Third Window Films Discussion Thread

[logboy]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

You cant compare small labels with the big ones... all im saying us that support is important here. Maybe more important than saving 2-3 gbp. At least if you wanna see more bluray release like this.

i don't know that i am comparing big with small companies.

imagine most of the releases i've bought have been from small ones, over the years.

third window's earlier policy of lower initial prices was wise - you got the effect you're saying we should aim for > you had people supporting them, long before you got the extra few pounds from a higher price, if someone happened to be willing to pay it.

i'm looking out for the money i have, in order to maximise the funds available that i have, in order to cover the films that are of interest to me.

could argue price wisdom all day, but it varies from one individual to another. not sure it's wise to support a label by films you don't want as much as films from others - so that means going for films, not labels, which is what i've always personally done. some of them are from third window, the vast majority from other companies. some are big, some are small.

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

You've got my pre-order for The Story of Yonosuke and Pluto on blu-ray and Shady on DVD. I wasn't one of the ones who requested TSOY on BD but thank you for taking risks and I hope it pays off. I would've liked to see Shady in HD over Pluto though.

thanks for that!

Would have liked to put SHADY on BD, but many requested for YONOSUKE and considering the release dates of the 2 are close we couldn't put both on BD, it's just way too expensive for BD and things aren't selling well. Even Bullet Ballet blu has barely sold for some reason.

PLUTO will go to cinemas so it will receive press which gives it the opportunity of bluray. It's also a great thriller so think it works well in HD while SHADY is more a coming of age film and don't think the HD would really make much of a difference. Films that are made for £10k don't usually need the optimum viewing experience as emphasis is on the script to get it over its lack of budget.

Really love Yonosuke though, one of my favourite releases in a while (along with Shady)

If the BBFC doesn't screw us over as they are planning to we will make a nice blu-ray of LESSON OF EVIL planned with a 2 hour Making Of. Though that Making Of may go out the window if they go through with this crap.

[Ozu Teapot]

Third Window Films on Twitter :

STORY OF YONOSUKE has made it @AmazonUK Top 20 World Cinema Titles! Thanks to ALL who pre-ordered! spread the word!

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by Opdef

Pre-ordered Story of Yonosuke, just because I love Third Window. I noticed its sales rank on Amazon is currently 1208 though, which doesn't sound too devastating to me (but what do I know?).

thanks a lot!

actually pre-orders were non-existent before, though thanks to people pre-ordering over last couple days. Pre-orders do mean a lot as it alerts shops to demand and therefore shops place larger orders at last minute and therefore it gets the word out there and they focus more attention on promoting and selling it instead of just filling it away in their catalogue sections

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by logboy

okay. but the price has apparently gone up and down. now, if it can go down once, it should be able to go down again. but it's never guaranteed. and i wouldn't want to get stuck with a higher price despite also having preordered - if that were to be the case. i prefer prices that can be understood as being fairly stable.

actually i'm surprised the price is at its current state as usually it goes down to around £12-13, but i think that as the film's pre-orders were very few initially the price stayed high. Price usually depends on pre-orders and tends to go down based on larger orders, so should drop and with amazon's price guarantee it'll mean people should see lower price.

We have barely any control over amazon's price structure and since the Sony fire, JERSEY VAT change and HMV's problems they have become more and more fierce and controlling. They act as if they are a monopoly (since Play.com and others went down they are pretty close) so they take every opportunity to screw the smaller companies as they know they have all the power. In fact they've gradually increased their commission and take a 30% discount over already low dealer prices so they get the best deals on us and also changed their payment terms so we receive money much later than before. Also their net-wide price guarantee means we can't run sales on other sites to push customers elsewhere as it means we are required to drop with them and they take more than half of the sale. So if you buy for £7 then after our sales agent fees we're left with around £2-3 max, which considering the charges put onto us by Sony and AACS for blu-rays makes it pretty hard. Studios can survive by selling thousands, but not so easy for indies, and will only get worse with BBFC's new charges

[Skog]

Great news, Ozu, thanks. It may even reach top 10 yet
and thanks to Mansinthe for the reminder.

[Icemouth]

Knew nothing about Story of Yonosuke, wouldn't have bought it for a while when I did find out about it, but have now preordered it. Hope it helps

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

thanks for that!

Would have liked to put SHADY on BD, but many requested for YONOSUKE and considering the release dates of the 2 are close we couldn't put both on BD, it's just way too expensive for BD and things aren't selling well. Even Bullet Ballet blu has barely sold for some reason.

PLUTO will go to cinemas so it will receive press which gives it the opportunity of bluray. It's also a great thriller so think it works well in HD while SHADY is more a coming of age film and don't think the HD would really make much of a difference. Films that are made for £10k don't usually need the optimum viewing experience as emphasis is on the script to get it over its lack of budget.

Really love Yonosuke though, one of my favourite releases in a while (along with Shady)

If the BBFC doesn't screw us over as they are planning to we will make a nice blu-ray of LESSON OF EVIL planned with a 2 hour Making Of. Though that Making Of may go out the window if they go through with this crap.

Going to have to disagree that it wouldn't make much difference. That's a shame that Bullet Ballet isn't selling that well. I'll personally be buying it in the near future.

That's such cool news about the possible 2 hour doc! I really hope you guys are able to follow through with it. I love when TWF produce lengthy special features.

[Mansinthe]

Looks like UK people do not have that much money to spend for movies these days? sure its nice to wait for price drops to 7-8 GBP but that usually only works after enough copys where already sold or preordered. if no one preorders or buys the movies for the "normal" price (its currently only 10GBP for shady, 12GBP for pluto and 13,49GBP for yonosuke) , than the price will probably not drop at all or it WILL drop after amazon thinks no one will buy these movies.

but im pretty sure TWF wont earn much money of these sales (if they do at all or even loose money)and further releases and bonus features on these will suffer, a lot !

its up to everyone how he or she spends their money but consider that small labels like this will vanish if everyone waits for the lowest price possible.

beside terracotta i cant think of other indie labels in the UK that release asian cinema like this. and im pretty sure most of this stuff will be never avaible in the U.S as well.
Im fine myself with buying HK releases with "engrish" subs since i will probably not even notice it most of the time , and im region free but a lot of people that always complain about the lag of "quality cinema" arent.

its not like TWF has the output of Criterion or Eureka each month, so its not that huge of a difference to spend 2-3GBP more on a preorder instead of what you could have saved 6 months later ^^

and considering the high import fee and handling fee in the UK it would be wise to support TWF here. (just saying...)

[BAKA]

Just put my pre-order in for The Story Of Yonosuke. I adored The Woodsman And The Rain, so it was a no brainer. It also seems to have dropped a little, from when you guys were discussing it yesterday, to £13.49.

[logboy]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

Looks like UK people do not have that much money to spend for movies these days?

sure. i'm entirely representative.

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

sure its nice to wait for price drops to 7-8 GBP but that usually only works after enough copys where already sold or preordered. if no one preorders or buys the movies for the "normal" price (its currently only 10GBP for shady, 12GBP for pluto and 13,49GBP for yonosuke) , than the price will probably not drop at all or it WILL drop after amazon thinks no one will buy these movies.

this is why i wondered about the level of control companies have over the amazon price, as they seem keen on having prices initially high. this is what makes their prices frequently higher than others; they seem to see themselves in isolation or without much competition - they may dominate, but i can buy from various UK stores, and there are a fair few small ones too.

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

but im pretty sure TWF wont earn much money of these sales (if they do at all or even loose money)and further releases and bonus features on these will suffer, a lot !

a few pounds per copy, apparently,

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

its up to everyone how he or she spends their money but consider that small labels like this will vanish if everyone waits for the lowest price possible.

labels will disappear if customers don't get a product they like. it's a relationship, not a public service on behalf of the company or a support mission on behalf of the public.

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

beside terracotta i cant think of other indie labels in the UK that release asian cinema like this. and im pretty sure most of this stuff will be never avaible in the U.S as well.

third window are the best label outside of asia that specifically releases asian films. i still don't buy much of their stuff, as i still find releases elsewhere that interest me.

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

Im fine myself with buying HK releases with "engrish" subs since i will probably not even notice it most of the time , and im region free but a lot of people that always complain about the lag of "quality cinema" arent.

i'm region and zone free too. i buy from korea, HK, and america, as well as the UK.

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

its not like TWF has the output of Criterion or Eureka each month, so its not that huge of a difference to spend 2-3GBP more on a preorder instead of what you could have saved 6 months later ^^.

i've a backlog. £3-5 lost on each release, as i watch prices drop post-release, adds up to a lot of money over the course of a year.
prices seem to level-off predominantly at £8, start out at initial release prices of about £13.

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

and considering the high import fee and handling fee in the UK it would be wise to support TWF here. (just saying...)

i've paid import duty fees perhaps once or twice in 15 years of buying films (very regularly) from abroad. most of what i've bought has been imported.

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by logboy

i've a backlog. £3-5 lost on each release, as i watch prices drop post-release, adds up to a lot of money over the course of a year.
prices seem to level-off predominantly at £8, start out at initial release prices of about £13.

same here. i "lost" on a lot of these releases around 3-5 GBP at least.. but same goes for most MoC or Arrow releases. but i keep supporting these labels.

im pretty sure at least for TWF sometimes that preorder money makes the difference if they will keep releasing these movies.

i have a lot of other labels i liked a lot, big ones like the small ones. from all over the world. some are cheaper or more expensive than TWF.

but i think if TWF would disapair at some point something would go missing thats no easy to replace. i dont see a other company releasing movies like "the woodsman and the rain".

or some of there more recent DVD only releases.. pretty amazing movies that are probably in my top 10 of the last few years.

and i know thats not importent for most people but with TFW films you can actually talk and write to adam of course! and he will most likely answer you already a few hours later.
thats worth something as well if you are interesstet in some certain stuff about movie releasing , movie making or just whats going on in japan right now.

[thirdwindowfilms]

In case you out there don't know, the BBFC are about to bring in regulations which will put an end to small companies like ours giving you nice dvd and blu-ray packages with lots of extras.

There is a petition up now, so please sign it and forward on!
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitio...recordings-act

If you want to know more about what the BBFC are doing, here is an article on the subject: http://www.moviemail.com/blog/news/1...ie-DVD-labels/

[deepbreathsanddeath]

I tried signing the petition but it keeps telling me my post code isn't valid. I live in Australia and a point made is that there's international interest in these UK labels. Unless I've misunderstood something, it seems ironic that the people who can sign it are limited.

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I tried signing the petition but it keeps telling me my post code isn't valid. I live in Australia and a point made is that there's international interest in these UK labels. Unless I've misunderstood something, it seems ironic that the people who can sign it are limited.

you can make up a UK postcode.

I think it's due to the fact that it's supposed to be a petition to the UK government, so I don't think the UK government will take non-UK residents petition applicants

[deepbreathsanddeath]

I figured as such. What are UK post codes like?

[*PREACHER*]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I figured as such. What are UK post codes like?

I just used this one W11 2BQ

[darry]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

In case you out there don't know, the BBFC are about to bring in regulations which will put an end to small companies like ours giving you nice dvd and blu-ray packages with lots of extras.

There is a petition up now, so please sign it and forward on!
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitio...recordings-act

If you want to know more about what the BBFC are doing, here is an article on the subject: http://www.moviemail.com/blog/news/1...ie-DVD-labels/

I know it's not ideal (from anyones point of view) but couldn't you just release movies without extras instead of paying for them?

Besides that, I find it incredibly strange that any child would have access to any of these extras without the knowledge of an adult. It's not like they seek out indie cinema or would even see this stuff accidentally. It's just dumb. They're saving 'no-one' from harm.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Signed it! Also pre-ordered Lesson of Evil.

[NorthSea0il]

It's been a while since I've bought anything from Third Window Films, hope I've made up for it now though.
Finally ordered Tokyo Fist, also pre-ordered The Story of Yonosuke, Pluto and just now Lesson of Evil Pity Shady wasn't released on BD, would have also ordered that

Third Window Films is one of my favourite labels, I always try my best to support you guys, I hope you continue for many years to come, bringing us great films from the far East.