MOVIES & MEDIA

Movies are one of the best entertainment tools that many people like spending their time watching it. After the spread of Coronavirus across the country and its threat to most of the world's population, lots of people stayed in their homes and started watching movies. Watching movies help them to forget the unfortunate reality that we all live in. There are many points linking movies and film industry in general with digital media, this blog will discuss these points.

Interactivity in the film industry:

Interactivity is one of the recent elements that the film industry has. some filmmakers state that interactive films have recently gained a remarkable turnout from different audiences, as it depends on its dramatic structure on open options that allow the viewer to determine the course of events and the end which they desires, which qualifies them to compete with classic films whose end is decided by the author and director.

Netflix is one of the programmers that has been releasing interactive films since 2017. The idea of the interactive film has been popularized by the video game/film hybrid “Dragon’s Lair” in 1983 (Murdock, 2019). In experiments, techniques originally developed for the use of video games are being used to investigate their meaning and strengths for movies and cinema audiences.

Participatory culture:

The idea of participatory culture has become one of the most important elements that help the film to succeed and gain more audience. Star Wars is one of the most common films that Jenkins state in his essay. He highlighted that Star Wars joined more than one element of the participatory culture such as the fan-products. It compares the multiplicity of Star Wars fan products with the promotion of the democratization of digital film and cultural development,

which calls fan products "a success story" which comes from fostering innovation by opening up media production and distribution tools and channels. According to Jenkins, there are two important cultural trends of Star Wars which are ‘the corporate movement towards media convergence’ and ‘the unleashing of significant new tools which enable the appropriation, and recirculation of media content’ (Jenkins, 2006: p251-252).

Figure 1 Star Wars (2019)

collective intelligence :

The Internet has changed our way of communicating and interaction since it was born in 1990 (Aplin, 2014). It also provided a venue for the group to exchange and integrate knowledge – collective intelligence. Collective intelligence, as one of the factors helping the industry to expand, is generally defined as 'shared intellectuals or group intelligence arising from cooperation, collective efforts and rivalry between many individuals, and participating in consensus-based policy decision making.'

The Internet is used by corporations in the film and television industry as a method to gather knowledge from worldwide people who post stuff online (Aplin, 2014). When people post their views on specific films, they provide input to the makers of the film. Movies companies can get feedback when movie fans come together and chat about their love for a movie, it's generally done on social media pages. Movie creators will use these pages to listen to their fans and introduce new features in future films.

The internet enables users to continue to discuss any topic. It's beneficial to the movie and television industry because there is no speculation for new movies. For instance: "Game of Thrones" the popular American television series just ended its fourth season. It is said that the 5th season will be in April next year, but it doesn't stop fans from thinking about the series online (Aplin, 2014).

To order for fans to connect and sustain a buzz, Facebook, and Twitter, and other social media accounts have been established. People engage in debates on the show, which then spread on the Internet, resulting in increased popularity. This keeps fans up-to-date with new series details. Therefore, the growth of cinema is driven by online collective intelligence

Transmedia storytelling in movies:

Andrew Stanton explains how "Storytelling – is joke telling" in his TED talk " The Clues to a Great Story." You know the line of your punch, the end, all your sentences, from the first sentence to the last, lead to a single purpose, and hopefully to affirm the facts, which strengthens our comprehension of who we are as human beings. We love the stories of others (Stanton, 2012).

The value of the fundamentals can easily be forgotten with so much focus and enthusiasm that modern and complicated innovations are used in film industry. The actual art of storytelling involves the creation of characters and what the story is all about. Naturally, the best story to be told is the script, settings, light choices, visual effects, camera movement and positioning, and good filmmaking (Bolin, 2007).

Figure 2 The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Transmedia storytelling frequently provides explanations of how other media promote texts ("AFTT Why storytelling is so important as a filmmaker", 2016). Jenkins stated that the movie "The Blair Witch Project (1999)", which was sponsored in creating a website that paved the way to the film and which led to a large level of interest one year leading up to the release. Fans can also address and participate in the debate on the film via this website, thus contributing actively to its sense of acceptance.

Virtuality:

Virtual reality was a common fictional theme for a long time. The definition of virtual reality is always ticking up the dream. Look at the latest "Ready Player One" Spielberg movie to see how Hollywood presents technology for the virtual world. But the most interesting things about virtual reality in Hollywood are not on the frame, it's how professional film magicians use it. This is the augmented reality of the film industry.

Virtual reality was used in animation movies also. For example, the 'live action' version of "The Lion King" was a more grounded and ultimately more demanding film ("How the movie industry uses virtual reality", 2020) .This time in Africa photo-realistic lions were taken on an empty sonic stage in the United States using virtual cameras. A local computer network has been designed to sync VR headsets so that the manager and camera crew can walk between the lions as if they really were. Rather than looking at a screen display from the comfort of an office chair, the director can view the scene from a first-person viewpoint.

Globalisation:

Distribution and benefit are greatly advantaged by broadening the market. This is largely seen in the movie industry as the globalisation of a major player in culture and society is determined by its ability to attract a foreign public (Windon, 2018). For example, Hollywood's film industry's popularity has been achieved through its international recognition, "Avengers: Age of Ultron", a new hit in the franchise of Avengers, has recently debuted in theaters and earned over $200 million in one weekend. The amazing aspect is that it raised 200 million dollars outside the United States before the film opened up "(Sliwinski, 2015). Globalization aims to distribute international films and thus increases competition in the film industry in Hollywood (Sliwinski, 2015).

Podcast:

Reference list:

AFTT Why storytelling is so important as a film maker. (2016). Retrieved 28 March 2020, from https://www.aftt.edu.au/news/latest-news/why-storytelling-is-so-important-as-a-film-maker

Aplin, C. (2014). How is collective intelligence used effectively in the Film and TV Industry; how is it used poorly?. Retrieved 27 March 2020, from https://codyaplin.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/how-is-collective-intelligence-used-effectively-in-the-film-and-tv-industry-how-is-it-used-poorly/

AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON - framed movie poster 11x17 Quality Wood Frame. (2012). Retrieved 2 April 2020, from https://www.wallspace.com/products/avengers-age-of-ultron-framed-movie-poster-11x17-quality-wood-frame

Bolin, G. (2007). Media Technologies, TransmediaStorytelling and Commodification. Retrieved 29 March 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256600189_Media_Technologies_Transmedia_Storytelling_and_Commodification

Films - StarWars.com. (2019). Retrieved 1 April 2020, from https://www.starwars.com/films

How the movie industry uses virtual reality. (2020). Retrieved 2 April 2020, from https://vr-sync.com/blog/how-the-movie-industry-uses-virtual-reality/

Jenkins, H, (2006) “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence and Participatory Culture” from Gigi Durham, Meenakshi, Kellner, Douglas M. (eds.), Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks pp.549-576, Malden, Mass.: Blackwell

Murdock, A. (2019). Interactive films are the future of entertainment. Retrieved 28 March 2020, from https://cwuobserver.com/12701/opinion/interactive-films-are-the-future-of-entertainment/

Sliwinski, M. (2015). The Globalization of Cinema: What’s Next? Retrieved from: https://lawstreetmedia.com/issues/entertainment-and-culture/globalization-cinema-whats-next/

Stanton, A. (2012). The clues to a great story. Retrieved 4 April 2020, from https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story?language=en

The Blair Witch Project - DVD Netflix. (1999). Retrieved 1 April 2020, from https://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Blair-Witch-Project/18957965

Windon, S. (2018). Globalisation in the Film Industry and the implications it has to me personally as a knowledge…. Retrieved 4 April 2020, from https://medium.com/@shaylee.windon/globalisation-in-the-film-industry-and-the-implications-it-has-to-me-personally-as-a-knowledge-b4c132d22f9