We spend a lot of time on our smartphones every day. Even Matt Damon says this makes movies and TV shows break one of the most important rules.
Actually, everything could be so great: We have a variety of streaming services to choose from and can choose what we want to watch every day. Many blockbusters end up on your TV at home shortly after their cinema release.
But have you noticed how much films and series have changed in recent years? The scripts are intentionally made more stupid than they need to be.
Our cell phones are to blame – or how we deal with it.
As a lover of good series and films, I would like to honor this art, as many people need to skillfully orchestrate their passion and concentrated expertise, to create a real masterpiece.
So when I sit on the couch, I turn off the light completely and take off my clothes my favorite comfortable headphones and concentrate fully on the content.
I also claim quite frankly that I know a thing or two about filmmaking, since I’m in the field as a hobby. Unfortunately, it has recently become apparent that one of the most important film rules is being broken more and more often. It reads:
So you should primarily show the plot instead of explaining it in words – otherwise you could watch a radio play. But It obviously has a systemthat this commandment is ignored.
Matt Damon talks about the secrets
In episode 2440 of the Joe Rogan Experiencethe largest podcast in the world with 11 million listeners, featured Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Among other things, it was about the differences between the shared cinema experience and streaming at home.
Damon says that people can’t or don’t want to pay as much attention to productions at home because it’s a more turbulent environment. “And it ultimately affects how films are made”he adds. Same with Netflix, he thinks.
Up to now, action films have usually been structured into three large parts with different scenes, with the most blatant effects and biggest explosions being saved for the finale in the third act.
Today it is exactly the other way around. The audience would have to be captured in the first five minutes in order for them to stick around. But the dialogues in the script have also changed.
“It would be good to repeat the action three or four times in the dialogue, as people are glued to their cell phones while watching”says Damon. This sentence went around the world. Actually, that’s exactly a no-go.
“a glaring example of how watered down films have become for a generation that sees cinema as background noise.”
Sure: If you shop online or write on WhatsApp, you can’t concentrate as well on the moving images on the television.
However, if the actors explain on the soundtrack what has happened, is currently happening or will happen, even inattentive “viewers” can roughly follow the action – and then look up from their cell phone at key moments.
So are Netflix, Prime Video and Co. to blame for this misery? Or are streaming services simply adapting to new viewing habits?
The fact is: cell phone apps vie for every bit of attention and make us dependent – through random dopamine hits and the fear you could miss something, somehow, somewhere.
I sometimes find myself picking up my phone for a moment while watching a film or series, just to something to check. Even if I just want to know briefly what an actor’s name was and where I last saw them.
But I’m just training myself out of the reflex: turn off the WiFi, turn off the sound, and put the device out of sight.
Anyone who does the so-called “second screening” may miss key moments in the plot in which the characters only appear visually. In which nothing explodes, but rather meaningful looks are exchanged.
It’s these moments in which actors earn Oscars.
Another part of the problem: Streaming platforms need to constantly deliver new content to stay relevant. What matters is not how lasting a film is, but whether it is consumed quickly and keeps subscribers engaged.
It is important that it is easy to understand, does not overwhelm anyone and reaches as many people as possible – even those who are only paying half their attention. I don’t want to be part of that, and going to the cinema remains a sacred ritual for me.
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