Advancing technology in production, distribution and exhibition is changing the way films are watched and received. My experiences of film consumption can be looked at to illustrate how a wider audience consume films.
The production stages of film making are affected in many ways by the changing ways in which people want to consume films. Firstly the majority of audiences including myself now prefer to view films digitally, either on video on demand, Youtube or other film websites. This is due to the ease of sitting at home and enjoying a film with out spending a lot of money. In the production process this means that films can no longer be made on film saving the production companies time and money as filming digitally is a lot cheaper and easier when it comes to the editing process. With showing films made on film the first showing would be better than any digital showings however, after the first showing the film would not be as good quality due to the film real going through a machine and getting damaged. Digital films maintain the high quality from the first showing to the last. Whenever I have been to the cinema there has been many different big films on at the same time, appealing to the same audiences. Despite the ease of watching films at home the cinema comes with certain advantages such as dark, quiet room with no interruptions, something that cannot always be achieved at home. The main reason that I would go and see a film at the cinema is because it is a new release that has appealed to me when I saw the TV advert or I had read the book and the film version has come out, for example the 'Hungar Games Trilogy' (2012) and 'Divergant' (2014) Another advantage of attending the cinema showings of a film is that many films can be seen in 3D which is a whole different experience.
Another way that the production stage is affected is by the audiences consumption is the need for bigger and better films to attract the audience. When people like myself do attend the cinema it is likely that we will want to get the best experience possible from our money. For the production company this means finding a big budget and making the film the best it could be in order to beat other films that are out at the same time. If there are multiple big films that come out at the same time this means that the audience will be split up between the films and it is the production company's job to create a film that with get the audience to choose it. For example in 2012 the film 'Skyfall' came out. At the same time other films such as 'The tempest' and the remake of the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' came out. Due to the advanced special effects and the famous cast 'Skyfall' did so much better than the other films making $88,364,714 where as 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' made only $211,243.
A common problem with filming a film digitally is that piracy is a lot easier to do. When films were on film you would get people actually filming the screen as they sat in the cinema and then making copies of it to sell. This had disadvantages such as people walking in front of the screen and making sound. With digital piracy the quality of the film is far better and easier to duplicate many times.
The changing ways in how films are consumed also affects the distribution companies. Firstly the way that the films are marketed change to suit where the intended audience will be most likely to see them. For example if the audiences are watching films online and on TV then this is where new films are most likely to be advertised because then the audience are most likely to see them. With people using the internet a lot more than they used to this makes 360 degree marketing much easier as on social media sights, youtube and even clothes shops websites they can advertise up the side of the page helping to bring in a wide audience. When the film is viewed on video on demand websites the advert on TV for the film website can also be used as advertisement for the film itself. For example on the Netflix advert it shows clips from a range of films and TV adverts such as transformers and 21 jump street.
An advantage of the film being viewed at the cinema for the distribution companies is the opportunity for them to create merchandise related to the biggest films. When I went to the cinema when the film 'despicable me' came out, there was a special popcorn holder and plastic cup on a special offer which I bought even though I was not there to actually watch that film. This means that even if the audience are not there for each distributors film then they can still make money off of the merchandise for that film.
The distributors have now taken advantage of the audience that use online websites in order to buy things by creating an online booking service. From experience a risk of going to the cinema without pre-booking a ticket is that the film may be full, meaning that I would have wasted time and money to get there. Booking online means that the audience can guarantee that they will get to see the film that they want and get to choose which seat they want as a way to entice the audience. By having a cup and popcorn offer this would give the audience the full cinema and film experience which is something that they cannot get by sitting at home and watching the film.
For the exhibition companies it is there job to entice the audience with the products as it seems that the amount of people who attend the cinema has fallen. In 2002 cinema attendance was at its height at over 1.58 billion tickets being sold compared to 2014 when so far only 1.17 billion tickets have been sold so far a dramatic decline. The main reason that I would attend the cinema if there is not a particular film that I want to see is because of Synergy. Because I have orange wednesdays with my phone contract which means that I get two cinema tickets for the price of one. Research would show that it is unlikely that someone would attend the cinema alone so therefore by doing this offer they have managed to get two people to see the film but only made the money for one however the likelihood is that they would make the money in products such as drinks, sweets and popcorn.
DVD's maintain there sales by having features that cannot be used on online copies of the film. For example DVD's come with special features such as deleted scenes which cannot easily be viewed online. However there has been proliferation of Blu-ray players which mean that more audiences will choose to buy these in order to get a better viewing experience at home, once again preventing the need to view a film at the cinema.
Overall the most popular way to watch films these days seems to be on the internet. This has recently begun the creation of film websites such as Netflix and Love film. This prevents loss for the film companies as these websites require monthly payments from the consumers and the companies have to buy the rights to show the film. Because these films are easily available this prevents the need for people to put copies of the films onto sites such as youtube which does lose money for the companies as they wont have bought the rights to exhibit this film. To keep up with these websites Youtube does now also rent films for a certain amount of time for example I was desperate to watch a film that I hadn't seen so I payed about £3.00 to have it for 24 hours.
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