The Downloads column, surveying moving image on the web, appeared in Sight and Sound magazine between April 2007 and July 2008. Aimed at the magazine’s film-literate audience, each column explored a theme or area of online moving image. Each colum is reproduced here as it originally appeared: some sites may now be defunct, and some descriptions no longer accurate.
#1: Artists’ film and video, April 2007
Going online to watch rare arthouse gems that are unlikely to find their way to a cinema near you.
#2: Machinima, May 2007
The machinima phenomenon, where ‘South Park’ meets ‘World of Warcraft’.
#3: Creative archives, June 2007
How do remix revolutionaries rip without ripping off? The clips that are legal and free.
#4: History, July 2007
The web’s TV and film archives are a window on to the past: all human life is there.
#5: Iraq, August 2007
Soldiers, snipers and in-your-face combat footage… the ‘YouTube war’ in Iraq.
#6: Documentary, September 2007
Chewing-gum art, naked zoetropes, 9/11 conspiracy theories… the web has it all.
#7: Paid-for downloads, October 2007
When will the movie industry produce a paid-for download service to compare with iTunes?
#8: Alternatives to YouTube, November 2007
The YouTube alternatives that show there’s more to video-sharing than virals, ads and amusing pets.
#9: Fan films, December 2007
Some fans just can’t get enough of their favourite movies – so they make their own versions.
#10: Online film festivals, January 2008
The online film festivals that let you join the international movie circuit from the comfort of your home.
#11: Video art, February 2008
Love, hate and futurist snippets of Spielberg – it’s all part of the explosion of moving-image art on the web.
#12: Skateboarding and parkour, March 2008
Rough and raw, skateboarding and parkour films have an immediacy you won’t find in movies.
#13: Animation, April 2008
Animation new (sumo-wrestling pixels) and old (anthropomorphised furniture and casual racism).
#14: The new channels, May 2008
Watercooler moments will be few and far between if internet channels become the future of television.
#15: Beyond music videos, June 2008
Websites now show live gigs from up-and-coming and established bands. It’s music to the ears.
#16: Big ideas, July 2008
Cogito ergo surf: the web offers the opportunity to listen to some of the world’s greatest thinkers.
