Research presentation

A presentation on how cinema is changing.

Transcript

1. How are cinemas adapting to changes in the film industry?
2. Forms of Primary and Secondary research that I used • For my secondary research I relied solely on the internet, using my extensive google knowledge and my familiarity with the advanced search function. This was an effective way of researching as I could exclude results I did not want to see, therefore refining what I did want to see. However the internet is not a perfect method of conducting research because, as I have noted in the reliability section of the pieces of research, anyone could write an article and publish it online. Whereas books go into thorough academic depth and also contain a lot more content than the average internet page. The internet is also free and easily accessible to everyone and books are generally made to be sold but, owing to the internet being free, generally less care goes in to moderating what is written. I chose to use the internet completely and no other techniques such as books, because the internet is constantly updating whereas books are set in the date and time they were written in. • One of my primary research techniques was to use a questionnaire. I chose to use a questionnaire because they are quick and efficient. It is impersonal and anonymous so therefore there is no prior judgement or any contamination at all on the answers so I believe that this is the best research method to achieve quick and unbiased results. • Then there was a focus group. In contrast with my questionnaire it is very personal as I would be sat with a focus group whose purpose was to answer my questions as honestly and as fully as possible. A potential con to the face to face contact is that I could have corrupted their answers by the ways I asked certain questions, therefore rendering it biased. • Finally I used an expert interview. This would’ve proved the best had both of my interviewees not pulled out on me last minute because I would have had proven facts from someone who knew exactly what they were saying. However my back up plan gave me plenty of great opinion and fact, more than the average person knows.
3. 3D • According to my 10th item of secondary research, “41% of people consider 3D films a gimmick.” Apparently people were attracted to see 3D films because of the reviews or advertising, not because of the 3D effect. According to my focus group, a third of people do not seem to be bothered that the tickets are more expensive, with a general attitude being if 3D tickets were the same price they would still choose 2D. These results seem to match the attitudes of both my focus group and my expert interview. • In my focus group lots of them seem to believe that 3 is a waste of money because they are “not very good quality” and “a bit of a con considering half of the film isn’t in 3D”. If films are designed to originally be in 3D, such as Jackass 3D, then they are worth seeing or if it is just a rerelease in 3D, it is a “very expensive” waste of time. It is interesting how none of my focus group were for 3D, and neither was my interviewee. I believe this really shows that a general view of 3D is negative. • My interviewee believes that people will get fed up with 3D in the next two or three years because it has happened before and will again. He says that “Hollywood is now grasping at temporary gimmicks like 3D to try and get people back into cinemas” that Hollywood can use while it’s in trouble and tries to think its way out. DVD sales and cinema attendance are plummeting, probably due to piracy, so Hollywood needs to come with a new attraction. He also thinks that people will get very fed up with the glasses which continuously get in the way. • I agree with all of the above ideas and this seems to be the general public’s opinion. I believe that 3D is an overpriced money machine that can not exist for much longer. I dislike the fact that people are converting old films to 3D and re releasing them just for money. 3D could be used as a very clever device to counter piracy, because people will be unable to watch a 3D film at home. Also, with 3D being a main focus, there are often more show times of 3D than 2D at a local cinema for me so if that was the only option I would take it. I also believe that charging too much for the glasses is a good technique to reduce waste plastic because people will keep a hold of and reuse their last pair.
4. Piracy • The piece of secondary research that gave me information regarding piracy was secondary research number 7, an interesting story of an average Joe going to the cinema and having such a dreadful experience that he was now considering piracy. He said “I guess if you don’t pay extra for VIP seats, you actually get put in a bad seat.” He also complained about the “rustling, crunching and whispering” of everyone else in the cinema. This brings another reason to support anti cinema film viewing, not just the price, but what you actually get with what you’ve paid for. He concludes by saying that “cinemas need to buck up their ideas before we all start pirating films.” My focus group seemed to believe that the money they were paying was not worth the experience either. • According to my primary research focus group, on average, 4 out of 6 people will not see a film in the cinema if they see it online first. They believe that, because they have seen it, there is “no point”. Out of these same 6 people, all said that they watch films illegally somehow, whether it’s “buying a film from a guy on the street” or “watching it in megavideo”. These facts are worrying and show that, because pirate films are so easily available, that many people would rather watch one of these then pay. However, 1 member of the focus group did say that they only download occasionally as they cannot put up with the “horrible quality” of pirate films shot from the “back of the cinema”. This shows a small amount of people do still see the benefits that going to the cinema can offer. My focus group believe that the main reasons why cinema attendance is decreasing is because “cinema is so expensive” and that lazy people would much rather “get it at home”. In my questionnaire I discovered that many people also attend the cinema because they feel it is a social event and go because their friends are going, even if they don’t care for the film. This shows how important targeting an audience is for the promoters of a film. • I didn’t ask my interviewee anything regarding his opinions of piracy but he agreed with me that 3D does work well as a technique to counter piracy. • I agree with all of the points raised above that often piracy is the best answer because we don’t always have enough money to go and see a film at the cinema when it is out but can download it for free. The argument is, almost, one sided. However, briefly touched upon in my focus group, is the loss of the cinematic experience. By watching a film at home that has been “shot from the back of the cinema” personally I feel that the entire experience of going to the cinema gets lost along the way. There are good sides to the money that cinemas make you pay such as the huge 30 foot screen and the 5.1 surround sound. Also the feeling of experiencing the same emotions as everyone else in the room is something impossible to achieve alone. • Some brief figures from Havoscope.com about piracy: “The top five movies in the United Kingdom were illegally downloaded off the Internet 1.4 million times in 2010, a 30 percent increase from 2006. • The top five television shows in the UK were downloaded 1.24 million times in 2010, a 33 percent increase from 2006. • Internet piracy affects one -third of the total losses from movie piracy that the UK Film industry faces each year.”
5. Budget cuts at the cinema • I conducted no primary research for this subject as it is not an area that most of my target audience would have known enough about. I did initially plan to conduct some research about this subject in my interview with the cinema manager or projector but seeing as those both fell through, my interviewee did not specialise in cinemas specifically. • However, in my secondary research, I was able to find one really good article relating to budget cuts within the film exhibition industry. It is from a Chinese film website called Micgadget. It told the story of audiences complaining that their 3D movie (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) was “dull and murky”. An investigation into this discovered that some cinemas adjusted their projector bulb brightness to 70% of the standard to save energy use and make the bulb last for longer. Michael Bay, director of Transformers, is aware of this and attempted to use it to his advantage by increasing the brightness of Transformers 3 so that cinemas didn’t need to play it at full capacity. This shows that some film makers are considering the cinemas when it comes to digital distribution. Edgar Wright, director of Hot Fuzz, said on his twitter that “cinemas are practically stealing money by not having projector bulbs at full capacity.” • I personally believe that film makers should be considering the cinema when distributing their films. As long as it doesn’t affect the end quality of the final product then there is nothing to lose and money to save.
6. Alternative/Independent cinema • Again, none of my primary research particularly went into the alternative cinematic experience category. I couldn’t figure out a way of introducing it to the questions for my focus groups or for my questionnaire. I did plan to ask my independent cinema owner or projectionist about alternate cinema experiences such as secret cinema, but obviously this interview did not happen so neither did the question therefore. • For my secondary research I wanted to make a study of one particular cinematic experience that I had personally never heard of before. I ended up finding an article about a cinema in Korea which specialises in a new and innovative “4D technology” which includes “seats that intentionally rock and the facility to synchronise special effects such as wind, fog, strobe lights and smells with on-screen action.” Apparently most people’s reactions were very positive but, for certain films (specifically Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers 3), the audiences had a unanimous bad reaction to the effects such as the water (for POTC) and “burnt rubber smell pumped out” during Transformers 3. The latter also reportedly “triggered temporary deafness.” • Another alternative cinema experience that has started to become hugely popular is something called Secret Cinema. Their description from their official website is “Secret Cinema is a monthly gathering of all that love challenging and groundbreaking cinema, screening mystery films in extraordinary locations.” It is an immersive experience which aims to bring films to an audience in a way that has never been possible before. To quote my secondary research 1 “You are actually in the scene, becoming a character in the movie – rather than just observing it on the silver screen”. • To conclude, I believe alternative cinema experiences are a fantastic idea to keep people coming to the cinema. They work by providing people with a unique experience that they cannot get from just going along to their local Odeon or Cineworld, for example Secret Cinema’s aim is to really include the customers in the world of the chosen film. It is very successful in doing this and it is clear that its popularity is rising every time with the first event having around 150 people attending and the most recent one, a showing of The Battle Of Algiers, had 14,000 people in total attend according to filmjuice.com.
7. Digital cinema • One of my items of secondary research is a statement from the BECTU, a union for cinema projectionists. It expresses concern for the future of cinema projectionists by saying that digital projection does not require a skill and that it casts doubt on “the future for prospects for the projectionist role.” Similarly, another of my items of research touches upon this very same point by mentioning that, managing the exhibition of a short film is “simple to handle” and does not require “dedicated personnel for receiving, prepping, showing, dismantling and returning the movie tape films.” I believe, personally, that this could actually work to the advantage of cinemas as it would potentially significantly reduce budget in cinema by removing the need to employ a trained projectionist. • My other piece of secondary research is a list of pros and cons of digital cinema in comparison with analogue film. Another good side to digital cinema is that the films are stored on many discs or on hard disks and can be copied with ease to an almost infinite scale but to reproduce film reel costs, roughly, $200/minute (according to www.dvfilm.com). Obviously the economic solution is to use digital film, especially with a limited budget. • A negative to digital films, according to my secondary research 5, is how some people believe the quality of analogue projection is better than digital and that the copying of the images is “more natural.” Because of this film makers could be stubborn about shooting on standard film, not being considerate for the distribution budget and then end up needing to raise additional funds to distribute, putting the release back another good few months. Another example of a negative side to digital cinema is how prone to “digital obsolescence” the technology is. Because the equipment is constantly being upgraded to allow for better quality and faster processes, the technology is continuously updating and, therefore, outdating older versions which certain cinemas may have paid thousands of pounds to have installed. Similarly, the process of developing film is well documented and understood by cinematographers and will produce very reliable images based on the film stock. However digital cameras has a “unique response to light” and digital treatment processes, apparently, have not yet been mastered by cinematographers. • My personal opinion is that digital cinema is the cinema of the future, as it will eventually mimic the look of analogue film and will perhaps, at some point, better it. The benefits economically outweigh the cons without a doubt according to my secondary research item 5. Digital cinema seems to save money in every possible way whereas analogue film exhibition seems to create unnecessary costs that digital can cover in a much cheaper way.
8. Webography • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15075014 - By BBC, 27th September 2011. Accessed 29th October. Research number 10. • http://www.meejahor.com/2010/04/21/cinemas-pushing-me-towards- film-piracy/ - By Andrew Smith, 2010. Accessed 31st October. Research number 7. • http://micgadget.com/13941/chinas-3D-cinema-reduce-screens- brightness-for-cost-saving/ - By Herman Lai, July 21st 2011. Accessed on October 4th 2011. Research number 3. • http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jul/12/4d-cinema-opens-punch- seoul - By Catherine Shoardon, July 12th 2011. Accessed October 31st 2011. Research number 8. • http://www.bectu.org.uk/news/340 - By BECTU, 14th July 2009. Accessed 0ctober 10th 2011. Research number 6. • http://www.excitingip.com/611/advantages-limitations-digital-cinema/ - By excitingIP.com, accessed on October 4th 2011. Research number 5. • http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/spooners/lowri-257/alternative-cinema- experiences-4945/ - By Lowri on April 1st 2011. Accessed October 3rd 2011. Research number 1.