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这个想法最初并非为了发行。我二十多岁时，我们有十二个人组成了一个 WhatsApp 群组，每周四雷打不动地约定好一起看当周的精彩电影。随着时间的推移，生活发生了变化，大家结婚、搬家、优先事项也随之转移，这个持续了近十年的仪式也随之瓦解。疫情期间，由于我们大多数人都拥有 VR 头显，我们重新联系起来，开始一起看电影——我们设置了一个共享流，并在旁边进行 Google 聊天，这样在电影播放时我们就能听到彼此的声音。 VR 在重现影院氛围方面表现出人意料地好——但最糟糕的是独自一人坐在虚拟影院里。调暗灯光（在虚拟环境中，这样你就看不到空座位了），然后进行一个视频通话，让我们能听到彼此的声音，感觉就像大家又聚在一起了。即使不那么频繁，自疫情以来我们也断断续续地这样做，并且很享受。它帮助我们与曾经共享的仪式——电影——保持联系。最近，这个范围已经扩展到电视剧。我最近遇到一位做电影的朋友，我向他展示了这个，他问我们为什么不考虑将其作为一个平台推广。这让我开始思考。鉴于我热爱电影，并且有软件背景，我们可以考虑构建一个专门的 VR 应用，而无需单独设置视频通话来传输音频。所以我们构建了一个，并一直在测试它，我们非常喜欢。现在我们正在向公众开放。独立电影制作人在制作电影时面临着巨大的挑战——而发行（正如 Stephen Follows 最近的文章所示）是另一个巨大的障碍。大多数人都会被压垮。鉴于电影制作人通过 Instagram/YouTube 建立观众群，提供一个他们可以直接通过售票来变现观众的渠道，而无需花费数年时间走遍全国进行巡演来收回成本，这似乎是一个值得解决的问题。你可以在 www.contraband.watch 上查看，上线才一周，我们已经有了一个相当活跃的社区注册并参与其中。如果你是一位电影制作人（或有这样一位朋友），希望利用这个平台/进行测试，请告诉我。如果你拥有 VR 设备并喜欢看电影，加入我们的行列

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This idea did not in anyway start with the intention of distribution. In my 20s there were a group of 12 of us, who shared a whatsapp group and every thursday, we had a standing appointment to decide and watch the interesting movie for the week.Over the years as life happens and folks got married, moved, priorities shifted, that ritual that almost lasted a decade fell apart.During the pandemic, given that most of us had a VR headset, we reconnected and started watching movies together - we'd setup a shared stream and would have a google chat going on the side, so that we can hear each other while the movie played.VR has been surprisingly good to recreate that theatrical atmosphere - but the worst bit is sitting in a virtual cinema as the only person. Dimming the lights out (within the virtual environment so that you don't see the empty chairs) and having a video call where we can hear each other on one of the ears, kinda felt a bit like the gang was back together.Even if it hasn't been as much, we have done this on and off since the pandemic and we enjoy it. It helps us stay connected with something that was our shared ritual - movies. And as of late it has expanded to shows as well.I recently met a filmmaker friend and was showing them this and they asked why we arent thinking about rolling this out as a platform. And that got some gears turning.Given that I love films, and also have a background in software meant we can think about building a dedicated VR app that doesn't involve setting up a separate video call for the audio. So we built one and have been testing it and love it.We are now opening it up. Indie filmmakers face a mountain of issues making a film - and distribution (like Stephen Follow's recent article shows) is another big mountain to climb. And most folks would just get overwhelmed by that. And given that filmmakers are building audiences through instagram / youtube, having an avenue where they can monetize their audience directly (by ticketing) and not having to do a roadshow for years across the entire country to recoup their money back, seemed like a problem worth solving.You can check it out at www.contraband.watch - its only been a week and we have quite an active community that has signed up and is engaged. If you are a filmmaker (or have a friend who is one) who'd like to leverage this / test it out, let me know. If you are someone who has a VR and likes watching movies, join the tribe?Related reading:Why this seems to be at the right time:1. Stephen Follows a prominent data guy in the film and entertainment space, breaks down the numbers behind filmmakers trying to find distribution : https://stephenfollows.com/p/costs-of-self-distribute-and-promote-indie-film2. There was a post earlier this week by Aaron who has made a film named withdrawal and is doing a roadshow across the country trying to get screenings and the fees that makes it unviable for him to get his film to market : https://substack.com/home/post/p-1981292783. Coincidentally with Nolan's big movie that has come out - there are only 41 theatres in the world that has actually show the film as it was meant to be watched in the 70mm format. (US - 26, Canada - 7, UK - 3, EU - 4, Australia - 1). In a VR you can create that theatrical experience with no issues and that opens up a whole new market - and there are 20mn Quest headsets out there.

思考：电影人的替代发行模式