Maybe. You can design for aesthetics, and/or for functionality. Sometimes, "rock" doesn't mean "is good"--think about the negative opinions some people have of [the term, or the actual] "rockstar programmers." In this case, I was thinking about "rock" as in a Hendrix guitar solo--doesn't really get a point across, but doesn't really need to.
I'm an armchair film aficionado. I went to a pitch competition featuring pre-vetted aspiring film makers last year and it was fascinating enough to make me start wondering about the whole process and if I really could write a potential screenplay.
I have a 12px minimum font size set in Firefox because I have a fairly high-resolution screen. This causes the content that should be in the middle of the page to be displayed offset to the right, starting for the right border of where it should be.
Just a heads up: Ghosts in the Machine is used in the header, but the end of the video reads Ghost in the Machine. No 's'. Not sure which version you were going for, but you might want to read through and double check all that.
I'll have you know that your flash intro music was an unwelcome addition to the 3rd movement of Mahler's 2nd.
Anyway, I looked at the site and my one impression was: Skepticism. I mean:
...will produce one winning entry to be a feature film in theaters. We'll also be casting the movie using the site.
I mean, I know nothing about the art of film production, but I think that casting is usually done through trade journals and auditions for a reason. Likewise, don't studios usually base ideas on more than, "That sounds good", and look into what kind of connections the filmmakers bring with them, their track records, etc?
And this:
You are competing for the chance to work on a professional feature film - either as an actor or a producer and originator.
Huh? Isn't the producer the guy who drives everything, puts up the dough, etc? How do you win that sort of thing in a contest?
Well I could give you the marketing/PR spiel, but that's not my department.
I see the competitions as being only a single aspect of the site, and we are all hoping it grows beyond a competition and more into a vehicle for getting really talented people produced and promoted. The vision for that particular component is really more of a virtual indie production company - but we all have to start somewhere and I think this is a pretty good way to start.
It's not the only thing we do though. We've got three products in total. The professional networking product is still pretty infant, but we're obviously working on making that a value for indie talent and a means for them to network and get gigs - as well as provide tools for self promotion (for instance, the headshot generator does what many actors pay $400 or more for the exact same result).
Our final product, the next to roll out, are a suite of production development/management tools for indie/web/amateur filmmakers/videographers. It allows you to take your pitches and manage them all the way through post-production.
Producing for on-line is a growing market with different needs/goals than traditional film and we're aiming to help bolster it and become a hub for it. Hopefully, we'll get there.
ps. I don't write PR, I write code. This is honestly how I feel about the entire project, otherwise I couldn't have sunk the crazy amount of hours I have into it.
I think it's a great concept - the web and digital tools are making both distribution and production costs much cheaper. However, no one (well, not until now) has really been tackling the middlemen - producers, talent agencies, etc. that still cost way too much and create barriers to entry.
Professional networking and casting assistance (crews and actors) has a lot of potential for growth. Great work getting together something I've been thinking a lot about but haven't actually worked on yet :)
The burgeoning hobbyist/amateur/online market sounds like a much more natural place to aim at than Hollywood, unless you guys have some ins somewhere. But then, I don't know anything about anything in that industry, so maybe I'm totally off.
I think you're building a very cool system for bringing film people together, but I ditto the skepticism about any mainstream film guarantees. Particularly since there's nothing about who you guys are in the "About" page.
To repeat myself: I know nothing about hollywood. It just seems like a really, really crusty enterprise. I remember Matt Groening talking about how hard it is to get any idea past the bureaucrats. Well, if big shots can't do it...who can? But then, maybe that's just an invitation for ventures like yours.
