Comments on: Accessing the Cinematic Cloud

By: Scott Ellington

Scott Ellington — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:43:37 +0000

AdditionallY, the selection of the ATM that reduces the probability of customer mugging (by the bank or mugger), and the presentation of content that runs counter to the proscribed interests and avidities of the customer would be the responsibility of the pull-agent. Which means of access to content is more favorable to the content creator than the studio/distributor/aggregator? An agency dedicated to the service and protection of the enduser and content creator, rather than the middlepeople.

By: Scott Ellington

Scott Ellington — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:19:47 +0000

Thank you. Branded sources of entertainment have traditionally pushed product toward consumers. In this present period of transition, distributors of content and the new aggregators have refined the pushing process within proprietary constraints.
The logical next step involves and pull-agent, one who knows the tastes and interests of the individual customer (books, films, television, music…) and proposes titles for the customer’s exploration, regardless of the proprietary limitations governing the pushers. A TA for each member of the audience, furnishing routes of custom access to specific content for the continuing education of interested individuals, whether the quest is for the creative work of Franklin Pangborn, or the pronouncements of Ronald Neame, or Tim Minear’s condemnation of the modern broadcast network’s ability to find an audience.
I think the need surely does exists for a meta-aggregator, as you say. And that it has yet to be met for reasons that revolve around enfeebling financial competition between proprietary domains. Thanks also for GoWatchIt.

By: Chuck Tryon

Chuck Tryon — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:45:46 +0000

I’m not quite sure I follow your observation. But I think the subscription model has its limits, in part because we might end up paying multiple services for small parts of the cinematic pie (rather than simply going to a video store where no membership fee is required).

I think there could be a need for a meta-aggregator, and GoWatchIt.com is growing on me, although it’s unclear to me (at this point) what the privacy and proprietary issues might end up being. Still, the idea that we can access any movie anytime and anywhere is largely a fiction, one that the ATM metaphor doesn’t quite grasp.

By: Scott Ellington

Scott Ellington — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:57:19 +0000

I think you’re heralding the rise of a third-party consultancy (industry), rather like a personal media shopper, who receives the titles of works in all of your libraries and extrapolates your interests and means for you to access content from all of the sources and aggregators whose interest in their customers (as opposed to consumers) is less-encyclopedic, more protective of your privacy and significantly less proprietary. Customerizing the consumer media industry.

By: Chuck Tryon

Chuck Tryon — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:47:34 +0000

All good points. Some services are expanding their offerings of “special features,” but many of those come at an extra cost. And I agree that physical media, i.e., DVDs, will die much more slowly than people expect.

By: joanna

joanna — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:53:34 +0000

Other factors to consider: not all services stream high quality images, I can’t select the language or type of subtitles, not enough closed captioning, I don’t have access to commentary tracks or special features, and I have to go online instead of watching when and where I want. I still want my dvds for these reasons.

By: Chuck Tryon

Chuck Tryon — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:06:01 +0000

Robin, in some cases, it seems that “virtual junk” eventually gets taken down, but in others, we are left with websites, videos, and music that don’t run properly. I think that one big concern there will be that some filmmakers will not be able to pay for upgrades and films that are digital-only could get “lost” as formats evolve over time. We need to give these failures and gaps much more attention that they are receiving.

By: Chuck Tryon

Chuck Tryon — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:09:31 +0000

Good points, both about the degree to which our access is controlled and about the limits on completism. In fact, it’s relatively unlikely that any single database/service will have control over or rights to all of the films of a single director, much less a full collection of, say, film noir or silent-era comedies.

By: Robin

Robin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:39:33 +0000

I am curious what happens to all that information that is stored in a cloud that is not used. The Cloud seems very fascinating, yet, a problem that I see with the continued development of new technology is the amount of virtual junk that is in the air…

By: The Chutry Experiment » Accessing the Cinematic Cloud

The Chutry Experiment » Accessing the Cinematic Cloud — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:11:16 +0000

[…] case you missed it elsewhere, I have a new post on the Antenna Blog, “Accessing the Cinematic Cloud,” which responds to John August’s comparison of digital movie delivery with ATMs. […]