Doug Block was someone I found by accident.  Off the Internet this would be an experience to marvel over. On the Internet, it's almost a  nightly occurrence. 
 

Block, an Emmy-winning documentary maker, spent the last two years making a film called Home Page.  I was immediately intrigued with Block and his project.  After looking over his web site, I got the feeling that this was a person who understood that being a part of the Web wasn't just a pastime or a hobby...it's a lifestyle.  Finally someone understood. 

And like all self-proclaimed voyeurs, I was drawn to the idea of seeing just how much the Web has changed people's lives. 

Block says this within the introduction to Home Page: 
"It all started when I found myself browsing the web up up up into the wee hours of the night. Now, some people like the net for info, some for the games. Some like it for moos or muds or chit or chat. Me, I'm a sucker for home pages. 

Call me a voyeur, call me pathologically curious. But, hey, you  raise your shades and I'll peer in.  I wasn't ready to open up a home on the web, myself. I'm used to observing life from behind a viewfinder , not in front of one.  But I knew there was a story lurking in the home page phenomenon." 
  

"I go into each film wide open," said Doug Block from his home in New York. "I like having the material drive the film.  The more open you are to that, the better your film will be." 

Home Page follows a cast of characters who one may consider Web pioneers.  The main character is Justin Hall, a charismatic college student who took a semester off from school to thrive amongst the founders of WIRED in San Francisco.  Doug says that once he found Justin he linked off of him and filmed other people who were directly or indirectly a part of Justin's Web life. Block says he "browsed with his camera like someone would browse the Web with their computer". 

The film follows the changes in Justin's life, changes in Block's life, and how the Web changed over the course of filming. 

"The few things I'd seen on TV about the Internet were stupid.  I think everyone was missing the boat about what was so inherently exciting about the Internet.  It taps into everyone's desire to communicate. This is such an interesting time to be living in," he said. 

The other dimension to Block's documentary is his Web site.  It's a multi-functional medium for Block who uses it as a innovative marketing tool as well as a personal journal. 

"I decided that there were many directions I could go in on the Web site," Block explained.  "The most valuable for other people would be to invite them in on my film making process while I was doing it.  That way people would have the opportunity to interact with me at a point where it could actually affect the content of the film." 

Block turned down major funding from HBO to ensure he would maintain full control over Home Page.  I think this act is a testament to just how personal this project became for Block.  In the film he includes himself, his family, and how technology, and the time he spent observing it, changed his life. 

He says that now, after the filming has finished, he feels more honest.  It was a confession I was happy to hear because I know how the Internet can be used to reveal yourself completely which can help you to accept who you are completely.  

It can also perpetuate one's need to lie pathologically too. 

Block seems to have been able to distinguish the real from the fake in his film.  It's the authenticity that he hopes will appeal to a broad audience.  His guess is that people under the age of 40 will be able to relate to Justin and his peers. People closer to Block's age will be able to relate to how the sudden onslaught of the Internet has left some people scrambling to adapt. 

You have to admit, almost everyone's life has been altered by the Internet.  It's cool that someone caught it on film and at the same time questioned just how much his own life was being influenced and how much he wanted it to be. 

"I think that because of this film I am more comfortable with acknowledging who I am publicly.  This film is very personal.  It was an interesting process to grapple with how far I would go in revealing myself." 

Visit The D-Word, Doug Block's Web site and/or 

Visit Home Page main character, Justin Hall's, web site. 

Copyright © 1998 by Wendy Wallace