On Line (2002 film)

Last updated
On_Line
ON LINE 2002 film-poster.jpg
Promotional poster for the film
Directed byJed Weintrob
Written byAndrew Osborne
Jed Weintrob
Starring Josh Hamilton
Harold Perrineau
Vanessa Ferlito
Monique Coleman
Eric Millegan
CinematographyToshiaki Ozawa
Distributed by Indican Pictures
Release dates
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

On_Line is a 2002 American drama film directed by Jed Weintrob and executive produced by Richard D. Titus, Tavin Marin Titus, and Claude Arpels. [1] The film was selected to world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically, on DVD and television worldwide.

Contents

Plot

Roommates and pals John Roth (Josh Hamilton) and Moe Curley (Harold Perrineau) start an adult internet site named InterconX where Jordan Nash (Vanessa Ferlito) is one of their stars. John has recently gone through a disastrous break-up with his fiancé, and is now obsessed with a woman named Angel, who lives her life on 24-hour webcam. A handful of people whose lives revolve around internet relationships at an adult web site become entangled in person in this comedy/drama.

Cast

Transmedia

On_Line is an early example of transmedia storytelling in feature film by expanding the narrative to other platform and related media. Relying heavily on technology the film predates or anticipates several technologies - as well as cultural habits - that would later become standard online practice and interaction: Netiquette. The design, look-and-feel, animation, programming, and general technologies used in the overall transmedia experience was created by Christian D. Bruun, with development starting in 1999. Programming was assisted by Steven Osit and Kate Schaffer.

The technological implementations have several components.

During production /on set:
  • Filming and recording four to six cameras simultaneously on two separate locations or sets. This set-up included two-way live video feeds embedded real-time in an interactive interface. The cameras included DV cameras (SONY PD-150 pal, Sony TRV900) and a variety of USB and FireWire web cameras.
  • Creating a reliable, high quality video signal for the various web chats which connected all the characters. Developing the interfaces for the web chats in the film Tim Dorcy and his iVisit software were consulted.
Internet:
  • All the websites created and used in the film were also made available on the internet.
  • Extending the reach and universe of the film beyond the movie going experience. This included making the featured websites available online for the audience to explore the back stories as well as future developments of the characters in the film. This meant that the websites had to reflect each characters or mimic the social environment in which it existed.
Featured sites:
  • SilentCity.net. This is the main character's web video diary (a precursor to Blogs and Vlogs). New videos featuring Andrew Osborne as the online version of John Roth was regularly uploaded. These videos both preceded the film but also continued Joe's life after the film ended.
  • AngelCam.org. AngelCam is a 24/7 online website of webcam girl Angel. On her web site we can watch what John is watching in the film and read about Angel's daily activities. For a while the site was truly live as real life web cam girl Liz Owens' camera feed was streamed through the site. The site was loosely inspired by the phenomenon of JenniCam.
  • FinalExit.net is a goth / suicide website where Moira Ingalls and Ed Simone meet.
  • InterCon-X.com is an adult web cam service designed to enable both professionals and amateurs to connect, watch and talk to each other.
Viral video:
  • The marketing of the film utilizing the websites and viral video clips. The clips could be emailed as well as transferred and shared on Palm OS devices. Initially launched at the Sundance Film Festival the clips was an early example of digital video viral marketing.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Webcam</span> Video camera connected to a computer or network

A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in video telephony, live streaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral devices, and are commonly connected to a device using USB or wireless protocols.

A brickfilm is a film made using Lego bricks, or other similar plastic construction toys. They are usually created using stop motion animation, computer-generated imagery (CGI) or traditional animation and sometimes include live action films featuring plastic construction toys. The term “brick film” was coined by Jason Rowoldt, founder of Brickfilms.com.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trojan Room coffee pot</span> Predecessor of the webcam

The Trojan Room coffee pot was a coffee machine located in the Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, England. Created in 1991 by Quentin Stafford-Fraser and Paul Jardetzky, it was migrated from their laboratory network to the web in 1993 becoming the world's first webcam.

A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webcasting is "broadcasting" over the Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Perrineau</span> American actor

Harold Perrineau is an American actor best known for his roles as Michael Dawson in the ABC television series Lost (2004–2010), Augustus Hill in the HBO television series Oz (1997–2003), Sheriff Boyd Stevens in the MGM+ television series From, Link in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, and Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996). He has also starred in the films Smoke (1995), for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male, The Edge (1997), The Best Man (1999), Woman on Top (2000), and 28 Weeks Later (2007). His other television credits include Sons of Anarchy (2012), Constantine (2014–2015), Claws (2017–2022), and The Rookie (2019–2021).

"Lazy Sunday" is a single and short film by American comedy troupe The Lonely Island. It was released on December 17, 2005, when it premiered on episode nine, season 31 of Saturday Night Live as the troupe's second Digital Short. Primarily performed by Andy Samberg and fellow cast member Chris Parnell, the song and accompanying music video follow the two comedians as they eat cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery, buy snacks at a convenience store, and smuggle the food into a Sunday afternoon matinee of The Chronicles of Narnia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viral video</span> Video that becomes popular via Internet sharing

A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email. For a video to be shareable or spreadable, it must focus on the social logics and cultural practices that have enabled and popularized these new platforms, logics that explain why sharing has become such common practice, not just how.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LifeCam</span> Webcam for PCs

The LifeCam is a lineup of webcams from Microsoft for PC users marketed since 2006. Various models and series of webcams are designed for either laptops or desktops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venus Award</span> German pornographic film award

The Venus Award is a film award in the adult film industry presented yearly in Berlin since 1997 as part of the Venus Berlin trade fair, an international erotic trade festival, on the exhibition grounds at the Funkturm.

Transmedia storytelling is the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Webcam model</span> Livestream video performer

A webcam model is a video performer who streams on the Internet with a live webcam broadcast. A webcam model often performs erotic acts online, such as stripping, masturbation, or sex acts in exchange for money, goods, or attention. They may also sell videos of their performances. Unlike other sex workers, webcam models operate solely online. Once viewed as a small niche in the world of adult entertainment, camming became "the engine of the porn industry," according to Alec Helmy, the publisher of XBIZ, a sex-trade industry journal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lifelog</span> Personal record of ones daily life

A lifelog is a personal record of one's daily life in a varying amount of detail, for a variety of purposes. The record contains a comprehensive dataset of a human's activities. The data could be used to increase knowledge about how people live their lives. In recent years, some lifelog data has been automatically captured by wearable technology or mobile devices. People who keep lifelogs about themselves are known as lifeloggers.

The company P is a Swedish production company that creates participant based pervasive and transmedia entertainment. The company P is known for its Emmy Award-winning production The Truth About Marika and Emmy Award nominee The Conspiracy For Good. Marika is known as the first fully immersive TV tie-in.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet pornography</span> Any pornography that is accessible over the internet

Internet pornography is any pornography that is accessible over the internet; primarily via websites, FTP connections, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups. The greater accessibility of the World Wide Web from the late 1990s led to an incremental growth of internet pornography, the use of which among adolescents and adults has since become increasingly popular.

Jennifer Kaye Ringley is an Internet personality and former lifecaster. She is widely regarded as the first camgirl. She is known for creating the popular website JenniCam. Previously, live webcams transmitted static shots from cameras aimed through windows or at coffee pots. Ringley's innovation was simply to allow others to view her daily activities. She was the first web-based "lifecaster". She retired from lifecasting at the end of 2003.

Bear 71 is a 20-minute 2012 interactive National Film Board of Canada (NFB) web documentary by Leanne Allison and Jeremy Mendes about a female grizzly bear in Banff National Park named Bear 71, who had a tracking collar implanted at the age of three and was watched via trail cameras in the park from 2001 to 2009. The documentary follows the bear, exploring the connections between the human and animal world, and the far-ranging effects that human settlements, roads and railways have on wildlife.

"Drew Cam" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the American sitcom The Drew Carey Show, and the 110th overall. The episode sees Drew becoming a 24-hour salesman for the Winfred-Louder department store. Webcams are installed in his house and he has to promote the store's range of appliances. While Drew is out, the webcams continue to stream events that occur in his house. When the viewers become bored of Drew's life, Kate O'Brien is hired to play his girlfriend for the show. She is soon replaced by Isabel, who Kate becomes jealous of. She eventually tells Drew that she loves him during the webcast.

Clips4Sale (C4S) is an American adult video content selling website and is known for fetish content. It launched in 2003. Clips4Sale is the largest clip site on the internet with over 7 million clips and 105,000 independent content producers on its platform. It is based in Florida, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kendra Sunderland</span> American pornographic actress

Kendra Jane Sunderland is an American model and pornographic film actress. She became known as "Library Girl" after a webcam video featuring an amateur performance in the Oregon State University student library went viral in 2015. In 2020, she signed a contract with the pornographic production company Brazzers.

References

  1. Harris, Dana (2003-05-04). "Indican goes 'On_Line'". Variety. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  2. On_Line (2002) , retrieved 2022-03-07