How your experiences of media consumption illustrates wider patterns and trends.

Audiences are changing the way they want to consume – home cinema and downloads versus costly cinema. Identify trends. Examples: Meerkat Movies (synergy), Netflix, LoveFilm, DVD, Blu-Ray, Sky Box Office etc.You have heard about illegal downloads – what problems does this present and what will companies need to do to combat/work with this in future?

You need to be able to discuss…
Production: The making of the film; pre-production and funding; shoot (format); post-production (SFX).
Distribution: The way the film gets to screens; distribution company.
Marketing: The process of raising awareness; targeting an audience; creating publicity through various methods.
Exchange: The point of sale: buying the ticket (online or in person); downloading; receiving a DVD in the post etc.
Exhibition: The way we view; getting the film to a paying audience.
Nature of audience consumption: The different types of ways to watch films; what is the current trend.
Relationships between audiences and institutions: Target audience; how do different types of people watch films and why?

Tracing Media Ownership and what what the other companies do?

Frozen 

1. 
Walt Disney Pictures - made notable films such as -Pirates of the Caribbean Series, Mary Poppins, National Treasure and Into the Woods.  Main Producer of live-action feature films

Owned by The Walt Disney Studios - Divisions Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney Music Group, Disney Theatrical Group  and Disneynature. Subsidiaries-Pixar Animation Studios, The Muppets Studio and Walt Disney Pictures.

Owned by the Walt Disney Company-  owns Lucasfilm, Marvel Entertainment, Disney-ABC Television Group, Radio Disney and Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Theatrical. Divisions The Walt Disney Studios, Disney Media Networks and DIsney Interactive along with Disney Consumer Products and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Revenue from 2014 was $48.813 billion 

2. 
Walt Disney Animation Studios - has a division of DisneyToon Studios. Has made films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Big Hero 6 and Tangled. 

Owned by The Walt Disney Studios - Divisions Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney Music Group, Disney Theatrical Group  and Disneynature. Subsidiaries-Pixar Animation Studios, The Muppets Studio and Walt Disney Pictures.

Owned by the Walt Disney Company-  owns Lucasfilm, Marvel Entertainment, Disney-ABC Television Group, Radio Disney and Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Theatrical. Divisions The Walt Disney Studios, Disney Media Networks and DIsney Interactive along with Disney Consumer Products and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Revenue from 2014 was $48.813 billion 

Skyfall 

1.

Eon Productions - best know for producing James Bond films. Is a subsidiary of Danjaq LLC. Has Produced one other film called 'call me Bwana'. 

Owned by Danjaq LLC - owns one company Eon Productions and is mainly known for the James Bond film series. 

2. 

Columbia Pictures - A division of Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. Has Produced films such as Ghostbusters, The Smurfs and The Amazing Spiderman 

Owned by Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group - Subsidiaries - 

• Columbia Pictures
• TriStar Pictures
• TriStar Productions
• Screen Gems
• Sony Pictures Classics
• Sony Pictures Releasing

Owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment which is a subsidiary of Sony with a revenue of $8 billion 

Creates products through 

Motion pictures

Television Production
Television Syndication
Online games
Mobile Entertainment
Video on demand
Digital distribution

Who has produced films such as - Annie (2014), Chappie and Grown Ups 2

Owned by Sony - Which has many different subsidiaries for the film and television industry through production and distribution 

• Sony Pictures Entertainment, including:
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• Sony Pictures Television
• Sony Pictures Digital
• Mandalay Entertainment 
• Phoenix Pictures 
• Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan 

Its revenue in 2014 was  ¥7.767 trillion 

Terminology

Connotation - what is suggested 
Denotation- what is actually seen 
Example - in the shot an empty wine bottle has been denoted, this connotes that the character has drunk it all and may be drunk.  

Realistic - things appearing to be real, use with reference to a character. 
Verisimilitude-things appearing to be real, does the storyline appear real or as if it could be real.

High Production Value -Does it look expensive 
Low Production Value - Does it look cheap

Narrative - not the story, how the story is constructed 
Story- Everything reduced to the bare essentials
Linear Narrative - told in chronological order


Editing 
Parallel Editing - when 2 separate scenes are filmed at the same time and are then cut together to flip from one scene to the other and back again.  

Pace of Editing 
Slow Pace - more relaxed seems calmer 
Fast Pace - gains to tension and builds tension 

Screen Time - the longer the character is on the screen the more important they are. 

Shot-reverse-shot- can allow a naturally flow to the conversation or can show relationship  or reactions. Can help contrast the character through attitude and costuming. 

Continuity Editing - is when it flows, where it appears to be natural. - can be linked to verisimilitude. 

Montage editing - a series of unconnected shot that are placed together. 

“Synergy is vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences.” To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your chosen media area? Essay Plan

Essay Plan

Introduction 
- Synergy is when different parts of a media conglomerate work together to promote a film across different media 
- Synergy works when different elements within a media conglomerate promote linked products (film, soundtrack, video games) 
- Larger effect if more than one product is relaxed together
-Marketing - not synergy as its not 2 media companies working together

Conglomerate Case Study 
Disney - Frozen 
Budget - $150 million 
Box Office $1.274 billion 
6th highest grossing film of all time 

- DVD 
-CD (Produced by the Walt Disney Label)
-Frozen Fever (short film)
-Frozen 2 Sequel 
- Merchandise- such as toys, books, dressing up outfits and board games- sold in disney stores. 

- Characters entering ABC's Once Upon A Time (ABC owned by Disney)
- Frozen Disney on Ice Show
-Disney Mobile released Frozen Free Fall on iOS, Android and Windows Phone Platforms 
- DS Games Olafs Quest 
-Being developed into a Musical
- Frozen Characters released for Disney Infinity 
-Frozen Radio Programme 
Columbia (Sony ) Skyfall 
Budget - $150-$200 million 
Box Office - $1.1billion 
-DVD 
-CD (produced by Sony Classical Label) released same day as film in Cinema 
-OPI nail varnish range 
- 007 fragrance 
- 007 Legends (video games) 
- Adeles Skyfall song was released to celebrate 50 years since the first James Bond Film 

Independent Case Study 
iLL Manors 
Budget £100,000
Box Office £450,000
-DVD
-CD Plan B - (released over a month after the film) 
-iLL Manors single - (released 3 months before the film) 
- T-shirt 
-Playing Cards

Comparison/Conclusion 
independent companies will find it harder to use synergy as they do not have access to as many different companies 

New Technologies for Institutions and Audiences

Production 
- Electronic Storyboard - used in preproduction and production, they help the director to visualise what need to be shot and makes it easier to organise the order that scenes need to be filmed in. 
- CGI - Can create films solely form digital hardware and software. Toy Story was the first full CGI film to made and Frozen is the most successful CGI film. 
- iPhones - FIlms such as tangerine were shot completely using  3 iPhone 5S's  
-Digital video cameras - benefit independent film companies for films such as iLL Manors - with a budget of £100,000.

Distribution 
-Web 2.0 allows for digital marketing of films to take place on websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Website 
-Useful for small companies as the film can be distributed through these websites with very little cost or no cost at all 
-iLL Manors - had a very small marketing budget 
-Digital Distribution also allowed larger companies to use newer and better technologies such as animated posters of characters for example Skyfall used animated posters of James Bond and other key characters to generate more interest in the film. 

Exhibition 

Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production, distribution and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area.

Media ownership has created many different issues for conglomerates and independent companies throughout the production, distribution and exchange of the film. There are many advantages and disadvantages for both conglomerates and independent film companies. 

During the production stage of making a film. For a conglomerate there are many advantages and disadvantages. For a conglomerate they won't need to collaborate with other companies as a way in which to secure funding as they will be able to complete the film through vertical integration meaning that the film is secure from the start. A conglomerate can also be more ambitious with films as they can afford to get bigger stars to be in their films, they can travel and film at bigger and better locations and they have better access to special effects and can afford to do more. However disadvantages for conglomerates include the fact that their films have to satisfy a mass market around the globe meaning that they can not take too many risks while making the film as it has to satisfy everyone. As so much money will be spent on a film by a conglomerate it has to make money that the box office otherwise the film will lose the conglomerate a large amount of money. The production stage for independent companies is very different compared to a conglomerate. An independent company only has to satisfy a niche market and can take bigger risks over the content of the film. Also the film doesn't have to make as much at the box office as films the have been produced a conglomerate as the production cost will be less for an independent company's film. However a low production cost can be a disadvantage for independent as the films are less ambitious, with a smaller scale cast, location and often a lack of special effects. Another disadvantage is that independent films have to secure extra funding and finance from other companies, horizontal integration. This can be hard for independent companies as they can not withstand losses at the box office as they do not make many enough money to go through a lose. 

An example of this is iLL Manors and Skyfall. Skayfall was made by a conglomerate this can be seen by the different filming locations in different parts of the world and the number of special effects features the feature with in the film. This is very different to iLL Manors whose filming locations were very low budget and lack special effects show that the film was created by an independent film company as they would have less money to spend on the film. iLL Manors also dealt with very specific content that would be found in certain parts of the UK as it was only aimed at people in the UK however this isn't the case for Skyfall as they couldn't afford to take risks like that as the film was aimed at a worldwide audience.  

During a distribution a large advantage for independent companies is that the marketing of a  film can now be done with a very small budget as it can be marketed through sties like Twitter and Facebook for no cost at all however there are many disadvantages for independent companies because the marketing campaign has to be targeted at specific people because there is not enough money to make the campaign for everyone. They have to persuade other people to market their film and this isn't easy because the companies will be unsure if they will make money from promoting the film. The advantages are very different for conglomerates, they make up a large part of the market meaning that they can spend more money and have better links to related companies, for example Sony Pictures entertainment is a production company, and Sony Pictures distribute the film before it can be viewed on Sony Platforms. Conglomerate will find it easier to use synergy and cross media convergence to help promote to the film through things such as games and soundtracks. 

iLL Manors benefited from the fact that it could be marketed for free through social media as it had a very small distribution budget as it was such a small budget film compared to Skyfall , a conglomerate film, which had a large marketing campaign shows the difference between the types for marketing that both independent companies and conglomerates as they can both afford different things. Skyfall also used synergy as a way in which to help promote the film through many different types of products whereas for iLL Manors didn't use synergy and only had a CD released along with it, the lack of synergy could have been because the independent film companies don't have the same contacts as conglomerates.  

During the exhibition process there is one main advantage for conglomerates as it will be easier to get there films in to the cinema and on sites such as Netflix as the marketing campaign will have been so big for the film that a large established audience would have been attracted to the film meaning that the companies would earn more money, this is a disadvantage for independent companies because the marketing campaign is much smaller and less people will know about the film and know to go and see it meaning that the exhibition may not make very much money meaning they may not see the point in spending money to get the film if they are not going to make any money from it.

To conclude media ownership benefits both conglomerates and independent film companies however for both there are also many disadvantages. There are equal advantages and disadvantages for production, distribution and exhibition of the process of getting the film to camera to the audience. 

Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production, distribution and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area.(Institutions and Audiences) Plan

Introduction

Production

Advantages 

Conglomerate - won't need to collaborate to secure funding (vertical integration). Can be more ambitious with films getting bigger stars, have more special effects and are able to travel to bigger and better locations. 

Independent- Only has to satisfy a niche market and can take bigger risks over the content of the film. (iLL Manors not relatable to everyone). Film doesn't have to do as well at the box office as a conglomerate film as production value is less 

Disadvantages 

Conglomerate- Film has to satisfy a mass market and creatively film makers cannot take as many risks as so many large companies to satisfy and revenue to achieve. The film has to do well at the box office 

Independent - Less budget so films will less ambitious with a smaller scale cast, location and special effects. Can't withstand losses at the box office. Have to secure extra funding and finance (horizontal integration) 

Case Study - iLL Manors vs Skyfall

Distribution

Advantages 

Conglomerate - Sheer size and power in the industry - more money and better links to related companies. E.g. Sony Pictures Entertainment (production companies) and Sony Picture (distributors ) and Sony Platforms to exhibit the film. Can use synergy and cross convergence through games and soundtracks 

Independent - Can be done with a very small budget through social media such as Facebook and Twitter

Disadvantages 

Conglomerate- Film has to satisfy a mass market and creatively film makers cannot take as many risks as so many large companies to satisfy and revenue to achieve

Independent - Marketing has to be targeted as there is less money spent on distribution campaign. Film is expected to make less revenue at the box office. Have to persuade other people to help promote their film as they don't have as many contacts as conglomerates. 

Case Study - iLL Manors vs Skyfall 

Exhibition

Advantages 

Conglomerate- easier to get film in to the cinema and sites such as Netflix are more likely to buy the film and put it on their sites because of the buzz that has been created about the film and because it is an easy way for the companies to make money 

Independent - 

Disadvantages 

Conglomerate-

Independent - harder to get film in to the cinema and sites such as Netflix are less likely to buy the film and put it on their sites because of less of a buzz  has been created about the film and because it may not make them much money as a film produced by a conglomerate would. 

Case Study- iLL Manors vs Skyfall 

Conclusion