History WebVideo / BrightSunFilms

* HisOwnWorstEnemy: Jake has found a few cases where a company fails because their business decisions are so poorly made that they comes across as self-sabotage more than anything else.

** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuster_(retailer) Blockbuster]]- After its peak in 2004, Blockbuster began to view Netflix as a threat and opted to create its own DVD-Rental-by-Mail service[[note]] This was ''before'' Netflix would create the internet streaming service it's known for today [[/note]], which turned out to be fairly successful for the company. However, in 2007, the company ''decided to dissolve its online services and Mail Rentals'' to focus entirely on physical in-store retail, which unsurprisingly was a fatal mistake for the company. And finally, the company opted to stop charging late fees on its rentals, which cut a significant portion of its sales income. All these revenue losses led to the company's demise in the 2010s.

** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak Kodak]] - Even though the company [[{{Irony}} created one of the first true digital cameras back in the 70s]] and did see some potential, they decided to kill off the project since film sales accounted for up to 80% of its sales income and did not want to impact this [[note]] Also, for decades digital photography could not produce the same level of high quality images that film photography could. But this notion became moot as digital photography began to evolve [[/note]]. In fact, Kodak would then have a history of outright refusing to switch to digital. This ultimately allowed other companies, like Sony, Canon, and Nikon, to get a head-start in the growing digital camera market by the 90s & early 2000s. By the time Kodak finally invested in digital cameras & photography, [[StubbornMule they only did so cautiously and still held onto its film division]], without really trying to develop the technology like its competitors. It all was too little too late. The current Kodak is unrecognizable; it's now mainly a printing company and a shell of its former self.

** [[{{UsefulNotes/Kmart}} Kmart]] - Like Sears, this company also failed to update with the times and used outdated technology. However, Kmart especially had a problem with general corporate incompetence and mismanagement, with executives far more concerned with short-term profit rather than long-term investments. The company would frequently buy-up brands, but then dumped them once they began loosing money.[[note]] (Unsurprisingly, all former Kmart-owned brands had since either went bankrupt & out of business, or bought-out by other companies who knew how to handle them better) [[/note]] Because of this mentality, hardly any effort was made to update, modernize, or even properly organize the hundreds of stores in the chain, with stores becoming increasingly ugly and disorganized messes, which greatly alienated potential shoppers.

* DoingItForTheArt: {{Discussed}} in the episode about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_Music_Park Hard Rock Park]] in South Carolina. Jake admitted he went into the episode assuming that the park was made simply for the owners to make a quick-&-easy buck. However, after doing his research, he found that this was not the case. The Park was envisioned to provide a unique experience to its guests, where it would embody the iconic "Hard Rock Cafe" brand it got its namesake from, with intricate attention-to-detail. The people involved were industry professionals who wanted to push the boundaries of what theme-park entertainment could do while still having ''some'' appeal to families, and thus put in [[[[DemographicallyInappropriateHumour many references and jokes]] that [[ParentalBonus only adults would get]] (Jake found many of these amusing). It just makes it all the more tragic that the Park was the victim of the 2008 Great Recession, forcing its original owners to sell the property after just one season.
** The same ''could not be said'' for the new owners of the park. Unlike the original owners and the "Hard Rock" brand, the new owners only saw it as easy money, and made many lazy, half-assed changes to the park, turning it into the bland "Freestyle Music Park". But this simply alienated a potential audience and thus the Park closed for good after only one more season under new management.

* DoingItForTheArt: {{Discussed}} in the episode about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_Music_Park Hard Rock Park]] in South Carolina. Jake admitted he went into the episode assuming that the park was made simply for the owners to make a quick-&-easy buck. However, after doing his research, he found that this was not the case. The Park was envisioned to provide a unique experience to its guests, where it would embody the iconic "Hard Rock Cafe" Brand it got its namesake from, with intricate attention-to-detail. The people involved were industry professionals who wanted to push the boundaries of what theme-park entertainment could do while still having ''some'' appeal to families, and thus put in many references and jokes in that [[DemographicallyInappropriateHumour only adults would get]] (Jake found many of these amusing). It just makes it all the more tragic that the Park was the victim of the 2008 Great Recession, forcing its original owners to sell the property after just one season.
** The same ''could not be said'' for the new owners of the park. Unlike the original owners and the "Hard Rock" brand, the new owners only saw the park as easy money, and made many lazy, half-assed changes to the park, turning it into the bland "Freestyle Music Park". But this simply alienated a potential audience and thus the Park closed for good after only one season under new management.

* DoingItForTheArt: {{Discussed}} in the episode about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_Music_Park Hard Rock Park]] in South Carolina. Jake admitted going into the episode that he assumed that the park was made simply for the owners to make a quick-&-easy buck. However, after doing his research, he found that this was not the case. The Park was envisioned to provide a unique experience to its guests, where it would embody the iconic "Hard Rock Cafe" Brand it got its namesake from, with intricate attention-to-detail. The people involved were industry professionals who wanted to push the boundaries of what theme-park entertainment could do while still having ''some'' appeal to families, and thus put in many references and jokes in that [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar only adults would get]] (Jake found many of these amusing). It just makes it all the more tragic that the Park was the victim of the 2008 Great Recession, forcing its original owners to sell the property after just one season.

** [[{{UsefulNotes/Kmart}} Kmart]] - Like Sears, this company also failed to update with the times and used outdated technology. However, Kmart especially had a problem with general corporate incompetence and mismanagement, with executives far more concerned with short-term profit rather than long-term investments. The company would frequently buy-up brands, but then dumped them once they began loosing profit.[[note]] (Unsurprisingly, all former brands under Kmart had since either went bankrupt & out of business, or bought-out by other brands who knew how to handle them better) [[/note]] Because of this mentality, hardly any effort was made to update or properly organize the hundreds of stores in the chain, with locations becoming increasingly ugly and unorganized, which led to alienating potential shoppers.

** UsefulNotes/Kmart - Like Sears, this company also failed to update with the times. However, Kmart especially had a problem with general corporate incompetence and mismanagement, with executives far more concerned with short-term profit rather than long-term investments. The company would frequently buy-up brands, but then dumped them once they began loosing profit.[[note]] (Unsurprisingly, all former brands under Kmart had since either went bankrupt & out of business, or bought-out by other brands who knew how to handle them better) [[/note]] Because of this mentality, hardly any effort was made to update or properly organize the hundreds of stores in the chain, with locations becoming increasingly ugly and unorganized, which led to alienating potential shoppers.

* DoingItForTheArt: {{Discussed}} in the episode about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_Music_Park Hard Rock Park]] in South Carolina. Jake admitted going into the episode that he assumed that the park was made simply for the owners to make a quick-&-easy buck. However, after doing his research, he found that this was not the case. The Park was envisioned to provide a unique experience to its guests, with many intricate attention-to-details and serve to embody the "Hard Rock Cafe" Brand it got its namesake from. The people involved were industry professionals who wanted to push the boundaries of what theme-park entertainment while still having ''some'' appeal to families, and thus put in many references and jokes in that [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar only adults would get]] (Jake found many of these amusing). It just makes it all the more tragic that the Park was the victim of the 2008 Great Recession, forcing its original owners to sell the property after just one season.

* DointItForTheArt: {{Discussed}} in the episode about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_Music_Park Hard Rock Park]] in South Carolina. Jake admitted going into the episode that he assumed that the park was made simply for the owners to make a quick-&-easy buck. However, after doing his research, he found that this was not the case. The Park was envisioned to provide a unique experience to its guests, with many intricate attention-to-details and serve to embody the "Hard Rock Cafe" Brand it got its namesake from. The people involved were industry professionals who wanted to push the boundaries of what theme-park entertainment while still having ''some'' appeal to families, and thus put in many references and jokes in that [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar only adults would get]] (Jake found many of these amusing). It just makes it all the more tragic that the Park was the victim of the 2008 Great Recession, forcing its original owners to sell the property after just one season.

* CanadaEh: While Jake has mentioned he's Canadian and lives in the country (and on his channel's about page, he states he lives in Toronto), he doesn't match most of the stereotypes or have a very noticeable accent (it's faint enough that if one didn't know where he was from, they might assume he's American), and only brings his citizenship[=/=]residency up if he's talking about a company that isn't active in Canada anymore, and either went bankrupt later (Radio Shack) or is still active outside of Canada (Target and Sears).

'''Bright Sun Films''' (formerly Bright Sun Gaming) is a Youtube channel run by Canadian filmmaker Jake Williams (found [[https://www.youtube.com/user/BrightSunGaming here]]), notable for it's ''Abandoned'' series. The channel makes documentary videos about abandoned locations, as well as bankrupt companies and cancelled series[=/=]projects.

!! This Youtube Channel contains examples of the following tropes:
* ArtifactTitle: The channel's URL is still "Bright Sun Gaming" despite having, well, [[IncrediblyLamePun abandoned]] such content long ago[[note]]whether or not Youtube won't let him change the URL or he decided to keep the URL as is is unknown[[/note]].

* ViolationOfCommonSense: Another Blockbuster related example - when it became clear that mail order[=/=]streaming was the way of the future, the company inexplicably began to focus on physical retail, even closing down their existing mail-order [=DVD=] buisness.

** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuster_(retailer) Blockbuster]]- After its peak in 2004, Blockbuster began to view Netflix as a threat and opted to create its own DVD-Rental-by-Mail service[[note]] This was ''before'' Netflix would create the internet streaming service it's known for today [[/note]], which turned out to be fairly successful for the company. However, in 2007, the company ''decided to dissolve its online services and Mail Rentals'' to focus entirely on physical in-store retail, which unsurprisingly was a fatal mistake for the company. And finally, the company opted to stop charging late fees on its rentals, which cut a significant portion of its sales income.

* GoingDownWithTheShip: Captains Francesco Schettino and Yiannis Avranas of the Costa Concordia and Oceanos respectively refused to follow this trope as expected, as mentioned in the videos on said ships[[note]]both captains horribly managed their ship's evacuations; Yiannis was lucky that no one died, but still had to deal with the fury of the crew and passengers; as for Schettino, he was later charged with manslaughter[[/note]].

Bright Sun Films (formerly Bright Sun Gaming) is a Youtube channel run by Jake Williams (found [[https://www.youtube.com/user/BrightSunGaming here]]), notable for it's ''Abandoned'' series. The channel makes documentary videos about abandoned locations, as well as cancelled series[=/=]projects.

For a similar series focusing exclusively on theme parks, see ''WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}''.

* HisOwnWorstEnemy: Jake has found a few cases where a company fails because they make business decisions that are so poor that they comes across as self-sabotage more than anything.
** Ames Department Store - This Northeast American Discount Store chain had a [[{{FatalFlaw}} habit]] of buying up struggling regional brands. The company had hoped they could turn these ventures around for profit, but instead [[TheLoad they ultimately hurt the company]] and contributed to its filing for bankruptcy protection in 1990, getting out of it two years later. However, in 1998, the now barely-profitable Ames [[{{IgnoredEpiphany}} decided yet-again]] to buy out ''another'' struggling brand, Hills Department Store, to expand. This created a downward spiral that caused Ames to file for bankruptcy a final time in 2002 before finally going out of business.
** Blockbuster - After its peak in 2004, Blockbuster began to view Netflix as a threat and opted to create its own DVD-Rental-by-Mail service[[note]] This was ''before'' Netflix would create the internet streaming service it's known for today [[/note]], which turned out to be fairly successful for the company. However, in 2007, the company ''decided to dissolve its online services and Mail Rentals'' to focus entirely on physical in-store retail, which unsurprisingly was a fatal mistake for the company. And finally, the company opted to stop charging late fees on its rentals, which cut a significant portion of its sales income.

** Kodak - Even though the company [[{{Irony}} created one of the first true digital cameras back in the 70s]] and did see some potential, they decided to kill off the project since film sales accounted for up to 80% of its sales income and did not want to impact this [[note]] Also, for decades digital photography could not produce the same level of high quality images that film photography could. But this notion became moot as digital photography began to evolve [[/note]]. In fact, Kodak would then have a history of outright refusing to switch to digital. This ultimately allowed other companies, like Sony, Canon, and Nikon, to get a head-start in the growing digital camera market by the 90s & early 2000s. By the time Kodak finally invested in digital cameras & photography, [[StubbornMule they only did so cautiously and still held onto its film division]], without really trying to develop the technology like its competitors. It all was too little too late. The current Kodak is unrecognizable; it’s now mainly a printing company and a shell of its former self.
** Sears - Despite being the largest retailer chain in the world at one point (or perhaps because of it), Sears couldn't fathom ''not'' being such. It simply believed it would always have a customer base. As a result, they did not see other brands like Walmart or Target as serious competition until it was too late. They also failed to [[{{TechnologyMarchesOn}} update with the times]], and were [[{{TwoDecadesBehind}} still using technology and general practices from the 80s well into the 2010s]], along with not really investing in internet sales or even having a serviceable website. All of this led to customers simply losing interest in the out-of-date brand and choosing other retailers, in-store or online.

** Blockbuster - After its peak in 2004, Blockbuster began to view Netflix as a threat and decided to create its own DVD-Rental-by-Mail service[[note]] This was ''before'' Netflix decided to invest into internet streaming as it's known for today [[/note]], which turned out to be fairly successful for the company. However, in 2007, the company ''decided to dissolve its online services and Mail Rentals'' to focus entirely on physical in-store retail, which was a fatal mistake for the company. And finally, the company decided to stop charging late fees on its rentals, which cut a significant portion of its income.

** Kodak - Even though the company [[{{Irony}} created one of the first true digital cameras back in the 70s]] and did see some potential, they decided to kill off the project since film sales accounted for up to 80% of its income and did not want to impact this [[note]] Also, for decades digital photography could not produce the same level of high quality images that film photography could. But this notion became moot as digital photography began to evolve [[/note]]. In fact, Kodak had a history of outright refusing to switch to digital. This ultimately allowed other companies, like Sony, Canon, and Nikon, to get a head-start in the growing digital camera market by the 90s & early 2000s. By the time Kodak finally invested in digital cameras & photography, [[StubbornMule they only did so cautiously and still held onto its film division]], and it was too little too late. The current Kodak is now mainly a printing company and a shell of its former self.

** Kodak - Even though the company [[{{Irony}} created one of the first true digital cameras back in the 70s]] and did see its potential, they decided to kill off the project since film sales accounted for up to 80% of its income and did not want to impact this [[note]] Also, for decades digital photography could not produce the same level of high quality images that film photography could. But this notion became moot as digital photography began to evolve [[/note]]. In fact, Kodak had a history of outright refusing to switch to digital. This ultimately allowed other companies, like Sony, Canon, and Nikon, to get a head-start in the growing digital camera market by the 90s & early 2000s. By the time Kodak finally invested in digital cameras & photography, [[StubbornMule they only did so cautiously and still held onto its film division]], and it was too little too late. The current Kodak is now mainly a printing company and a shell of its former self.