1. Assignment 4a TV TV on Demand Services There are times were you are not home to watch your favourite programme, possibly to a tight schedule. Going back to the year 2000, there was no such thing as on demand television services. If people were stuck in traffic or at school for a revision session, and they are unaware that they will not get home on time they will have to accept the fact that they have missed a particular programme. The terrestrial channels, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 have all created an omnibus episode on a certain day so that people can catch up, if they have missed previous episodes over the week. On 25 December 2007, BBC announced that they have introduced the first on demand service to allow people to watch programmes they have missed at anytime. Before the introduction of this new technology, people had to accept the fact that they were going to miss the programmes they want to watch. The BBC has started a trend by introducing demand services for people to watch their programmes. What makes BBC iPlayer different from other on demand services is that it allows people to watch the BBC channels live on their phones or tablets. If I wanted to watch something like Eastenders, but I am aware that I wont get home on time to watch the full episode, I can just watch it on my phone. For the people who produced this on demand service, they must feel proud that their service is used by people all over the UK, but most intriguingly, people across the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean use these services. They generate their revenue by people overseas using the service and from an international digital audience that supports the license fee in the UK. There are a few advantages that support the producers who introduced this on demand service. For the producer, they may not be making money from people using the service in the UK, but they have introduced an international service were people around the world can use it. They have added a small fee of 6.13 a month, which people outside the UK have to pay in order to use the service. So, the BBC will be generating more revenue into the company. For the audience, there are benefits of using this service as it allows you to be up-to-date with all your programmes. This service is accessible on phones and tablets, so you can watch something while on the go. Finally, if your relative is busy watching something on the television, you can just watch it on your phone or tablet, so you wont miss out. Netflix Netflix is an American provider that allows people to watch television programmes or the latest films. Going back to 2000, there were no websites that allow you to watch television programmes or films whatsoever. If you wanted to watch a television programme, you can only watch them on television. Whereas, when it comes to watching a film, there was only one place to do so and that is the cinema. The wonderful thing about technology is that there is always something new invented. Netflix was first introduced in 1999, but it was only accessible for people living in the US. However, in 2009, it all changed as people from South America, the Caribbean and some parts of Europe were able to access the website. It has become one of the most successful start-up businesses of all time in the business world because it has generated a huge amount of revenue and it is constantly growing. In April 2011, Netflix had announced that they have received a whopping 23.6n subscribers in the US and a further 26 million worldwide. For a business that only served the US by offering viewing a selective range of programmes, to know showing a wide variety of programmes worldwide

2. is astonishing. The producer of this service will be generating a huge amount of money every year, with many people agreeing to subscribe the website. In order to draw a huge audience to their website, they have agreed to allow viewers to watch anything they want for a month, as part of their promotional and marketing strategies. After that one month, you will have to start paying to use this on demand service, by paying a fee of 5.99 a month. This is brilliant for the founder of the website because many people each month. To calculate this, I have added the 23m people in the US and 26m people worldwide to find out the average amount of people who join each month. About 4.1m people join the website each month internationally. The money coming into the business can be used for promotional activities by getting social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to advertise their company. In terms of the audience, the website is easily accessible to use and you can watch any programme/film anytime you want. Rather than having to go to the cinema to watch a film, you can easily watch it on the website. The people signing up to the website will know that they are paying 5.99 for something that is very much worth its money. As technology has been growing rapidly over the last few years, Netflix has made it accessible to allow people to use the on demand service on game consoles like PS3, Nintendo Wii and also Blu-ray players. This is really good, as not everyone in the world is going to have access to a computer, so Netflix have allowed people to use the service a variety of ways. Pay per view It is not possible for people to watch huge events on terrestrial television or other channels. Pay per view is an on demand service that allows people to watch huge events and sporting events. Pay per view first came into place around 1990-2000, and ever since it has become very popular amongst people around the world. People who are willing to purchase a pay per view deal, can choose from an ever-growing range of content. In the UK, the most common pay per view system used is Sky Box Office. Sky Box Office, the main pay per view channel in the UK, shows some of the most exciting boxing matches and all of the massive WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) events. In the year 2000, the pay per view service was introduced for the English Premier League. With NTL, the first sporting channel originally showing the first pay per view for football channels. For many people, it was a disadvantage because they wouldnt be able to afford to watch football games, once the new rule comes into place. However, signing up to this pay per view service will allow individuals to watch any good sporting activity whenever they want. With the introduction of Sky Sports, they have been agreed a deal to show a lot of sporting activities like football, tennis, rugby league and many more sports on their channel. They have been the iconic channel to watch all of your sports, but on 13th May 2013, BT Sport agreed a deal to show live football, European football, European competitions and many more sporting activities. On that day, the feud between Sky Sports and BT Sport began, to see who will be able to withstand the race. The owners of both Sky and BT Sports will know that people who are in to sports will subscribe the channels, by offering people a variety of packages for them to buy. This is important to establish a relationship with your customers because offering them a variety of packages to buy, all ranging from different prices will get people to buy it. Looking at this from an audiences perspective, you will have access to watch great games and you will have great deals to choose from. 3. How has technology in Film changed and what has been the impact of these changes for audiences and producers inthe film industry? Online Piracy Couple of years ago, online piracy or illegal DVDs has been a revelation in the film industry and many people around the world have taken advantage of it. Film piracy can occur by people watching a particular film and copying it, which is then distributed illegally. When film piracy first started, people would bring a camcorder or use their mobile phones to record a film at the cinema. Whilst thinking about this, I am aware that once people publish films onto the internet the sound quality is very poor. Over the years, people not only record whats on the screen, but they also bring something else that can be used to record the sound. With the quality of pirate movies is fairly poor, the sound recorded will help rejuvenate the film, with it being recorded with a microphone. Going back couple of years, I did not believe that pirate films had any effect on cinemas or the company who produced it. Now, I am conscious that pirate movies is costing producers a lot of revenue with more people willing to stay home at watch the film. This will have an effect on distributors, as similarly they wont be generating any revenue into the business. The Intellectual Property published a statement, which revealed the damages caused by online pirate movies. In 2008, the USA has lost an estimate of $1.3bn and another $6.1bn if you were to include every country in the world. All of that money has been lost because of people committing online piracy acts. As a producer, that is a substantial amount of revenue that has gone down the drain. If I was a producer, and there has been a downfall of 1.3bn in a year, then how much will it cost to produce another film? Many film companies will rely on generating a lot of profit from one film, so that it will help fund to produce another film. This may mean that movie exhibitions will have to charge audiences a lot of money to watch films. Each consumer has an easy accessibility of watching a film at home on the computer. But, going to cinemas will provide a better experience such as watching a film in 3D. You cant watch a pirate film in 3D on your computer because it wont create the same enthusiasm. The Guardian has published an article talking about how an American cinema company has stopped people wearing Google Glasses from entering the cinema. Allegedly, the cinema company believe that glasses can record and take photographs whilst you are watching a film. With small minority of people willing to carry out very dodgy acts, they have no choice to stop people wearing these glasses at the cinema. I agree with this America cinema has banned Google Glasses from entering their premises because with now improving, this is an opportunity for people to seize the chance to use these glasses to film the whole movie. Cinemas around the world should employ the same rules as this cinema, to stop people with this device from recording movies. I know that watching pirate movies is a safer bet than going to the cinema, as you wont lose any money. But going to the cinema will provide a better experience, as the size of the screen and sound is not available t people at home. There are more advantages of going to the cinema than it is at home, as watching pirate movies wont be the same quality. Camera editing softwares - CGI and Special effects I am aware that technology is constantly growing, with new inventions being introduced. A lot of the phenomenal visual effects you see in films just show how movies in this century are completely different to movies from previous centuries. The use of CGI (Computer-generated imagery), has changed how movies look today. This technique is generated only used for video games, but it has 4. now found a place within the film industry. The first film to have used the CGI technique is the movie Avatar. This film is regarded as one of the best films because it created an illusion of reality to a lot of people. According to the Guardian, they published an article about the secret of James Camerons new film Avatar. I have found that James Cameron decided to make 70% of the film around CGI, and 30% of the film uses the footage filmed on a green screen. Looking at another film, Gravity, the film makers have stated that using softwares that are available for people to use to create CGI will take proximately 7000 years to finish the film. This is amazing how it will take that long just to render a whole film. Just imagine from an audiences perspective, in having to wait that long just for a film. The director of Gravity stated that it took 50 hours for the movie to render. There are only a few CGI based studios that exist in the world. Creating films using special effects will get people intrigued and possibly go out and see the movie. Special effects used today by film companies make films seem more appealing and gets a wider audience to come and see it. In terms of the producer, they are spending approximately $5000-10,000 to buy CGI softwares used to make Avatar and Gravity. Directors of movies will know that CGI based films will help generate a lot of money because you cannot replicate the visual images onto normal editing softwares. The film industry has become the latest industry to become active in using CGI and special effects for their films. 3d-4d The use of 3 dimensional motion pictures has become very popular within the film industry. This was originally introduced in 1915, but did really come into place in films until the year 2000. The purpose of 3D based films was to create something were able to visualise certain things that will appear as if it is in from of them. Some of the films that are 3D based are Beowulf, Avatar, Spy Kids and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. In order to experience 3D, you are required to wear glasses which consist of one side being the colour red, and the other being the colour blue. Many people would come to cinemas to watch movies 3D to experience what it is like. As the years go by, the introduction of 4D didnt really take long. It was first developed in October 2011, but it did not come into place until January 2014. This dimension combines with 3D with physical effects being included, which will be in synchronizing with the film. Producers of films try to recreate their films to be in 4D, to give people a better experience than it 3D would. I believe that there are disadvantages of producers making their films in 4D. I may be wrong, but if I was keen to go watch a film in 4D I will get to the cinema and find out it is expensive to watch the film. This will scare away potential customers, and they will decide to watch the movie at home. However, if I was to look at this from an audience perspective, you will experience something you have never seen or felt by watching a 4D film at the cinema. You will be able to share your excitement with the people around you. You will not get the same experience as you would do at the cinema. The technology is constantly growing within the film industry, and it is very exciting to see or hear about what they will introduce in the future. Bibliography 1. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/22/google-glass-cinema-amc-homeland- security 2. http://screencomment.com/2011/05/movie-piracy-exacts-a-cost-thats-real/ 3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1362476/BBC-global-iPlayer-subscription- cheaper-licence-fee.html 5. 4. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/412 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-per-view#United_Kingdom 6. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/20/3d-film-avatar-james-cameron-technology 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_film 8. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vida_alien/alien_galacticfederations26.htm