Netflix’s latest short film not intended for human consumption

‘Meridian’ created to test performance of platforms and streaming formats

Meridian is a 12-minute eerie, film noir-style short made by Netflix and the streaming media company doesn't care if users watch it or not because, although watchable, it was not made to be seen by human eyes.

This Twilight Zone-inspired short film is about a police captain seeking four missing men including his own detective and begins with original footage from Hollywood in the 1940s, continuing on to scenes created for the purpose of testing performance on different platforms and streaming formats.

The film is shot in interoperable master format, an emerging file format designed to make it easier for movie studios to hand over content to content providers such as Netflix by separating raw footage from associated files such as audio or instructions to censor parts for certain countries. It is open source with a creative commons public licence so that others in the industry, including competitors such as Amazon, can also use it as test footage.

netflix.com/title/80141336