FilmBundle: A Great Alternative When You Have the Blockbuster Blues

It is easy to be a bit cynical about the state of modern commercial filmmaking. So many of today’s wide-released movies are either remakes of a remake of a remake or star a buff white dude fighting crime (usually in a cape or police uniform). With big studios investing so much money in the big movies we see today, they cannot afford to take huge risks.

There is a tried and true formula for big commercial profits in Hollywood, and the big movie studios plan on taking full advantage of it. A few times a year you will see studios give opportunities to very established directors to make bold, original, and creative movies (e.g. this year’s pitch black thriller, Gone Girl, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s trippy mystery romp, Inherent Vice) but for the most part, you know what you are getting yourself into when you enter a theatre.

However, there are outlets where you can find films (both short- and long-form) that don’t care about making oodles of money and are not impaired by studio intrusion. One such place is a website called FilmBundle. These are films made by pure film lovers for pure film lovers. In many independent films, while the production value is noticeably lower, the personality and passion shines through. Compare this with the glossy, numb approach of most blockbusters and the appeal of smaller films becomes abundantly clear. Right now, the site has a focus on films involving (to some degree or another) music; these are films that have intimate, crazy, or otherwise against the grain concepts that would be almost impossible impossible to find anywhere besides an arthouse theatre.

The Concept

If you head to FilmBundle’s home page, the concept is laid out perfectly at the top of the page:

“Each month we curate a selection of amazing independent films. Pay whatever you want, give some to charity, and stream on any device. Life is good.”

Life is good, indeed. When I visited the site for the first time and read that concept statement, I immediately recalled Radiohead’s free release of In Rainbows in 2007. While Radiohead certainly made a lot of money from the album by touring after its release, the idea of that album is very much akin to the way that FilmBundle operates. They both absolutely love what they do and want to share it with the world any way we can. Similar platforms have operated on the principle of donation-driven media, as well; HumbleBundle, geared towards indie games and books, comes to mind.

If you like what you see or hear, make a donation so that more things like this can be released. Radiohead fanscertainly responded at the time, and it would be great if FilmBundle could grab enough donations to allow creative filmmakers, like many of the ones featured on FilmBundle, to creative films that maintain the same non-traditional tone but don’t look so rough around the edges. There is a lot to like here, but films this small simply can’t compare to commercial ones with regards to technological advancements and can’t benefit from huge crews.

The Material

The first film that caught my attention was a musical called Misfit Heights from director James Burzelic. The first portion of the description simply mentioned that it was a zombie puppet musical, and I dove in headfirst to check it out. As you would expect, the sets and shooting leave much to be desired (this probably isn’t Burzelic’s fault because, again, these movies cost about as much as a shopping mall Santa collects for the Salvation Army on a given day in December) and no one will mistake the puppets for the beautiful creatures created at Jim Henson Studios, but there is a no holds barred attitude through it all that is very charming and leaves you, if nothing else, with a smile on your face. It doesn’t completely blow you away, but you certainly wouldn’t mind if a studio gave this crew a couple-hundred thousand dollars and see what kind of craziness they could cook up.

Along with silly films like Misfit Heights, FilmBundle also features very serious ones like the short film Empyrean. The film is a heartbreakingly beautiful story about letting go while also taking advantage of every opportunity you can while the opportunity is still available. The story revolves around a daughter coming to grips with her father’s impending death from brain cancer. Empyrean’s production quality is astonishingly high and features (mostly) great performances. Shot in a beautiful mountain setting, the cinematography is quite great and features a haunting, somber score that fits perfectly with the subject matter at hand. The performance by Sonny King, who plays the mentally debilitated father, is stirring and raw, and it would be very interesting to see director Sophia Savage could add a bit more levity to a longer work. Empyrean took me completely by surprise and, if you have 20 minutes, you should go watch it now.

The Appeal

We hear about the success of aspiring filmmakers on sites like Kickstarter, but once they raise a little money, is there anyone other than the donators that watch what they have mad? FilmBundle is a great way to see things you have never heard of and never would heard of otherwise. You may be a bit weary of films with such low budgets (I was, too), but I can guarantee that going to the site is far more fulfilling than watching a horror movie cash grab (I know what you’re up to, Annabelle) or whatever overdone crap Michael Bay has endorsed recently.

The interface is incredibly user friendly and it won’t be difficult to find something you are interested in. The site is clean, crisp, and to the point. Very similar to the layout of a Netflix queue, it is very easy to find out information about the film, including the cast, crew, and a plot synopsis. It is a great platform for small filmmakers to take advantage of and gives viewers an outlet to see something that wouldn’t be possible without the Internet. The more creativity, the better, and FilmBundle promotes more creativity.

So, head over to FilmBundle, take a look at what the site has to offer, and let us know what you think!