Re:Die, Hollywood, die
by contextfree on Sunday January 22, 2012 @10:09PM
(#3498820)
I would think a minimal-viable Star Wars would be something like a comic book - that seems to be the path taken by many fantasy/SF/"necessarily set/prop/effects-heavy" films recently.
Before some productions start the studio will put together what's called an animatic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyboard#Animatics), where the storyboard frames are cut together with rough dialog to give an idea of the final product. It's similar to what you're suggesting -- a comic book that moves and talks. It's essentially a film's MVP.
Re:Die, Hollywood, die
by contextfree on Sunday January 22, 2012 @10:31PM
(#3498865)
Unlike a comic book an animatic isn't actually a product with end-customers, though, and I thought getting end-customers quickly was the most important part of the MVP doctrine.
I guess that depends a bit of your view of the market. If you think the "customers" are the "bums on seats in cinemas", then perhaps it's not a product. If you're thinking more B2B and view the movie distributors as the "customers" perhaps it is.
Re:Die, Hollywood, die
by tsunamifury on Sunday January 22, 2012 @10:59PM
(#3498951)
The very profitable XComics app would BEG to differ.
However, even though Primer only cost a few $K to make, there was nothing "minimal" about it. The entire story needed to be told, and the process of filmmaking already includes editing and pairing down the story. I think that the notion of thinking of products and movies as both things which have unique and compartmentalizable "features" (which lead to the notion of MVP) is a flawed analogy for this reason.
I think that we agree the process of MAKING movies is OK, but the process of distribution and consumption is what needs the change.
Oh, and these movies are awesome.