The point is, cinema has provided a strong tradition and reinforced my relationship with my family. It was a way to relax and let all the pressures of the past week melt away. It gave our family something to discuss other than school or work and it provided an unmistakable bond that I continue to cherish. Today technology has changed the way we see movies, how we choose which movies to see and even how the studios market their product. For my term project I intend to look at how film marketing, production and distribution has evolved in the age of the Internet.
Recently I read an article in the New York Times entitled "Now on the Endangered Species List: Movie Critics in Print" by David Carr. The piece paints a pretty bleak picture for the film critic, however, it did offer a small glimmer of hope. "Given that movie blogs are strewn about the Web like popcorn on a theater floor, there are those who say that movie criticism is not going away, it's just appearing on a different platform." Which echoes what Henry Jenkins said in his introduction to Convergence Culture, "Old media are not being displaced. Rather, their functions and status are shifted by the introduction of new technologies" (14).
What does the future hold for the movie critic? It seems as if they are a dying breed, both in print, and on television. At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, once the standard for movie criticism is slowly losing its following. Fortunately, Ebert & Roeper's people have had the good sense to make the show available online,in 2006, and by 2007 complete reviews from as far back as 1986 were made available.
However, there are still those who, like Jenkins, believe that media just shift their functions and that the movie critic is here to stay. San Francisco film critic Mick LaSalle, for instance, does not seem at all concerned about the Times piece, calling it "alarmist." In an e-mail interview I conducted with Mick, he said "The Village Voice got rid of ONE of their film critics, but kept the other. And the big deal over David Ansen leaving Newsweek was misplaced, because Newsweek got rid of, not just him, but 125 out of 136 employees, switching from staff to freelancers. Plus, it was a buyout, not a firing, and a very generous buy out -- health care for LIFE, and either two or three years at full salary, with the taxes already paid. Ansen is 62, and prominent, and capable of working freelance. Under those circumstances who wouldn't take a buyout?"
Sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Internet Movie Database have taken fan reviews to a whole new level. Sure it is easy to check these sites for a quick review, but some may lack credibility. A positive review indicates that the movie is popular with the general public. These sites do not always offer an in depth review with discussion on the script, casting and directing. The perceptive movie goer will be more interested in the cinematography, complexity of the plot and possibly the soundtrack. For the discerning consumer, a site like Metacritic may be a little more credible. According to Alex Iskold, Metacritic is "very different from today's popular review sites, which thrive on communities and social contribution. Metacritic's claim to fame is different, because it is an aggregator and does not require any input from the user. It simply collects relevant content, organizes it well and then adds a unique scoring system that turns Metacritic into an instant recommendation engine."
New sites dedicated to movies are popping up everyday. Whether the site is dealing with reviews, show times or illegal downloads, there is no escaping the significance of film on the Internet. Even social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace are getting in on the action. Facebook offers countless number of applications devoted to movies, and even the ones not directly related to film seem to incorporate them, such as the bumper sticker application or the quiz application. Another application that is dedicated to film is the movie application. It allows you to compare your ratings of films with other friends in your network. Providing a fun way for you to find common ground among other people. MySpace actually has two full sections, one for film the other for movies. The film section seems more devoted to those indie films and filmmakers, while the movie section is more for your mainstream blockbusters. Often studios use these sites to advertise for their new releases, even actors and directors have been known to use the power of these sites. Personally, I love movie trailers. Slick editing, a catchy soundtrack and a few good one liners are more than likely to reel the viewer in. Today it is possible to view movie trailers on personal Myspace accounts, YouTube, and individual movie sites. Facebook, Myspace and YouTube are just the beginning of where the film industry can be found on the Internet.
For instance Fandango has recently cornered the market for prepaid tickets online. It seems as if there is no where else online to buy tickets before entering the theater. Fandango has expanded their site so it is no longer just for purchasing tickets in advance. They have also added critical reviews along with fan reviews, trailers for upcoming attractions, along with exclusive interviews with the stars. Fandango provides a slick all-in-one website. Not only do they provide you with where your movie is playing and what time, they also offer ratings and exclusive clips so you can make sure you really want to see it after all.
For Netflix, on the other hand, numerous sites have picked up on their niche market, including Blockbuster and iTunes. Netflix has made the hassle of going to the store to prevent late fees a thing of the past. More importantly, Netflix has broadened its viewer's selections to some of the more obscure titles that most stores do not bother to carry. This has broadened the selection of films from the most popular to the relatively obscure, as so eloquently put in Chris Anderson's The Long Tail. Briefly, the concept of the long tail is that online companies can afford to offer more obscure and less popular items because they have very little overhead. Netflix also offers many films online, and although I no longer have an account, I am sure their database has at least doubled since the last time I used it. Most videos presented online are of poor, often abysmal quality, but Netflix has prided itself on seamless streaming video provided straight to your computer. In the event of some unforeseen problem they offer twenty four-hour free customer service. I have to say, they have really impressed me with their well-run operation.
But in my humble opinion the grand daddy of all Internet movies sites is non-other than IMDb, or better known for its official name the Internet Movie Database. With a name like that how could you expect anything less? It provides you with everything you will ever need to know about every movie ever made. Fan run and created in October of 1990, IMDb has risen to the top of the movie industry websites. Bought out by Amazon in 1998, IMDb includes films, television, video games and direct to video information. It is a free site that is monitored by IMDb employees and is complete with numerous links and trailers to the latest movies coming out in theaters. It is possible to search by director, actor, writer and producer or skip the whole thing and go straight for the actual film in question. It provides a user based rating system of ten stars and is the most comprehensive movie encyclopedia based site I have seen up to date. It is truly a marvel of modern creation.
In fact IMDb has been so successful, it has started many offspring sites. The one in particular I am thinking of is Fantasy Moguls. It is a site that takes the whole fantasy baseball approach and applies it to the film industry. There are two ways to play, you can either compete as a Box Office Mogul or an Ultimate Movie Mogul. As a Box Office Mogul your success is simply measured by how much money your films make. As an Ultimate Movie Mogul you must combine your knowledge of not only the highest grossing movie, but also which movies are going to have the highest per theater average, highest review score provided by IMDb and a weekly top five chart. Thus making it a little more challenging. It works just like drafting for a fantasy team except you can have the same movies as other people. Naturally there are some kinks that need to be worked out, but this is a very promising interactive online game that may have found a niche market in which to compete.
The Internet was first used to promote cinema in 1999, when the young student filmmakers of The Blair Witch Project used the Internet tirelessly to promote their film. They even used the Internet to start rumors about the origin of the film itself. Misleading descriptions about the actual events were often circulated throughout the Internet. This led to many people believing that the faux documentary was legitimate. It is reminiscent of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre opening with a brief description of "actual events." The clever ploy worked and the film ended up earning $248 million worldwide. Not only making it the most profitable independent film up to that point, but also the most profitable American film considering cost to benefit ratio.
However, as Sir Isaac Newton taught us, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For example, Snakes on a Plane, need I say more? Although it gained much Internet buzz, the now infamous cult classic did not provide the box office gold that New Line Cinema had anticipated. After Josh Friedman, SoaP screenwriter, posted his blog "find your lack of faith disturbing", the crazy title and premise garnered much attention from the Internet fan community. It should be pointed out that this was done before production began. Fan created posters, parodies and merchandise were all inspired from this relatively ludicrous idea for a film. So much so that the producers decided to re-shoot portions of the film, adding another five days to production time. Many YouTube videos were created in response, including "Snakes on a MP3" and "100%: A Tribute to SoaP."
Finally to sum up just how computers in themselves have effected the movie industry, we take a look at Pixar's first full-length feature animated film, Toy Story. Toy Story, was the first movie of its kind, entirely CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) animated. And it certainly captured audience's imaginations, grossing $354 billion worldwide, and $191 billion in the United States alone. Pixar certainly found a gold mine and were quite reluctant to share. In 2003, the Online Film Critics Society ranked the film number one out of all previously made animated features. In 2007 Toy Story snuck its way on to the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest American films of all time. More recently computer technology such as rotoscope has begun to make its way into mainstream filmmaking with films such as Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Rotoscope is the process of tracing over live action film frame by frame to give live action a more animated feel. Sort of in the same vein, Robert Zemeckis made such films as The Polar Express (2004) and Beowulf (2007). Not quite done in rotoscope, the films still achieve that sort of live action animation as the previously mentioned two films. It was recently reported on Yahoo! News that Disney is making the switch to 3-D animation movies with upcoming releases such as Toy Story 3, Rapunzel, and Cars 2.
A major concern of the Motion Picture Association of America is film piracy. Their home page is dominated by anti-piracy information. The MPAA cites Internet piracy as costing the motion picture industry $2.3 billion in 2005. Some question the legitimacy of this figure citing that the MPAA has inflated it. In 2005, the MPAA came out with a report that claimed college students were responsible for 44 percent of illegal downloading. Earlier this year, they corrected their figures stating that 15 percent of illegal downloads were made by students. In its infancy, piracy consisted of camcord recordings off of movie screens in theaters and the quality was predictably awful. Now, however, the technology is considerably better and has caused real concern for the MPAA. The MPAA goes on to say that "posting movies on a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) service or an unauthorized website is akin to giving illegal copies to millions of people." The MPAA encourages consumers to legally download movies and even has a list of web sites.
In spite of film piracy, illegal downloads and the rising cost of going to the movies, 2007 was a record year for the film industry, in fact the box office topped out at $9.3 billion. Even though it appears as if the economy is tanking, the movie industry may actually not be affected. Historically when times are bad, attendance in movie theatres goes up. This summer, because of the downturn in the economy, more people will be staying closer to home. Going to the movies offers an escape at a relatively cheap price.
As technology changes and media convergence continues, our way of watching film may never be the same. Whether it is where we watch it, when we watch it or how we watch it, it seems as if film is an ever-changing medium. From its early beginnings in theaters to its more recent migration to our computer screens, film seems to always have an audience, no matter where it goes. The thing to watch for is how our opinions, as the public and society, will change the movie industry. Has it already started with sites like Netflix and Fandango, or movies like Blair Witch or Snakes on a Plane, or is this just a fad and will we go back to the classic way of watching movies in theaters? Time will only tell in this relatively young medium, but one thing is certain, the future for cinema is a bright one.
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