Paramount/Transmission to release The Tunnel DVD
The crowd-funded thriller The Tunnel will be released on DVD by Transmission Films / Paramount Home Entertainment, at the same time as its free online release.
“We are thrilled to have these two forward-thinking distributors supporting The Tunnel in Australia. From the outset our intention was to make the film available to as many people as possible – their willingness to find a way to work alongside our online release will be a massive boost to that,” said writer/producer Enzo Tedeschi.
The Tunnel was directed by Carlo Ledesma. It was announced as a crowd-funded film that would be made available for free on online torrents.
“Our plan from the outset was to keep the online release exactly as we promised it. Essentially, the online release will work as a global word-of-mouth to build our audience and drive DVD sales,” Tedeschi told Encore. “From our point of view, the large amount of publicity that we are receiving will translate into DVD sales; it is simply a question of quantity. The copious amounts of extras on the DVD are another incentive to purchase a physical copy”.
Are there enough hardcore fans – of a film that has never been screened – that will choose the $20 DVD over a free download?
“This remains to be seen. A lot of the comments we receive online seem to indicate an intention to ‘try before they buy’. So then it simply rests upon the quality of our film,” said Tedeschi.
Tedeschi explained that Distracted Media is working “on making The Tunnel available [physically] in as many territories as possible on the simultaneous worldwide release date”.
Will be interesting to see what the investors get back from the money they put into the film considering it was going to be released for free…
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@Dan, I suggest you visit the home page of the movie (http://www.thetunnelmovie.net/) and read a little about how the funding process works. This movie is funded by donations, there is no expectation of return on investment. I put in 15$ because I wanted to see this project happen, but I’m not going to get any of that back. I will watch the movie though.
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Every public contributor is going to be pleased that their funding has assisted in making the film a reality! Nobody except the cast and crew are going to expect a return for their investment. Which I hope makes them all very successful, so they can go on to make more unique Australian independent films!
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I wish the film makers all the best. Though I do feel their is a level of being misled here. I put $10 because of what they represented – they were sticking it to the “man” and doing the film their own way. This is what I supported – film makers who were not selling out to big studios. If I had known they were going to distribute via Paramount or any big studio right from the start I wouldn’t have donated. So I just feel conned. But good luck to them for doing whatever it takes to become successful.
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Having a distributor doesn’t change the fact the movie is still available for a free download, I contributed to the funding too. I’ll download it on release and if it’s a good film I’ll purchase it on DVD and be able to say I put my piece towards that. If it sucks I’ll delete it and never think back on it.
Good on the guys or finding a hard copy distributor.
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Hey hey…firstly any filmmaker that can make a feature…good on them
If they got into bed with a bigger studio that’s not a bad thing..and to think you were conned out of your $10, I mean come on..you helped make a film..pat yourself on that back. You helped people along their creative journey, this kind of crowd funding needs to be encouraged, it might just be the very thing that will help this industry turn around…god knows the current system, whereby “experts” decide where to invest your tax dollar without any accountability or transparency isn’t the only system we should have faith in. Do we have faith in it?
Probably not…so why persist with it?
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The film is excellent and I’ve already bought a copy of the DVD which is well worth it.
Best of luck to them and hopefully they can continue this model of filmmaking and other Aussie screen producers can also adopt this model to overcome domestic funding weaknesses.
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Finally had some time to see the film. Guys, well done, I really enjoyed it. Believable performances and shot with alot of imagination. Loved seeing the different filming mediums used, very clever.
I understand what you guys mean now. So long as the cast and crew are paid for their hard work then that is great. What I meant previously was that alot of crowd sourcing methods give something back to the contributors who donate, like a DVD or a t-shirt etc But I guess having a frame from a cool film is like having a piece of something that is pretty cool…
All the best guys and I look forward to seeing more great work come from you.
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