Grades I Need

Mock Exam - Film Piracy

To what extent does internet piracy pose a threat to the film industry?

Film piracy is poses a significant threat towards the film industry, due to the rise of piracy many films are much of the same thing, many sequels and a lot of predicatability has been seen with films. Although, low budget and non-mainstream films are given more of an opportunity to be discovered and watched, as they are more likely to not be shown with cinemas, an example is The Human Centipede. Piracy has also made a lot of film production companies lose a huge amount of money which means these companies are not going to take any risks on films and will only produce films that are guaranteed to sell like blockbusters. The industry is now making a lot of films in 3D as these type of films are very difficult to pirate online - which is the main destination for film piracy. Megaupload paved the way for many pirated films avaliable on the internet and films are now easier to pirate as they are distributed digitally rather than on 35mm film. A pirated film site I use is 1Channel and the reason for this like many people is having little money to go and see films in cinema. Also pirated film websites are quite efficient in watching a range of films you want to watch, rather than cinemas that are going to show similar films mainly from the 'big film studios', and very few if any films from smaller less mainstream film studios.

Technology has influenced piracy through the use of the internet, there is such a rich harem of films online. Also they have such variety and if a film is removed from one website its then uploaded unto another. Additionally it is very difficult to enforce the law on film piracy via the internet as there are many loopholes. This makes it very hard for film companies to stop their films being pirated. A very large amount of cinemas now distribute films digitally meaning these films will be streamed through the internet, making piracy more easy. In comparison to when films were distributed through 35mm film, which was harder to pirate. A lot of films are now being produced in 3D as this is something that is very difficult to replicate in the process of piracy. Without 3D many production companies are no longer wanting to take risks with films, meaning directors are almost forced to do 3D films.

Film piracy is quite an effiiciently social way of watching films, in which someone can just invite others to go and watch a pirated copy of a film through the internet. The sound and video quality is also good making piracy a sociable option. Film piracy also offers the chance of a variety of films that audiences would not be exposed in cinema. Also this creates a potentially larger audience for less know directors and the smaller prodution companies that produce their films. The home cinema experience is overpowering cinemas, as attendance in cinemas continues to drop, home cinema allows the viewer to watch anything, whether old or new and can affect their knowledge in films. As most cinema goers are mostly watching blockbusters, suddenly the world of on-line piracy offers a variety of films, some with complex narrative and genre aspects that can educate audiences.

Films prices are continously rising even though cinema attendance is decreasing, making piracy a more viable option. A large amount of films that are now screened in 3D are also more expensive to see in comparison to 2D. Film companies also have to pay more to film in 3D which decreases their overall budget and profit. The threat of piracy has meant that film production companies are restocking on producing re-makes, and sequels of films that are generally all the same. Another thing is the continuously re-booted films that are shown in 3D. The reason films are going down this route is because they are guaranteed to sell, because they have a pre-sold audience. Production companies do not want to create a film with a deep narrative aspect that will be critically acclaimed but pirated all over the internet. 

The threat of film piracy is clearly significant to the film world. With the continuous flow of 3D films and film remakes in 3D this has seen much of the cinema world declining in ticket sales and overall gross profits for films. Piracy has been happening since early 1980s with home video and although the 3D overdose in film is occurring, it is more of a phase and the industry will deal with piracy another way. For cinema to defeat the online piracy of todays world it will have to start showing a range of films, it will also have to restrict the large database of films available online which are matching cinematic film quality. There also needs to be film language of high quality embeded into films - narrative, genre, messages and values rather than just the visual aspects of CGI and 3D that are boring due to how overused they are. 

Mock Exam - Film Censorship

“Film censorship is motivated by fears about audiences and technologies.” Discuss this statement in reference to the concerns expressed about uncensored and unregulated video content in Britain in the early 1980s. [30 marks]

Film censorship was put in place to both protect audiences and to try and conquer the power of technology in relation to illegal distribution of unregulated films in the early 1980's. Although, this was not fully the sole reason why film censorship was put in place. Margaret Thatcher, Mary Whitehouse, the rise of home video and piracy along with cinemas losing money were all things that influenced film censorship.

During the 1980s there was a significant rise in the use of home video, people saw this new craze as fashionable and as a status symbol. The two home video systems were VHS and Betamax - who were competing in format wars against each other. This eventually saw VHS win this war, with the defining aspect that VHS had a longer tape recording of 3 hours, compared to Betamax with a recording time of 60 minutes. Nevertheless, the rise of both home video systems allowed much more efficient piracy for audiences and unlimited access to unregulated films. Film censorship was not able to rule out these unregulated films and cinemas began losing money because people were staying at home and watching films, instead of the cinema. 

The early 1980s resulted in many video nasties being made and consequently banned by the BBFC. A common occurrence with these videos was that they were horrors usually with quite graphic content. Initially many of these films were banned in cinemas, but with home video people could watch them at home - regardless of the audiences age. There was moral panic with the conservative party (who were in charge at the time. Margaret Thatcher who led the party at the time used home video as a scapegoat to blame for the UK's problems of the time. Video nasties were seen as a threat in influencing people to go and copy what they saw from these films. Also these films were spreading messages the government did not agree with and the conservative party being right-wing wanted to have control over what audiences were watching.

The BBFC were the actual group who enforced the 1984 Video Recordings Act which banned many video nasties. Initially video nasties were banned in cinema, but there was not really a rule to deny their distribution through home video. The recording act meant that all films including video nasties had to be sent to the BBFC for classification. At the time the BBFC were quite lenient with films and were more influenced by the conservative party who were consistently linking video nasties to nearly everything negative that was going on in Britain. Screenings of video nasties were shown to both conservative party members, as well as the National Viewers and Listeners Association, who feared these films would lead to people acting them out in real life.

Film censorship is partly motivated by audiences as the government did genuinely believe people would be more likely to commit the acts they saw in video nasties. Technology is a huge factor as without home video, video nasties could not be watched. Looking at today's cinema, many of these video nasties have went onto become hugely successful and many of them have been re-made and distributed in cinema, this is because they have a guaranteed pre-sold audience and this shows that the government of today would not censor these films as they would be economically successful in cinema. Also 'video nasties' are basically non-existent in today's film as so many films are such graphic and violent (The Human Centipede), audiences have become de-sensitized to them. I do not believe films should be censored as they are a matter of audiences personal choice, if you don't like something don't watch it. Their was no real evidence and there still is not that video nasties are/ have been corrupting society as The 1984 Video Recordings Act did not lessen crime or boost morale values in society.