7) The ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour

e.g. Love Film, etc.

 

 

The ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour

• We can create our own films using DV Cameras and new digital technology.
• We can edit our own films using software such as Adobe After Effects.
• Brainwashed by Conglomerates, due to the mass of advertising and marketing, we feel as though we have to go and watch a film.
• The cost of making films has risen due to new technologies, meaning the costs to watch films has increased.
• e.g. we have to pay more just to see Robert Patterson with his top off in the new twilight film.
• We become dragged into marketing campaigns, through cross-media convergence.
• This creates a must-see feel to the film.
• We can only watch mainly Conglomerates at cinemas.
• This means we have a limited choice of what we watch at the cinemas.
• ------------
• Nowadays we are liable to consume media products through online websites, and providers of DVD-by-mail and streaming video on demand. Examples of these on demand providers include:
• LoveFilm
• Netflix
• MUBI
• We can download films via:
• MP4 players
• Ipads
• Playstation
• Xbox
• This is what is at issue here.
• (Visit Pearl and Dean to see how multiplex cinemas are adapting the experience of cinema-going to gain audiences)
• In an age of falling DVD sales, stagnant home cinema figures and an increase in downloading for both music and film audience are changing in how they want to consume film. Identify trends and consider where the audience trends are going in the near future.

Working Title

For example, Working Title released "The Boat That Rocked" in 2009

Question 2 Examples

Intro - There is a huge difference within the film industry, exemplified by the issues of media ownership on bigger budget films and the low budget films. There is a significant difference with films like Shifty, compared to Working Title. For example, Working Title productions have a large budget, compared to the film Shifty, which was made by Microwave. Media ownership can have a wide impact on whether the audience is universal, or a specific target audience.

Paragraph 1 - The simple budget of Working Title started off at around £3 million, which was their first feature film, My Beautiful Laundrette (1984), which was a social realist film exemplifying homophobia. Nowadays, Working Title make films for £20 million and onwards. This may be because of the trans-Atlantic feel Working Title have added to their films, due to overseas producers, such as American producers, coming over and taking over Working Title productions. This means the films loose some of their ‘Britishness’.

Paragraph 2 - Shifty was funded by Microwave, and produced by Between the Eyes, and Film London. It was a social realist film exemplifying criminals, made for a budget of £100,000. The budget differentiates from Working Title, as their films usually have a more ‘British’ feel to them. It has a more niche audience, which may not appeal to a bigger audience. British audiences’ can relate to these issues, who can see this as “a slice of life”, whereas bigger audiences’ would not appeal to it.

Intro - I agree that cross-media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences. Synergy is the simultaneous release of different products to boost both, and is most often used by bigger companies, often media conglomerates. Cross-media convergence is the combining of two or more mediums, such as film and music (e.g. The Boat that Rocked). However…

FOR

Synergy

• They boost different boosts
• The film studio, record label, etc. create linked products (e.g. the film, the soundtrack)
• Create a big franchise – it can appeal to different  audiences/ages (e.g. radio appeals to elderly people, music appeals to the younger people).
• Promotes less popular mediums (e.g. soundtrack)
• The film can promote the music, which can promote the radio, which can promote the magazines… and so on
• Give examples of Shifty and Working Title

Cross-media convergence

• Can happen in the production, distribution or exhibition
• Convergence of magazines can lead to websites

Intro - Digital distribution affects the marketing and consumption of media products in Working Title and Shifty. Marketing techniques include DVDs, Blu-Ray. We consume media products through streaming, piracy and viral marketing.

Working Titles

Film -

• a study of a specific studio/production company within a contemporary film industry that targets a British audience.
• through
• marketing
• exhibition
• etc.

Synergy -

• several companies working on the same thing

Working Titles

• Founded in 1984
• co-founded by:
• Tim Bevan
• Sarah Radclyffe
• Graham Bradstreet
• in 1992
• Sarah Radclyffe left the company
• Eric Fellner joined the company
• UK films aimed at an international audience
• Traditional UK film genres
• Their history mirrors the history of the UK film industry
• Increasingly typical UK film funding
• (co-funding with British TV companies and Hollywood studios)
• Produced "My Beautiful Laundrette" (1985)
• Produced "For Queen and Country" (1988)
• starring Denzel Washington
• their first Anglo-American production
• British film + American Star = $$$$$$$$$$$$ (BIG MONEY!!!!)
• Appeals to international market (and success for the British Film Industry (BFI))
• This approach has provoked much criticism about the 'mid-Atlantic' nature of the films
• They are all basically the same (formulaic)
• UK/US co-productions...
• 5% (of the time) - developing a script
• 5% (of the time) - finding a director
• 90% (of the time) - juggling deals together from different sources
• ...to finance those films
• By handshaking with 'Polygram', they got 'Universal Pictures' involved.
• Films produced:
• Shaun of the Dead
• Hot Fuzz
• At World's End
• Billy Elliott
• Bridget Jones: Diary
• Nanny McPhee
• The Boat That Rocked
• released in the UK on April 1st 2009
• budget of $50 million
• Richard Curtis romantic comedies have traditionally done very well at the box office
• Typical Working Title co-production with Universal and Canal+
• Familiar Working Title faces and some up-and-coming talent
• Famous US star (Phillip Seymour Hoffman)
• Traditional marketing campaign with synergestic merchandising and tie-ins - soundtrack released on Mercury Records owned by Universal...
• Increasingly traditional digital marketing strategies (TV commercials, social media)
• Large scale release - 400+ sceens in UK
• Medium scale release in US - 800+ screens
• It died in the UK yet it still did quite well in the US
• Thunderbirds
• Most films make a profit from their films, although some have flopped.