Concluding Post

In summary of my research through out this course, I have explored various topics related to the film industry and how it is connected to the network. First, I explored the history of film, which began in New York City and eventually grew to become the internationally recognized city of Hollywood. I then explored how film became integrated into our culture, through the construction of theatres and the affordability to all citizens in the 50’s.

In my research I also looked at what people are watching today, and how they watch it. It was interesting to see which genres were most popular, vs. those who generate the most income. (Go Titanic!) Although many people are turning to YouTube, Netflix and other online sources for watching movies, it is debatable whether or not the Theatre industry is dying or not. On one hand, we have discussed in class how sales have declined drastically, however, many theatres have been successful in adapting by offering more services, better quality facilities, and the ability to purchase tickets online.

This has been an interesting topic to explore over the past few months and has certainly opened my eyes to the possibility of film and where it will go in the future.

Cheers!

Chloe

Movies and the Network – Shaping Culture

Film has become an extremely important factor in shaping our culture in the 21st century. In North America, we adopted film as part of daily life and allowed it to influence our perceptions of reality. For example, film created ideas in our minds about War, sex, and life in America. On a global scale, people were influenced by what they saw in film and accepted these ideas to be true about American Culture. Many films played a role in doing so, such as Wall Street, Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, etc.

It is interesting to note that there are often negative connotations associated with outsider understandings of American culture. For example, I have met people who are unfamiliar with American culture, however believed that what they saw in movies and in music was true to what goes on in reality. This is certainly not the case when you watch movies such as American Gangster or Forest Gump.

The basis of this argument is that American culture is often shaped by film and can create both positive and negative understandings of reality based on what is portrayed in film.

http://blog.interexchange.org/career-training-usa/2011/11/02/a-glimpse-of-american-culture-through-film/

 

Chloe

 

YouTube Generation

In our presentation on Movies in a Networked World, we discussed the many mediums in which people watch movies today, one being YouTube. In recent years, YouTube has become an extremely popular way to watch movies and television, due to its convenience, easy access, and of course because it is free. This is just one of the ways that movie producers are adapting to the demands of their customers. Because of the increase in YouTube popularity and demand for film online, entire movies and shows are being made available online via YouTube for all to see. From 2010 to 2011, YouTube saw a 72% increase in total time spent watching videos per individual viewer, which equaled 472 minutes. Because YouTube is a free and legal way to watch movies online, consumers are using this resource more often to watch their favourite movies and shows, also having the convenience of watching them whenever and wherever they wish.

How far will YouTube take this new way of watching film? Only time will tell!

Information Retrieved from: http://paidcontent.org/2012/01/18/419-comscore-video-rankings-youtube-usage-spiked-72-percent-over-2010/

Chloe

Netflix – What makes them successful?!

I have always wondered how Netflix became so popular and what their position was that lead to their success. A post on the website, Digital Trends, outlines one theory that explains how Netflix became so popular. I would like to first point out that I am not really a fan of Netflix, because I simply am just not attracted to their selection of movies. This may be the case (and maybe I’m not the only one?) because the author of the article suggested that Netflix appears to be angled more towards children rather than adult audiences. McMillan (2012) suggests that although many adults do use Netflix, it appears to be more for their children. Is Netflix a new form of childcare? McMillan (2012) proposes that this may be true, due to the perceived benefits of this offering. From the perspective of care takers, Netflix offers control over content, lack of commercials, and ability to multitask, which are highly beneficial to the modern parent. Perhaps it will be so, that Netflix is the new Cops and Robbers or Barney. It will be interesting to see where the world of technology will take us in the future.

Chloe

McMillan, G. (2012). What makes netflix so successful? Kids stuff. Digital Trends. Retrieved from: http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/what-makes-netflix-so-successful-kids-stuff/

Keeping Theatre Alive – Response/Building on Kat’s Post

One question that has come up often in the discussion of film and the network is where the industry is going today and what will happen to movie theatres. One way in which theatres have adapted to the changes in the market, as Katrina mentioned in a previous post, is to offer 3D movies. I wanted to draw upon an example of this by discussing the re-release of Titanic 3D this year. Titanic was first released in 1997 and set records with its $1.8B earnings, only to be recently beat out in 2009 by Avatar (CBC, 2012). In April this year, they released the 3D version of the classic film, marking the 100 year anniversary of the ship’s tragedy. This expansion of the wildly popular film is an example of how film producers are finding ways to meet their customers demands and adapt to the changing dynamic of movie watching. Titanic 3D has been very successful thus far and might have an opportunity to regain their spot as #1.

Chloe

CBC News, (2012). Titanic 3D sets sail for new box office record. Retrieved from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/04/16/titanic-3d-ticket-sales-2-billion.html

What Are People Watching Today?

I am not a huge movie-goer myself and I have always wondered what exactly attracts millions of people to the theatres day after day. They must be doing something right if, regardless of all the talk about watching movies at home for free, the top grossing films are earning between 300 and 750 million dollars in theatres alone. Namely the film Avatar, that grossed $760M in 2009, and Titanic, raking in nearly $660M in 1997 (Nash Information Services, 2012). Although I realize that in 1997 we didn’t necessarily have the technology we have today, there is something about the theatre that continues to draw people in year after year.

I found it interesting to read a few stats about the movie industry today, and what exactly people are into watching these days. Surprisingly enough, films under the Drama and Documentary genres were among the greatest number of films produced in 2012. However, the Adventure genre category had the highest ticket sales, grossing $2.4B in total (Nash Information Services, 2012). Second highest in ticket sales and gross income was Comedy, bringing in $1.5B for 2012 (Nash Information Services, 2012). It seems to be that although a number of films are produced in many other genres, the top earners are those in the more competitive and smaller genres such as Adventure and Action. These genres are only producing a third of the total number of Drama films, although they seem to be attracting the largest crowds and doubling their incomes (Nash Information Services, 2012).

It will be interesting to observe the changes in the movie industry over time and see how theatres will adapt to the markets’ new demands of online accessibility and convenience. Time will tell!

Nash Information Services. (2012). Domestic theatrical market summary for 2012. Retrieved from http://www.the-numbers.com/market/2012/summary

A post from Chloe

A Response to Movies & Internet

In a previous post, Rebecca discussed the shift of moviegoers from the big screen to the convenience of laptops and televisions. What I would like to discuss, from a social perspective, is why I believe our customer base has shifted and how this is affected by the networked world we live in today.

It is important to note that there are a number of possible reasons why consumers are no longer going to movie theatres and buying DVD’s. I would like to highlight one in particular, based on my childhood experiences. My generation, in my opinion, just barely made the cutoff of growing up playing with chalk and skipping ropes. Today’s youth, on the other hand, have grown up with PS3’s, IPad’s, and so many more technologies. Because our world has become so accustomed to the presence of technology in our daily lives, our life is now carried out, socially, educationally, and even professionally via technologies such as laptops and cell phones. In my opinion, this shift, from a social perspective in particular, has resulted in social life being carried out through technologies at home, rather than in movie theatres. The strong presence of technologies in our daily lives today has resulted in sociological processes to be more home and computer based, rather than in physical settings, which has resulted in a decline in movie attendance.

Chloe

“The Golden Age” – Film Production in Time

We have all heard about a distant time in history called The “Golden Age”, in which Hollywood, CA, became “Hollywood”. It was a time when the ladies wore cocktail dresses, sipped on dirty martinis, and going to the theatre was a social affair for which to get dressed up. Between the 1920’s and 60’s, Hollywood style emerged, and film production was dominated by a few major studios (Cooper, 2011). However, over time, new technologies immersed, and people were attracted to the idea of a personal television and the convenience of entertainment in your own home. This discouraged film production in the 60’s, as theatre attendance dropped and producers were no longer generating profits at an accelerating rate (Cooper, 2011). This transition, from the emergence of film in the early 1900’s to the growth of the television in the 60’s presents, what seems like today, to be a “prehistoric” example of the current shifts we are seeing in technology in the film industry.

Today, when we talk about film and the way our society interacts with movies, we discuss the transition from VHS to DVD, from theatre to home theatre, and finally, from Blueray to well… MacBook. It is interesting to take a look at the way the film industry also experienced changes from the early years of production to the invention of the television, because not much has changed. They say history repeats itself, this is no exception to the rule. Cooper’s article discusses the shifts in the film industry due to technology in the 1960’s, and how this has changed the way we perceive film today.

Check out the link below for further reading : )

http://suite101.com/article/hollywood-film-production-how-has-it-changed-a332841

Chloe