The year 2020, the beginning of a new decade, has been the toughest year ever for the entire film industry. Countless film festivals were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including well-known film festivals such as Cannes Film Festival. Without doubt, this pandemic definitely has impacted on the economy, many venues are facing the issues of closing down, and sales agents are not able to make profits under this serious situation. However, as Wiseman (2020) mentions, it seems film companies and agencies are prepared to apply a contingency plan in terms of devising a virtual market. “The Cannes market is happening, it is only a question of whether it is virtual or in person”. In my opinion, this seller proves the fact that the film market could happen anywhere globally, and it can not be affected by other issues such as location or time. And this sort of attitude refers to the concept of “Cannes do spirit” which illustrates how professional the industry can be in terms of showing entrepreneurial spirit and dealing with unpredictable situations(Wiseman, 2020). As a large film company, Universal Pictures has decided to put current theatrical films upon the Internet for audiences. As Lussier (2020) states, Universal Pictures dedicated itself to develop a brand new mode of distribution in terms of making titled films accessible and affordable online. From my perspective, it is a milestone of creating a virtual environment for films, and it maintains the competitiveness of new films in the market.
There are plenty of live streamings about film culture currently in terms of encouraging people to get involved with films as usual, and I participated in one of them which is called Lockdown: An Interactive Livestream. I was not so excited when I first looked at it because the website itself was not that attractive. However, it turned out that this live stream gave me a whole new online experience. There was a live chat window which allowed me to chat with other participants in time, and this setting is linked to the concept of presence which is the key to a successful film festival. Moreover, after the screenings, there was a Q&A section which provided opportunities to the audience to know filmmakers a bit more, this section breaks the rule of traditional screening which the audience are more passive. In contrast, Q&A makes the audience more active in terms of making decisions for content. That might be the advantage of a virtual environment for film, and it is definitely a new way of sharing screening experiences.
References:
Germain Lussier, “Universal Becomes First Studio To Offer First Run Films In The Home”, Gizmodo, Mar 17, 2020 [online] Accessed on 12th April 20 at
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/03/universal-becomes-first-studio-to-offer-first-run-films-in-the-home/
Andreas Wiseman, “Yes We Cannes: Film Biz Toppers Devise Market Contingency Plan In Case Of Coronavirus Cancellation”, Deadline, March 17, 2020 [online] Accessed on 13th April 20 at
Yes We Cannes: Film Biz Toppers Devise Market Contingency Plan In Case Of Coronavirus Cancellation
