ason Wishnow, 26, is a filmmaker and a founder of newvenue.com, a Web site that posts and promotoes films made for the Web. In 1995, Wishnow received a grant from Stanford University to start the New Venue. In addition to the kudos Wishnow has received for his visionary site, he has received acclaim for his documentary "Tatooine or Bust," a short film about extreme Star Wars fans.

NYC24: Talk about the New Venue. Why did you start the site?

JW: The purpose of the site is to emphasize films that are made specifically for the Web or with Internet distribution in mind. When I first conceived of the site, films on the Web were mostly poorly digitized versions of movies made for another medium. I created really the first site to show movies that take advantage of the limitations of the medium and work around them and hopefully tell new types of stories.

NYC24: Is there, or will there be, a new kind of content that's different from film or television or video, that's specifically for the Web?

JW: I think there's an evolving aesthetic. There are areas in which the technology comes into play and becomes integrated into the storytelling. To present video on the Web, you need to keep file sizes down. One way to do that is by shrinking the image or reducing the frame rate. A filmmaker can circumvent the limitations of the Internet by using still images. Rather than 30 frames per second as in regular film, filmmakers have to reduce their work to 15 [frames per second] or even one frame per second. It's interesting to see how filmmakers can integrate that into their work.

NYC24: Films on the Web are usually not more than 15 or 20 minutes. Is that the cutoff for how long someone will sit in front of a computer and watch a film?

JW: Yeah, when you're sitting in front of your computer, your viewing experience is completely different than when you're sitting on your couch in your living room or in a theater, which is a community experience. Partly because sitting at the computer is a solitary act and partly because we're used to interacting with computers, the Web lends itself to short content. It's essentially short attention span theater.

NYC24: The New Venue only shows one film a week while big film sites like iFilm have hundreds. What's the benefit of each type of site?

JW: I think there needs to be a combination of places like iFilm, which shows everyone, individuals building their own sites, and sites like the New Venue that focus attention on the filmmaker. One film on the New Venue called "The Night" that's posted in the 1998 archives also aired on "mega-plex" film site and the filmmaker felt like he was lost in the basement. On the New Venue, he still gets feedback about his film.

NYC24: Is there a difference between New York-based sites and California-based film sites?

JW: There's definitely a difference. In some ways it's related to the industries around those film sites. IFilm started in San Francisco and moved to L.A. to be closer to Hollywood. I left California and came to New York, partly because I like being in more of an independent film environment. The sites that are coming out of New York are catering more toward independent film. The sites in L.A. are like, 'we're going to see if Jim Carrey wants to make a film for the Internet.' But I'm not that interested in that. I'm interested in empowering filmmakers.

NYC24: Do you think digital film is revolutionizing filmmaking and how do you see the future of filmmaking for the Web?

JW: In the future I want to go much more international in scope in terms of outreach and content. Also there's a lot of growth in style. To simply take a short and stream it with Microsoft Media Player doesn't cut it anymore. People who are creating content for the Web want to enhance the aesthetic of the Internet and are interested in creating convergence to traditional media.

I think in the long run, you'll see convergence as content crosses mediums. As people's connection to the Internet increases in speed and as television and the Internet begin to merge, you're going to see the same types of production values and essentially the same type of consideration brought to the Web that people currently bring to bigger budgeted productions. It'll be like desktop publishing, there will be a lot more out there so there will be a lot of garbage, but there will also be new people making new stuff and that's very exciting.