To what extent does internet piracy affect the film industry?
Internet piracy has a negative impact economically on the film industry and due to technological advances, there will be a lack of originality in cinema. Although there are positive effects of piracy in that audiences become more literate and eager to direct independent films that have been inspired by films they have watched online. However, the positive effects of this are outweighed by the negative effects because these future film makers inspired by pirated films will only direct formulaic 3D blockbusters because of the film industry not willing to take risks in order to make a profit on films.
Internet piracy started around the start of the 21st century, with technological advancements in the internet and download speeds allowing people to download films onto their computers. This made films easily accessible to watch at home with sites like Megaupload, negating the need to go to the cinema and pay money to see it. To combat this, the film industry created a resurgence in 3D cinema, aiming to attract audiences to the cinema and also with the added benefit of 3D films being difficult to pirate because they need to be seen with 3D glasses. 3D resurgence also gave cinemas an excuse to raise ticket prices so they could profit more off the technological advancement. However, these 3D films are formulaic blockbuster films which need lots of action scenes and spectacle to benefit from the 3D technology and make it worthwhile for the audience. Therefore all films will be the same, with lots of action scenes and no creativity or inventiveness. This would affect the film industry to the extent that it is devaluing cinema and it would be instead be about making money back on films.
Another effect internet piracy has on the film industry is that people can watch films at home, creating a social and cultural shared idea that audiences deserve to watch and are entitled to free pirated films online. This is a bad thing for the film industry who lose money on their films and cinema attendence but a good thing for audiences who can watch a wider variety of foreign and independent films. This can raise the amount of 'cinema literacy' in people, inspiring people to 'swede' films on Youtube or be inspired to be involved in the film industry and direct future films. However, the problem with this is that because of internet piracy and formulaic 3D films, their will be a lack of creativity to inspire people in the future directors films. Therefore this is not a sustainable model for making films, it would end up with all films being 3D blockbusters. This would affect the film industry because internet piracy and it's effects on future directors would result in a less creative future for films.
Finally, Internet piracy would affect the economy in the film industry. Cinema attendence has already been decreasing because of the social appeal of watching films at home. Therefore cinemas would have to raise ticket prices to make more money making the cinema experience for people even less desirable. In order to combat this, the film industry would need to make more formulaic films and not take any risks in films in order to make as much money as possible. Essentially, the film industry would have to be turned into a business where films are not made for artistic merit but instead made for profit, to make as much money as possible. The film industry could also use online websites like Netflix and Hulu to combat internet piracy by offering legitimate paid online streaming services as a alternative. The negative effect from this is that it would make the cinema experience obsolete if used on a major scale. This would affect the film industry to the extent where it would change how people make and watch films based on money and fighting internet piracy as its main concerns.
In conclusion, internet piracy is a problem for the film industry that affects how films are devalued, the creativity of films and how films are produced to maximise profit and challenge internet piracy. In order to fight internet piracy, the film industry should look at using independent films like Gravity, which are critically successful and are popular films watched online, and make them popular in the cinema, appealing to audiences instead of making formulaic 3D franchises and blockbusters. The only way cinemas can fight internet piracy is by taking risks and not being afraid to change the model of how people view and pay for films.
