The Vault Projections Series

Allegories, myths, fairy tales, and histories.

Quests, disasters, triumphs, celebrations, memories, dreams, realities, the sacred, the profane, nihilism, humor, hope. absurdities, metaphors, secrets, and declared truths.  

The Natural and The Magical as collective experience.

Vault Projections is an ongoing project; a series of 17 short films to be created.

So far, the short films within this series are:

- "Salome" (2009)

- "Danse Macabre" (2010)

- "Second Star" (2010)

- "October Sketches" (2016)

- "Someplace" (2018)

I know, I know.....

sometimes I think about them.....

I'm a nerd and I like statistics.

I like to have an accurate assessment of which of my films get watched, how much, by who, where, and which films don't get watched at all (truth! because that's life sometimes).  It's good to know this kind of stuff.  

That way I can have a general idea of what people are responding to.  Accurate, precise, non-goofy numbers.

A few of my projects get relatively decent view numbers (I'm legit underground indie, no conglomerate ties, no moon-eyed features on Buzzfeed, etc.) but my stuff has never been the type of material that goes viral and that's fine.  My numbers--even on the projects that people like--aren't super-high.  That's just not a thing in my world.

Here's the deal:

I don't use bots.

That's a choice.  

As I mentioned, I traded the "wow!" view counts for on-point, private statistics.  Is that a smart choice?  Ehh….  Hmmm.  Well.....

Has it hurt me?  Probably.  But it's a choice.  No fluffed-up view counts.  I've actually had people tell me:  "Derek, don't forget to buy some views on the day that you launch a new video!  It's very important."

Do I sometimes get tempted?  Of course!  Plump, juicy view counts aren't difficult to purchase (Google it) but I'm okay with accepting the realities associated with going bot-free in exchange for my beloved, dorky, natural numbers.  Do I regret that sometimes?  Absolutely!