Is vertical video viewed on your phone the future of cinema? (1 Viewer)

[Winston T. Boogie]

I can say this too, if you pay any attention to the younger generation, they would prefer to watch everything on a phone. Huge TVs do not interest them. Going to a cinema interests them less and less. They are used to watching everything on a tiny screen. It does not bother them. We are freaked out by trying to watch a movie on a little screen. That's not appealing to us, but to people under 30 it is more likely they watch something on a tiny screen than watch it on a big one. Meaning, yes, something like Lawrence of Arabia or 2001 holds no value for them.

Essentially, if someone has not shown or taught them what cinema is/was it very much can just mean a phone screen to them.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I always wonder where these generalizations come from. The "younger generations" are the same group that gave the three-hour long Avengers: Endgame the highest box office opening of all time. I suppose the next post will be debating that that film wasn't cinema.

Services like TikTok are as popular as they are because the capture a wide array of interested people, not simply one demographic. iPhones are just as popular among people over 30 as they are among people under 30.

Perhaps there is a way to discuss the evolution of cinema and changing consumer habits and preferences without blaming everything on the youth or insinuating that they don't have taste or attention spans. It is okay for different people to like different things and to have different reasons for feeling the way they do.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I always wonder where these generalizations come from. The "younger generations" are the same group that gave the three-hour long Avengers: Endgame the highest box office opening of all time. I suppose the next post will be debating that that film wasn't cinema.

Services like TikTok are as popular as they are because the capture a wide array of interested people, not simply one demographic. iPhones are just as popular among people over 30 as they are among people under 30.

Perhaps there is a way to discuss the evolution of cinema and changing consumer habits and preferences without blaming everything on the youth or insinuating that they don't have taste or attention spans. It is okay for different people to like different things and to have different reasons for feeling the way they do.

Well, I interact a lot with the younger generations. I am not using that term as a knock, you always seem to take it that way. I have observed in person, and by listening to them, younger people would prefer and/or are just as happy to watch something on a phone. It is what they are used to. I am not blaming anything on them. If they like something they like it. That is not me blaming them. My wife is a teacher. I end up around a lot of kids. So, I get to hear and see what they enjoy.

I'm not knocking them, I like the younger generations. They like me, I have no idea why really but ask my wife. She thinks it is fantastic that all these kids like me. I don't have any issue with what they like nor do I tell them what to like. Something that they are much more used to than we are, is having the ability to customize all of their entertainment choices and watch or listen to the things they like any time they want.

TikTok is huge with them. Many of them prefer to watch whatever is on TikTok over anything else. Many of them could not name an actor but they can tell you about all kinds of influencers and creators. The first thing kids want to do when they meet me is put me in their phone contacts. Then they want to connect with me on TikTok and other platforms. I am not on TikTok nor any other platforms, including the game platforms they are on.

I have not seen a superhero picture in a cinema in many, many years so I don't know who is going to see them. Sure, some of the kids I know like them, primarily the boys but some girls as well. However, I think there are a lot of parents and adults that are really into them. So, I don't know how many kids under 20 are that into them. I also recall in discussions I had with some kids that they have said they think the big superhero films are too long. When they do watch them, many watch them on their phones in short bites over several days.

When I go to parties with adults, parents and kids and they show a movie on a big screen outside or on a big TV, the kids tend to all drift off and you will find them watching stuff on their phones. The adults are watching the movie on the big screen, even if it is a movie they put on for the kids.

Before I moved, I lived in a neighborhood full of kids. The kids would come to my house all the time to hang out. We talked about all kinds of stuff but they were most definitely more into music than movies. They would say, "Let's go to the movies!" but I think that was more out of they thought it would be fun to go places with me, not really because they had much interest in going to a cinema to watch something. They also wanted to go grocery shopping with me and when I was house shopping they wanted to do that with me as well. It was kind of ridiculous and the realtors all thought I had a bunch of kids. They just wanted to go wherever I was going and while we were doing whatever we were doing they were making TikTok videos of everything. So, I am probably in like 10,000 TikTok videos because of these kids.

When I talk about this stuff it is not a knock on any of these kids. It is just what I have observed and basically, I understand it. I think it is quite likely that they will not care much about the way we watched films and would likely not care at all about if we watched them horizontally or vertically. I don't think they care about widescreen. They just have a different outlook on things than we do and I think they very much would like to watch a "movie" that they can control and that is broken up into short sections rather than sit in a cinema for three hours.

 

[YANG]

I can say this too, if you pay any attention to the younger generation, they would prefer to watch everything on a phone. Huge TVs do not interest them. Going to a cinema interests them less and less. They are used to watching everything on a tiny screen. It does not bother them...

hard bloody right truth!!!

big screen displays setup @ home is for the new generation users to enjoy immersive GAMING EXPERIENCE. whoever in their 20s and below, growing up in later days, would give a SH?T of movies?
DeNiro, Pacino, Nicholson, Hackman... these old actors are in the brink of stepping into their graves... who would care?
Willis, Stallone, Schwarzenagger, Gibson, Baldwin, JCVD, Murphy are moving into their old age... who cares?
not forgetting those Directors... who're the overall in-charge of getting a movie made, are aging as well... who cares?
the future of cinema, without something substantial and physical to leave behind as we are aging as well... no new generation folks will know how wonder the cinematic world of arts and crafts will worth.

 

[DaveF]

Allow me to clarify.

Does vertical video exist? Yes. Will it continue to exist? Yes? Is it going to take over filmmaking? I doubt it. For one thing, there is over a century of horizontal filmmaking that already exists. Is it all just declared of no value? When the main argument is it's too inconvenient to turn your phone horizontally to record or watch your epic piece of cinematic art, I have to question how much effort actually went into creating it, or how much interest you actually have in viewing it. If your reaction is, "Oh, I have to rotate my phone to watch this, that's too much work, I'll watch something else." then by all means be my guest, and no, you won't be alone. Will it take over cinema? I tend to doubt it. At least, not until we have holodecks, in which case, it'll all probably be forgotten.

I’m of the same basic opinion: a century of movies in widescreen, the home standard for over a decade and only choice for a new display of any size, and widescreen movies in native format readily available on mobile devices, means this format will stay. And widescreen is the right format to telling stories that capture the human experience; vertical is not.

And while all the kids are watching vertical TikToks, they’re also watching The Office and Friends on Netflix in not-vertical formats.

Something viewed on a phone is not "cinema" but something viewed in a cinema is cinema. The future of "filmmaking" is likely TikTok style videos viewed on a phone. I've discussed this a bit in the past and people, including Spielberg have apparently been looking into this and the immersive 360 degree video as formats for filmmaking. For films that will be short, or shown in short sections of no more than 15 minutes, and interactive, in that you could choose to follow different characters and storylines. So, you literally are choosing what "film" you want to experience.

I think the only word that does not belong here is "cinema" because this filmmaking would have no requirement to go to a cinema.

I will not be surprised to see additional formats like vertical, become more mainstream or at least used in “experimental” mainstream movies (a la Peter Jackson’s failed efforts with HFR, or the erratic attempts every decade or so with 3D).

I always wonder where these generalizations come from. The "younger generations" are the same group that gave the three-hour long Avengers: Endgame the highest box office opening of all time. I suppose the next post will be debating that that film wasn't cinema.

Services like TikTok are as popular as they are because the capture a wide array of interested people, not simply one demographic. iPhones are just as popular among people over 30 as they are among people under 30.

Perhaps there is a way to discuss the evolution of cinema and changing consumer habits and preferences without blaming everything on the youth or insinuating that they don't have taste or attention spans. It is okay for different people to like different things and to have different reasons for feeling the way they do.

Generalizations come from all the surveys and user data and anecdotes from parents and from watching peers.

I certainly could be experiencing the knowledge-problem of knowing what I know and not knowing that it’s wrong — confirmation bias or similar from where I get info and what I read and remember.

But I understand it as actual data that, in general, “old” people (40+, the parents and grandparents) use Facebook. Youth used SnapChat 5-10 ten years, but TikTok is now the go-to social media for current kids and young adults.

It’s also well known that, generally, as we get older, we get more settled in our ways and less prone to doing things differently. I see it myself: my social / societal groups are in Facebook and old-school web forums and that’s where I hang out (if they’re even there, there’s a big withdrawal from social media by my peers the past 15 years). I see no apparent benefit from TikTok or Instagram, so I don’t spend time there. I see this age bias here in HTF, in this thread, with folks unaware of how popular vertical video is on social media.

The generalizations are like Hari Seldon’s psychohistory, accurate to the population but not exact for any specific individual: My wife is a hardcore Instagram user. My 20-something nieces hardly use smartphones or social media at all. And my 13 year old nieces watching everything everywhere: loads of iPad YouTube and loads of streaming content and love going to the theater for new movies.

 

[Mark-P]

a century of movies in widescreen,

I've never heard 1.33:1 referred to as "widescreen". I think "horizontal" or "landscape" as opposed to "vertical" or "portrait" would be more appropriate. What is referred to as widescreen has only been around for 70 years, not a century. (nitpicking over)

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

hard bloody right truth!!!

big screen displays setup @ home is for the new generation users to enjoy immersive GAMING EXPERIENCE. whoever in their 20s and below, growing up in later days, would give a SH?T of movies?
DeNiro, Pacino, Nicholson, Hackman... these old actors are in the brink of stepping into their graves... who would care?
Willis, Stallone, Schwarzenagger, Gibson, Baldwin, JCVD, Murphy are moving into their old age... who cares?
not forgetting those Directors... who're the overall in-charge of getting a movie made, are aging as well... who cares?
the future of cinema, without something substantial and physical to leave behind as we are aging as well... no new generation folks will know how wonder the cinematic world of arts and crafts will worth.

Yes, I do recall the thing that the kids like to do on a big screen is play games. Much more than watching a movie. I thought of it this way, watching a film you sit and sort of soak it in. This was something people in my age group did all the time growing up. Now a lot of the media experience is interactive. Social media is interacting with people, playing games is interacting with the game and other people. Sharing videos on TikTok is interacting with others. I found what the neighborhood kids liked was to do things where they were interacting in some way, not really sitting in a room and watching a screen for a couple hours. With phones and games and social media the way they see entertainment and what is entertaining I just think is different than what we saw as entertainment. I mean I am old enough that for a good portion of my life there were no video games, there were no cell phones, and there was no internet.

In that period, movies were a big deal and important to us. Now, I think they are a small fraction of what younger people find entertaining. I actually find more common ground with music because it seems to me that kids and younger people still love music. It might not sound like the music I listened to, but it still seems quite important to them.

Just for reference here, I am talking about kids under 20. They are a generation that has grown up with an entirely different world of entertainment and interactions than my generation did. Due to this fact, I can understand that their view of entertainment in general can be quite different than mine. There is nothing unusual for them about watching a movie on a phone and that is how they like to see a film in many cases. I recall a night sitting in my yard with a bunch of kids and one of the girls said "Let's watch a movie!" and I said OK, and went to go into the house so we could watch something in my home theater, and they said "No! Out here!" and so about 14 kids and me are sitting on my deck watching a movie on a cell phone. I would not choose to watch a film like that but for these kids, they were cool with us all huddling together to watch a phone...outside, under the stars...instant movie moment. We only watched about 15 minutes and then they wanted to do something else and said we'll watch another part of the movie the following night.

This is what is available to them through the technology. Through instant streaming. I mean, if all this was around when I was a kid, I probably would have watched movies that way as well. You could be outside with a group of friends, anywhere, and just start watching a movie. You could go to have a pizza somewhere and while sitting in the pizza shop, turn on a film with your friends. Why wouldn't you do that?

Our rules of movie watching are dictated by what we know about film. We want the big screen, the great sound, the feeling of a cinema...younger people have lived a totally different experience than us. They have interacted with film in much different ways. So, to me, why should we think they have the same "cinema standards" that we have?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I will not be surprised to see additional formats like vertical, become more mainstream or at least used in “experimental” mainstream movies (a la Peter Jackson’s failed efforts with HFR, or the erratic attempts every decade or so with 3D).

I forget where I saw the article but I did read sometime back that yes, a bunch of filmmakers (and Spielberg was mentioned) were looking at new approaches to "movies" and filmmaking. In that, yes, they were pondering movies for phones and using the immersive head sets. They were films for this younger generation that has grown up with totally different tech than us.

As they described it, the films would be presented in short episodes that could run anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes and that you could literally direct the experience yourself by choosing to follow a specific character or storyline, while it did not appeal to me, I certainly understood how it could be something that the 20 and under generation would love.

It fits with how they interact with entertainment now. They watch short videos, TikTok and such, and then do something else before going back and watching another video later. They do already sort of follow stories on TikTok where they follow a person that is posting videos about their life, dance moves, friends, whatever. So, to have a "movie" created that they would watch and sort of direct because they could chose who and what they want to follow...well...that seems perfect for them and I can see them really getting into that and it making our "cinema" ideas look really antique to them.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Generalizations come from all the surveys and user data and anecdotes from parents and from watching peers.

I’m only pushing back against a generalization, not made by you, that “young people” have no attention span. And against claims that young people do not understand what cinema is.

I certainly do not disagree that TikTok has widespread popularity among youth but it also has popularity among other demographics - but an app like TikTok doesn’t get as popular as it is if it only appeals to one demographic only. (And governments wouldn’t care enough to try to ban it if it was only being used by kids.) Just as I was making the point that a movie like Avengers Endgame doesn’t gross $3 billion on the backs of one sole demographic. These things have widespread cultural appeal. That some people enjoy watching longer content in smaller doses on portable devices doesn’t negate that, and I don’t think of that as an invalid choice. If you read a book in 20 minute increments, no one would claim you haven’t read the book. I see no reason why the same wouldn’t hold with movies.

You and I are in agreement, I think.

I have no issue with vertical video. And I think it stands to reason that if someone manufactures a screen of a certain proportion, someone else will be ready to make content for it. I don’t see that as the death knell of cinema. What qualifies as cinema has always been a moving target.

 

[DaveF]

I forget where I saw the article but I did read sometime back that yes, a bunch of filmmakers (and Spielberg was mentioned) were looking at new approaches to "movies" and filmmaking. In that, yes, they were pondering movies for phones and using the immersive head sets. They were films for this younger generation that has grown up with totally different tech than us.

As they described it, the films would be presented in short episodes that could run anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes and that you could literally direct the experience yourself by choosing to follow a specific character or storyline, while it did not appeal to me, I certainly understood how it could be something that the 20 and under generation would love.

I think that was Qibi and it was a complete failure.

I’m only pushing back against a generalization, not made by you, that “young people” have no attention span. And against claims that young people do not understand what cinema is.

I understand it’s broadly viewed that a lot of kids are watching a lot of content in shorter spans: YouTube and then SnapChat and now TikTok promote that and reinforce it. I would also guess it’s because it’s possible. My generation didn’t watch short-format (bite sized) TV / movies because it didn’t exist in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Now, it’s everywhere.

There’s also a growing perspective that everyone has shortened attention spans with all the short-reads, headlined, Facebook and Twittered content compared to reading more long-form material (when that was what there was) 20 years ago.

I’m much less sure on these takes on current trends and generational shifts, but they’re definitely common views with lots of anecdotes behind them.

 

[DaveF]

I certainly do not disagree that TikTok has widespread popularity among youth but it also has popularity among other demographics - but an app like TikTok doesn’t get as popular as it is if it only appeals to one demographic only. (And governments wouldn’t care enough to try to ban it if it was only being used by kids.) Just as I was making the point that a movie like Avengers Endgame doesn’t gross $3 billion on the backs of one sole demographic. These things have widespread cultural appeal. That some people enjoy watching longer content in smaller doses on portable devices doesn’t negate that, and I don’t think of that as an invalid choice. If you read a book in 20 minute increments, no one would claim you haven’t read the book. I see no reason why the same wouldn’t hold with movies.

You and I are in agreement, I think.

I have no issue with vertical video. And I think it stands to reason that if someone manufactures a screen of a certain proportion, someone else will be ready to make content for it. I don’t see that as the death knell of cinema. What qualifies as cinema has always been a moving target.

As I understand it, it’s not like Avengers or Titanic. It really has risen in popularity in the US from a young user base. Reportedly in 2022, 67% of American TikTok users were under 19 years old.


TikTok - Statistics & Facts | Statista

Topic: TikTok

Find the latest statistics and facts about TikTok

www.statista.com

TikTok allows users to create, edit, and share short-form video clips that are enhanced with filters and accompanied by the latest music trends. While this premise may not sound particularly appealing to internet users over the age of 35, the platform has proven to be highly successful with younger audiences. As of January 2023, 21.5 percent of TikTok users were women aged between 18 and 24 years, while men in the same age group accounted for around 17 percent of the platform’s user base, while as of September 2022, the majority of content creators on TikTok were aged between 18 and 24 years old, a factor that contributes to the platform being popular among Millennial and Gen Z users. In 2022, 67 percent of TikTok users in the United States were 18 or 19 years old, a generation of heavy smartphone users constantly in touch with trending content.

 

[JohnRice]

The existence of one thing doesn't eliminate the existence of another thing.

Vertical video exists. It's a thing. It will most likely continue to be a thing. The problem is when statements like it being "the future of cinema" are made. That is an absolute statement which implies the past (horizontal) form of cinema will no longer be created. When challenged, it gets spun back around to "yeah, but it's popular." There's no doubt that there are a lot of people watching vertical video content, which brings me back to my original statement. The existence of one thing doesn't eliminate the existence of another thing. They can both exist simultaneously. They are inherently different. They serve different purposes.

 

[John Dirk]

I have no issue with vertical video. And I think it stands to reason that if someone manufactures a screen of a certain proportion, someone else will be ready to make content for it. I don’t see that as the death knell of cinema. What qualifies as cinema has always been a moving target.

Same here. Why would I, seeing I can always just ignore it if it doesn't appeal to me. I also never intend to discredit the view of another group or suggest it to have no value. I do hold the term "cinema" somewhat sacred though, and take minor issue with it being associated with "tiny screen" or "bite sized" content.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

And yes, the younger generations love this because you don't need to go to a cinema, and the shorter length is much more appealing to them. They like short videos of no more than 2 to 15 minutes. Not 2 hour films that they have to visit a cinema for. It's almost like a format like VHS being replaced by DVD and then Blu-ray.

Cinema will be replaced by phones. Filmmaking as we've known it would be replaced by short videos that would require much smaller budgets.

This is not necessarily a bad thing.
When Titanic was shown on Valentine's Day, we were 40 people in the 400 capacity Stockholm IMAX. Great, lots of space, quiet, and everyone stayed throughout the end credits.

Let them keep their phones and I'm happy with my large TV and occasional theater visit

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

This is not necessarily a bad thing.
When Titanic was shown on Valentine's Day, we were 40 people in the 400 capacity Stockholm IMAX. Great, lots of space, quiet, and everyone stayed throughout the end credits.

Let them keep their phones and I'm happy with my large TV and occasional theater visit

Sure, I'm not indicating anything as bad or good. Just likely shifts in how people enjoy their entertainment based on trends and shifts in technology.

The question that is the title of this thread, as I mentioned, I would say the answer to this is a no. In that I do not think that cinemas would close or change to vertical screens and all filmmaking for cinemas would become vertical. At which point we'd have to turn our TV's on their sides to watch that content.

So, I think that there already is and it already is a major part of the culture, that phones are a primary delivery technology of entertainment content. I believe this is why developing content meant to be viewed on a phone is a valid strategy for filmmakers.

I'm an older dog and so my personal history with "cinema" is all based upon how films looked projected in a cinema. However, there are likely many people now who rarely if ever go to a cinema and so their history with motion pictures is on other devices.

Point being, if this is how you've grown up enjoying movies, or the primary source of your entertainment, well...then why would you not envision entertainment in that way. Phones allow everything, games, shows, videos, movies, music, all of it portable, take it anywhere. No need for large TVs, no need for a cinema, you can have all of your entertainment in one spot, always with you and text or call or facetime with friends on it as well. One ring to rule them all.

But yes, in my 50s, I am not as attached to my phone. When someone says "Let's watch a movie, I still think, cinema or home theater. Not saying that is better or worse or one is bad or one is good, or anything negative about anybody...I grew up experiencing certain kinds of entertainment and certain technology to see or hear that entertainment. So, it just kind of is what you've adapted to.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I will not be surprised to see additional formats like vertical, become more mainstream or at least used in “experimental” mainstream movies (a la Peter Jackson’s failed efforts with HFR, or the erratic attempts every decade or so with 3D).

Well, wouldn't you think a vertical format would be aimed at phones? Not cinema and not TVs. That format would fit a phone. I think content creating for phones likely will become a thing if you can't already say it is. I think the push for "vertical" content is entirely phone based and has nothing to do with cinema screens, which likely would not change. They probably would just go away. The number of cinema screens near where I live has drastically plummeted. Cinemas have closed and been demolished. The one multiplex, that I never liked going to, of course, is the one that remained open. I did not like it because it seemed to be the worst in terms of presentation of the pictures. Image and sound at this place was the worst and this is the theater closest to me that survived. Also, they went to assigned seating there but because it did not have assigned seating before, nobody pays any attention to assigned seating at this multiplex. Which is fine, if making the experience more annoying for people that expect to sit in the seats they bought. It's always a hilarious free for all there of people saying "I think you are in my seat." and people responding "Well, there are plenty of seats sit somewhere else."

Sort of funny, but sort of sad because it will only kill off interest in going to a cinema for more people.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

As I understand it, it’s not like Avengers or Titanic. It really has risen in popularity in the US from a young user base. Reportedly in 2022, 67% of American TikTok users were under 19 years old.

That is the point. That generation has had a totally different experience in terms of "entertainment" than previous generations. Also take into account, for them, all delivery of entertainment is instantaneous. If they want to see, hear, or play something, they can be doing so on their phone in seconds.

Are attention spans shorter? According to science, they are but again this is not a defect in the human beings, it is essentially because the technology has allowed and built in a shortened span of attention. That has nothing to do with movies. It has nothing to do with criticizing younger people. It has only to do with how they interact with the world through technology.

Interesting studies have shown that things like GPS, social media, the internet, do rewire how the human brain works. Use of GPS actually harms our sense of direction and ability to find our way to places without it. We stop using those skills in our brain. None of this should come as a shock because science has already proven that as we do something repeatedly, we get better at it. This goes for playing an instrument, using a tool, and finding our way. Our brains create a net so that pathways are created within the brain to make doing these tasks easier for us. The more technology replaces our need to do these things, the worse we will get at them. We do have a whole generation of people that could not get somewhere without GPS. They would be quite literally lost. This did not exist only a couple of decades ago.

How we interact with technology will change us. This goes for entertainment as well. It's not a criticism, it is science. Humans are quite adaptable, this is how we've survived and we adapt with and to the technology. That is a real thing.

When I watch a video on TikTok, I don't feel anything and I don't have a desire to continue watching it. However, that under 20 generation, do feel something, and they do want to go back and watch more of them. I think you can flip that experience with a film like Lawrence of Arabia or 2001. I'm feeling something but they may not. I want to go back to watch those films, they may not.

I listened to a talk by a scientist and this woman said that this generation is going to be so different from us, basically because they and their brains will function in such a different way and many tasks will be completed in different ways, that they need to create a different name for this version of our species. How interesting is that?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think that was Qibi and it was a complete failure.

Possibly, I don't recall that name for it. Essentially, it was about two things, big time filmmakers creating content to be viewed on a phone and also how they could use the immersive headsets to make movies that you are not just watching, you would literally be standing inside the movie. I was invited to something to try the immersive video technology years ago, and was shown this thing where I was in a fighter jet and then skiing, it was actually pretty cool. You put your phone in the headset and you are in this incredibly immersive environment. Now, as with 3D, I kind of think that it would be a bit of a gimmick at first, particularly for those of us that did not experience movies that way but, kind of interesting to be in that with say, Robert De Niro standing there right in front of you doing his scene. Or being in an action scene, car chase, bullets flying, as the car screams through city streets. I could see the potential but for me at least, I would not want to wear the thing for 2 hours. 10 to 15 minutes maybe.

I kind of thought with the immersive part, that's why they would likely want to keep the videos down to shorter lengths. The intent though was to put big time names and talent to work making phone content.

 

[Worth]

...I think the push for "vertical" content is entirely phone based and has nothing to do with cinema screens, which likely would not change. They probably would just go away. The number of cinema screens near where I live has drastically plummeted...

Nothing really disappears, though. People still go to the theatre, ballet and opera. They still read novels, listen to the radio and watch conventional television. While none of those forms may have the cultural relevance they once did, they continue to attract audiences, albeit smaller ones than in their heyday. I imagine cinema will be the same.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Nothing really disappears, though. People still go to the theatre, ballet and opera. They still read novels, listen to the radio and watch conventional television. While none of those forms may have the cultural relevance they once did, they continue to attract audiences, albeit smaller ones than in their heyday. I imagine cinema will be the same.

Perhaps, I mean some tech goes away and is replaced. TV has been evolving. Cable TV seems to be ending, giving way to streaming. What the smart phone has become for the younger generations, I think, is a device that does it all. Really, a game changer. When I was a kid, my parents got me a TV for my room. Now, I go into kids rooms and there is no TV. Why? Well, they don't need one. It's like no longer having a landline phone in my house. Have not for years. Don't need one.

Here's a phrase that I have actually heard today "OK, put that phone away, you've had enough phone time. Go outside or watch some TV."

I'm not saying all of the younger generations will avoid the cinema, but I think it does not play the same part in their lives as it did in ours. If they do make content directed at these younger people, that is specifically for their phones, I can see that becoming more interesting to them. If they are using their phones with the immersive head sets, well, even more so. It was funny, in the demo I saw of the immersive stuff, when it began you entered a huge cinema. So you are standing in a cinema before the event/show begins. So, if you wanted to, you could have that cinema experience on your phone to some extent.

I'm just saying the technology changes and as it does so does what can be presented as entertainment.

I think it is possible, I'm not making a prediction, that what we see as cinema, sitting in a theater or in front of a TV, could end up looking as old fashioned as a black and white silent film does to us, to a younger generation. Their idea of what entertainment is will likely shift with the technology.