AtomFilms is an offshoot of Atom Entertainment, the San Francisco-based aggregator that includes Shockwave.com, addictinggames.com, and addictingclips.com. It’s an entertainment giant, in web terms, that can garner enough advertising money to allow AtomFilms to support more hearty content than your average viral video distributor. Founder and CEO Mika Salmi is making a name for himself in the industry, having previously spent time at Sony, EMI, and RealNetworks.
With shorts ranging from a fairly disturbing Kitten Apocalypse to a happy test, Atom advertises its content as “the best short films and videos.” While that claim could be contested, there’s no denying the extensiveness of this site and the quality of the content. Categories abound with user submissions that are carefully screened to meet quality standards, and a rev share system for those that make the cut. AtomFilms also produces a decent amount of its own content. The to go section is limited, but does allow viewers to download some of the most popular clips from each category. Like so many sites that rely on open submission (i.e. Channel Frederator, for example) one of the biggest benefits is the exhaustive links to homepages of the content creators. Once you’ve found a few favorite directors or animators, AtomFilms will prove its worth. Check out the blog and fan forum for further suggestions.
Got some time to kill? Atom certainly won’t leave you wanting. Head over to the “extreme” section for a little lark of a film from the in-house studio called Insex, in which a guy looking to score after a date discovers the perils that lie back at his date’s place. Think Starship Troopers crossed with Basic Instinct, if that’s even possible.
