Why Does Art Exist?

[Jack Lynt]

I recommend, with some grains of salt, the documentary, How Art Made the World.

It's apparently been uploaded to YouTube. But I won't link to it because I'm wondering how that cannot be copyright infringement. Or maybe the BBC is cool with it. What do I know?

 

[MiniJamesW]

Right now there's an endless torrent of sequels, prequels, rip-offs, and remakes gushing from "Hollywood". It's in a larger quantity in ever, matched with higher budgets and tighter deadlines. Ticket & concession prices are soaring higher and higher, with smaller theatre audiences. There's little experimentation, no boundary-pushing, and lack of originality (in both concept and execution).

That's true, and it will continue to be true as long as audiences continue to be satisfied with it. I'm not sure that audiences will continue to be satisfied with the movies they are currently getting, as they no longer provide anything better than the more sophisticated TV series that are coming on, or online videos/shows. I think that Hollywood will need to find a new mix of different filmmaking techniques, business strategies, and gimmicks if it wants to survive. It will also need to find a way to monetize streaming services, as they are replacing home video.

I don't like streaming services too much, I prefer home video, or downloading but it seems like this is becoming the dominant form of consuming media by Americans. Most audiences prefer to compromise video/audio quality for accessibility, variety of content, and cheaper prices. As popular as streaming sites are, they aren't bringing in the money that Hollywood wants, so they're going to have to find ways to make money through streaming.

Pirate sites and cheap streaming services are on the rise, with wider selections and a greater variety of material (generally both mainstream and out-of-the-mainstream). We're already seeing a gravitation towards this type of way of viewing content, resulting in both more attention to indie film, as well as less interest in actually going to the cinema. Either "Hollywood" is going to have to adapt, or they're going to fall apart.

Yes, the good thing about streaming services are the wider selections and variety of material, but they don't even match home video in terms of video/audio quality, let alone the big screen experience.

Unfortunately, pirate sites are necessary to view some films. For cinephiles interested in Edward Yang or Mikio Naruse, there really isn't any other way to watch their films. I read an article that Netflix was trying to acquire rights for the most pirated films that aren't distributed. I hope that smaller streaming services find ways to make more gems available legally, but I don't see that happening any time soon (even though there are some good efforts like MUBI and Fandor).

And yeah, Hollywood needs to figure out how to monetize streaming. I think they'll find a way, but I don't think that the big screen experience will ever fully go away, even from the mainstream. I think that summer blockbusters will still bring audiences to watch films in theaters, and of course cinephiles will keep arthouses and smaller theaters alive.

 

[Firm1]

I think it would be cool to see a company grow from the Internet and really extend beyond that. Like, if they could somehow figure out a way to create a self-sustaining engine built on viewership, ad/product revenue, and syndication along with good old fashion crowd-funding and then expand into an agglomeration of other productions that are like-minded, such as Syncopy so that newer films and t.v shows were coming out like you see on AMC or HBO.

It would be interesting to see how far it could go. Perhaps it could go so far as to acquire movie theaters and bring Independent online productions to the big screens. I mean, eventually Independent production companies will become equal to Hollywood, even if it takes 100 years. Why not start pushing the envelope now?