Audiences are changing the way in which they want to consume - for example home cinema and downloads versus costly cinema. Identify trends by referring to our own experience.
Ever since the introduction of public cinemas, watching movies has been a very popular form of entertainment in society. However, since the introduction of other, arguably more efficient ways of watching movies, such as through DVD, Blu-Ray, Sky Box Office and internet-based companies such as Netflix and LoveFilm, audiences have changed the ways in which they wish to consume a movie. In this essay, I will be talking about what has specifically changed, encouraged or persuaded the minds of consumers in terms of how they view their films, and the effects that these changed have had on the distributors.
In modern society whenever a new film comes out trailers and promotions are released through advertisements, usually via the internet on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, or just through advert breaks in between television programmes. However, before the invention of the internet and the television, around the late 1800's and early 1900's, films were advertised through newspapers and other forms of written communication, so they were far less viewed. My own personal cinema experiences as a whole have all been enjoyable, due to the largeness of the screen and the ability to share the events that occur in the movie with an entire room of people, (e.g, if it was sad, scary or funny). The cinema is also beneficial in terms of how soon a consumer is able to view a film, due to the fact that movies come out in cinemas before anywhere else.
The invention of DVD, Blu-Ray and Sky Box Office has effected the rates of cinema viewings to a great extent, however. Whilst it used to be that a consumer may only view a film at the cinema at the time it is being shown, with the invention of DVD, Blu-Ray and Sky Box Office, it is possible to see a movie after it has finished premiering in the cinema. However, there is a disadvantage to using such forms of exhibition. This disadvantage is that the release of a film on DVD, Blu-Ray and Sky Box Office after it has been viewed in the cinema is after a gap of around 4-6 months. This disadvantage is most likely one of the main reasons in terms of why cinemas are as popular as they are in modern society. Another disadvantage is that on these other forms of watching movies, a large screen is not available, it is up to the consumer to have a screen to watch their film on. Blu-Ray films would also require specific television types in order to play in their high definition, otherwise it is the same quality as a DVD. Also, Sky Box Office requires the consumer to sign up with Sky, which could be seen as spending a lot of money.
The internet has also had a large effect on how popular the modern cinema is, with the creation of websites such as Netflix and LoveFilm. Like Sky Box Office, these forms of watching movies require a subscription in which the consumer must a set amount of money every month or year, which can be seen as a disadvantage towards the consumer. However, these websites include a large variety of movies, and visits to the cinema would tend to only include the viewing of one specific movie, so these websites can be seen to have had a bit of an advantage. Also, the exchanging of money for the movie could be argued to be easier through paying online rather than physically using money to buy a film ticket.
To conclude, the cinema experience has both advantages and disadvantages, as well as the other forms of watching films (DVD's, Blu-Ray, Sky Box Office, Netflix and LoveFilm), and both distributors and consumers are at advantages and disadvantages because of this. However, I believe that as more and more ways of watching films outside of the cinema are being created, the cinema is being viewed as less and less important (especially considering the size TV sets can come in now, one of the advantages of going to the cinema could be argued to have now been taken out of the equation).
No comments:
Post a Comment