Technology is revitalizing the film industry

Cinema consumption in Spain has stood at 0.7% for some years now, according to the study Marco general de los medios en España 2017, carried out by the Associació per a la Recerca dels Mitjans de Comunicació (Association for Mass Media Research, AIMC). It is stable, but not as healthy as it could be. However, it does have a major ally: technology. New concepts such as video on demand (VOD), crossmedia, transmedia storytelling, crowdfunding, immersive experiences and virtual and augmented reality cinema are new realities that have emerged thanks to ICTs and are helping to increase the consumption of films and TV series. Within this new context, the sector is demanding new professional roles. Conscious of this, the UOC has designed a bachelor's degree in Film Studies* to respond to the educational demand for multidisciplinary professionals who are able to adapt to the changes that are taking place throughout the value chain of the film industry as a result of digital transformation. The degree will be three years (180 ECTS credits) and will be offered from the coming academic year.

ICTs have taken film out of traditional cinemas and into the home, where it is consumed as video on demand via the internet. Traditional agents have been forced to rethink business models and distribution, programming and production strategies as a result of the effects caused by new technologies, the new forms of consumption on multiple devices, and the new dynamics established by major players such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and Hulu. These are “disruptive distribution, programming and production strategies that are affecting both the film and television industry and having a direct impact on old and new professional profiles”, explains Jordi Sánchez Navarro, dean of the UOC’s Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences.

As the 2017 White Paper on the audiovisual sector in Catalonia indicates, “the speed of change taking place in the audiovisual sector explains why the demand for professional profiles by companies and institutions is constantly renewing itself. This requires a response from the education sector, which has to adapt progressively to the emerging education needs in the market”.

Within this context, the bachelor's degree in Film Studies has been created to “satisfy the need for the constant creation and training of old and new profiles resulting from the convergence of new technologies and content in the audiovisual sector”, its director, Judith Clares, explains.

New professions in the audiovisual sector

In a sector under transformation and with close ties to the digital environment, as indicated in the Empleos del futuro en el sector audiovisual (Jobs of the future in the audiovisual sector) report by Fundació Atresmedia Corporación and PWC, key professions will include those related to audience analysis and big data, or the addition of content related to the video on demand (VOD) offer, fundamental to the new offer of over-the-top (OTT) and pay TV broadcasting. This is “content we consider necessary to include in the bachelor's degree programme in order to learn about them and consider them, in addition to content related to creation, new transmedia storytelling and specific content relating to the distribution of audiovisual content for new VOD platforms and mobile devices”, Clares explains.

The report says that the new jobs will be in the fields of content, marketing and transmedia, especially those related to the digital environment and multiplatform development, which will be specialized profiles.

Good times for the film industry

According to the report Entertainment and Media Outlook 2017-2021. Spain by PWC, “the renaissance of the film sector will continue during the next five years. The economic recession and pirating have resulted in a significant fall in box-office revenue. Income generated by the sector fell to 519 million euros in 2013. Since then, the film industry has shown signs of recovery and in 2016 achieved an income of 621 million euros, which is expected to grow to 729 million euros in 2021, with an accumulated growth rate of 3.2% over the next five years. This will mean that, in 2019, the sector will have the same level of income it had ten years ago, in pre-recession times”.

This growth will, to a large extent, be achieved due to the significant rise in the consumption of digital cinema in the home (14%); the 25% growth in the consumption of video on demand (VOD) is particularly significant, the same study points out.

The UOC already offers a Master's Degree in Contemporary Fiction and Fantasy Film with the Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya

Currently, (number) students are studying the Master’s Degree in Contemporary Fiction and Fantasy Film, one of the new courses this academic year, created by the UOC and the Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya.

For Jordi Sánchez-Navarro, dean of the UOC Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences and this master's degree, it is essential that professionals are constantly recycling and reinventing to create films that “surprise, scare, thrill and excite” viewers. In addition, they will need to be able to pitch good scripts and design the preproduction of a film.

In this regard, both the Master’s Degree in Contemporary Fiction and Fantasy Film and the new bachelor's degree in Film Studies are a clear commitment by the UOC towards creativity in film, at a time in which, as Sánchez Navarro explains, “in all forms of communication, and particularly in film and in audiovisual media, within the next five years services and ways of doing things we cannot imagine right now will appear”. Within this context, “a very promising scenario is opening up for creators of film and audiovisual content, especially in small format, which is demonstrated by the fact that video is becoming the most important and effective resource on the internet”, Sánchez Navarro points out.

* Pending verification by AQU Catalunya and a ruling of the Universities Council.