Contemporary Film Culture

Nowadays, film culture can be seen as not only cinema-going, but also online viewing and home cinema. This has raised questions whether cinema is dead, since viewing film at home is much cheaper, but I believe the cinematic experience cannot be created anywhere else.

Cinema-going.

An article from British Film Institute about cinema-going in Britain and how it has changed since 1900's:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/ultimatefilm/cinemagoing.html

Cinema-going has taken an important part in the film history, but it seems to be a bit forgotten. However, I think the attractions are sufficiently strong to attract audiences. First of all, cinema has always been a place that provides the best sound and image quality. Second, throughout years, cinema-going has been considered as a part of night-out. In the past, going to the cinema was considered to be the same as going to a theatre or opera. People dressed up and prepared to socialise with others who have come to the film. Nowadays, cinemas provide bars and restaurants, which means even more space and opportunities to meet with other people and discuss the film.

Online viewing.

Online viewing is one of the latest things that has come in the film culture. Since the internet has developed, the opportunity to watch films online has grown. There are now many websites to choose from, all providing different kinds of films in the best quality.

A website containing links to online filmviewing sites:
http://www.ovguide.com/movies.html


For a long time, parts of films have been available on the YouTube, but they have now decided to show full-length films from Metro-Goldwin-Mayer's archives.

The BBC artice:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7720918.stm

Home cinema.

Home cinema has developed a lot in the last years. People can now watch HD television and create their own cinema at home, using the latest sound and image providing gadgets. Screen sizes have grown a lot and tapes have now been changed to much smaller and more useful CD's.

An article from The Guardian about concerns of the days of cinema-going being numbered:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2006/jan/27/johnpatterson