Gone are the days when floppy discs and DVDs were considered the only means for data transfer. From office databases to virtually almost everything, information can now be easily accessed via the Internet and storage devices. Although CDs and DVDs still exist, the majority of music and videos are preferred to be accessed from storage.

 

That is one of the major reasons why film revenues, according to industry figures, have declined by 10% annually. This is predominantly attributed to the availability of the videos on demand. Household names include Netflix, Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iTunes service, and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN).

 

Come 2013, Sarah Tierney, an award-winning film and television producer, launched We Are Colony. Ms. Tierney claims that their content not only is appealing to film enthusiasts and producers; they cannot be acquired from anywhere else as well.

 

We Are Colony’s primary goal is to connect film makers and fans alike through a portal that not only offers videos on demand, but a little more as bonus – behind-the-scenes content which is usually reserved nowadays to Blue ray owners. The site also offers the opportunity for film makers to launch films early and build a following. Although relatively new, the start-up already has thousands of users from 100 countries.

 

The video-on-demand website featured two films starring Benedict Cumberbatch as part of its initial offerings, Little Favour from SunnyMarch Limited and Third Star. Apart from the films themselves, as promised, there were extras thrown in. There were video clips that covered production including casting, locations, origins, make up and sound design. The offers included posters, behind-the-scene stills, trailers, deleted scenes, and hundreds of stills (the stills were watermarked), all of which were HD-quality.

 

Zone, one of the UK’s leading digital agencies, backed the start-up website while Technology Strategy Board SMART Awards provided the funding needed. Apart from Zone, We Are Colony was also among the eight start-ups selected by SeedCamp – Europe’s leading micro-seed investment program.

 

Tierney expressed her excitement having had the opportunity to work with a range of founders, product experts and investors over the course of SeedCamp London. She looks forward to raising additional funding in the business and deepen links in the U.S. technology start-up and funding ecosystem.

 

Supporting independent film production and consumption as well, We Are Colony partnered with Film London – a film and media strategic agency in London – for a program that was geared for first and second time feature film-makers from across the UK. The site provided a profiling platform to build audience for the films for an insured digital presence.

 

We Are Colony was also awarded the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts from Nesta as support to its pilot stage and was in partnership with Film London and Edge Hill University. The Digital R&D Fund for the Arts supports new business models formation and audience reach enhancement through the use of digital technology.

 

The website’s worldwide beta launch started on May 2014 and is still up and running. With everything in place We Are Colony shows a lot of promise.

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