No Community For Old Media
New media opportunities.
(GBR) I visited the cinema the other day, to watch No Country For Old Men. After the film, everyone I was with had an opinion on what was seen, good and bad, we spoke our words and they beamed across to each others ears, then evaporated into thin air. We then walked off to the car and each went home.
How dull.
Was that it? I was thinking. I wanted to leave a comment, for the next person to find. There was no-where for me to do that. No number to text, no Kiosk to give my thumbs up or down, no video booth to leave a rant, no community cafe led by a local fanboy of the director to join in a discussion.
Sure the indie art house cinemas, have actor and director post feature discussions. But I wasn't at one of those. I was in a multi screen complex. Where 10s of thousands of pounds exchanging hands and thousands of people filtering through every week… I know these cinemas have a production line mentality, but they're also fighting the backlash of DVD sales, illegal downloads, and online screenings. Shouldn't they be embracing the technology? rather than putting their hands over their eyes and thinking no-one will notice.
I can't help but think that cinemas are slow to catch up. Their visitors are used to communicating instantly and hearing, reading, seeing opinions from everyone else before them.
I don't think it's enough for any form of media to just deliver anymore… whether that's books, music, films or stage shows.
How hard would it be to impliment just half of the things I've mentioned above? Not much I'm guessing. Maybe one day hey? Until then, there's definitely no community for old media.
