Streaming: Movies, Media, and Instant Access - Softcover

Wheeler Winston Dixon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813142199 ISBN 13: 9780813142197

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 2013

Synopsis

Film stocks are vanishing, but the iconic images of the silver screen remain―albeit in new, sleeker formats. Today, viewers can instantly stream movies on televisions, computers, and smartphones. Gone are the days when films could only be seen in theaters or rented at video stores: movies are now accessible at the click of a button, and there are no reels, tapes, or discs to store. Any film or show worth keeping may be collected in the virtual cloud and accessed at will through services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant.

The movies have changed, and we are changing with them. The ways we communicate, receive information, travel, and socialize have all been revolutionized. In Streaming, Wheeler Winston Dixon reveals the positive and negative consequences of the transition to digital formatting and distribution, exploring the ways in which digital cinema has altered contemporary filmmaking and our culture. Many industry professionals and audience members feel that the new format fundamentally alters the art, while others laud the liberation of the moving image from the "imperfect" medium of film, asserting that it is both inevitable and desirable. Dixon argues that the change is neither good nor bad; it's simply a fact.

Hollywood has embraced digital production and distribution because it is easier, faster, and cheaper, but the displacement of older technology will not come without controversy. This groundbreaking book illuminates the challenges of preserving media in the digital age and explores what stands to be lost, from the rich hues of traditional film stocks to the classic movies that are not profitable enough to offer in streaming formats. Dixon also investigates the financial challenges of the new distribution model, the incorporation of new content such as webisodes, and the issue of ownership in an age when companies have the power to pull purchased items from consumer devices at their own discretion.

Streaming touches on every aspect of the shift to digital production and distribution. It explains not only how the new technology is affecting movies, music, books, and games, but also how instant access is permanently changing the habits of viewers and influencing our culture.

About this title

About the Author

Wheeler Winston Dixon is the James Ryan Professor of Film Studies, Coordinator of the Film Studies Program, Professor of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and, with Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, editor of the new book series Quick Takes: Movies and Popular Culture for Rutgers University Press.

He is the author of more than thirty books on film history, theory and criticism, as well as more than 100 articles in various academic journals. He is also an active experimental filmmaker, whose works are in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art.

His recent books include Black & White Cinema: A Short History (2015); Streaming: Movies, Media and Instant Access (2013); Death of the Moguls: The End of Classical Hollywood (2012); 21st Century Hollywood: Movies in the Era of Transformation (2011, co-authored with Gwendolyn Audrey Foster); A History of Horror (2010); and Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia (2009).

Dixon's book A Short History of Film (2008, co-authored with Gwendolyn Audrey Foster) was reprinted six times through 2012. A second, revised edition was published in 2013; a third, revised edition was published in 2018. The book is a required text in universities throughout the world.

Visit wheelerwinstondixon.com for more details on Dixon's books, films, and articles.

Review

"Dixon introduces us to the idea that streaming is becoming the standard in all areas of entertainment and media access. Dixon illustrates thedecline of film into digital, having filmmakers say goodbye to 16mm and35mm film, and audiences saying goodbye to multiplexes and physicalownership of intellectual property.

With the growing reality of theinternet, consumers are beginning to choose the convenience of stayinghome over going out when it comes to purchasing entertainment. This hasled to the decline of movie rental houses, bookstores, film theaters,etc. as consumers choose the convenience of the internet to deliver allforms of their media entertainment intake.

Dixon illustrates the takeover by the internet over film/televisionas synonymous to the takeover of movie-theater going by the invention of the television. But with streaming on the rise, the ownersof film theaters, and now television networks, are again beingthreatened by a new form of media exhibition. And it might not getresolved in such a contented way as it did with the introduction of theTV." - Carolyn Hauk, Film and Digital Media

"Streaming is a very interesting book that touches upon every aspect of the shift to digital production. The substantive content is both engaging and interesting, without being too technical or complex. At less than 200 pages, readers will gain from the book a better understanding of the transition to digital formatting and explore what stands to be lost with the emergence of streaming." - Mayra Neimerck, Journal of High Technology Law

"Like it or not, the streaming of movies and music is becoming an increasingly large portion of all internet traffic. This book gives the details.

Why shouldn't a person be able to pay a few dollars to stream a movie at home, when going to the theater or buying the DVD costs a lot more? At the theater, does the projectionist load a film canister on a 35mmprojector and turn it on? Increasingly, the answer is no. The majority of theaters have gone to all-digital systems. The movie is downloaded from the distributor, along with an electronic code. That code can be good for just one showing, on one specific day. If the right code is not available, or if it does not work properly, then there is no showing.

Fewer and fewer movies are being shot on actual film, because fewer and fewer theaters have film projectors. Unless there is an art house cinema nearby, any watching of older, or less well known, films, on actual film, is pretty much impossible. When is the last time that an older or obscure film was available at the local multi-theater megaplex? If whoever has a film copy of that older, obscure film, does not think it is lucrative enough to put it on DVD, there is little that can be done about it. Soon, the only way to watch films of any kind, will be through on-line streaming. Depending on your point of view, this is either that natural progression of technology, or it's the end of the world.

This is a very interesting book. For some, it may be common knowledge, but I learned a lot from it. It's non-technical, and very easy to read. It's also very much worth checking out." - Paul Lappen, Booksonline

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0813142199
• ISBN 13: 9780813142197
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184