Seeing this article in USA Today about the increase in ads being shown prior to a film at the local cinema really depresses me on a number of fronts. The Twenty has been with us for awhile now. Although I maintain that the quality (or lack thereof) have significant impact on the decline in movie attendance, I also have a hunch that the rise of the Twenty seems to have some corelation. That is completely non-scientific, of course, but there are some interesting ancecdotes that help me derive that hunch.
Here's one of those ancedotes from my own experience.
At our small not-for-profit theatre professional theatre prior to each performance, I, or one of our staff members, make an introductory welcome speech to the audience prior to each peformance. In addition to welcoming the audience and providing the obligatory "turn off your cell phone" announcment we do offer our own brand of commericals for various campaigins we may be running or highlighting and upcoming event. Now we operate on the same captive audience approach as movie theatres do and I know from discussions with my customers that this is what riles them.
Harmless? To some in our audience, yes, but to some no. We actually have customers who refuse to be seated until the "curtain speech" is over. And I've got a few who I've had to sit down and explain why we do what we do in order to keep their business. I've also noticed that the results of the curtain speech have declined this year and we are re-evaluating what we do. I don't think those who find the curtain speech not to their liking are in the minority.
Add to this mix the breathless rush to conquer the world that is Web 2.0 and the amazing products in the pipeline that will be created to do what? Push more advertising. I think we're headed into an age where we are going to soon seen advertising that advertises more advertising. We already spend as much time and effort critiquing it as we spend critiquing the products themselves. While there is nothing wrong with advertising and certainly great gobs of money to be made there, I think the inevitable an inexorable move towards more and more is self defeating in the long run.
I'm sure there are execs in Hollywood who spend their day trying to make sure films can be cut so they can get The 20 in along with the movie under two hours. It's only the Peter Jacksons and the Speilbergs and other A-list directors who can fight that kind of push, and usually because they are self-producing. And the same execs who insist on using The 20, are now beginning to load up DVD's with the same sort of packages and cry foul when folks don't want to watch them. Notice DVD sales declined this year as well.
I know I'm largely tilting at windmills here, but the self-defeating path I believe we are on is depressing. When we value a product more for it's selling appeal than we do for it's inherent athestic or practical value, we not only devalue the product and it's creators, we devalue the entire transaction from idea through creation through delivery. With that in mind Is it any wonder polls show that people treat digital content differently today than they treated intellectual property differently a generation ago? I don't think it has to do solely with how easy it is to acquire. People want freedom from the barrage and they'll look for ways to find it. New ways will be found to keep barraging them. And the cycle will continue.
Like I said. Depressing.
