Week 3: The New Media Amusement Arcade – Games, Music & Film
New Media is a technology that is moving at an incredibly rapid rate and, as previously discussed, is providing users with a way of expressing their online identity. Similarly, content creators such as film studios, record labels, and game designers are also provided with a platform to display their own online presence.
The internet has made the process of illegally downloading content far easier than ever before, and is an issue that is forcing many companies to rethink their business models to keep up with the pace or risk substantial financial loss. In fact, in an effort to combat illegal downloads, many films and albums are now packaged with ‘digital copies’ of the product, ready to be loaded onto an iPod or iPad and watched almost-instantly. Bollywood Producer Madhur Singh is openly promoting this method with latest releases, claiming that it “will lower barriers to independent filmmakers” (Singh 2008).
In a similar fashion, independent filmmakers have also found ways to use the power of social networking and New Media to their advantage, such as the production of independent film ‘Born of Hope’ raising approximately £17,000 through online promotion (Actors at Work Productions, 2011).
With gaming even now surpassing the box office gross of most Hollywood films (Schwartz, 2010) the question is raised as to whether hosting studio content online is truly the way of the future, and just how much further things will evolve.
References:
Actors at Work Productions. “Born of Hope” Last accessed March 20, 2011. http://www.bornofhope.com/Community.html
Singh, M. “Bollywood’s Viral Videos” Last modified February 14, 2008. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1713342,00.html
Schwartz, W. “Call of Duty: Black Ops Day One Sales Gross Over $360 Million” Last modified November 11, 2010. http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/black-ops-day-sales/
