We now had a video, a domain name, text and stills ready to post on the Web site. I called my friend Chris Carlsson, a Web designer in San Francisco. He cursed streaming video but agreed to find a hosting company, which would make the site available through its computer servers, that could run it. Chris told me what we would need. For the site's one-minute video clip, I chose three parts lasting less than 20 seconds each.
Longer segments take forever to materialize and cause crashes.
I sent the site's text to Chris by e-mail and took the video and stills to his office in San Francisco. We wanted a dynamic beginning that would reflect the vitality of Benedita da Silva and life in her shantytown neighborhood above Rio's famous beaches. Using Flash animation, Chris designed an opening sequence that explodes with music and features the film's title in huge yellow words appearing and disappearing on a green field. These are the national colors of Brazil, and they're lively and easy to read. Even though the introduction is short, we added an option for skipping it.