Widgets, gadgets, wadgets… you’d be forgiven for not really knowing what they are. But in reality most people have encountered them, You Tube video’s are simple widgets, you can grab the code and embed the video in your site, people visiting your site can then grab the code and embed it in there’s etc etc. They’re viral wallpaper for your blog or social network.
Now the studios are ‘counting on the small, portable applications that can be posted on blogs and social networks to maximize the exposure for its trailers.’ (via Hollywood Reporter )
(I had hoped to add widget in here, but it doesn’t work!)
The forthcoming Indiana Jones movie adds a competition element to the now de facto trailers and extras. The two fans who manage to distribute the widget the most win trips to the premier and no doubt a crack of that iconic whip, which they’ll record on their mobile phones and upload to You Tube where it will become a widget. The widget sphere isn’t some fragile ecosystem where portals are dependent on bringing an audience to them, they can exist and thrive in the wild and represent, to my mind, the future of distribution and brand advertising on the web. The key is to make the widget so compelling to the embedder that they benefit from having it sit pride of place in their virtual real estate.
What if you could embed a widget frame on your blog, profile, desktop etc. The frame’s purpose is to stream movie trailers, so it’s not just one movie trailer it’s a movie trailer micro channel. The widget frame could be tailored to the trailer, so for one you could have a competition, for another exclusive behind the scenes footage, for another the chance to talk directly with the stars. So far, so mildly enticing, but why would I want to embed an advert for a studio film on my blog? As the virtual real estate owner I need to be incentivized, the chance of a free t-shirt and posing a question to Jessica Alba ain’t enough.
Gimme the movie. I add the widget, I help promote your movie, gimme the movie to watch and I don’t mean free tickets to the local multiplex I mean streamed to my computer. Use Joost, so their’s no actual download, no fear of piracy and unless you’ve got Apple TV, you’re going to be watching the movie on your computer, so you’re not exactly broadcasting it to everyone you know. Gimme the movie, let me add value to the widget, let me evangelise about the movie. If that scares the studios, which it will, another approach would be to make the movie available to me for a fee.
Seems like a win win situation, we promote and distribute your movie and you get paid. The major obstacle to this are the distributors. Fearful of what they don’t understand, ie ‘the web’ they’ll see this method of digital distribution as impacting on their respective territory sales. But recent research has shown that despite films finding themselves onto bittorrent hours after they are released and sometimes even before, that ease of access to a print does not mean people are not going to the cinema. Cinema attendance is up, what studios need to do are feed the distribution and promotion channels and give movie goers options, options befitting the increasing needs of the digital natives.
