A large section of people wants to enjoy watching their favourite film in the theatres on a big screen. This is not because cinema halls have gigantic screens where the moving picture looks breathtaking, but also because you have the liberty to sit back on your cozy seat with a bucket of popcorn in your hand to accompany you as your favourite character comes to life right in front of your eyes. Watching a film in the cinema hall has its own perquisites and one of them is the unparalleled audiovisual experience that is truly indigenous to the movie hall. However, due to the ongoing pandemic situation, new trends have started emerging with respect to the overall film viewing experience of the people of the world. “Over-The-Top” or OTT platforms are specifically associated to portable devices like your usual cell phone. OTT platforms gained more popularity during the pandemic as all cinema halls across the globe had to be shut down considering how fast the virus was spreading. In the following paragraphs, we will discuss the main differences between an OTT Platform and a Cinema Hall.
OTT Platforms are primarily very convenient and flexible. A person can watch any film of their choice at any point of time, no matter wherever he or she is located. This makes the overall film viewing experience facile and hassle free. Apart from this, people who face restrictions going to the theatres due to personal reasons can relax at home and watch any movie from home. Platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc. are also cost effective. This means that a person does not have to spend money over individual movies for their entertainment. OTT platforms charge a meagre subscription fee that is all that one needs to access a library full of movies, TV shows, documentaries, etc. Above all, these platforms provide the user with ready-to-use subtitles that they can use in order to comprehend foreign language films. 
Despite OTT platforms making content viewing facile for everyone, cinema halls still have not lost their charm. To this day, a niche crowd prefers going to the theatres to watch a film of their choice, specifically due to some particular reasons. To begin with, cinema halls provide us with an immersive film viewing experience that is irreplaceable by any other streaming platform. The audiovisual experience of a cinema hall is beyond comparison to that of a streaming platform. Besides, cinema halls provide employment to numerous skilled and unskilled workers. This is true, as since the dawn of industrial system of film production, theatres have been providing employment to several technicians that OTT platforms are still unable to do. In addition, with the advent of modern technologies like 3D and 5D, cinema halls have quickly adapted to such technologies in order to meet the demands of a rapidly growing industry. In this case, OTT platforms are still not efficient enough to incorporate such technological advancements, which proves that they have to go a long way before they can replace cinema halls. Last but not the least people can go to the theatres along with their friends and family, which further strengthens their bond and mutual relationship.
Written By: DEBOPAM DEB ROY
Picture Sources : GOOGLE
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