Blog Reflection

For my final blog post, I will bring together all my previous posts to show how they are related to movies within a networked world.  Throughout my blogging experience, I have looked into how our generation is slowly transitioning to watching movies online. This was shown by talking about the various different theatres that have shut down in the US (my second blog post), and how Blockbuster and HMV are also shutting down due to a loss in profits (my tenth blog post). I have looked at the reasons behind why this transition is occurring (third blog post), and the problems people may incur through this transition (fourth and seventh blog post). Due to this transition, even movie theatres are claiming they have lost money, but I look at whether or not this is really true through the use of examples (fifth and ninth blog post). I then go into looking at the benefits production companies experience through promoting their movies online (first blog), and bad movies that have been created in the process (eighth blog). Ultimately, I look at whether this transition is beneficial to our society (sixth blog). Nonetheless, throughout this blogging process, I have found that our generation may be transitioning in the way we watch movies, however, we will still be watching movies in theatres for the next few years. I believe each post was equally important in order to back up this thought, and the blogs from both Katrina and Chloe also prove this. With that being said, our future will be more technologically oriented and movies will become more apparent in our networked world.

 

Retrieved from http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=end scene&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1266&bih=642&tbm=isch&tbnid=zjF3OaxZ1NrAiM:&imgrefurl=http://lisanalexander.com/2011/12/2011-end-scene.html&docid=oaqg1Uk6D41GyM&imgurl=http://lisanalexander.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/975857_643364741.jpg&w=1600&h=1310&ei=LqGrUKGONcay0QH2w4HgCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=369&vpy=158&dur=245&hovh=203&hovw=248&tx=80&ty=108&sig=103012729650806609264&page=1&tbnh=160&tbnw=228&start=0&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:69

A post from Rebecca

Blockbuster out of Business

In previous years when someone wanted to purchase movies in DVD form, people would go to Blockbuster or HMV and other locations to buy them. However, due to the transition in the way our generation watches movies, many of these company’s were forced to shut down. Many people have transitioned to watching movies online through sources such as Netflix, Itunes, etc, while many companies have provided a movie rental option within their cable network, such as Rogers. As Blockbuster was experiencing difficulty in finding investors to take over shares, 150 stores were shut down as of June 2011, and the remaining 253 locations were to be out of business by the end of that summer.[1] However, Blockbuster was not the only company that was facing difficulty of staying relevant within the movie market. Another company that is beginning to shut down in certain locations is HMV. As seen in downtown Halifax on Spring Garden Road, this location is forced to shut down because of high rent increases because they have lost their clientele.[2] Over time, it’s becoming very difficult to find movie’s in DVD forms, which shows us this continual transition within movie watching. Many years ago it started off with VHS, then transitioned to DVD’s, and now to online movies. It will be interesting to see the forms of movie watching that our future generation will have.

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[1] The Canadian Press. (2011, August 31). Blockbuster canada to close remaining stores. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/08/31/blockbuster-canada-close.html

[2] COSGROVE, C. (2012, November 5). Rent hike forces hmv canada to leave spring garden road. Retrieved from http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/163056-rent-hike-forces-hmv-canada-to-leave-spring-garden-road

A post from Rebecca

Breaking Dawn Part II Box Office Predictions

Recently the new Twilight saga Breaking Dawn Part II was released on November 16^th 2012. This was a highly anticipated release as it was the last movie within the series. The movie topped the box office this weekend with a profit of $340.9 million (where $141.3 million was domestically, and $199.6 million was internationally). Comparing the amount of profit each movie was made within the saga, it was noted that they did not surpass the box office profit from the opening weekend of New Moon, but it did surpass those for Breaking Dawn Part I. Studies have shown Breaking Dawn Part II was the movie within the series with the most male viewers making 21% of sales. Meanwhile, 50% of the audience was 25 years old and older, which shows how this movie was able to attract a very large fan base to make a large profit.[1] With there being such a large profit from the box office, this questions the truth behind comments that theatres make in regards to loosing profits. Breaking Dawn Part II was just one example of movies that bring in a lot of profit just from opening night; other examples that exist include the new James Bond movie, “Skyfall” and Steven Spielberg’s new production “Lincoln”. Ultimately, its seen that watching movies in theatre’s is still very important to our society, and it will always be something that people will make time to do.

IMDB. (Photographer). (2012). Imdb. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=breaking dawn part 2&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1038&bih=642&tbm=isch&tbnid=Hl9E_sG_iJ8SgM:&imgrefurl=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1673434/&docid=9PyBU-7T84hp9M&imgurl=http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTcyMzUyMzY1OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDQ4ODk1OA%40%40._V1._SY317_.jpg&w=214&h=317&ei=FqGqUO6QJaT10gGuyYGACw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=261&sig=103012729650806609264&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=105&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:73&tx=63&ty=61

[1] McClintock, P. (2012, November 18). Box office report: ‘breaking dawn – part 2’ bites off $340.9 million global opening. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-report-breaking-dawn-391789

A post from Rebecca

Bad Movies

The movie business is a very popular and wanted industry to work in. Throughout the years, there have been many movies that have been released, with both good and bad reviews. Recently, there has been an abundant of poorly done movies because production companies, actors and studios are producing anything to be apart of the industry. Examples of movies that have done poorly when released into the market are “Be Cool”, “The Love Guru”, “Gigli”, “Troll 2”, and many more. [1] Nonetheless, this hasn’t prevented these productions from making millions of dollars from box offices. In order for a rating of a movie to be released, people have to watch the movie, which results in paying for an admission, which produces general profits for the company. With that being said, many people still pay to watch bad movies just to be able to relate to those who talk about them. This is an unfortunate reality as companies who may not deserve these profits still receive them. Also, once a movie is released, those actors and production companies continue to make profits for years through customer purchases, or when other companies want rights for a scene, etc. Ultimately, as poorly done movies are created more often, productions are not only at fault. People who pay to watch these movies also play a large role in contributing to this cycle. Nonetheless, it’s very rare that a production company doesn’t make a profit when their movie was released into theatres. Hopefully, in the future, directors will become innovative and create new productions that have not been used before, and film them well resulting in a well-done movie.

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[1] Complex Magazine. (2010, February 10). The 10 worst movies of the 2000’s. Retrieved from http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2009/09/the-10-worst-movies-of-the-2000s

A post from Rebecca

Viruses through Movie Streaming

As discussed in previous blogs, the amounts of people who participate in online streaming of movies have increased abundantly in the past decade. Many people download movies online, which is known to be illegal, but do it to decrease costs from going to the theatres and buying DVD’s. However, many people have to be aware of the problems associated with streaming movies online. A known issue that people come across is receiving viruses when downloading videos. This is because many hackers take advantage of the fact that they can access other people’s laptops so easily. This way they can take personal information that people would keep on their laptops including banking information, addresses, etc. This makes it easy to impersonate and rob people, which is a growing concern. This is very dangerous because people don’t only lose their personal information, but they also lose their sense of security, and their computers stop working over time. It is important that if you begin streaming videos online, that you protect yourself through anti-virus programs, and by not opening every window that is open on your computer, but also using trust worthy sites.[1] By taking these measures, it can reduce the chances of receiving a virus when online streaming. Ultimately, this shows the interconnectedness of online streaming and receiving viruses, but also shows how vulnerable these people are to hackers.

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[1] White, M. (2009). How to check for viruses on streaming videos. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_7471010_check-viruses-streaming-videos.html

A post from Rebecca

Movie Experiences

Very rarely do we come across new movies that have original storylines. I have found that when watching certain movies – such as romantic comedies – the ending becomes very predictable. Even some movies that have come out within the past five years have such similar plot lines and scenarios with just a different cast. A few examples of this are the movies; ‘No Strings Attached’ and ‘Friends with Benefits’, ‘The Notebook’ and ‘The Lucky One’, ‘Mirror Mirror’ and ‘Snow White and the Huntsmen’, etc. This has become evident not only in movies, but also in TV shows as well. The movie development began realizing this and wanted to make a change to the way movies are watched to keep their clients interested. Through this, 3D movies were created and became popular in the 2000’s. 3D movies make the movie experience more realistic and feel as though the actors are ‘within reach’. Many productions have also created movies in relation to paranormal experiences. This was seen through movies such as Avatar, where they received great feedback for their out of world experience.[1] Nonetheless, as movies continue to be produced, there are many aspects that should be considered such as creating new plot lines, and inventing new production strategy’s to attract many lost clients.

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[1] Piazza, J. (2010, January 11). Audiences experience ‘avatar’ blues. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2010-01-11/entertainment/avatar.movie.blues_1_pandora-depressed-posts?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ

A post from Rebecca

Are theatres really losing money?

Even though many theatres are stating that profits are being lost due to piracy, it makes people wonder if they are telling the truth. During weekends, theatres are still packed with families, and when the “must see” movie comes out, it’s still tough to find seats. With that being said, some theatres are beginning to market their company by creating commercials, street/magazine advertisements, etc. A good example is Cineplex Odeon, where they came up with advertising decisions to attract their lost customers by making them think about their “movie moments”. This is a strong brand message because you do receive different experiences when you watch a movie in theatres compared to at home. When watching this video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiOobgoxjPg – its noticeable that the marketers for Cineplex did not try to target a specific demographic, instead they targeted everyone through a favorite genre whether its horror, rom-com, action, family, etc. This is smart advertising because its difficult to focus on one demographic and ignore the rest of the population. Nonetheless, by looking at the box office ticket sales in the US, its noticed that productions are still making a large profit, and it may have not have been as much as they did five years ago, however, they are still doing well. This concludes with a question of – do we trust the information theatres are portraying to society about their hardships with piracy.

IMDb. (2012, October 28). All-time box office: Usa. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross

A post from Rebecca

Copyright Issues

When taking a poll of the amount of students in our previous class who watch movies online, 100% of the class raised their hands. Understanding that some of these people watch online movies through sites such as Netflix and iTunes where you pay a fee, some people also watch movies on other various online sources where you don’t pay any fees. Due to the large quantity of people who participate in this type of online service, many people may wonder about the copyright issues. Is it illegal to watch movies online for free, as it is to download music for free? The answer is no, depending on the source. The government has stopped trying to prevent online users from watching free movies, and they directed their attention to the providers of the movie. If the provider followed the law and has the copyright to a movie, then it is not illegal for someone to watch them for free online. However, it becomes very time consuming to locate the copyrights that a website has to show certain movies. Also, seeing as many sites are not legitimate, some of them may even contain viruses. Therefore, watching online movies can be very tricky, but if people are careful with the sources used (that they are legal), then it can be very beneficial.

Claerr, J. (2009, June 5). Best websites to legally watch movies online for free. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/best-websites-legally-watch-movies-online-free-3400564.html?cat=15

A post from Rebecca

Avoiding Promotional Adds

A study has been shown that 219,000,000 television sets are found in family homes in the US.[1] A popular use of televisions is to watch movies on stations such as the W network, ShowCase, Much, etc. As enjoyable as it is to watch movies on television for free within the comfort of your own home, it becomes problematic because stations use this as an advantage to show commercials. For many people, commercials are a time where they will go to the bathroom, get something to eat, or work on something. Studies have shown that in one year, an average child sees 20,000 commercials when watching TV.[2] As commercials are shown and seen by our population so frequently, it has become a nuisance to have to sit through. Many people take action to avoid watching commercials when watching movies or TV shows. This includes watching them online, or PVR’ing them in order to fast-forward and get back to the movie. Nonetheless, watching movies online is another benefit to everyone because it allows us to skip commercials that have no meaning to the certain consumer.

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[1] CIA World Factbook. (2003, December). Televisions (most recent) by country. Retrieved from http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_tel-media-televisions

[2] Herr, N. (2007). Television & health. Retrieved from http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html

A post from Rebecca

Movie’s vs. Internet

For many years, it has been tradition that people would go to a theatre in order to watch a newly released movie with friends or family. Over time, people have begun renting movies to watch in the comfort of your own home. Now, through the use of Internet, more people are beginning to watch movies online through websites such as Netflix. Watching movies on the Internet will become more popular in the future, especially for our generation, because it’s cost effective. The Internet is changing the way our world is functioning, and the market has to evolve with our generation. Over time, if the market does not evolve or change its prices, it may cause theatres to shut down (like the one’s that can’t view digital films), and movie productions to lose money. (Hurley, 2012) The process involved behind producing a movie will drastically change in the future in order to become more responsive to Internet users (this may include online theatres, online movie productions/filming, and much more). Ultimately, there is no experience like watching a movie on a large screen while eating movie theatre popcorn, however, the change in the market is inevitable unless they come up with an attractive proposition for our society such as the Imax experience.

Hurley, M. (2012, February 23). We’re about to lose 1,000 small theaters that can’t convert to digital. does it matter?. Retrieved from http://www.indiewire.com/article/were-about-to-lose-1-000-small-theaters-that-cant-convert-to-digital-does-it-matter

A post from Rebecca