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Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

nplusonemag.com

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Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#51

Post by keiferski »

HellDunkel wrote: post #48
keiferski wrote: post #15

Netflix thought they could take on Hollywood and beat them at their own film game. But in the process they realized that it’s not actually a game worth winning, and more importantly, that YouTube and TikTok are their real competition, not Hollywood. The future of most media is video-based, and I think Netflix probably understands this and is trying to get away from the historical model as movies you watch online and…

Can you please explain what this optimized video ecosystem of youtube is actually optimized for other than clickbait? Maybe it works for others but i fell into this for a while and now i look at it in disgust.

Clickbait is a part of it, sure. But there are also many other content types that I wouldn’t characterize that way: 3+ hour long video podcasts, ambient music channels, niche indie musicians, short entertaining videos like Mr. Beast, etc. YouTube is increasingly a huge tent that includes tons of different kinds of content.

My point was more that YouTube is increasingly designed for a world in which people have their devices everywhere and jump in and out of watching videos.

Netflix isn’t, because it is still using the “old” model of sitting down for 30-200 minutes to watch a movie.

I’m not saying that the film model is bad or somehow worth getting rid of - I love films myself - just that it’s probably not the future of video content for most people.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#52

Post by paulgb »

jsnell wrote: post #49

The source, https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/essays/casual-viewing/ , seems like a much better article. But it is hilarious in a meta kind of way that a bottom feeder "summarize real writing done by others, and slap on a clickbait headline" website pretends to have the moral high ground on this issue. I wonder what the guidance they give t to their writers is, and what metrics they're pushed to improve.

Thanks, this is a much better article!

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#53

Post by dist-epoch »

Argonaut998 wrote: post #43

It’s just slop par excellence. I’ve been watching a number of movies with my wife over Christmas. Everything is so bland, repetitive and ‘design by committee’. It goes further than merely announcing what the characters are doing (in that new wannabe Die Hard movie we hear that they are expecting a baby three times in 5 minutes), you just know there are certain metrics used for every genre of movie accounting for ever…

Yet you watch these instead of the ones with "soul".

Seems to me they provide what the market wants.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#54

Post by Argonaut998 »

dist-epoch wrote: post #53
Argonaut998 wrote: post #43

It’s just slop par excellence. I’ve been watching a number of movies with my wife over Christmas. Everything is so bland, repetitive and ‘design by committee’. It goes further than merely announcing what the characters are doing (in that new wannabe Die Hard movie we hear that they are expecting a baby three times in 5 minutes), you just know there are certain metrics used for every genre of movie accounting for ever…

Yet you watch these instead of the ones with "soul". Seems to me they provide what the market wants.

My wife chooses the Netflix ones unfortunately. What ones are good?

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#55

Post by openplatypus »

Argonaut998 wrote: post #43

It’s just slop par excellence. I’ve been watching a number of movies with my wife over Christmas. Everything is so bland, repetitive and ‘design by committee’. It goes further than merely announcing what the characters are doing (in that new wannabe Die Hard movie we hear that they are expecting a baby three times in 5 minutes), you just know there are certain metrics used for every genre of movie accounting for ever…

> And this is fine when you realise that Netflix replaces direct-to-video movies and not that of cinema, as much as they refuse to admit.

This.

Netflix does have good productions. But they are often surrounded by the sea of mediocracy.

Stopped subscribing to N over a year ago and haven't missed it a single bit.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#56

Post by foobarqux »

I don’t remember the program but in the years of broadcast TV there was a writer on a nightly talk show explaining why all TV episodes were so bland. He said that he wrote an intricate plot for TV which was rejected because the show had to be watchable by someone doing this dishes. So this isn’t a phenomenon new to the Netflix era.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#57

Post by keiferski »

austin-cheney wrote: post #41
tuwtuwtuwtuw wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watch/listen to stuff when I do chores at home. If I am going to iron 30 things or knead a dough for 15 minutes, then it's nice to have some entertainment while doing it, even if I can't focus on it all the time. Not sure I fit into any of the two audiences you mention.

By the downvote I suspect you find this description of inattention, or chores, offensive. How is that, the complete inability to focus and the emotional hostility you imagine about it, not a form of ADHD?

Try doing chores for multiple people, hours a day, years on end, first. I’m guessing you haven’t done that, or you wouldn’t suggest that people who like having a little entertainment while doing chores have a form of ADHD.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#58

Post by bondant »

kleiba wrote: post #12
rich_sasha wrote: post #11

I find it very stressful when watching Netflix because I don't know what is going to happen. Maybe they could include the full story line at the start of the series, so I can read it ahead of time and remove all suspense and surprise.

True, but plots are only half the story. I'd be very grateful if they could give me some sample scenes (ideally automatically, so I don't have to go through the trouble of starting them every single time). I mean, how do people even decide whether a movie might be for them without having first inspected a good portion of it?

> I mean, how do people even decide whether a movie might be for them without having first inspected a good portion of it?

You can read review of journalists you usually agree with, ask for advice from your friends, check if you liked other movies from the same filmmaker, check if the movie has been displayed in your favorite movie theater or in the movie theater you dislike (but okay, won't work for netflix movies).

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#59

Post by fzeindl »

rich_sasha wrote: post #11

I find it very stressful when watching Netflix because I don't know what is going to happen. Maybe they could include the full story line at the start of the series, so I can read it ahead of time and remove all suspense and surprise.

I just wish they wouldn‘t so disproportionally often drift off into extreme sillyness (That, I can take.) or extreme brutality and gore (That, I find revolting. When did showing so much splatter on a regular basis start being considered good film making outside of the occasional Tarantino?).

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#60

Post by nkrisc »

kleiba wrote: post #12
rich_sasha wrote: post #11

I find it very stressful when watching Netflix because I don't know what is going to happen. Maybe they could include the full story line at the start of the series, so I can read it ahead of time and remove all suspense and surprise.

True, but plots are only half the story. I'd be very grateful if they could give me some sample scenes (ideally automatically, so I don't have to go through the trouble of starting them every single time). I mean, how do people even decide whether a movie might be for them without having first inspected a good portion of it?

> I mean, how do people even decide whether a movie might be for them without having first inspected a good portion of it?

You’re describing watching the movie. Which is what most people do. If the movie is terrible then you just stop watching it, or if you finish it you can then decide if you liked it or not.

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