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new media consumption
Dec. 27th, 2008 03:19 pmArticle in the times about Mum and Dad, a new indie horror film that is truly shockign to the *industry*. See, it's being released simultaneously in cinemas, on dvd and for download. Cinemas and industry? 'piffle, complete flash in the pan'. Except. Article makes the point of the whole generation gap attitude to downloads/cinema, not to mention the major problem of piracy due to the wait between cinema and dvd. And the wait between cinema and dvd tends to leave the little indie titles languishing.
We were discussing this at a pubmeet a month or so ago. Piracy? Most of the people buying pirate are more doing it for the 'want it so I can say I have it.' a lot of the people downloading a shoddy copy are often doing it to test whether they *like* the film enough to buy it on dvd, because let's face it, most people don't want to keep a crappy copy filmed in the cinema. You'd eliminate piracy in most countries if you had a decent £7-8 no frills copy available straight away (people who'll waver at the £12.99 price will shrug and chuck it into their basket at the supermarket at £7-8). Several of the big dvds have a delay because of the time it takes to assemble commentaries and all the extras. but there's a significant proportion of the population who don't want the frills, or never watch them.
So, solution : Do the Mum and Dad thing. Or have a cheap no frills copy available in the foyer for people when they come out of the cinema. they'll take this home to their friends. The friends will watch, the friends will go to the cinema and consume popcorn. You still have the wait for the extras version, but seriously, it's money on the nose because people saw the film, it's fresh in their minds, and they'll buy it right then and there. Think of all the people who waver about going to the cinema. You've recouped that.
We were discussing this at a pubmeet a month or so ago. Piracy? Most of the people buying pirate are more doing it for the 'want it so I can say I have it.' a lot of the people downloading a shoddy copy are often doing it to test whether they *like* the film enough to buy it on dvd, because let's face it, most people don't want to keep a crappy copy filmed in the cinema. You'd eliminate piracy in most countries if you had a decent £7-8 no frills copy available straight away (people who'll waver at the £12.99 price will shrug and chuck it into their basket at the supermarket at £7-8). Several of the big dvds have a delay because of the time it takes to assemble commentaries and all the extras. but there's a significant proportion of the population who don't want the frills, or never watch them.
So, solution : Do the Mum and Dad thing. Or have a cheap no frills copy available in the foyer for people when they come out of the cinema. they'll take this home to their friends. The friends will watch, the friends will go to the cinema and consume popcorn. You still have the wait for the extras version, but seriously, it's money on the nose because people saw the film, it's fresh in their minds, and they'll buy it right then and there. Think of all the people who waver about going to the cinema. You've recouped that.
