Netflix Test Varying Play Speeds: Makes Filmmakers Mad

M76

M76

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Netflix is introducing a new test feature to allow viewers to either speed up or slow down content on their smartphones, a move that quickly gained criticism online from Judd Apatow and other filmmakers.

No @Netflix no. Don’t make me have to call every director and show creator on Earth to fight you on this. Save me the time. I will win but it will take a ton of time. Don’t fuck with our timing. We give you nice things. Leave them as they were intended to be seen."
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Source
 
Can I say entitled filmmaker, please? They get to say entitled fans all the time!

But seriously, I'm not a fan of netflix, but this is just a hissy fit.
I know a lot of series addicts who watch series at 1.5x speed so they can watch more.
If this is what they want, let them have it.

If consumers don't get to tell you how to make films, then you don't get to tell them how to consume it, sounds fair?
 
My Wife would use this, constantly skipping entire scenes because 'they are boring'. Drives me bonkers.
 
I couldn't imagine wanting to watch something this way as it would ruin the cinematic presentation of the show, but there are people out there willing to watch cam versions of films so I guess it's not surprising that there are people watching stuff at 1.25x or 1.5x speeds.
 
If your viewers want to speed up the film instead of watching it at normal speed, maybe there is a reason for that. Perhaps it says more about the content than anything else if the viewers want to spend less time engaging with it.
 
TordanGow said:
If your viewers want to speed up the film instead of watching it at normal speed, maybe there is a reason for that. Perhaps it says more about the content than anything else if the viewers want to spend less time engaging with it.
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Frankly, if a show or movie is like that then I would rather just not watch it. I have not watched a new TV series all the way through with interest since Fringe. God knows I've tried, but I just don't try anymore. I was in a waiting room yesterday that was playing Gotham on the TV and I swear it was the worst slog I've ever seen. I was laughing at the absurdity of it at some points. I've actually been binge watching ER from the first season and that 25 year old series puts everything released in the last 10 years to shame.
 
pillagenburn said:
So when a film finally gets made...... who actually owns it?
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Who ever funded it generally, but it's really all in the contract because each party gets a cut. I guess it would come down to who owns majority share. Though if yer talking from an arts perspective, it starts usually with the director. But these days films are greenlit by the funders, ie. the the major studios so when a director says its his film, its his film from an artistic pov. Not that he actually owns the film.

lol at these guys getting all pissed off over playback speed. This is comical.
 
Why would someone want to watch a tv show or movie as a faster than "normal" rate?
 
1.5x playback would be excellent for movies that should have only been an hour but were stretched out. Aquaman comes to mind, finally watched that on HBO Prime and would have been a much better movie if it was edited down to an hour or hour and a half.
 
jordan12 said:
Why would someone want to watch a tv show or movie as a faster than "normal" rate?
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Netflix is the master of producing mediocre content, 1.5x playback would allow you to skip the pointless plot offshoots without missing anything important.
 
jordan12 said:
Why would someone want to watch a tv show or movie as a faster than "normal" rate?
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a show example is mr. robot. love the story line, but damn the scenes move a little slow. sure, it may be the feeling the director wants you to have, but wish i could speed it up a little.
 
aliaskary77 said:
a show example is mr. robot. love the story line, but damn the scenes move a little slow. sure, it may be the feeling the director wants you to have, but wish i could speed it up a little.
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I actually just started watching Mr. Robot (6 episodes in) and was thinking how doing this would ruin the atmosphere of the show, lol. I consider sound and score to be massively important though and couldn't imagine getting the desired effects if either was running at 1.5x.
 
1_rick said:
Because you're messing with his artistic vision or something. Next up: Pink Floyd complaining about radio stations playing singles from The Wall instead of the entire album.
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I think it's more akin to a chef watching you smother a dish in ketchup and then wolf it down.

But is there any point to getting mad at such people? I guess the main point here isn't that people do it, but rather that Judd doesn't want Netflix to promote this type behavior or push it toward becoming the norm. Then again, people could easily download a rip and watch it at 1.5x using VLC if that's what they wanted to do, and then you've lost a customer.
 
Pace and timing are important tools for filmmakers so I can understand why they'd be against it but once it's out of there hands they can't really expect to have any control over it.

I've sped up informational videos(in most cases I would have preferred a written version of the info) and I don't think I'd ever do it for something I was watching for entertainment.
 
"Distributors don’t get to change the way the content is presented. Doing so is a breaking of trust and won’t be tolerated by the people who provide it. Let the people who don’t care put it in their contracts that they don’t care. Most all do.""

Except for every TV station that licensed it, crops it, stretches it, compresses it for time, edits bits out for time. I mean yeah.. except for that he has a point.

Oh yeah, and DVDs. I mean they have a frame by frame advance, fast forward, reverse, zoom in etc. I cna even skip chapters and view alternate angles watch it without the original audio etc... except for that he has a point.

Oh and VHS. I mean if you had a jog shuttle the world was yours. You could slow speed make it bounce back and forth.... except for that he has a point.

Judd.. shut the fuck up.
 
Mazzspeed said:
My Wife would use this, constantly skipping entire scenes because 'they are boring'. Drives me bonkers.
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tv is boring and was created to sell soap. they arbitrary stretch the run time to fill their slot, which is obvious but people forget how shitty the format is. i very seldom watch a "show"... forget an entire season of something. movies are peak. your wife is based and takes control of her time.
 
Also in the source article, Netflix makes some interesting points that many of you here already chimed in on. Chipmunks, DVD/VCRs, etc



"In a blog post, Netflix added that the feature "has been frequently requested by our members," saying the tool "has long been available on DVD players."

Viewers might want to use the feature if they were "looking to rewatch their favorite scene or wanting to go slower because it’s a foreign language title," Netflix wrote.

"We’ve been sensitive to creator concerns and haven’t included bigger screens, in particular TVs, in this test," the streamer added. "We’ve also automatically corrected the pitch in the audio at faster and slower speeds. In addition, members must choose to vary the speed each time they watch something new — versus Netflix maintaining their settings based on their last choice."
 
Theatres should start doing this- run the movies at double speed so they can get twice the number of people through in a night... I’m sure you’d all love that right?

If content is so shitty you’ve got to speed it up to get it over with, why are you even watching it?

People are fucked.
 
If people could download a movie into their brain in 0.5 seconds instead of watching it for 1.5 hours, they would.
 
gtrguy said:
Theatres should start doing this- run the movies at double speed so they can get twice the number of people through in a night... I’m sure you’d all love that right?

If content is so shitty you’ve got to speed it up to get it over with, why are you even watching it?

People are fucked.
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Tivo has a feature that lets you watch recordings at 1.3x speed. For the right content, it's amazing. You adjust to the speed-up after a couple minutes and it seems normal.
 
Ebernanut said:
I don't think I'd ever do it for something I was watching for entertainment.
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Yeah, a few people commented upthread about that. Me, I'd rather skip stuff than play it back fast, but I guess to each their own, unless you're Judd Apatow.
 
Parja said:
Tivo has a feature that lets you watch recordings at 1.3x speed. For the right content, it's amazing. You adjust to the speed-up after a couple minutes and it seems normal.
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I would think watching a TED (or whatever) talk or just any kind of lecture on Youtube would be a perfect example of where this would be useful.
 
Armenius said:
I've actually been binge watching ER from the first season and that 25 year old series puts everything released in the last 10 years to shame.
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yea I just watched that series to completion, even later seasons were good, I was surprised anyways. Then I tried to watch Grey's Anatomy..... yikes no thanks. I did kinda like The Knick though and that was more recent
 
Yeah, I've been using a browser plugin to adjust play speed for a few months now - don't think I can ever go back to normal 1x speed viewing again. A lot of shitty movies on NetFlix are a lot more endurable when you can power through them at 1.2-1.5x speed. Sometimes I'll completely loose interest and start running them up to 2-3x speed. And of course it's also fun sometimes to slow it down and watch action scenes at 0.1x to get a sort-of frame-by-frame effect. As someone who's learning filmography myself lately, it's a great tool to add to the viewing experience. Tons of movies out there have really shitty editing that really begs to have the speed altered. It also makes it more satisfying when I start watching a really well-crafted film and can feel that it's flowing at a perfect speed without me needing to coax it along.
 
Aix. said:
I couldn't imagine wanting to watch something this way as it would ruin the cinematic presentation of the show, but there are people out there willing to watch cam versions of films so I guess it's not surprising that there are people watching stuff at 1.25x or 1.5x speeds.
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I am a film buff, I absolutely love watching movies but I have also had a very busy work/school/social life. I tend to skip-watch (VLC + MWheel skip 5 second intervals) a lot of movies/shows very quickly in order to weed out the garbage. Doing this I can burn through a 2 hour movie in 20-30 minutes and still understand 90% of it. The movies or shows I do end up enjoying I'll rewatch at a later date in its complete format to enjoy the experience. In the mean time I'll skip through the trash dialogue of most today's action flicks, absorb the cool moments, enjoy the junk for what it is and probably never revisit it.
 
Brian_B said:
He should be spend more time railling against default TV settings.
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I think he should make film and STFU about moonmen.

I'll eat rice with a spoon if I want to. Eating it with chopsticks might make the experience more authentic, but less enjoyable for me. And infinitely less efficient.
 
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The Last Jedi was actually better when watched in 4x speed (though i still FF past the Canto Bight scene).
 
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