In an attempt to assess the state, future and direction of on-line filmmaking, plugincinema.com has been chatting to a variety of practitioners and experts throughout the field to get their views.

PC: Just to establish yourself in our minds; name your top five of any media (can be films, books, artwork, websites, games and so on...) that have influenced the work you do?

CB: This is difficult to answer, as the things that influence my work can be elusive. I certainly find that odd scenes from films, or sentences from books, lodge in my mind and surface some time later, by which time I have forgotten entirely where they came from. But loosely, I would say that work by various video installation artists e.g. Tony Oursler, Gary Hill, Smith & Stewart and the Wilson Sisters. Recently, the installation work of Ceal Floyer has affected me - it's simplicity and clarity tinted with a gentle humour is very appealing. Likewise the Snowangel films on Plugincinema's site are very beautiful. And the book Alice in Wonderland will always slip in somewhere!

PC: To balance it out, what five of any media (can be films, books, artwork, websites, games and so on...) were the worst things you've ever had to experience?

CB: Hmmm, I really don't enjoy mainstream Hollywood type films. I particularly dislike Michael Caine, James Bond and Carry On Films. Macho bloodbaths and corny innuendo just don't hit the spot for me. I also find the majority of sport tedious and resent the huge amount of coverage it gets in the media. That time could be shared more fairly with the arts, which are generally ignored.

PC: How do you use digital technology and the Internet in your work?

CB: I use digital technology mostly as a video-editing tool. I also enjoy creating work for the web - work that can only exist in that format, although I have made very little lately. I like to think of creating web specific work as being 'concrete poetry - without the concrete'. The Internet is the best research tool in the world. Where else can you get all that information at the touch of a button, without leaving home?

PC: Do you think art online is being driven by the producers of the technology or the people who create it?

CB: Do you mean the people who create the technology or the people who create the art? I suppose the software provides a tool for artists, but the artists should stretch it - explore corners of it that maybe weren't actually intended by the software developer. But the programmers are important too - they have to create user-friendly programmes so that technology ignorant artists can still achieve something!

PC: Have you become aware of any particular point in the development of the internet when you decided, "wow, this will change the world!"?

CB: Hmmm, not really. Broadband could make a huge difference to film BUT as long as BT and British telecommunication companies in general don't consider it important, it will remain expensive and difficult to get hold of. I live in the country with no cable connection and the telephone exchange does not intend to make ISDN lines available for at least another 2 years. So I get huge phone bills, which means I limit my time online. And of course the connection is snail paced.

I must say that Amazon IS wonderful and makes my life much easier. 6.Are there any current developments that you see as a threat to online art? If we have to pay for access to web pages it will begin a serious decline, both in content and quality. Freedom of speech is also a difficult one. As much as I believe freedom, I regret that the Internet can also be used in a negative way. 7.Where do you see your work heading in the future? Digital technology has made the whole process of filmmaking much easier to do at home. I come from a fine art background so have never made 'real' films. Now that I have a computer with a huge memory and the ability to create DVD disks, I no longer feel restricted by duration anymore. So where I used to create short works which were then looped, now I am keen to develop my work in a more narrative way, which would relate to my interest in writing too.

PC: On the same lines, where do you see the future of online art/filmmaking in general heading?

CB: Again, the accessibility of broadband is the big issue. Even if it gets sorted out, who really wants to watch a long film on a computer screen? Not me anyway. So as it develops, the technologists had better get working on some sort of projection device which can be placed anywhere, preferably without any wires wrapping around the room!

PC: Thanks for you time Carolyn!