NYU’s Washington Square News
Nate Jones
Staff Writer, Washington Square News
As 2006 draws to a close, expect to see various feature stories on this year�s official hot new trend: internet-grown, consumer-created culture. These articles will probably name-check YouTube, LonelyGirl15 and OK Go, breathlessly noting how technology is acting as a democratizing force in opening up the creation of culture beyond typical corporate-controlled channels. (Other, lesser publications will simply make fun of them.)
Amid all this talk of a digital revolution comes �Four-Eyed Monsters,� a small film from two young artists you may not have heard of unless you�re friends with them on MySpace.com. And that�s the point. Arin Crumley and Susan Buice were leading quiet lives of hipster desperation in Brooklyn when they met through the internet. Arin was a filmmaker who shot mostly wedding videos, Susan a struggling artist eking out a living as waitress. Tired of all the awkward getting-to-know-you conversations that come with the start of any relationship, the pair decided instead to communicate only through writing, drawing, making videos and instant messaging or texting.
Arty and pretentious? Possibly, but it was innovative enough to allow their creativity to flourish. Soon the creative wellsprings of the couple were such that they were inspired to make a feature-length film about the intricacies of their relationship. They called it �Four Eyed Monsters� � Arin�s description of over-cuddly couples in public. After much effort and credit card debt, the film was completed and Buice and Crumley took it on the road, showing it at the Slamdance Film Festival to general audience acclaim.
�Slamdance was a really intense experience,� Buice said, speaking to NYU professor Sharon Bidal�s Producing class at Tisch on Nov. 16. �We went there with no producer rep, no connections. We were not on the map and tried to win over distributors.�
After rejections, they quickly became disillusioned.
�Everybody there already knew exactly what [films] to go to,� Buice said. �It precludes a nobody coming out of nowhere. The �Clerks� idea is not happening.�
But as it had before, inspiration struck.
�We�d been documenting everything that happened,� Buice said. �And it was pretty fucking dramatic, and it was all on tape. We thought, �This is genius,� and we got the idea of cutting these things into short films, enticing distributors with this idea.�
The couple began showing these films as video podcasts to get people interested in their film. Soon they had � well, by internet standards � a hit on their hands. Apple was looking for a way to promote its new video iPods and used the �Four-Eyed Monsters� video podcasts as featured content. MySpace, which was introducing a version of itself for filmmakers, did the same.
With their internet popularity, Buice and Crumley decided to bypass distributors altogether and market and distribute �Four Eyed Monsters� by themselves.
�We knew we had an audience,� Buice said, �but how do we get the film to them? How do we figure out where these people are?�
Crumley hit upon the idea of asking their subscribers for their zip codes and e-mail addresses. They introduced a feature on their website where visitors could request a screening of the film based on their location. When a city had a couple hundred requests, they could pitch their movie to a theater, pointing out a guaranteed audience.
Buith admits, however, that in all her pitches to distributors and exhibitors, �Nobody cares if it�s a great film.� That�s part of the problem of the film: Like everything from �Snakes on a Plane� to �Borat,� the hype and back-story surrounding the film are more interesting than anything in it.
Although the blend of drama and documentary is intriguing and the love story between Arin and Susan offers some insight into the nature of relationships in the early 21st century, the plot is slight and the pacing drags in crucial moments, making the film seem much longer than its 70-minute running time. The digital cinematography looks almost as good as film, but �almost� is the key word, especially when dealing with deep reds that come out oddly pixilated. As for Arin and Susan, they often come off in the film as self-conscious and overly precious artist types, emblematic of a generation that refuses to grow up.
These problems are nowhere to be seen in the video podcasts that got the pair their fame. In those five-minute shorts, Arin and Susan aren�t acting and are free to be witty and engaging screen presences. It�s just another example of how, in this internet revolution, the things on the periphery � be they music videos, fan-made posters or promotional podcasts � are often better than the actual content.
