Week 6 - Tutorial Task

According to the lecture, Hollywood has had quite a bit of trouble adapting to the trends of internet sharing online. Back in the good old days, films were only shown in the black and white cinema's (The first cinema was aired in 1895) and were rarely seen again exept in re-runs. As the years bore on, and color cinema was introduced (1929), the attractions drew. The film business was growing, and with it its fan-base. Next to come was the TV that came into the regular family home (1939). Generally it symbolised family unity, as they had family focused shows that had the whole family sitting down together in the family room to watch it. TV was a bit of a difficulty with the cinema business, and only a selection of films were aired on TV. The cinemas tried to combat the problem of TVs detracting from their audience, that they aired a new technique of 3D films (1952). However, only a small portion of these films were a sucess. Television became a strong entertainment in the home.

Sony, a rising company at the time, introduced the first AFFORDABLE hand-held video camera for the average consumer (1967). It was very bulky, so they refined it and brought out a more manageable edition. These home made films were able to be played on VCR, which was the next thing to come. VCR (Video Cassette Recorder which was released in 1969), which played rentable versions of the films, where one could pay money and have a film of their choice playing on their screen on whim. VHS posed as a MAJOR problem to the cinemas, as people prefered to watch things on their own screens, rather than fork out money to go and watch a film on big screen. This cleared up, and then VHS moved on to our current DVD (1997), which has a now extended to Blu-ray (2005).

The internet is different in that rather than a viewer having to pay for a cinema ticket or to rent out a film, they can sit in the comfort of their computer chair and watch a film of their choice. The don't even have to go anywhere. On a whim, they could be watching a newly released film that hasn't even been released in their country yet. The problem for Hollywood, cinemas and dvd rental stores, is that they're not getting the income that they need in order to continue to make films, or sell them etc. Actors are acting, but if their audiences are not paying to watch it, then they will be given less and less payment for it, and will have less and less opportunities to act. Blockbuster films from Hollywood are made on a certain budget, and it is expected that the return sales from those films being shown in cinema, hired and bought, will in turn pay that original budget off. Although being able to download films and episodes online is fantastic for me, in essence, it is really running Hollywood down, as they won't be able to afford to make high budget films anymore...