Today was the Premiere Props live auction event dedicated to the Underworld series of films, as reported last month (see Premiere Props “Underworld” Live Auction February 7th, Co-Sponsored by Fangoria).
Approximately 300 props and costumes from the Sony Pictures movie franchise were sold, with proceeds benefiting the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
Studio reseller Premiere Props handled the event, in partnership with the iCollector auction service. Interestingly, the full catalog (beyond the handful of preview items announced last month) was not available until just a few days before the event.
In my opinion, in drawing comparisons between PropWorx and their management of the Battlestar Galactica asset liquidation, using Auction Network as a partner, this event did not compare favorably (see Battlestar Galactica Live Auction Day One: Impressions of The Event, PropWorx, & The Auction Network Service).
My time spent watching the event online, via iCollector, was limited, but I was interested to see how the service performed for bidders watching the auction and participating over the Internet.
While the primary bidding interface offered by iCollector is similar to the Auction Network version with many of the same tools, it is inferior in many ways.
Below are two screen capture examples from the live event:
One, it simply has an outdated appearance, with a “plug-in” look. iCollector does offer much of the same capability of Auction Network, but appears very “busy” and lacks any real customized aesthetics. From a user standpoint, it definitely has a ‘function over appearance’ priority. Below is a comparison between the Auction Network interface (TOP) and the dual window iCollector interface (BOTTOM):
Two, the live video and audio feed is displayed in a second window, which emphasizes the ‘component’ nature of the interface, and feels “added on”, rather than integrated into the primary window.
Three, the quality of both the audio and video is poor, as well as the overall presentation. In my opinion, it actually would have been a more professional presentation if both video and audio was removed entirely, for this event, as it just came across as amateurish.
The camerawork was unprofessional, with poor framing, angles, and movement. This was compounded by the low frame rate, as well as the perpetual overlay of dayglow green text (“NTSC > NTSC”) and audio level indicators and what appeared to be a time stamp.
The production would cut from the back of someone’s head to a second, shaky camera showing the item listed (at poor angles), and back to the cropped head of the auctioneer.
The audio was also very poor, and for reasons unknown, techno music competed with the voice of the auctioneer. I do not know if this was intentional or sound from the auction room, but it was, in my opinion, severely detrimental to the presentation.
As for the event itself, I honestly did not watch enough of it to form much of an opinion. It appears that all of the items sold, and judging by comments from more active participants on the forums, items sold for respectable prices.
While I applaud the efforts put forth to raise money for charity, it is unfortunate that the quality of the presentation, at least for the audience over the Internet, was in my opinion subpar.
I would probably have a slightly better impression of iCollector if I had not first been witness to the stellar Battlestar Galactica production managed by Auction Network. There is, in my opinion, absolutely no comparison between the two services, based on comparing these two events.
In my opinion, any auction house (without its own “in-house” solution, such as Heritage Auction and Christie’s) would be much better served utilizing the service of Auction Network when compared with either iCollector or LiveAuctioneers.
Jason De Bord