Film Technological Advancement

On March 14th, 2006 in an interview with Time, Steven Spielberg stated:

Audience members are only concerned about the story, the concept, the bells and whistles and the noise that a popular film starts to make even before it's popular. So audiences will not be drawn to the technology; they'll be drawn to the story. And I hope it always remains that way.

Seven years later, in June of 2013, Spielberg had altered his opinion, predicting "an implosion in the film industry" (Bond). This grim prophecy is common amongst film royalty and lesser known alike. The Hollywood film industry is worth billions, but is what they are producing worthwhile? The general consensus is that the industry has reached a point of no return, wherein the

Film as an art form will arguably never diminish, yet film as we have known it up until now certainly will. The first means of technological advancement to alter the success of the film industry was the inception of television. Television drew people out of the theatres and drove them to stay in the comfort of their home to take in the new and exclusive content being offered through their televisions. However the medium of television and film quickly learned to co-exists, as television content was just as exclusive as cinema content and there was no way to get around these boundaries. Even with the introduction of feature films airing on television and the release of VHS and DVDs, studios were still garnering revenue. However, the early 21st century saw advancements that allowed for increasingly easy distribution, both legal and illegal. The purchase of physical copies of film remained dominant into the mid 2000s, yet digital sharing quickly made these purchases obsolete. Despite quick government action to shut down file sharing websites which allowed individuals to download countless numbers of films for free, individuals retain ways around these laws to this day. This public adamance has resulted in severe losses for the film industry for numerous reasons. Firstly, studios are missing out on the money they previously earned on

As society grows increasingly materialistic, intangible services like film will lose importance. In regards to film, this is particularly upsetting, as cinema has had such a significant impact on culture, values, and shaping society. For decades film has effected us on personal levels, altering who we are as humans, and giving us ideals to strive toward. As producers focus more on the money than the message, the impact of film is compromised. Film becomes a commodity, as opposed to an art. And as film loses cognitive and emotional value, it diminishes in monetary value as well. People do not want to spend money on something that is simply serving as mindless entertainment for 90 minutes, thus the film industry is thrown into a vicious circle. Consumers do not want to spend money to see a movie, so they obtain it illegally, which results in studios not bringing in enough revenue to support filmmaking, thus causing the production of brainless comedies or brand laden, borderline advertisements. We are then led back to the start of the circle, wherein consumers refuse to spend their money on these lack lustre