Discussion: 'Is film dying?'

    I found a video thread on Youtube of which explored the idea of whether or not film is dying in modern society, with film being a great subject of interest for me this idea is one that may be important to reflect upon. I thought that this video -1 of 3 on the topic- brought up some very interesting and insightful points to consider.






     It is suggested in this video that due to the proliferation in reboots and sequels being made, that it may be the question rather of whether or not it is creativity dying. Whereas the point is also raised that even with such texts you can still get something original even if it is attached to something that audiences are familiar with -for example, at the 2014 Tribeca film festival they screened 5 different short films all made from the same script, highlighting how texts can be interpreted differently by different people.

      The increasing number of sequels, remakes and adaptions being made is also heavily linked to the fact that - fundamentally- the film industry is a business, and therefore will produce a number of texts that they know are going to generate a large amount of income.  Whereas by doing this they can then generate funding for more ambitious projects that may be more risky or specialist - as by targeting a niché audience you may be lessening the chance of receiving a large income of which you might with a big blockbuster sequel from a well established, popular franchise. Furthermore, to ensure that their other films do bring in audiences they need to make good quality films and marketing them in the best way possible, of which would require a decent budget and therefore would need to make these sequels and such that they know are going to be money-spinners in order to fund this budget. It is also important to note that a number of films being made based off what the new or latest 'in' trend is isn't a new concept and has been endlessly utilized in the past, as well as the fact that you can find well-made, interesting texts in other places than mainstream cinemas.

Jackson's 'The Hobbit: Battle of five armies' (2014) -  final instalment of the current

 popular film trilogy adapted from Tolkien's novel 

        This links to an idea raised in another video in this thread, of whether the question is actually referring to 'is cinema dying' rather than the film industry or creators integrity or creativity dying . This would usually raise the issue of piracy and the fact that it could be the reason that cinema tickets have hiked up in the recent years, and therefore made cinema - and subsequently new released films- unavailable to certain audiences from certain socio-economic groups. Whereas in the video it's stated that statistics show that in 2012 from January to November there were over 158,000,000 admissions into UK cinemas, which is an average of 14,500,000 a month - not taking into account the month of December, which saw releases of films such as The Hobbit. As to sustain this income they have generated, they therefore have to produce good quality films that are readily available as well as easily accessible for most audiences, such as The Dark Knight Rises, as good quality films will draw audiences in - once again linking to the idea of subsequently being able to fund more ambitious projects from this income of such films. 

Nolan's 'The Dark Knight Rises' (2012)

         Through this, it could also be suggested that there isn't a fear of there being a lack of good quality films being made, but rather that the film industry has become reliant on churning out squeals and such. Whereas many people enjoy going to see a film where they are familiar with aspects such as the characters, settings and possibly story line. A familiarity with factors such as this are sometimes even utilized and played on by the producers of texts as to create audience pleasures - such as a running 'in' joke in a certain series of films/franchise,similar to the use of intertextual references. 


          Similarly, it is important to remember that many companies producing films also have TV companies, for example DC and Marvel are both making very popular films and TV shows, such as 'Gotham' and 'Agents of Shield'. Some may argue that this is one of the reasons that film is 'dying', especially as many big names in film are moving on to career defining TV roles. TV is also enabling creators to produce more depth in their stories as many series have a large overall time span, and is more accessible to a wider audience as many people have a TV of which they can watch when it suits them in the comfort of their own home.