Dog in association with The Film Council (UK) & Longfellow Productions (UK)

    Crew
    Directed by Bille Eltringham
    Produced by Mark Blaney
    Written by Simon Beaufoy
    Executive Producers Kate Ogborn, Simon Beaufoy, Paul Trijbits
    Director of Photography Robbie Ryan
    Designer Jon Henson
    Production Manager Helen Walker
    Editor Ewa J. Lind
    Casting Director Victoria Beattie
    Sound Recordist Rupert Ivey
    Original Music Adrian Johnston
    Sound Editor Graham Headicar

    Cast
    Spike - Michael Colgan
    Heaton - Kenny Glenaan
    Bellamy - David Bradley

    Filmed on location over 12 days, July 2001, near Aberfoyle & Glasgow, Scotland.

    Festivals to date include:
    Rotterdam, Edinburgh, London, Hoff, American Film Institute, Dinard, Belfast...
  4. UK IP Blocks for Proxy Hunters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    080.192.000.000 - 080.195.255.255
    080.192.000.000 - 080.195.255.255
    080.192.152.000 - 080.192.167.255
    080.192.152.000 - 080.192.167.255
    080.194.016.000 - 080.194.047.255
    080.195.032.000 - 080.195.095.255
    080.195.144.000 - 080.195.159.255
    080.195.192.000 - 080.195.223.255
    217.035.144.000 - 217.035.168.255
    217.036.000.000 - 217.036.127.255
    217.036.192.000 - 217.036.255.255
    217.039.000.000 - 217.039.255.255
    217.040.192.000 - 217.040.255.255
    217.041.000.000 - 217.041.074.255
    217.042.000.000 - 217.044.255.255
    080.000.000.000 - 080.007.255.255
    080.000.044.000 - 080.000.047.255
    080.000.096.000 - 080.000.111.255
    080.000.170.000 - 080.000.175.255
    080.000.250.000 - 080.000.251.255
    080.001.096.000 - 080.001.169.063
    080.001.224.000 - 080.001.255.255
    080.002.248.000 - 080.002.255.255
    080.003.000.000 - 080.003.031.255
    080.003.032.000 - 080.003.063.255
    080.003.064.000 - 080.003.095.255
    080.003.160.000 - 080.003.191.255
    080.003.200.000 - 080.003.207.255
    080.004.072.000 - 080.004.079.255
    080.004.104.000 - 080.004.111.255
    080.004.160.000 - 080.004.175.255
    080.004.224.000 - 080.004.255.255
    080.005.128.000 - 080.005.143.255
    080.005.144.000 - 080.005.159.255
    080.005.240.000 - 080.005.247.255
    080.006.064.000 - 080.006.071.255
    080.006.200.000 - 080.006.207.255
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    080.006.232.000 - 080.006.239.255
    080.007.064.000 - 080.007.079.255
    080.007.080.000 - 080.007.095.255
    080.007.104.000 - 080.007.111.255
    080.007.112.000 - 080.007.127.255
    080.007.192.000 - 080.007.215.255
    080.007.224.000 - 080.007.255.255

  5. Re:Interesting idea by squiggleslash · · Score: 2, Informative

    One thousand for $1150, which is roughly in line with other estimates I've heard. That's for real DVDs, not DVD-Rs.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  6. Showing at.. by Dynamoo · · Score: 2, Informative
    Showing at..

    • The Other Cinema, 11 Rupert Street, London W1, Tel: 020 77341506
    • Watershed, 1 Canons Road, Bristol City Centre, Tel: 0117 9276444
    • The Showroom, Sheffield Media & Exhibition Centre, Sheffield City Centre, Tel: 0114 2763534
    • Cornerhouse, 70 Oxford Street, Manchester City Centre, Tel: 0161 2287621

    Can't find the other one.. but if you're interested in the film, why not go an see it on a lovely big cinema screen rather than a pokey little window on your PC? :)

    --
    Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
  7. Transmission Films has done this for a while by PktLoss · · Score: 3, Informative

    Transmission Films Is an online independent films distributor that has been around for around a year, with a decent film library.

  8. Re:bandwidth test by zaxus · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not first to be released, the first to be simultaneously premeired on the net and in the theater.

    --
    /. zen: Imagine a Beowulf cluster of Beowulf clusters...
  9. Re:It's cheaper to buy a DVD (even if I lived in U by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    UK broadband isn't charged per megabyte or whatever, yet.

    So if you lived in the UK, it wouldn't be cheaper to buy the DVD, assuming you had broadband.

  10. Re:Not Legal in EU by tolan-b · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sony seem to get away with it with the ps2 ;)
    (price difference that is)

  11. before downloading read this review of the film by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Rarely has a title been so appropriate. The British film This Is Not A Love Song proves to be such an excruciating experience.

    Just after picking up his buddy Spike (Michael Colgan) who's been released from jail, Heaton (Kenneth Glenaan) runs out of gas in the English countryside. Looking for gas-and more-on a nearby farm, they struggle with a farmer and in the process Spike kills his daughter with a shotgun. Chased by angry locals who have decided to take justice into their own hands, they will try to reach the closest city to escape the angry mob.

    Director Billie Eltringham's work suffers from a total absence of originality and substance, her film looking like the bastard son of Trainspotting and Deliverance. Spike, a carbon copy of a Trainspotting character, is a dumb hooligan walking around with a boombox while Heaton is the badly shaved big brother figure who looks after him. The Rambo-like premise is obviously only a pretext to offer a succession of moments between the two characters. Unfortunately neither of the characters interesting nor are the dialogues witty or funny. While following the flat interaction and boring adventures of this duo we don't care about, one only hopes for the "mean farmers" to catch them soon so that our pain will finally be over.

    Messy direction and plot holes provide additional obstacles, not to the partners-in-crime, but to the audience. Billie Eltringham's style oscillates between amateur digital filmmaking and unnecessary kinetic shots. The director is sometimes so busy playing with her camera like a maniac that she annihilates the impact of the scenes. Thus, we never get to understand how Spike could have killed the girl, even if he said it was an accident, because Eltringham was making big circles with the camera. In addition, the film is shot in the usual grainy de-saturated colors used to emphasize crisis in British social dramas, which totally undermines the beauty of the British countryside. As for the characters, we learn that Heathon served in the army (of course!), which allows a couple of out-of-the-blue Rambo-type tricks in the forest. In another scene, Heaton uses yellow plastic bags to make ponchos--a perfect camouflage, unless it's humor!

    For those unfamiliar with P.I.L.'s anthem, "This Is Not A Love Song", the single is played as a recurrent theme throughout the movie; while trying to create some irony, it results in a lack of subtlety. In the end, we are left with the fact that Spike is dumb and a coward, what we knew from the beginning, and the feeling of having been robbed of the cost of a movie ticket by these two thugs.

    Fred Thom

    http://www.plume-noire.com/movies/reviews/thisisno talovesong.html