structure of essay

Greetings, everyone.

This is from Pakistan.

Ah, Nde.

My research is is going to focus on isolation but

very bare form of isolation, physical isolation, the sort of

isolation that I believe everyone listening to me right now

I can totally relate to over 2020 Andi, I guess

2021 being the heir of the pandemic, we were physically

isolated for a very long period of time.

On this is an isolation that we have never experienced

before. My research focuses on how the cinema experience during

this isolation changed for people.

So why, yes, they were away from everyone.

They were not heading out.

They weren't interacting with people that they were interacting with

on an everyday basis.

How did their interaction with their own screen changed?

With screen time skyrocketing, um, many people turned to the

American streaming giant Netflix.

Netflix in Pakistan came in 2000 and 16.

It was only two years later that had gained a

lot of traction.

And this was in 2000 and 18 when the national

broadband service PTCL partnered with with Netflix.

This meant that Netflix had exclusive cashes on Dhe even

when broadband service was was faltering.

or they're very low signals.

Netflix would run on zero buffering issues.

This was this was huge because this man that people

did not have to rely on a very strong three

year 40 service in order to enjoy Netflix with 2020

and with the pandemic many, many people spent hours binge

watching on Netflix became a very, very fond companion of

them. All my research is is coming from semi structured

interviews that were remotely conducted over calls on these were

done with the main demographic, which were students between the

age of 18 and 23.

It's very important to note here that these students belong

to metropolitan cities on dhe cities that are slightly more

developed in the rural areas of Pakistan.

On dhe, this also translates toe who has access to

Netflix. What is the infrastructural threshold in Pakistan?

The infrastructure required to be a Netflix user and while

all of these were very a very diverse group of

people, they shared some very common strands off background.

So all of them had access to in Internet service,

whether that be their home Internet service or their private

three g 0 40 service is they all had a

private device.

Now this is important because the screen culture over the

years has changed from communal viewing inside the lounge, where

the entire family would sit together or a group of

people would sit together and watch anything that was being

live broadcasted to streaming service is toe to toe, bringing

the screen to your lap or to your hand to

your palm.

And now you're watching in your own personal space.

So for them to have this personal space and toe

have a personal device is another infrastructural threshold.

They should, or they all of them shared, um, screen

sharing eso.

Majority of the respondents and I were talking to had

the maximum amount of screens that Air Force screens on

this would be shared amongst friends or family members, with

one of them having a bank card, a debit card

to pay for the subscription.

Now, while ah password is required to sign in tow

the subscribed account.

There is no password needed to switch between screens.

But a unset protocol that existed between them is that

you were not to go in someone else's screen.

Um, if there are three screens, there are four screens

with four different people.

Uh, the answer protocol would mean that I will not

go into your screen to see what sort of content

you have been watching.

And this allowed for a certain level of privacy.

Lastly, territorial licensing relating to the amount of content that

is available in Pakistan.

So not all content that is streamed on Netflix is

available for Pakistan.

Moving on.

We now focus on how dure ing this isolation and

white people were away from daily conduct.

They were self interacting with themselves on the Netflix app.

How did this happen?

So Netflix brings about a lot of engagement that one

is doing with the screen.

You can actively see trailers.

You can actively add that to your my list.

You can pause, you can play.

This is important because you could not pause or play

on a television.

When something is being live broadcasted, there isn't an option

toe playback or to increase the speed, so there's a

lot of engagement that's happening.

Also, creative customization, so customization off your own screen you

would only keep watching content.

Um, would you particularly liked and this would mean that

your entire screen would show you suggested content like that.

One of the respondents mentioned how she would have a

separate screen tow watch reality TV because that was a

guilty pleasure.

And she did not want advertisements or more content.

Like those reality TV shows on her main account, where

she usually watches drama or sci fi or romance on

dhe. It's the way that people are just charting their

own personal space in the application off Netflix.

Um, privacy concerns are obviously there.

So so some of the respondents that do watch erotic

content like 3 65 days or M I.

L. F.

Or other such shows that were aired and made it

to the top 10 of Pakistan.

They were very particular about people who were sharing screens

with them, that they don't log, that they don't, you

know, move into someone else's screen to see what sort

off erotic content was there in their histories.

So this level of privacy was maintained, and my theory

mostly focuses on on Susan Book Morris's um, Susan book,

Morris's account on the baddest our kids in 1995.

So why was Netflix?

Such a huge thing for Pakistanis?

Was because of their experience before Netflix.

So a lot of people were tormenting or they were

using illegal websites on dhe.

This would meant that they had tons of ads.

They had, ah, lot of things that a lot of

computer viruses Toto negate toe negotiate true.

Ah, nde.

What Netflix brings about is a phantom is good article

dreamscape. And but Morris talks about this as fantastic and

magical places.

So these air places that will give overload to your

senses, being being in the log down, not being able

to go out with the streets, being completely empty and

silent. Noble birds, no ads.

You're suddenly on the Netflix happened.

Everything is shiny, and and and in the Paris arcades

she talks about this with the products that are being

displayed with each and every movie as a product as

a sort of commodity that is being displayed to you

with with colors.

And whenever you would lock into the Netflix app, there

will be a trailer that would automatically start playing eso.

You have audio senses as well.

Ah, nde So So this is This is how a

Netflix screen would come up to you and the first

thing. We just start playing.

You'd have rows and rows off evenly distributed TV shows,

um, all calling for you to consume all calling for

you to tow, you know, take part in this commodity

consumption. Um, but what happens after that?

Uh, there was a great level of binge thirst on

the consumption patterns that developed during the pandemic and largely

the black hole that came with this media consumption.

So while convenience was a big part of it, convenience

also meant that they could not keep their eyes off

the screen on this goes well, hand in hand with

the way that Netflix was using its algorithms toe firstly

suggest things that you would be interested in, but also

to make the app in a certain way that you

could not lift your finger off it.

So while there is a greater engagement you can have

with the screen, there's also a lack of engagement so

you can just sit back and the next episode would

automatically play after the five seconds.

Ah, nde.

This would mean that you could watch it at ours.

It end on be completely glued, glued to the screen.

Um, Netflix algorithms working with to show suggestions that are

very, very articulated so they would monitor you Google searches.

They would monitor the things that you are watching on

Facebook or Instagram.

And they would carefully curate a list of things that

are the top picks for you.

Or a title, which has a 95% match for you,

Helen on and Jeff as they talk about this as

a shift from appointment viewing toe binge viewing.

So appointment viewing from the way that you would watch

one episode every Thursday when it was being aired toe

binge viewing, watching the entire season in one go.

Yeah, a lot of other features like like audio descriptions

allow for you.

Do not even look at the screen when you're consuming

content. So this capitalist enterprises very, very successful in allowing

you to multi task.

One of the respondents mentioned how she wouldn't start having

lunch until unless she could find a suitable title that

she could watch during her lunch.

And with this amount off content that they were watching,

there was a great level off off the blurring of

boundary between the nation states, international boundaries that were being

blurred, um, in 2000 and 20 with all the news

of fear, disease and death.

There was La Casa, the Purple on and money heights

like a took the Internet by a storm.

The fourth season that dropped in became the most popular

in demand show in the world.

Why did Netflix allow for such a huge, huge viewership

for such a program?

Um, one thing that is very intrinsic off Netflix is

it's inbuilt option off subtitles.

Many of the respondents mentioned how this allowed for them

to watch a lot of content that was not in

English. So, um, for example, they started doing stuff in,

um, you know, Turkish dramas that were that gained a

lot of traction in Pakistan.

Ah, lot of Japanese and Korean dramas.

So animals became very, very popular.

Spanish dramas like er, money, heist or baby.

Um, also a lot of American and British shows where

we're much more popular now because what happens with subtitles

is while although English is a very, very common language

in Pakistan, it's it is Colonial gift or a subset

or, uh, something that has remained here.

Um, a lot of accents are very difficult to decipher.

If one were listening without subtitles.

So American shows and British shows that would have a

very Scottish accent or in shows like Sherlock, where the

main character would speak so fast that you wouldn't you

wouldn't be able to get all the details.

Subtitles become very important.

This allows for people to get a lot of pop

culture references as well things that they would otherwise have

missed on.

All of this becomes part off a cultural capital, something

that is being borrowed from Bordeaux or cultural capital.

Off these people off what becomes school toe watch what

becomes hip toe.

Watch off the things there, then being inculcated into the

daily lives of people.

So, um, money, heist and and a lot of songs

of money heist where now are now?

Ah, very prominent part of vetting functions in Pakistan.

Ah, nde.

Indian shows are particularly important here because Indian content otherwise

is banned in Pakistan and Netflix became the only only

legal place toe watch Indian content.

So people that weren't able to see any Indian shows

or the newer Indian younger, you know that featured young

people on TV.

They turned to Netflix and under the question that we

would, um, cater to is how to Netflix change the

screen watching landscape.

So what change does not like bring upon ah, nde.

This is particularly to Netflix originals and two other shows

that are now being made for audiences but also being

put up on Netflix So they capitalize on the binging

habits of people.

Um, for example, what you have in front of you

is next in fashion.

This is a clip shot from next in fashion, and

at the end of every episode, uh, the two presenters

would sit on a sofa and they point to the

right end of the screen and they'll ask you Toe

klik play next.

Because that's the exact spot that Netflix displays its play

next, and a lot of script changing changes in script

writing has occurred, so there are less commercial breaks, no

need for commercial breaks.

There are larger cliffhangers at the end of the every

every episode toe toe allow you to, you know, watch

the next one to go on to the next episode.

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