Atlas Shrugged: The Documentary

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Atlas Shrugged: The Documentary

There is a site called simply Atlas Shrugged that I came across. On it, you can see the trailer of a new documentary on Atlas Shrugged projected for release at some unknown time in the future (but given as "coming soon"). Apparently, it is coming from the ARI side, and that is not a bad thing.

Despite the on-screen involvement of ARI intellectuals, who were just terrible on screen in Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, this production looks like it is going to be something really special. Even the ARI people look good in the trailer (from the perspective of a normal viewer).

I wish these folks well on their project and I will support it. They are doing a good job so far.

As to the site, I don't like it. Too many bells and whistles and whirly thingies and not enough objectivity of communication. The discussion page is the weirdest clunkiest thing I have ever seen if prompting discussion is the goal. You have to click on things just to see if you want to see them, and that goes for the entire site. I know from my own IM studies that this will keep many people from clicking in the first place. I know I got bored with it.

It's like the site format and design is saying, "Look at me, then look at the message. Look at me first. Me, me, me. See how clever I am?"

And the message gets buried after you fiddle with the forced design elements for a while...

Also, you better have some good healthy bandwidth in your Internet connection when you go there, otherwise it will clog your computer to a standstill. Even the trailer was hard to see on my computer until I let it fully load. Also, it appears they don't want you to embed the trailer elsewhere. That's a primary marketing mistake. You ALWAYS try to facilitate the spread of your advertising message.

Someone should tell the producers that the USA is in an economic crisis and the general public does not have all the hi-tech toys they do. That is, if they want any kind of contribution from their site toward the success of the project.

(And if anyone from there doesn't believe me, they should at least keep an eye on their stats--I highly recommend ClickTale for this. Those stats will say it a hell of a lot better than I ever could.)

At any rate, it will be very interesting to see how this documentary and the movie will play off against each other. I suspect one will strongly support the other in generating buzz. And that's a great thing.

Once again, I am glad to see such a high level of production as the trailer shows on the Atlas Shrugged documentary project. Bravo to these people.

Michael

[Greybird]

[...] As to the site, I don't like it. Too many bells and whistles and whirly thingies and not enough objectivity of communication.

It wasn't meant for you. Nor for me, nor for anyone here or elsewhere who's over age 40 or so. It has leads, links, Flash animations, Facebook and Digg widgets, and pretty much everything Web 2.0, which puts a premium on vigorous Net interaction. At the risk of sounding old-fogey, it's meant for the Gen Z'ers and afterwards who are used to this milieu. We're not, and most taking part in Objectivist or libertarian settings are not.

That doesn't make it superior in communications, o'course, by any means. Just vastly different. I have to say, though, it's intriguing to see an Objectivist-ish site that doesn't rely, first and nearly exclusively, on digesting mountains of text.

The discussion page is the weirdest clunkiest thing I have ever seen if prompting discussion is the goal. You have to click on things just to see if you want to see them, and that goes for the entire site. I know from my own IM studies that this will keep many people from clicking in the first place. I know I got bored with it.

Again, it's not meant for you. The linking widgets and other devices are meant for those who are accustomed to seeing any site that doesn't have a vigorous connection to Facebook, et al., as not worth even existing, let alone clicking upon.

It's like the site format and design is saying, "Look at me, then look at the message. Look at me first. Me, me, me. See how clever I am?" [...]

Again, it's the narcissism of our times and the rising wired generations. A site that doesn't do this gets ignored by the mass audience. It takes such confidence, justified or not, to attract other narcissists. Your surprise, yet again, surprises me.

Even the trailer was hard to see on my computer until I let it fully load. Also, it appears they don't want you to embed the trailer elsewhere. That's a primary marketing mistake. You ALWAYS try to facilitate the spread of your advertising message.

Not allowing embedding is bad enough. One should also be explictly enabled to download the damn trailer.

It can't even be copied from the browser cache. It's one of those self-erasing files that is made to vanish before it finishes playing, and has to download all over again if you want to see it again.

Unless you have a tool such as the Unplug add-on for Firefox, which let me retrieve the 59.95 MB Flash file, one with a far larger resolution than is visible on that page. But the page should have a download link.

The trailer at least has an attractive (though silent) actress representing Dagny Taggart. Looks better than the one Aglialoro got for his movie, anyway.

Anyone can make a slick five-minute trailer, though. It's the follow-through, and whether it's any less of a worshipful hagiography than A Sense of Life, that will matter.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Steve,

You missed my point about the site. I was not bashing bells and whistles per se. I was bashing the incompetence at transmitting the message, even to the target audience you mentioned.

There is no requisite inherent metaphysical either-or condition with bells and whistles versus message. But there is a danger in the designer becoming so focused on bells and whistles that he lets them obscure the message. That's what this person did.

There's a way to do it competently. Look at any iPhone...

Michael

[GALTGULCH8]

Steve,

You missed my point about the site. I was not bashing bells and whistles per se. I was bashing the incompetence at transmitting the message, even to the target audience you mentioned.

There is no requisite inherent metaphysical either-or condition with bells and whistles versus message. But there is a danger in the designer becoming so focused on bells and whistles that he lets them obscure the message. That's what this person did.

There's a way to do it competently. Look at any iPhone...

Michael

Michael,

Being naturally inquisitive I googled Atlas Shrugged movie on September 19th 2010.

I watched one video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w151-e_Y_XE

which was decidedly different from the trailer at ReasonTV:

Are there really two or more versions in the works?

I know you are not omniscient but thought I would bring this to your attention.

gulch

[Philip Coates]

No. The first one is snips from other movies. For example, the movie Troy with wahtshizface as Achilles.