How Hollywood’s Missing the Boat on 21st Century Technology
by Ken BlackwellAsk any corporate chieftain about the current economy and – unless they sell burgers for a dollar, canned goods, or alcohol – they’ll tell you about the tough conditions their companies face. But within this economic crucible, the target is still moving: Entertainment and consumer tech companies are facing an entirely different set of challenges, as consumers have changed their entertainment habits.
As has been widely reported, the Hollywood studios have been hit particularly hard. DVD sales are down 6% over the past year, and Disney and Sony have already cut hundreds of jobs in 2009.
To be sure, some of this is a natural result of Hollywood’s insistence on churning out tedious, recycled narratives with the hopes that increased vulgarity and special effects will cover for their lack of creativity. But aside from the obvious criticisms that I, as a conservative, might lodge against the movie industry — Hollywood is also plagued by a refusal to embrace the emerging demands of the marketplace.
One emerging demand is the need for wholesome entertainment. Quality films like “The Incredibles” and even the now-classic “Forrest Gump” consistently out-perform R-rated films, yet Hollywood continues to ignore consumer demands and produce more and more “Rotten Tomato” films.
Unlike some of the collapsing industries in this country, new opportunities are being created for Hollywood all the time. To capitalize on these opportunities, the movie industry must adjust to changing consumer demands. Yet, they seem to never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity to satisfy consumers.
In this regard, Hollywood is also missing the boat by resisting emerging consumer demands regarding technology and intellectual property rights.
A prime example is a new software program called RealDVD, which allows consumers to take any DVD they own and save one copy to their computer or laptop hard-drive (imagine that, owning the DVD’s you own!).
With a hard-drive library of DVDs, consumers wouldn’t have to worry about damaging or losing their original disks, nor do business travelers have to pack an extra bag of discs for long flights or vacation. And the inevitable children’s DVD your kids watch over and over that gets scratched or misplaced? A thing of the past: RealDVD gives consumers the freedom and flexibility to watch the movies they’ve already purchased anywhere, anytime – without hassle. (Of course, this is really nothing new. Consumers are already allowed to make personal copies of cassette tapes, CD’s, and VHS tapes — just not DVD’s.)
The Hollywood studios, however, see it differently. Rather than working to better monetize and reinvigorate the struggling DVD sector, six studios filed a lawsuit to stop the public sale of RealDVD (the case is set to begin today). These studios don’t think embracing RealDVD is in their interest, but they’re wrong.
This technology benefits Hollywood studios in significant ways. Primarily, RealDVD provides a tool to help the studios better deliver content to consumers and fight piracy – as it renders a copied DVD file non-transferable to other computers or users. The majority of consumers who want this technology also don’t want to break the law, and the technology available provides them with the only legal way to save their own property to their computers and laptops. Isn’t that outcome in-line with the major studios anti-piracy efforts?
Secondarily, this technology helps Hollywood studios maintain the DVD revenue stream. How? In order to use the software, consumers must have the original DVD to copy. This new technology wouldn’t replace traditional DVDs – it optimizes them to fit with consumer preferences that aren’t legally being met today. Additionally, this new technology would offer new ideas to consumers for other DVDs they may be interested in, based on the director, actor, or genre of the film they’re watching. This kind of targeted marketing could lead to more DVD purchases and more revenue for studios. For example, how many new songs have you purchased on iTunes because they were suggested for you? My point exactly.
Hollywood studios could – and should – embrace technologies that could bring new life to the home DVD market. At the moment, we are just scraping the surface of how consumers can interact with the DVDs they’ve already purchased and what new consumer purchasing opportunities are available to the industry if there was a partnership. Everyone wins if we can collaborate and innovate, but Hollywood’s lawsuit must be resolved before that can happen.
Hollywood studios should examine the changes in consumer trends that taught the music industry a painful lesson earlier this decade. Had the music industry embraced and developed new revenue streams while maintaining anti-piracy safeguards earlier in their fight, their business model might look a little better these days.
In this economy, with changing consumer habits, inherent time constraints and financial pressures, the movie studios don’t have the luxury of delaying the inevitable.
Hollywood should try to actually produce more quality films that people will want to pay $10 to go see. They also ought to pay attention to the fact that consumer’s demand freedom and flexibility to do what they want – when they want – with the entertainment content they’ve already purchased.
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614 Comments
The "leaders" of Hollywood remind me of singular Mr. Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life": all crotchety and miserable, and poison for blood. Hollywood (and Mr. Potter) love nothing more than to enjoy watching other people suffer…which explains their disconnect from the average American.
The "leaders" of Hollywood remind me of singular Mr. Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life": all crotchety and miserable, and poison for blood. Hollywood (and Mr. Potter) love nothing more than to enjoy watching other people suffer…which explains their disconnect from the average American.
First John Kasich now Ken Blackwell, is this an effort to show that Ohio Pols are cool? Perhaps a team for the Presidency? Couple of good guys now that would be cool. You’re right about Hollywood and technology either embrace it or perish by it. This is a fact that has been proven time and again from Clint Eastwood suing to stop digital technology to now to RealDVD. Same goes for the music industry. In the immortal words of Forrest Gump, “stupid is as stupid does.” We’ll see how Hollywood handles their latest challenge. Welcome to Big Hollywood!
Interesting that the comedy troupe, Monty Python, after having most of their long running and highly successful show turn up in small clips on Youtube, many of them grubby and poorly encoded, decided to put their entire show on Youtube for free in much better quality and ask fans to thank them by going to Amazon and buying the DVDs.
Fans did.
It was reported that sales of their DVDs rose by 23000%. Seems to me, folks are willing to buy quality. Give them quality and they'll be happy to pay for it.
The publishing industry is in somewhat of the same boat with downloadable books. They are slowly embracing that technology, although it's just not the same curling up on the couch with your Kindle than it is with a book. Movies? Hollywood could make all the technical inroads it wants but it still doesn't mean I'm going to watch most of the films they crank out.
I don't know if it is geeky accountants that think Bit Torrent and Peer 2 Peer file sharing is going to take over the internet and scaring the decision makers at the top to invest in new and costly anti-piracy methods, but if there's one thing I've learned is that all the copyright protections in the world can't stop people from ripping the latest copy of Dark Knight. What they don't understand is that unless you've practiced long and hard to find a good source of ripped movies, and spent money on more gadgetry, scoured the internet for software that is not full of bugs or viruses, this is not how people want to "consume" DVDs. My own preference is to be able to sit down in my living room, pop in a DVD and have it just work. I'll pay for simplicity over drudgery every time. Do they really think there is nothing wrong with the content their dishing out? "Didn't we have mashed potatoes yesterday? Aren't those yesterday's mashed potatoes?"
Mr. Blackwell. An Ohio fan of yours here!
I agree that Hollywood is clinging to their 1970s-80s business model of hoping for a small number of blockbusters to subsidize everything else that they throw to the wall and hope that it sticks.
The old movie serial that migrated to TV movies that migrated to straight to video is begging for another migration IMHO. Subscription download may be that avenue of migration.
Geez…all this new stuff out there. I'm still trying to program my VCR to get it to stop from *blinking* "12:00AM.."12:00AM.."12:00AM".
Not Over.
Geez…all this new stuff out there. I'm still trying to program my VCR to get it to stop from *blinking* "12:00AM.."12:00AM.."12:00AM".
Not Over.
Just curious if RealDVD, or a synonymous program, will give consumers the ability to overdub profanity, blur or edit nudity, similar to what CleanFilms used to do–but this time a consumer can do this himself. The moment this option will become available, I can foresee familiies rushing in for product.
That said, it should be noted that Blackwell's opening argument about "family films" is faulty on multiple levels. First off, it's not about what a movie makes, but what the movie makes in return for the investment in making it. Therefore, R-rated schlocky horror with no-name actors, ample nudity, and A+ special effects have always turned a profit, sometimes a huge one for a franchise. Second, The Incredibles (a film I adore) is not G, but rather, PG… meaning for cartoon fare, it contains enough violence and themes to warrant that rating. Forest Gump, even further, while PG-13, has drug use, non-nudity sex scenes, and even a joke where the punchline is "S**t Happens". Don't be fooled by the PG-13: it's not making movies more family friendly… they're making family friendly movies more edgy.
Just curious if RealDVD, or a synonymous program, will give consumers the ability to overdub profanity, blur or edit nudity, similar to what CleanFilms used to do–but this time a consumer can do this himself. The moment this option will become available, I can foresee familiies rushing in for product.
That said, it should be noted that Blackwell's opening argument about "family films" is faulty on multiple levels. First off, it's not about what a movie makes, but what the movie makes in return for the investment in making it. Therefore, R-rated schlocky horror with no-name actors, ample nudity, and A+ special effects have always turned a profit, sometimes a huge one for a franchise. Second, The Incredibles (a film I adore) is not G, but rather, PG… meaning for cartoon fare, it contains enough violence and themes to warrant that rating. Forest Gump, even further, while PG-13, has drug use, non-nudity sex scenes, and even a joke where the punchline is "S**t Happens". Don't be fooled by the PG-13: it's not making movies more family friendly… they're making family friendly movies more edgy.
BTW, I'm no prude; I actually enjoy many films with objectionable content. I'm only shining a light to bring clarity to this issue, and noting that, as a new parent, the day will come where I will want my children to not imbue the negative habits of their on-screen fictional characters.
[...] News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAsk any corporate chieftain about the current economy and – unless they sell burgers for a dollar, canned goods, or alcohol – they’ll tell you about the tough conditions their companies face. But within this economic crucible, the target is still moving: Entertainment and consumer tech companies are facing an entirely different set of challenges, as consumers have changed their entertainment habits. As has been widely reported, the Hollywood studios have been hit particularly hard. DVD sal [...]
Oh, it's easy to program your VCR to stop flashing 12:00 AM.
Step 1: Get a piece of electrical tape.
Step 2: Affix tape to the clock face.
Step 3: Repeat as needed.
Oh, it's easy to program your VCR to stop flashing 12:00 AM.
Step 1: Get a piece of electrical tape.
Step 2: Affix tape to the clock face.
Step 3: Repeat as needed.
I don't have a Kindle, partly because I'm broke and partly because I feel that the tactility of a book is part of the experience of reading, but I imagine it could come in very useful on those long plane rides — way better than hauling an entire satchel of books around, which is what I used to do before I became too penurious to travel.
I don't have a Kindle, partly because I'm broke and partly because I feel that the tactility of a book is part of the experience of reading, but I imagine it could come in very useful on those long plane rides — way better than hauling an entire satchel of books around, which is what I used to do before I became too penurious to travel.
Yeah, that Pipe DRM – think about it a sec – the recording industry had about crippling recordings consumers bought for themselves worked out so, so well, didn't it? I can see how the lawyers working for the motion picture industry would glom onto some of that sweet action. *eyeroll*
If the recording and movie industries won't allow consumers to legally copy media that they have bought and paid for, consumers will do it illegally. Once the consumer does, their future respect for copyright law is shot to kingdom come, and Napster and Pirate Bay are waiting. What part of that, exactly, is difficult to comprehend?
A dinosaur is an animal over ten times the size of an elephant with a brain the size of a peanut. The RIAA and movie houses are dinosaurs. The sooner they're extinct the better, as far as I'm concerned. Technology is making them more and more irrelevant every day.
Yeah, that Pipe DRM – think about it a sec – the recording industry had about crippling recordings consumers bought for themselves worked out so, so well, didn't it? I can see how the lawyers working for the motion picture industry would glom onto some of that sweet action. *eyeroll*
If the recording and movie industries won't allow consumers to legally copy media that they have bought and paid for, consumers will do it illegally. Once the consumer does, their future respect for copyright law is shot to kingdom come, and Napster and Pirate Bay are waiting. What part of that, exactly, is difficult to comprehend?
A dinosaur is an animal over ten times the size of an elephant with a brain the size of a peanut. The RIAA and movie houses are dinosaurs. The sooner they're extinct the better, as far as I'm concerned. Technology is making them more and more irrelevant every day.
Agreed. They're great for traveling. Like you, I prefer an actual book in my hands. But, then again, I never thought I'd like email either.
Agreed. They're great for traveling. Like you, I prefer an actual book in my hands. But, then again, I never thought I'd like email either.
Ken,
Glad to see you on this site. I've always been a fan of you op-ed pieces.
Ken,
Glad to see you on this site. I've always been a fan of you op-ed pieces.
Hollywood needs to stop believing that people actually NEED them. We don't, they're not really relevant, they're merely there to entertain but they keep forgetting that fact.
Great commentary. I had a big box of CDs in my closet and after I finished uploading them to iTunes, I put them in the charity pile.
So I turn to look at my DVD cabinet and sigh in frustration. I would like that space to be taken up by an elegant piece of art, while my DVDs reside safely on my computer system and backed up on the Net.
Plus, if I had the opportunity to store DVDs in digital form I would buy all the Disney films I once owned as VCR tapes. I would spend the money, I just don't have the space to store all of those films. Yes, Hollywood, you would end up selling more movies if you went digital. Listen to Mr. Blackwell. He is wise.
Speaking personally, while I used Napster extensively when it came out, I've only paid for downloaded music for the past several years. Partly out of a desire to be legal, but quality was also a concern.
As long as Hollywood assumes all of its customers are crooks (takes one to know one, I guess), they will continue chasing their tails trying to legislate consumer behvior. And losing.
You should have been RNC Chairman Mr Blackwell. Instead we're stuck with a RINO who wants to hip-hop-ize the Republican Party. You run for any office in Ohio again, and you have my support!
1) There will always be a place for movie houses as long as some films look dramatically better on the big screen.
2) Over the past few years a rising percentage of this country has gotten broadband internet connections. Although we are still behind most of the world it is now technologically feasible to download movies overnight for a lot of people, regardless of the legality of the source.
3) The Pirate Bay judge just admitted yesterday he belongs to or worked for two different intellectual propertty associations funded by the film industry. He claims no conflict of interest affected his judgment. you can't make this stuff up.
You can get an external hard drive that holds a terrabyte of data and takes up about as much space as a large book for about $125 now. If this software works I think we'll be freeing up all the space in the den taken up by the DVD rack.
I agree it is essentially silly that once we've bought something that we can't take steps to protect our investment by using it in modes that are less damaging to the original. For a long time, I passed up buying music I liked because I knew the whole album wouldn't be worth the expenditure. Finally, the music industry got hit with a giant clue-bat and I can now buy music by the song. I have probably bought more music that way than I'd previously bought in years, and I now own a greater variety of music, too.
I can't claim that movies would be the same, but I might watch the ones I have more often.
The fact is, the era of the DVD is coming to a close. Actually, the days of hard copies in general are coming to a close. As connection speeds increase, fewer and fewer people will bother buying a cumbersome hard copy DVD which can be scratched or lost, not when they can just download it in a few hours or even minutes. Instead of jumping on this new technology and figuring out how to make a profit from it, the entertainment industry is kicking and screaming and dragging its heels, fighting this transition all the way, just like they did with VHS.
If the entertainment industry doesn't embrace the Internet and P2P, someone else will, and the entertainment industry will go the way of the dodo.
If the Real DVD is anything like the RealPlayer software, you'd best not install it. AS Realplayer is one of the most intrusive bloated software out their. Ask anyone who has those annoying popup windows, that slow computers.
This is exactly what I think they are afraid of. One DVD gets purchased, copied and then given away to someone else who then could repeat that cycle.
It's the same reason many PC video games require the disk to be in the drive to actually play the game (or at least they used to). People could install a game and then give or sell the disk(s) to someone else without that sort of protection.
I think that is the consideration that needs to be made here. True, Hollywood is just there for entertainment but we should not forget that they are capitalists (even if they are loath to admit it) and do what they do to make money.
If they work on solid copy protection by taking ques from the software industry that would be a good step to balancing the concern for rampant theft of their movies and peoples desire to do as they please with what they purchase.
After reading more comments after my reply – springing off Bonnie_'s comments I want to add the following.
I believe it's all about the fact that digital technology makes it easy to steal and copy. It has nothing to do with the old "protect my investment" argument. I don't think they look at us like we are all crooks either. I think they want to protect their property (yes the movies are their property) the same way we want to protect our cars when we park at the store. We don't assume everyone in the store is a car thief but we don't want to leave our property open to be stolen should one show up and exploit the opening.
I know my point of view isn't a popular one but I stand by it. They just need to start treating their movies more like software products and use methods like that to protect them so we can make copies etc.
Hollywood's revenues are through the roof in a historic way and Ken Blackwell is an embarrassment to my great home state of Ohio. If Mr. Blackwell has ever been in an election where he didn't get his tail kicked from one end of the state to the other I'd like to hear about it. A right wing Republican trying to tell someone they're behind the times? Dude, have you looked in your own back yard? The Republicans got technologically swamped in the last election.
Hollywood ignores progress at its own peril. New tech opens up not only novel distribution methods, but filmmakers who don't give a damn what Hollywood thinks. Ultimately, the more Hollywood burns, the better it is for freedom of expression.
At the end of the day, my computer screen is still the last place I want to watch a movie. I don't really find dvd's to be all that cumbersome.(Seriously, how long is your trip that you need an extra _bag_ of dvd's? Tip: don't carry the original box. Get a slim binder and you can carry dozens easily) Also, some kid friendly companies like Disney are packaging a standard dvd with the BluRay (Pinnochio, High School Musical 3), aiming for families with dvd players in vehicles, which from my experience with friends with kids, is where a lot of dvd watching is done–not mom or dad's laptop, in reach of sticky fingers and squooshed juice boxes. (and that non-Blu Ray can be played in the kid's room as well) I'm seeing quite a few dvds with stickers saying there's a digital copy of the movie included that can be put on a computer (Marley & Me), so…I'm thinking some movie companies are already thinking forward. If they can give the consumer the means to digitize their own purchased copy and/or view it in multiple settings right out of the box, what do they need Real Dvd for?
That's how I used to do it. Now I just have my girlfriend set them for me.
I loved when Monty Python did that.
Apparently I've been censored. My reply to Bonnie_'s comment isn't there anymore. Let me try again in case it's an issue on my end and not my comment being removed.
I think, like Bonnie_ said she did, people who will copy a disk digitally and then give it away is exactly what movie studios are worried about. Passing around a DVD and people making copies basically. So many people can "own" a movie even though only one copy was purchased.
I also said that it was similar to how PC video games work (or used to work) where they required the disk to be in the computer in order to play because if they did not do that people were installing a game and then passing the disk around to friends.
After all that I said that Hollywood is after all capitalist and are in the business of entertainment. It's not a charity and they should protect their property like a software company does… not sure how these comments were removed or way but here they are again.
I agree 100% on the point that more people willing to just get involved and do entertainment themselves is exactly what is needed to break the hold Big Hollywood has. Love it or hate it YouTube is a great example of how that is beginning.
I sympathize but as someone who would like to make films one day, the whole CleanFilms thing makes me shudder. I totally understand the logic but if I make a movie, that's it. If it's not for kids, it's not for kids. I could understand wanting to show a kid something that's perfectly okay, save for a few profanities (when I was younger, my dad showed me Stripes which is otherwise okay except for the old-fashioned 80s gratuitous nudity and some cursing… I survived).
But on the other hand, editing the violence/language/etc. from, say for example, The Godfather, doesn't necessarily make it suitable for kids.
As for family films, I blame the studios for underestimating that market more than I do the filmmakers.
I've downloaded plenty of music for free from various sources but over the last few years, I've been buying legit copies on CD (or downloading on iTunes) in an attempt to "legalize" my collection. It just makes me feel better. QC concerns, too.
Most of what I have consists of film scores and I finally reached a point where anything that was legally available was actually paid for (cough – doesn't included expanded bootlegs – cough).
Maat —
DVDs ARE dying (sales are way down) and Blu-Ray is too expensive at a time when consumers are hard-pressed, and offers little advantages over DVDs for most consumers watching budgets.
What's replacing DVDs are video on demand. South Park took the lead with their portal having almost EVERY episode on one place, supported by advertising.
Now, people won't sit down and watch every episode from a season in a marathon session, but the creators get a nice cut of the advertising directly and the costs to set up the site were not prohibitive. Operating costs for servers and bandwidth don't amount to much if traffic has enough ads served against it either, and advertisers PREFER internet based advertising because it's interactive and provides feedback on effectiveness of campaigns.
Let's look at the impact that a SWITCH from DVD or theatrical or VHS or whatever "container" based per-seat or per-container (disk, tape, ticket, doesn't matter) model to an ad-supported model implies.
First, you get more money when you have more eyeballs looking at ads, even adjusting for demographics (considering an extended period of economic decline and little disposable income). This pushes WINNERS in Hollywood to embrace broad, middle of the road content in all areas: comedy, drama, action-adventure, fantasy, romance, etc. to as many eyeballs as possible.
Winners: Iron Man, Knocked Up, Lord of the Rings type movies/serials. Losers: Stop-Loss, the Reader, Mystic River, any project with limited appeal and "edgy" that repels the vast middle.
Second, the implications are that if content is delivered over the internet, ANYONE can play, including New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, the UK, Australia, and Hollywood has to compete the way Detroit has to compete with foreign producers aiming at the middle. Hollywood still has many advantages but it doesn't take billions of dollars and "deals" with huge distributors to get projects completed and making money.
Indie and "edgy" films like Mystic River or most Woody Allen films could make money by covering costs from foreign sales, which are now according to the WSJ eroded by piracy and native competition. Most foreign distributors simply exited the business. Production companies that a few years ago got 60% of budgets covered by foreign pre-sales now get only 10% if that.
What we are witnessing, driven by technology, and the economy, is a shift towards historic American norms of wide-broad-middle entertainment. It's the end of "Seinfeld" and the "Return of the Beverly Hillbillies."
Maat —
DVDs ARE dying (sales are way down) and Blu-Ray is too expensive at a time when consumers are hard-pressed, and offers little advantages over DVDs for most consumers watching budgets.
What's replacing DVDs are video on demand. South Park took the lead with their portal having almost EVERY episode on one place, supported by advertising.
Now, people won't sit down and watch every episode from a season in a marathon session, but the creators get a nice cut of the advertising directly and the costs to set up the site were not prohibitive. Operating costs for servers and bandwidth don't amount to much if traffic has enough ads served against it either, and advertisers PREFER internet based advertising because it's interactive and provides feedback on effectiveness of campaigns.
Let's look at the impact that a SWITCH from DVD or theatrical or VHS or whatever "container" based per-seat or per-container (disk, tape, ticket, doesn't matter) model to an ad-supported model implies.
First, you get more money when you have more eyeballs looking at ads, even adjusting for demographics (considering an extended period of economic decline and little disposable income). This pushes WINNERS in Hollywood to embrace broad, middle of the road content in all areas: comedy, drama, action-adventure, fantasy, romance, etc. to as many eyeballs as possible.
Winners: Iron Man, Knocked Up, Lord of the Rings type movies/serials. Losers: Stop-Loss, the Reader, Mystic River, any project with limited appeal and "edgy" that repels the vast middle.
Second, the implications are that if content is delivered over the internet, ANYONE can play, including New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, the UK, Australia, and Hollywood has to compete the way Detroit has to compete with foreign producers aiming at the middle. Hollywood still has many advantages but it doesn't take billions of dollars and "deals" with huge distributors to get projects completed and making money.
Indie and "edgy" films like Mystic River or most Woody Allen films could make money by covering costs from foreign sales, which are now according to the WSJ eroded by piracy and native competition. Most foreign distributors simply exited the business. Production companies that a few years ago got 60% of budgets covered by foreign pre-sales now get only 10% if that.
What we are witnessing, driven by technology, and the economy, is a shift towards historic American norms of wide-broad-middle entertainment. It's the end of "Seinfeld" and the "Return of the Beverly Hillbillies."
One word: Netflix. The industry has an argument here.
I would view that as an issue – there should be room for both: mainstream fair AND edgy/indie/etc. The problem is when studios micromanage the big stuff or spend too much/overestimate on the small stuff.
And this is from The Digital Bits (one of the biggest, longest-lasting DVD/BR websites): Some interesting BD format sales stats mentioned at the [Sony press] event: While DVD sales are down about 2% in 2008 from this time last year, DVD rentals and VOD are up. More importantly, U.S. Blu-ray software sales are up some 316% and Blu-ray hardware sales are up over 400%.
And I prefer Seinfeld
(which was one of the most popular, highest-rated shows of its time – obviously viewed by people not living on the coasts).
To sum up: as entertaining as Paul Blart: Mall Cop might be, I would still like to have a choice between that and something like There Will be Blood (to use an example).
Well, yes…popular, mass market stuff always sells more than unpopular stuff, but that's not the point I was making. I think the industry is already trying (probably too slowly) to adapt to the fact that people want to watch their movies on multiple platforms. Real Dvd sounds superfluous to me. Re: your argument about content: economically, yes, producers will take fewer chances because they have fewer projects to work with because they have fewer investors. But that doesn't necessarily mean more wholesome fare–there will still be plenty of horror and sex farces because they consistently make money as well, and cost a lot less to make than LoTR or Iron Man. Less product, more sure things, and family, romance and horror have been sturdy performers since the movies began. And I think you'll still get the stalwarts to make their edgier stuff with digital cameras, tiny casts and home editing bays. I just don't think the internet will ever take over completely as the FIRST source for content. I might re-watch an episode of CSI on my computer that I missed but no way am I going to see Star Trek that way. (Part of the reason I don't watch stuff on the internet–the freakin' ads you can't cut away from) And when I watch 30 Rock I want to see it on my lovely, large, 1080dpi flatscreen in hd from my couch. On dvr. So I can skip the commercials. Also, it's funny you picked South Park as your example of the benefits of video on demand: could there be a less family friendly one?
You'll need the situation to get A LOT more dire before you get any major studio to sign on for this. Yeah, a certain segment of the audience would absolutely lap it up and drive big sales – but big sales of WHAT since you can expect the majority of the big-gun filmmakers to come out against this and refusing to allow their work to be subject to it.
The thing is, we already HAVE the technology for parents to make sure the kids don't see parts of the movie they don't want them to: It's called Fast-Forward, it's existed about as long as home video has.
For my money, most of the people who are apparently soooo worried about "unexpected" offensive content in kids movies tell me BY their worry that they aren't all that involved in what their kids are being entertained by – that they're in fact using the DVD player as a babysitter. In which case, that kid already has more problems than he's going to get from an uncut copy of Wall*E…
"It's the end of "Seinfeld" and the "Return of the Beverly Hillbillies."
And this isn't something people should be fighting AGAINST?
(and I LIKE the Beverly Hillbillies, but still…)
The "middle" of anything is almost always worthless or close to worthless. "Average" is not a goal to be strived for, "ordinary" is not a positive description of anything, and when cultures begin to believe otherwise is when civilizations die. The majority is average, yes, but that doesn't make it some exalted state of being – the desire to ESCAPE average-ness is what drives great men to great works.
(continued)
(continued)
You cite LOTR and Iron Man? Ridiculous. In the world your proposing, Iron Man would've been a story-less FX reel cast with less-expensive no-name actors; LOTR would've been 90 minutes long and scored by Motley Crue. The making of great or even GOOD art requires the cultivation of, yes, ELITES – artists, performers and craftspeople who possess talent, vision and ability superior to that of the "average" masses and can thus create for "the people" something they are not capable of creating on their own.
And that the real brains in the entertainment industry are within the craziest bunch of Brits +1 American the world has ever seen.
When I drove long haul, my under-bunk storage area was crammed full of DVD's that went into the drive of my laptop when I was shut down. I could kill hours waiting in a dock for someone to get their thumb out while Clint and Lee Van Cleef went after Indio, or watch the sun set in the wrong part of the sky in "Green Berets".
This would not only benefit those of us with big libraries, but also boost tech with hard drive demand for space, better media systems, etc. Which means it probably won't happen.
'Scuse me while I watch a bunch of "ki-niggits" "Run away! Run away!!"
VCR?
Wish I had known. I'd would have sent you all those old tapes of mine, including a copy of Adam West/Burt Ward "Batman: the movie" that I had. They all still played, but I haven't had a VCR in a few years…
I'd rather they be used than sitting on the local "Savers" shelf for the next twenty years.
And I leaned on my local Republicans to try to make that happen. They won't laugh so hard when I get to be a Republican Precinct committeeman.
A situation being corrected. And with PBHO having to try Pelosi, etc. as well as the former Administration for "War Crimes", Congress will turn on Hopey so fast it'll be like watching Great Whites in bloody water.
Thanks, statist libs. We're going to sweep it all; even Jimmy Carter didn't screw up this bad this fast.
Software to copy and decrypt DVDs to your hard drive has existed for almost 10 years now. If you want to copy your DVDs, there is nothing stopping you, as long as you don't mind violating the DMCA.
The RIAA tried to pull this same crap with audio CDs, but since they are not encrypted they didn't have the DMCA to wave around.
Try looking at the back of that "1080dpi" thing you have. See that funny connector labeled "VGA" or "DVI"? plug your computer in there.
Now, go download an episode of 30 Rock using bittorrent, in HD with no commercials.
Do that, then read your posts again and see how ridiculously short sighted you sound: "I just don't think the internet will ever take over"
That is all I heard in 1999: "Why would anyone want to listen to music on their computer? Why would I want to wait for an mp3 to download?"
What 13 year old doesn't know what drugs are, sex is, or use the word shit 30 times a day?
A better question I suppose.. What kind of parent is totally deluded to think that their perfect 13 yr old doesn't know what any of those things are? I suppose the same parents whose kids get pregnant at 15 because they still don't know where babies come from…
"Shit happens" is an important life lesson. The sex and drugs in Forest Gump lead to one of the main characters dying of AIDS — behavior has consequences.
Your response never appeared on the site, don't know why. Thanks for the tech advice, but if I already have digital cable, and an hd tv, why would I need to add another tech step of plugging in my computer? Perhaps I'm of an older generation, but my life isn't made more convenient by adding steps to everyday activities. Re: your comment about MP3's–I've downloaded a lot (legally), but they get played elsewhere–never through the computer itself, ie on my iPod plugged into my stereo or burned to disks. Also, in 1999 it took a long time for a song to download–now it takes the blink of an eye. So we'll talk again in 2013 or so and I'll gladly eat crow then.oh god it's wonderfulto get out of bedand drink too much coffee
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