I know you have a short attention span. Wait! Keep reading! OK. I, like millions of other unfortunate victims of cinematographic torture, was cruelly tricked into seeing "Meet Joe Black." The whole thing. An hour into the movie, I was squirming. Two hours and I was crying. After the third hour and the sixth climax, I had torn out my eyeballs and lay shivering in a pool of my own sweat.
I don't like long movies.
If you're still with me, I've got good news. The good people at AtomFilms (www.AtomFilms.com) have scoured the Web and the world for the best short films and animations and have blended them up into one enormous web site for your enjoyment.
Available for your viewing pleasure are hundreds of nuggets of entertainment, each ranging from 30 seconds to 30 minutes in length.
Among the library of titles are festival winners, Academy Award nominees, and independent films. Each is available in streaming video format, which leaves more valuable hard disk space for your precious MP3s.
In a recent interview Quentin Tarantino lamented the coming of electronic media, believing that the advent of playable computer movie files would lead to the demise of film in its current movie theater format.
Tarantino's fears are not unjustified " as televisions are replaced by surround-sound, DVD-equipped, widescreen home theaters and movies are made more available online, the film industry faces the need to revolutionize itself.
At present, though, there is no serious peril to movie studios, as audiences continue to pump millions of dollars into Hollywood week after week.
What Tarantino overlooked is the possibility of the electonic media to disperse works of art that would ordinarily not have a very high circulation.
A perfect example of this is the MP3 phenomenon, which allows online users to download compact audio files. While also the source of frequent copyright infringement, the MP3 music format allows unknown, unsigned bands to release their music to a potentially worldwide audience. Correspondingly in the realm of short film, AtomFilms.com provides a similar service.
If you're looking for it, and it's short (we're talking films, not Gary Coleman), AtomFilms probably has it. Recent highlights include the Academy Award-winning short films "My Mother Dreams Satan's Disciples in New York" and "The Old Man and the Sea," Alexandre Petrov's fingerpaint-on-glass rendition of Hemingway's classic story. Also included are several features from the Internet's number-one resource for high-class humor, JoeCartoon.com.
AtomFilms are both live-action and animated, and range from the broodingly intense to the lighthearted.
And there is never a chance of AtomFilms going stale " new shorts are posted on the site daily, and filmmakers are flooding the AtomFilms office, applying to get their movie posted.
The site is revolutionizing the film distibution process by virtually guaranteeing that any film posted will gain the viewership of thousands.
And getting one's film on AtomFilms is a simple matter of completing a one-page application and sending in the film " in almost any format, digital or video.
Simply put, AtomFilms offers unparalleled exposure for any burgeoning filmmaker; this in turn prompts new filmmakers to send in their movies and animation.
This abundance of quality films has caused AtomFilms' popularity to grow even further. AtomFilms' success is cyclical in nature. Directors want to put their films on the site because it is widely viewed, while simulataneously AtomFilms possesses a wide viewership because of its large and varied library of short films. It's like a vicious cycle, only instead of vicious, good.
AtomFilms exemplifies what the Internet is supposed to be, a place where the free exchange of information serves to the benefit of all involved and where new opportunities are created.
While a large part of the Internet is mired in pornography or self-serving corporate sites, AtomFilms stands out as an example of the best of what modern culture has to offer.
