Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Search challenge (Wed, Aug 18, 2010): Finding documentaries to rent

I'm a fan of documentary films.  The ones that are well done are fantastic, and since I create a fair bit of video in the course of my work at Google, I know how much work these things can be.  In some ways, they're harder than "regular" film (that is, movies that tell a story) because documentaries have to also tell a story, yet simultaneously be truthful.  (Yes, I realize that documentaries come with a built-in viewpoint, but that's not my point--it is just that sometimes a story + reality is a difficult thing to swing, especially in a world where so many people are reluctant to speak on-camera.)  


In any case, the problem with documentaries is that they're often released for a short time into a few theatres, then vanish into some kind of archival abyss... They become difficult to find--at least at reasonable cost. 


That's the challenge for today:  Find a RENTAL copy of the documentary "American Tongues" (1988) that doesn't cost an arm-and-a-leg to rent.  (For the purposes of this problem, if you can get it for less than $40, that's an acceptable answer.)   


Minor rant:  Many documentaries seem to be rentable for $85.  I don't understand that pricing at all.  I suspect that there's a market for documentary video rentals that's reasonably-priced, and not exorbitant.  Does anyone understand the economics here?  

1 comment:

  1. I just learned this spanish idiom "más vale tarde que nunca¨

    American Tongues

    You were just ahead of technology mind you not all technology can be perceived as good. This video brings up a whole new set of issues. It really gets to the point you were making about ´reasonably'priced ' is this the result?

    ReplyDelete