SAN FRANCISCO -- Last year, Eric Henry and Syd Garon had a few thousand dollars worth of equipment, a scratch record from a San Francisco turntable artist, and a vague idea for a story about a hip-hop-playing, space-traveling dentist.
It wasn't the kind of material feature-length films are made from. At least, not until recently.
On Saturday, however, the two filmmakers presented the first chapter in their two-year feature animation project: a short clip about a futuristic orthodontist sawing the tonsils of alien beings to the throbbing of a techno beat.
The production was one of more than a dozen shorts screened at Resfest 1999, a digital film festival that ended Saturday in San Francisco.
Aside from Inner Space Dental Commander, works ran the gamut of cinematic styles, from futuristic animations to down-to-earth documentary.
Subjects ranged from an animation about an aging bunny forced to confront its own mortality, to a contemplation on elephants hurling themselves from skyscrapers, to a real-life tale about rave musicians. That is to say, they were what anyone might expect from an experimental film exhibition.
The twist at the third annual Resfest was that so many of the homespun, experimental works were able to convey a surprisingly sophisticated look and feel, filmmakers said.
"The production value has just skyrocketed," said Karin Fong, a graphic artist-turned filmmaker at the Los Angeles film outfit Imaginary Forces, comparing the 1999 crop to previous installments. Fong attributed the jump in quality to the greater availability of inexpensive, sophisticated filming and editing tools.
Some say it's gotten to the point where anyone with a spare room can set up the equivalent of a home film studio. Filmmaker James Kenney says he produced most of Ground, his short film exploring the connection between images and language, from a computer station in his bedroom.
In Kenney's view, the experimental digital film scene is about where the Internet was two or three years ago -- an arena mostly dominated by smaller, independent players, with big names in the film business just starting to get involved.
Kenney said this is the year digital filmmakers have really come into their own. In the past, digital filmmakers speculated about how independent types could someday take on Hollywood.
These days, with films like The Blair Witch Project already raking in Hollywood-style returns, the speculation has turned to assurance.
Filmmakers are still trying to work out the logistics of bringing their work to a wide audience.
"It's not going topple the aesthetic of a major motion picture," said Henry, who plans to distribute Wave Twisters, the full-length tale of the cosmic dentist, over the Internet, although he is also hoping for a theater run.
Resfest, for its part, has a broader itinerary with screenings planned later this year in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Tokyo.
Even if they don't produce box office blockbusters, digital filmmakers aren't racking up huge debts. For example, the budget for Wave Twisters is a paltry US$120,000.
Besides being cheaper, equipment is getting easier to handle, a trend that's allowing independent filmmakers to play on the same field as the big studios.
It can sometimes be an advantage not to have a lot of fancy-looking gear, said John Reiss, whose rave culture documentary Better Living Through Circuitry was filmed using equipment that fits inside a standard backpack.
"It made us seem a lot more unprofessional and less worrisome," Reiss said.
Tell that to Hollywood.
