By: A.J. Merch

Staff Writer

amerchant1@umassd.edu

During the quarantine of 2020, I was engulfed in the process of watching numerous shows and movies spanning from the 80s to the present. A large amount of shows on Netflix in particular as a means of escape with the pandemic and other major events of the world unfolding. After a while I started to sit to myself and wonder about the future of cinema and television and what I predict and what I hope for the future of these forms of media. As we progress in this new decade we started off with movies struggling to be put out as pandemic reared its head around the corner.  

Netflix and many other streaming services gave us the entertainment we need to occupy ourselves. As more people choose to stay home and create at home movie theaters, it’s easy to see the effort to provide the experience they could have in their own space without dealing with the the dangers of risk going to public theaters. In my belief, the future of cinema and television is going to become streaming services who will take the place of movie theaters; but will run to being home with their family with their own food and not having to deal with others being around them making them uncomfortable.

As streaming services grow they will start creating successful strong franchises which will be in competition with franchises like the MCU, Bond, and DCEU. We will see them diving into many genres and creating thrilling franchises which will bring people to love their services. I can see Netflix growing in that sense because they have been pushing their original content with examples such as their movies like the Old Guard, Extraction, and Spencer Confidential.

Additionally, I expect both streaming services and cinema to incorporate computer-generated imagery (cgi) on extreme levels to tell their stories when it comes to films. As I watched movies from the 80s-early 2000s, I realized that there was something that made me cherish these movies a lot. They felt raw and gave a certain feel that wasn’t trying to overcomplicate the movie with too much computer generated assets and usage of green screen. The movies were on location and it felt real and more relatable causing me to love them. As I started watching movies from late 2010s to the present, I started to see the over saturation of cgi and how the scenes just felt like too much.

I predict that this decade will include movies that dominate the box office and draw people in with high amounts of cgi and will likely be superhero, action, and “super” movies. My hope is that through it all, someone comes around to present some good ol’ action flicks and drama. I draw this conclusion from watching movies like Man on Fire. After watching Man of Fire, I had a dying need for movies like that which was extremely raw and felt some much emotion from setting and feel from the scenes alone. I hope more feelings leave behind the high amount of green screen and go practical like decades ago. I want the feel of a movie that doesn’t feel like the actors are just standing in a room where they don’t even know what is occurring just stating lines. In comparison to physical or practical settings which give the actors a true feeling of environment while on location. I feel this all the time on television shows who seem to embrace this practical on various location(s) feel.

I predict and know that television shows are soon to give more filmmakers and producers more creative control; especially streaming services like Netflix who let the creators’ imagination run free. So soon enough many young filmmakers will run to television or streaming services to create their vision. Hopefully many streaming services will take them under their wing and allow a huge growth in new and creative films and ideas to occur.