Streaming Services, Interaction, and Expensive Fantasy: How TV Shows Will Change Soon

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Lifehacker film critic Alexei Khromov - about what and how we will look in the near future.

Series production is now in its golden age. The prejudices that only directors and actors who could not get into a big movie are engaged in television projects are a thing of the past. The number of viewers of top shows every year sets new records, and the quality of filming and special effects is no longer inferior to blockbusters from cinemas.

But the world does not stand still, and every year the industry is changing: new formats appear, and previously little-known topics are raised in the stories. It is almost impossible to accurately describe what this area will be like in a few years: no one is able to clearly predict either social changes, much less revolutionary inventions that may affect filming and broadcast. However, you can assess what is happening now and make your own predictions.

More exclusive streaming services coming

Just 10 years ago, TV channels dominated the market. The series came out on a fixed schedule with scheduled reruns and subsequent DVD release.

That has changed with the development of the streaming service Netflix. Moreover, the platform gradually moved from broadcasting other people's projects to creating its own, and now it sets the rules on the market itself.

By the beginning of 2019, the number of subscribers to the service approached 140 million. But other streaming platforms have already appeared: Amazon Prime, Hulu, Sony Crackle. They all work on roughly the same principle: they broadcast popular TV series and produce their own content.

The convenience of such services for the viewer is obvious: you can not rush home to the next detective episode and not be afraid to oversleep your favorite comedy, because they are available at any convenient time.

The fact that the future lies with streaming services is evidenced by one obvious fact: literally all the largest studios are already creating their own streaming platforms. Disney + and Apple TV will launch in November, HBO Max in spring 2020. And that's not counting many other less visible projects.

Companies try to interest the viewer and offer the most attractive content. Disney + promises series on Star Wars and the MCU, HBO Max buys out exclusive rights to the legendary Friends, The Office and The Big Bang Theory.

In addition, platforms are trying to conclude exclusive contracts with popular producers and authors. Netflix got Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, Chorus) and Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Scandal), Amazon Prime has signed Nicole Kidman's studio, and Apple TV will partner with Oprah Winfrey.

From this we can conclude that even the creators of the most popular TV series now prefer to work with streaming services.

In Russia, such platforms are still lagging behind. But "Kinopoisk" is already in full swing buying exclusives for series, and "Amediateka" has planned its first original project.

The whole season will be released immediately

Netflix set the fashion for "drunken" watching of TV series, releasing in 2013 the entire first season of "House of Cards". And now it is being picked up by Amazon Prime, Hulu and others.

Since the services do not obey the broadcast network, it is logical to allow viewers to choose a convenient time and pace for themselves: some people like to watch one episode a week, while others swallow the whole season over the weekend.

Even TV channels are gradually leaning towards this principle. For example, AMC a paid subscription aired the entire first season of Terror on the day it premiered.

Of course, this does not work with all formats. So, on Netflix, talk shows fail, which viewers want to watch on the air for more topicality. And in the case of TV shows, the opportunity is lost to discuss each episode with friends and colleagues and build theories about the next episode, as it was with the "Game of Thrones" finale.

But still, the future of the series is precisely in the release of the entire season at once: it's not for nothing that Netflix has attracted such a number of subscribers.

Long-term procedures will become a thing of the past

The Information portal released an article in which he suggested that soon Netflix will stop filming series for more than two seasons. The thing is that after that the project ceases to attract new viewers.

It is profitable for The CW TV channel to gather an army of "Supernatural" fans for 15 years in a row, but in case of abandoning the studio's broadcast network, it would be more logical to close the project at the peak of popularity and release a new one, expanding the audience.

Even TV channels are inclined to this. In the spring of 2018, what the journalists dubbed the "May Massacre" happened: one studio after another closed not very successful series. The ABC channel alone canceled a dozen projects at once.

Against the background of the reduction in the number of seasons, it is logical to assume that there will be fewer endless procedures (that is, serials, where each episode is devoted to a separate case). Instead of them, more and more projects with a solid plot are already appearing.

This format attracts many popular directors, including those from big cinema. So, Jean-Marc Vallee completely directed Sharp Objects and the first season of Big Little Lies, Paolo Sorrentino released Young Pope. David Fincher did not direct all the Mindhunter episodes personally, but nevertheless was directly involved in the work.

All of these projects are reminiscent of hours-long films. And this is what, perhaps, attracts the authors: in the format of the series, they are not limited to 2-3 hours of timekeeping.

By the way, many top directors go to streaming services, even creating full-length films: they are given more freedom and opportunities there. For example, Zack Snyder is shooting a new film "Army of the Dead" for Netflix, and one of the main winners of the "Oscar" - Alfonso Cuaron's film "Roma" was released there.

From this we can conclude that auteur cinema is increasingly moving from cinemas to home screens, leaving wide distribution exclusively to blockbusters.

Will continue to create cinematic universes and series that complement films

After the successful experience of Marvel, all studios rushed to create their own cinematic universes on large and small screens. But many ideas have failed. In conditions of strong competition, it is difficult to build a coherent story, especially capturing not only cinema, but also television.

DC has in fact abandoned this principle: new series on the company's own streaming service are developing independently of the cinema, and in parallel the same characters exist on The CW.

But Disney probably decided to change the original principle of creating a Cinematic Universe, when the series told stories in the same world, but about new characters. Now in multi-part projects will send minor characters in films. Marvel will have miniseries about Loki, the Scarlet Witch and Vision, the Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye.

Disney is also releasing The Mandalorian around the world of Star Wars for the launch of its platform and is planning several more projects, including a series about Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Other studios also picked up the idea. Denis Villeneuve after the release of "Dune" is going to shoot a series about the women's order of the Bene Gesserit. And even the TV series on "The Dark Tower" originally wanted to make the backstory of the film. But after the failure of the latter, this idea was abandoned.

Traditional superheroics will recede into the background

In recent years, cinema and television have filled all kinds of heroes in tights and with superpowers. But the audience is already pretty tired of such stories.

That is why more non-standard projects are gaining popularity: "Umbrella Academy", which looks more like a family drama, and "Boys", which showed superheroes as greedy villains.

It is likely that in the coming years, traditional TV shows like The Flash and Supergirl will lose more and more popularity: too many of them have been filmed. And projects that criticize the topic or use it as part of the plot will come to the fore. For example, the life of ordinary people in the world of superheroes or the problems of characters with superpowers.

More high-budget fantasy series will be filmed

Against the background of the deafening popularity of "Game of Thrones", all studios rushed to film popular books and cycles in the fantasy genre. Until recently, there were few such projects: they are too expensive to manufacture.

But in the coming years, viewers will be presented with a dozen serials based on well-known books about magic and battles with any evil spirits. First of all, of course, "The Witcher" is expected, then "Dark beginnings". Also in development are the series prequel to The Lord of the Rings, spin-offs of Game of Thrones itself, The Wheel of Time and much more.

Of course, a large part of the planned projects will fail, and some will not reach the screens at all. Still, the next 2-3 years should expect an unprecedented surge of fantasy.

More interactivity with viewers

To understand this idea, you first need to realize that televisions, computers and smartphones are increasingly alike. You can already install applications on almost any modern TV and access the Internet from it. At the same time, TV shows from Netflix or Kinopoisk can be watched on mobile devices.

This allows authors to create new interactive content. So far, its development is at an early stage: Steven Soderbergh created the Mosaic project, designed specifically for viewing on smartphones, where the viewer himself can control some of the heroes' actions and influence the plot.

Netflix first released the children's interactive cartoon Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale, and then the film Bandersnatch, which is related to the world of Black Mirror. Even the You vs. Wild with Bear Grylls, where you can control the actions of the presenter.

In many ways, the future of interactive films and TV series will depend on the development of technology. Viewers, of course, like to personally influence the plot. It also protects against spoilers: Bandashmyg has several different endings. But we can assume that gradually the viewer will not only press the button at the right moments.

If you remember that some computer games are now coming out in seasons and real actors are filmed in them, you can imagine that a kind of hybrid of a game and a TV series will appear, where the viewer will directly control the characters.

Projects for different social groups and content personalization will appear

The development of streaming services affects not only the format of the series, but also their themes. Platforms do not have to gather the maximum number of viewers in front of the screens at a certain time, and this allows them to release more diverse projects aimed at specific social groups.

Moreover, we are talking here both about racial diversity, for example, TV shows that are primarily interesting to blacks, and about stories focused on the LGBTQ community.

Netflix and other services are already working on content personalization. That is, the viewer is offered new series and films based on his preferences. Most likely, this will continue to develop. Everyone will choose for themselves which topics they want to add and which ones they want to exclude.

Considering the development of contextual advertising and interactive, one can even imagine that gradually this approach will penetrate into television projects. For example, a viewer will be shown advertisements in TV shows related to their region or interests. Or else somehow filter the content right in the course of viewing.

Classic plots will change

Nobody can answer the question of which series and heroes will be popular. Otherwise, dozens of pilots would not order channels and platforms for new projects and would not close them after a failure.

But we can assume that in addition to the already mentioned fantasy series and universes associated with films, there will also be a classic drama. People fell in love with catchy life stories even before the advent of film and television.

Moreover, against the background of modern realities, women are increasingly being put at the center of the plot, or they are talking about some traumatic experiences of childhood and adolescence.

Comedy is also developing very well, although in big cinema it is now in great decline. Light, funny half-hour TV shows that are pleasant to watch at breakfast are still popular with viewers.

The era of sitcoms like Friends and The Big Bang Theory is likely a thing of the past. Against the backdrop of high-budget projects, series in which the action takes place in the same house attract less and less attention.

Also, the retro theme will gradually decline. In recent years, it is she, led by Stranger Things, that has attracted a nostalgic audience. But the plots are more and more inclined to self-repetition, and therefore the audience will surely lose interest in them.

In general, such popular projects as "Umbrella Academy" or "The Haunting of the Hill House" show that people are more and more attracted not by purely genre series, but by a mixture of styles. That is, horror or superhero fiction, to which a lot of drama and life stories are added. This is quite logical for the current era of postmodernism: you can enjoy exciting action and see real people in the characters instead of genre clichés.

Making accurate predictions about the future of television is difficult: trends are changing very quickly. But the rapid development of streaming services, interactivity and technology, as well as changes in society, will certainly affect the production of series. It is not without reason that this is one of the popular leisure activities in many countries.