Dale Pollock, author, moviemaker, and current dean of the film school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, has strong opinions on all things cinema. Among his many credits are writing Skywalking, George Lucas's biography, and producing films such as Blaze and Set it Off. In addition to his regular responsibilities at the NCSA, Mr. Pollock is organizing The Cinethics Conference at the school November 9-12. Included over the four days will be panels regarding moviemaker responsibility and the concept of dramatic license in the age of digital effects, specifically as they pertain to the curricula at film schools. In this interview, he discusses the current and future states of moviemaking geared toward the Internet.

MM: Cutting through all of the hype, what is the status right now of moviemaking for the Internet?

D.P.: Well, it certainly seems like it's become a viable means of distributing short films. Personally, in its current form, I don't see it getting anywhere beyond short films because I don't think anybody really has the patience or the desire to see a feature film on a very small screen-on a computer. Now, when your computer is your television and you have a big television with a flat screen, that will be a different story.

MM: What will the story be then?

D.P.: It will be a whole cultural change. First, there was the invention of film. Then you have the addition of sound. Then you have the addition of color. And this is the next stage; it's on that level. It democratizes the medium and makes it accessible to almost everyone, which was never the case before.

MM: What about the download process? Right now, to download a two-minute, three-frame-per-second clip takes 20 minutes unless you have a super fast computer system.

D.P.: I think within two years you will easily be able to download a feature in five to seven minutes. Technology is moving so fast in terms of video compression. And as more and more people move onto broadband, and more and more people get DSL lines, you're going to see that these things are not going to take nearly as long.

MM: Is the digital technology to make and exhibit films vastly improving every second?

D.P.: Yes. I just attended a Kodak symposium for educators where they showed us these new digital projectors. They've made some really great advances. It's interesting to see how Kodak is heavily trying to get into the digital business, obviously seeing where things are ultimately going. But right now film is still going to be the medium of preference, I think, for everybody. Digitally projecting a film is an extremely expensive process-the conversion costs are enormous. It will take maybe 10 years before theatres all feature digital projection.

MM: What disadvantages does a digital Internet-based moviemaker have in choosing digital video over film?

D.P.: When you shoot video, you tend to shoot too much. When you shoot with film, your stock feels more precious, so you have to be much more careful about being wasteful. Because they're used to home video, people shoot hours and hours of tape. And that's not good for filmmakers who need to learn discipline.

MM: Do you believe that many of your students will head toward Internet moviemaking?

DP: I think a lot of them will head toward independent moviemaking. And since some of that will be Internet, I would say yes. But mostly they want to shoot on film. They're not eager to do their work on video. As they've come up through our curriculum, they've learned how to light film and they've learned how to work with film.

MM: What about the distribution of these students' films? For the independent moviemaker, the Internet seems to be the ultimate delivery route.

DP: It is, if you can get people to download your film. The question is how do you establish some kind of a profile or get the exposure. I recommend reading indywire.com. It is hands down the best site for any independent filmmaker. For watching films, the only sites I ever look at are IFILM and AtomFilms.

MM: How do you think the Internet is going to weed out the poorer quality films?

DP: Like everything else, you'll end up with three or four big channels that show digital films. People will go there and we'll see how selective they are. Some will be like HBO and some will be like Showtime. If you have a high enough concept and you execute it really well, you might get noticed, but that's really a long shot. It's like standing on the corner of Hollywood and Vine.

MM: Do you think the Internet could ever become the ultimate platform? In other words, there's no need to go to a studio to get a deal, if you could make your movies on the Internet and get them seen.

DP: For independent people who don't want to play in the system, this gives them a great way to expose their work. But really, how many people want to sit on their computer and TV, and watch independent short films and long films? The Internet is going to offer a different kind of movie. More than ever before, the studios are really going toward doing big screen, big budget, big sound, big effects spectaculars. That's the only business they'll be in. So that leaves the personal voice that will have to come out somewhere else. The art film business is dying in this country, theatrically. So it's obviously going to move over to TV and to the Internet. I think it's going to happen - it's just a matter of time.

MM: Who will be the type of moviemakers trying to upload their films onto the Internet?

DP: Well, most people want to go to Hollywood 'cause they want a lot of money to make their film with. Who doesn't want 40 or 50 million dollars to make their movie? But I think there'll be a small, hard core of people who do Internet-only films.

MM: Do you think going to a theatre to see a movie will ever die?

DP: I don't believe it will. But movies made for the theater will exclusively be the types of films that you need to experience on a big screen with great sound. As technology keeps improving, people will have bigger screens and better sound at home, but it is still not the same as being in a theater with a group of people. There's a basic human need to congregate, and going out to the movies is one of the few acceptable ways of doing it.

Scott Essman profiled Dale Pollock for MovieMaker #34, and is currently researching a history of Hollywood. He has never made a movie for the Internet, but you may write to him at scottessman@yahoo.com.