Blockchain in modern cinematography: Part 1

Since the creation of the cinema at the beginning of the twentieth century the humanity has made movies on all the existing topics. Today every new phenomena of the real world is transmitted to the big screen immediately.
Certainly, art couldn’t skip the phenomena of the first cryptocurrency called bitcoin. It represents all the features guaranteeing high box office: high technologies as something mysterious and a little bit frightening, enormous funds and a sense of freedom with criminal implication.
The difficulty to comprehend the bitcoin essence was a problem hindering the full integration of bitcoin issue into cinema. The directors had to educate their film crews in order to complete the storyline. It is obvious that the documentarians had become the pioneers of cryptocurrency literacy.
The first documentaries focused on the history of bitcoin creation and predicted its revolutionary role in the world economy. The authors were drawing in their own pathos and acumen and the titles spoke for themselves: the Rise and Rise of Bitcoin.
Magic Money: The Bitcoin Revolution

Bitcoin: the End of Money as we know it

Sometimes movies were ridiculously similar, for instance, History of Bitcoin (2008) and The Bitcoin Story (2015). The way this financial miracle could be applied in ordinary people’s lives was still unclear. The new generation of artists managed to fill the gap. The issue became down-to-earth and a new wave of documentaries shared with the audience basic facts about the usage of cryptocurrency. For example, Bitcoins in Argentina tells about people converting their savings into cryptocurrency in order to avoid inflation. Bitcoin in Uganda is about a young man, whose sister living in the USA transfers him money in bitcoins.

The Digital era gold is the first Russian movie about bitcoin, which was made by a group of enthusiasts in 2015. Firstly it was a project for Rossiya 1 TV channel, but something went wrong and crowdfunding was used to finish the movie.
Bitcoins started entering feature films via series. Person of interest was the first television series aired on TV in 2011. It is an American science fiction crime drama about a mysterious reclusive billionaire who develops a new computer program that can predict and identify the victims of crimes. This topic was also raised in the Blacklist, a spy procedural ,
Gothic fantasy iZombie, and drama about rough everyday routine of finance fellas called Billions. Today bitcoins can be come across in any series about new technologies.
The Dope (2015) was the first feature-length picture where bitcoin was not a curiosity, but a real financial tool. The film is about a geek Malcolm who, by coincidence, is hooked into the drug world. All the problems with mafia he solves using bitcoins and darkNet. Malcolm and his friends start dealing ecstasy in their own school. The movie budget was $7,000,000 and the goss USA was about $17,000,000.

In 2016 a Vietnam thriller Bitcoin Heist came out. It has all key elements of the genre: Interpol Special Agents, awesome chicks and dramatic episodes with shootings and fights. It is surprising enough, that it is still the only action movie about cryptocurrency.
Serious Hollywood filmmakers are gradually appealing to the cryptocurrency topic. For instance, Crypto is 2019 upcoming American crime drama thriller film directed by John Stalberg Jr., also known as the director of High School (2010). Crypto tells the story of young FBI agent combating money-laundering. His has to work new case, which obviously relates to corruption and cryptocurrency, in his hometown where still lives his family. This fact brings to the picture the elements of a gloomy psychological drama. The film stars Kurt Russell, Alexis Bledel (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Luke Hemsworth (Westworld).

The romantic indie comedy No Postage Necessary came out in summer 2018. It has become not only a new movie about cryptocurrency, but the first feature film with blockchain-powered distribution.

The movie is teaming up with Vevue permitting to pay for the film screening in bitcoins. It turns out to be much cheaper than to watch movies in online cinemas, as the new technology avoids intermediaries between the audience and filmmaker. In addition, there won’t be a risk of piracy. Veveu is an affective video network app protecting copyright. But the main point is that it represents the new relationship between the media and the final customer of the entertainment content giving them a chance not only to enjoy, but also to make money.
