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How Valve inspired Neill Blomkamp to start his own movie studio
Neill Blomkamp has a question: "If you could break apart films and treat them a little bit more like software, what would that look like?" Whether it's blindly following Amazon Instant recommendations or waiting for a film to hit Netflix instead of buying it, video streaming has slowly ushered in a new cinematic landscape; changing the way we consume movies drastically. Yet, despite the impact of the internet on movie-watching, filmmakers' still haven't truly changed their creative process. Cult sci-fi director Blomkamp wants to do exactly that. After District 9, Elysium and Chappie, the director set up Oats Studio, which has just released three short films -- Firebase, Rakku and Zygote (collectively titled Volume 1). With YouTube and Steam as distribution platforms, Blomkamp's new endeavor is aiming for a more collaborative approach to crafting movies. While he's still toying with how best to monetize his creations, the short films are all free on YouTube and Steam. But that's just the start: Alongside each film, Oats is also selling "DLC" -- its 3D assets and raw sound files -- on Steam for $5. For Blomkamp, this video-game-inspired "free to watch" approach is all about collaboration. By putting the shorts online for free, Blomkamp and his studio can see which ideas people gravitate toward rather than pouring millions of dollars into an idea that might never recoup its costs. More importantly, though, the DLC gives young creators access to big-budget assets, allowing fans to recut Oats' shorts or even use complex CG models for movies of their own. All the shorts boast cinema-quality visual effects, and Zygote and Rakku feature performances from stars like Dakota Fanning and Sigourney Weaver. After watching Volume 1, I spoke with Neill Blomkamp to find out more about this ambitious project and how he sees the internet shaping his future movies.
