Digital movie making — sometimes called microcinema — is a relatively small but growing movement of small-scale film makers using the cheaper and rapidly evolving digital technology to make short films and exhibit them on the Internet.

Because microcinema opens a direct connection between filmmakers and audience, for the first time in the 100-plus-year history of motion pictures average people can shoot, edit, and perhaps even disseminate their visions without answering to anybody.

"Low-fi film," the do-it-yourself pursuit of cinema, has become a true Seattle phenomenon.

Joel S. Bachar, the video artist behind Blackchair, calls his enterprise and others like it "microcinemas." Others call the emerging culture "multi-frame." Both terms embrace work with a wide range of tools — from all-digital film to pieces made with thrift-store cameras.