Piracy in the Film Industry
Introduction
Piracy in film refers to the act of using, reproducing, or reproducing another artist’s work without his or her consent. Over the past few years, piracy has become in the film and entertainment industry as a result of unauthorized producing or reproducing or other people artwork. Since technological advancements have evolved around the globe, the problem of piracy has become more severe as people can easily download or upload the work illegally via the internet. Even though piracy and copyright infringement are some of the most significant threats in the film and entertainment industry, other people view it as an avenue of boosting sale volumes of artists. On the other hand, piracy is essential in the film industry because it reduces production costs. Usually, pirated content or software costs close to zero because the pirate does not or incur less financial resources to acquire the software or the already done work. As well, the process involves the use of software that can not be traced to the location of the pirate. As such, this paper will critically discuss various effects of piracy in the film and entertainment industry.
Film industry has been struggling with the issue for centuries. Movie piracy started with pirates using camcorders to copy movies shown in a theatre, a process known as “ripping”. Currently, the pirates have gotten plenty of ways to steal the works for example, television connections provide the most common way to pirate movies. Subscription TV, digital stream and HDTV rips are becoming more popular with the advancement of satellite.
Piracy in Film Industries.
Piracy in film can be considered as duplicating and distributing copies or pieces of films for which the recording artist, the composer, or the company which is holding the copyright has not authorized. Piracy has been in play for a very long time and very little has been done to liberate the copyright-holder from this violation. Over the past decade, the act of piracy has been identified as the biggest threat that affect the film industry. Technological advancement is one of the leading factors that promotes piracy of videos in the film industry. It encourages cybercrime activities because pirates find it easy to access other people videos using computer software and systems. As such, creating more freedom in the use technological system in the film industry has contributed much to the breach of copyright rules.
Reasons and Sources of Piracy in Film Industry
Statistically, piracy has various reason why it is becoming rampant the Film industry. First, most people are driven by the fact that pirated films and movies are cheaper compared to original of film. As a result, most people chose to buy pirated copies of movies than acquiring an original copies. Due to the increased demand for pirated movies, most pirates are motivated to hijack other people’s work without their consent and sell them to their customers.
Another key source of piracy or copyright infringement currently is due to increase use of smart phone and portable devices. Over the past decade, film industry has experienced an increase in use of digital devices. Many people are using portable devices such as IPad and iPhone for movies entertainment instead of using DVD format to watch movies. Consequently, this has contributed to the increase unauthorized ways of accessing other artists’ videos and sharing them via online platforms or by wireless devices without the consent of original artists.
The Effects of Piracy on Film Industry
The major problem that the film artists have faced in the current generation is online piracy. This term is used to elucidate the illegal exposure of film contents on the online platform barring the copyright holder from accessing high rightful revenue. The first impact of piracy on the film is the reduction of Gross Domestic Product contribution from this industry. Usually, a nation may experience reduced contribution to the economic development participation of this entertainment industry due to the redirection of revenues to other nations. When the film is produced in one country and pirated in another, massive revenues goes to the pirating nation since they can sell the pieces of art at a lower cost.
Besides piracy is responsible for killing talents. An upcoming artist will be demoralized upon discovering this stumbling block, piracy. Other than being driven by the talent, it is also very important to protect the profitability of the artists in both film under the entertainment industry. Hijacking the profit in this industry before the copyright holder can enjoy the benefits will demoralize the players making them less creative and less committed to pursuing these endeavours.
Furthermore, piracy significantly affects the quality of films produced. This effect can be viewed in two dimensions. First, on the side of the artist, they will be striving to produce fast in order to enjoy the short term revenue before their contents leak in the market. This quick production does not put into consideration long-term profitability hence a little focus on quality. As well, on the producers’ perspective, they will not invest much in a certain piece of work since the profitability is not well secured.
Victims of the act of Piracy in the Film Industry
Piracy has a far-reaching effect which can be experienced by almost all the players of this industry. First, the government will lose the revenue due to illegal duplication by unknown parties either in the same or different nation. Second, the artist, producers, and directors will be highly affected by piracy than any other group. This is because, the latter are the only players who have committed capital in the production of film, which surely should have a positive return. Finally, the audience will be affected by piracy due to the circulation of low-quality contents.
Film piracy is an actual threat to both industries
Film piracy has been considered as the greatest predicament that the entertainment industry has faced over the last two decades. When the film is pirated, both the film face a huge impact in relation to revenue loss and financing. Apparently, huge amounts of capital are required to ensure streamlined operations, but then, with rampant piracy, this would be efforts in futile.
Response to Piracy in Film Industry
The film industry has always been a victim of piracy and in my opinion, it has been affected worse than the music industry. But over the years; the film industry has evolved and adapted some changes to combat the problem.
The film industry should license their movies to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Video to deliver it to people straight to their homes. They can charge the services a royalty to able to stream their movies. By making the movies available to people in the comfort of their homes; the film industry can reduce the widespread piracy problem. Television service providers like Comcast, Dish and many others are starting to provide premium services to be able to view the movies that are not available on the streaming services for a fee. Incorporating major providers to give the public easier access can also help reduce the problem of piracy. The industry needs to start enforcing copyright laws to websites such as Pirate bay; Torrents to reduce the distribution of pirated material. Shutting down websites that promote pirated content should be another big step in the process of protecting themselves from this problem.
In all reality, piracy of movies is a worldwide epidemic that is hard to keep under control as many countries from where this material originates have a lack of piracy laws and enforcement. Eradication of piracy in the near future is probably impossible but the reduction in the distribution should be a short-term goal which is achievable.
Impacts of Technology on Film and Film Industry
Special Effects and the use of convergence technologies have had a positive impact on the film industry. Increasing the operational spectrum of the movies and the different genres of movies have special effects to thank for their success.
Special effects have slowly developed over the years and the film industry has used them on characters to bring them to life. The use of this technology has given the industry the tools to make movies like The Avengers and The Avatar which have had huge amounts of success on the box office. Special effects use a lot of different technologies to deliver the picture we see and one of them is known as CGI or computer-generated imagery. With the use of CGI; the flying powers of the Iron Man come to life or Banner turning into the Hulk or Thor traveling through the various dimensions. These technologies aid the industry to successfully tell their stories by bringing their characters and their capabilities to life. CGI is just one of the various special effect technologies available to the film industry. With the use of the technologies; the filmmakers are delivering films in higher quality than a regular camera. It also helps an artist to create movies without the use of any actors. A great example of that is “The Toy Story” movie which was the first animated movie.
Effects of Violence in Film Industry
The violence in movies needs to be more tightly controlled. One of the ways that this can be accomplished is by actually enforcing the ratings on the movies. I have witnessed multiple times where teenagers are allowed to watch R-rated movies without the presence of the adult which is highly suggested by the rating. The theatres need to ID every person when the purchase of tickets takes place whether at the box office or online. The ID’s also need to be verified when entering the theatre screening areas by the staff. An overhaul of the MPAA ratings should also be conducted and making the movie rating enforcement a law so people have to adhere to the ratings and it is no longer just a suggestion. PG-13 should only screen content in compliance with that rating and not R-rated content. According to an NBC News article; there is more violence in PG13 movies today than R-rated movies in the 1980s. The movie peeping tom (1960) was initially rated as X originally but eventually based on the violence and the gruesome violence scenes in the movie; in 1990 the movie’s rating was bumped up to R/NC-17. Due to the re-rating of the movie; it cost it’s Michael Powell (Director) his career.
Conclusion
Music and film industry should be protected with all efforts to ensure the industry dynamics are sustained. When a country does not devise sustainable anti-piracy rules, it will suffer massively in term of revenue, poor quality artistic works and killing of local talents in both music and film industry.