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Selling digital downloads of your film on your own

Sup yall I'm back from forty something days in Iceland wherein I wrote two feature scripts, played Basketball in the snow every day and saw Iron Sky in the cinema (visual fx were great but was pretty disappointed in the film as a whole) but yeh... I meet with Endika this week and I'll find out if he's done with the music or not...

No matter what happens.... the film will be available this summer... So I'm looking at ways to get it out there and sell it... I can always do the normal thang with DVD/BLU-RAY/ITUNES/Xbox store/Playstation Store/VOD etc....

The thing about all those is that it takes time to prep/create all the deliverables and design stuff and the like...

Since I've waited so long to be able to put HSM out I'm going to want to make it available as soon as possible without adding more months to the wait...

You probably read about what comedian Louis C.K. did with his concert film recently... I think its awesome because this approach is actually the simplest and fastest to implement as well as the cheapest for fans... cut out the middle men and marketing expenses and you can sell it for $5... NOW granted this d00d was ALREADY FAMOUS with a HUGE AUDIENCE but the execution is still tite for us nobodies....

So it seems he was using paypal and amazon payments to process his payments... and he used Amazon s3 for file hosting... things that ALL OF US can use... I mean you have to pay for Amazon s3 storage/bandwidth but you only pay for what you use... so if you sell a $5 file and it costs $0.10 in bandwidth big deal as its still a big profit...

From doing a little research DIS looks good...  the combination of E-Junkie for your payment processing/shopping cart/download token stuff... Amazon s3 for file hosting as E-Junkie allows remote file hosting and hides the links as well for $18/month... and then just a host for your site... E-Junkie will host small files for low prices but when dealing with 2gb---> files it gets into the hundreds of dollars a month so that's where Amazon s3 saves the day....

E-Junkie uses Google Checkout + Paypal for payments so anyone in the world has access... I've bought stuff from aescripts before and they use E-Junkie... it was simple and fast and a good experience so that's what made me want to use it...

So as SOON as HSM is completed it will be made available for sale online as a digital download...

This is what I'm thinking...

The whole film as a 720p h.264 movie file + the whole soundtrack in 192k for $5 and perhaps a deluxe download with the film at 1080p + an extended soundtrack at 320k + behind the scenes + making of + script + alt soundtrack + more for $10

So I'm hoping the people who know about the film already will grab the deluxe version for $10 and I hope the people who never heard of me or the film but somehow come across it would take a chance for $5...

Sound like a good deal? What do you think? What would you do?



Comments

  1. That's great! of course I'm down for the deluxe download :) That Amazon s3/E-junkie solution sounds cool, I may use this for my stuff. Thanks d00d!

    Adam

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  2. This is a great idea. Simple and efficient. Although I know some people like myself would also love a a physical case and artwork as well since I loved your WATS case. But either way you can go ahead and jot me down as a $10 buyer too.

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  3. Sounds awesome!
    Maybe you should also make We Are The Strange available too. I will buy it ;)

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    Replies
    1. Yeh? I never did make the 1080p version available so maybe I'll do that too! ^ ^

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  4. Why do you have to meet with Endika?
    Can you not just call him on the phone???

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    Replies
    1. Haha after I read your comment I was like "Yeh why don't I just ask him on the phone?!" Its probably my own denial... I figure if he was really done he would txt or call me to let me know so we just keep making these dates to meet and I hope he will tell me its done each time 0_o

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  5. Nice idea! I would gladly wait until next January or w/e for the Blu Ray, since you're releasing the digital download. That way you can have all the time to customize it like We Are the Strange. (and of course we will buy it)

    That was "literally" the most packed and hardcore dvd release I have ever witnessed. beautiful ;_;
    Also it could give you some time to throw on some HSM crowd screening reactions if you go to any festivals during the interim!
    ~Peace
    And good luck!

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    1. Ok tite! Yeh I figure get the film out now so people don't have to wait for the DVD release etc... fer sure! And yeh having the film out will make it easier to get all the subs in different languages done as well as alternative soundtracks and maybe even alternative dubs ^ ^ which can all be included on the dvd releases...

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  6. sounds great. put me down for 2. haha. also would be great to see this movie on vhs.

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    1. You got it! My homie Screamerclauz just started a little VHS label so I'll def put it out on that!

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    2. that's awesome, i own where the dead go to die, and know jimmy from facebook. you said my name on the podcast!! hahaha. anyways i would love to own both of your movies on vhs, really looking forward to this movie ether way, it looks amazing. can't wait to show you and screamerclauz what i've been working on, although i though i have a long ways to go.

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  7. Yeah I've been thinking about this for the release of my next film. Pretty sure direct digital sale to fans is the way to go from now on... I'm very interested in seeing how this works out for you m.dot... AND I can't wait to see HSM ;)

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    1. hey dave4k, i've been wondering about collaberating on a small blender project since i saw u started using it recently, maybe i could be like your props guy or something. i know replying on mdot's blog is kind of a crap way to try to get a hold of ya but idk what yer email is and stuff

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  8. Yeah, $10 for like, everything is a steal dude. I would gladly pay that and then another $20 for a BD release with all that stuff. Also the budget version for people who just want to see the movie at $5...less than the price of a theater ticket. Good stuff.

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  9. Damn, that's a big jump, Mdot! Do you think it will have a harder time going through the Film Festival circuit if it's already available on digital?

    But then again, I remember what you said about Sundance, and maybe you don't want to go that route. I would buy the hell out of it for sure.

    Well, whatever your decision is, we want HSM to screen at the Victoria TX Independent Film Festival, and want both you AND Jimmy's movies (and if we can afford it to fly you in) at next year's Self Medicated Film Expo.

    Have you posted a link to the HSM trailer on Reddit yet? Maybe that can garner some attention?

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    1. Yeh I'm not really trippin on film festivals....if some want to play it tite I'll send em a blu-ray or whatever... I just want to get it out there... the peeps who would be into HSM proB don't go to film fests and film fests don't pay filmmakers anything...and there's the cost of creating the deliverables for the film fests + shipping fee's... I just want to put the movie out as cheap and fast as possible while making it available to the most people....

      Once I make the official trailer I hope yall will help me post it places ^ ^

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    2. I think the film festival thing is valid, but only if it's like, the dude up in Waterloo. I had never heard of that fest, but it sounds really awesome, like you could meet some really awesome people there. And you could pass out business card sized things with a link to go buy the movie digitally with the URL on there.

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  10. idea: you have friends who sell shit. ask them for a favor.

    The favor is that you offer up a free 10 min. preview for their customers when they sell something ....

    (Example: MSI sells a record .. they get a link to the free 10 minute preview of mDOT sTRANges "HSM" !!!!)

    this would be fairly easy for them to add a link on their respective websites ... and I think you will find that these people (while some may be famous) would LOOOVE to help a brotha out.


    get bold.
    ask.

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    Replies
    1. Great idea... yeh imma deF going to ask for a little help this time ^ ^

      Delete
    2. and PLEASE keep up the podcast .. awesome stuff ... I have a hundred sticky notes with shit to look up at the end of each episode ^___^

      I will admit, I actually didn't like James ID on the first episode , but he has won me over and I am a huge fan now ... seems to have sunk into a nice little groove.
      totally reminds me of an "american" karl pilkington (ricky gervais podcast)

      seriously though , you guys "work". if this animation don't work out ., you could probably grab a radio show on sattelite radio or something .

      peace.

      Delete
  11. i swear teh innernet keeps eating my comments, anyway i've been wanting to start putting out that tutorial series for ya and for the other podcast listeners (who want to learn more about open source stuff) but it'd be nice to make 'em and release at the seem time a new podcast comes out, so when might we expect a new podcast? and i'll get the fist tutorial posted by then.

    if was u, i'd ask for 15 on the deluxe version at least

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  12. Put the soundtrack on Bandcamp or something in FLAC format and I'll gladly pay out extra. Will definitely go for the 1080p version.

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  13. A really cool thing that i think would be great as an exposure for you and your friends & cohorts would be a box set called the Uberector Collector - That would have 2-3 films. You could also have some short films in the middle and have a play all marathon mode were it tells you to pop in the next disc at the end. Sell for 30$ and have a custom art collaboration or something. That would be awesome.

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