Wednesday 1 February 2017

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - The seven key areas

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - The seven key areas




The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;
Star Wars Is owned by Disney who also own marvel entertainment, Pixar and The Muppets. Disney own rights to Lucas Films and everything the made they funded StarWars and it as made by Bad Robot and Lucas films because it is owned by Disney the film was able to have a big budget of 245 million so they where able to film on real 35mm film and make most of the sets to keep in tradition with the old films, the house hold names of Disney and Lucas films nearly made it market its self because of the hype behind a Disney film and a Star Wars film this may of been the reason behind the success over the opening weekend because people would go to see it just because it’s a Star Wars film or a directors loyal fans.

           The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing; 
              Disney can use their size to promote a film as many people are interested in Disney films and therefore trust them that it will be a good film. Charles Lippincott was in charge of the marketing of A New Hope which consisted of T-shirts, posters, toys, trailers and billboards. However, Lippincott wanted to boost marketing by looking at other devices such as securing deals with Stan Lee, Marvel Comics and Roy Thomas for comic book adaptations as well as novelised adaptations with Del Rey Books. Although Star Wars merchandise was available to enthusiastic children upon release, only Kenner Toys—who believed that the film would be unsuccessful—had accepted Lippincott's licensing offer.sSmall companies can work together to promote business' by advertising to their specific audiences, this way, they can get a broader variety of people who see the advertisements and both the companies may end up becoming larger and gaining other audiences. It was distributed and published by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The companies worked together by providing their audiences with trailers which addressed more audiences as they had an insight to the film.The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production.
The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange; 


           The introduction of digital film has influenced the types of film made because producers are starting to film movies on IMAX (64MM) as more people prefer the ultimate cinematic experience, therefore, digital film influences the ways that producers film. Usually, films are made with a 32mm film, yet IMAX is 64mm. As watching films can be expensive, people like to download them at home so they can watch them without having to pay. Also, if cinema trips are too expensive, people quite often buy Blu-ray discs so that it can still be good quality whilst being at home. The types of technology that Star Wars: The Force Awakens used was also IMAX film as J.J. Abrams filmed part of it in IMAX. CGI was also used during the film for most of it as some of the characters were not real.
           The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences; 
Film companies have had to alter the way they work because a lot of people can access the films on their phones or consoles. There are also sites such as Netflix or Now TV where you can watch the films a lot cheaper. Therefore, a lot more people stay at home to watch the movies and so less money goes towards the cinema industry. Audiences have changed their viewing habits by watching them on illegal websites or downloading the content. With Star Wars: The Force Awakens, many people had gone to the cinema to watch it as it was a long awaited film that many people were wanting to go see and audiences will not have wanted to wait until the films have come out on other sites or on Netflix this dose include the fact of piracy and the major problem this is luckely the blight isnt quite as harmful to large company's like Disney. 
           The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences; 
         The Force Awakens was marketed was by making teaser trailers and then actual trailers, posters that went on billboards, being spread all over social media which I think was the best. On youtube, the teaser trailer gained 77 million views on one video and then 42 million views on another. Rather than keeping the audience together, institutions are trying to 'trigger engagement' in a variety of ways. They are using a new technique of push media Vs. Pull Media- they're pushing media towards us and the audience is choosing what media they want and in what form, hence pulling it in. Different technological systems evolve which improve the film industry.
          
          The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions; 
              The film was marketed in the USA, Europe and the rest of the world by using trailers and posters which are specific to the country. For example, the posters would have different language to represent the country and their specific language use. In China, the film poster was different to the one in England and this will have been because there is a different ideology so the producers would have wanted to make a poster that would fit the audience of a country Producers also create a cliff hanger when they show the trailers, this brings in the audience as they want to know more, knowing that it was created in the same place as James bond may encourage British audiences the currant even bond made a appearance Despite the film having well-known Western actors star in it which would help to pull in audiences, the film lacked any Asian or Eastern actors, who would appeal to the foreign audiences.

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

Recent movie viewing habits mean that online-streaming is more popular and more accessible. This also has led to illegal pirate streams too, which were very popular around the film’s release, taking away some of the film’s ticket sales. Many people who streamed from these illegal sites however, were viewing it as a repeat, so the studio still took some money.However, despite this, the majority of people still went to the cinema to view the film. With a few thousand screens around the world showing it over several months, bringing in massive amounts of money ($2 Billion worldwide box office). Many people even went back to the cinema several times to see it.The other option to view this film is to wait for its Blu-Ray and DVD release (released in April 2016) and view it. This doesn’t bring in as much money for the studio but allows the audience to view it multiple times and share with others.Personally, I both went to the cinema and purchased the Blu-Ray for this film. This allowed me to watch the film at the time of release as well as watch it again on demand. Many others that I know also follow the same trend.

Ex Machina The seven key areas




The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;The people who own the media company influence the type of film by adding their own personal touches to it and directing it in their own way. Therefore, if it is a successful company, like Disney, the film may succeed as its being directed in a way that a lot of audiences like. A lot of big companies create big films and gain a lot of the money, but there has been times when small companies have created big films, for example, 'The King's Speech' was successful yet it was only made by a small company, this will have been because a lot of Americans like the royal family, therefore, many people will have watched it and the film will have gained publicity. Film 4 and DNA films made Ex Machina and this impacted on the films as the production companies are not that popular therefore, the film did not make a big impact on the film industry. 


The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;
Companies go through a 3 step production system; Pre-production, Production and Post-production. What happens in Pre-production is all the planning, so, costume designing, script writing, finding locations and storyboarding. Production is all of the filming, composing and framing. Finally, post-production is the editing, after the films has been captured, where the music, colour-correction and special effects are added. Disney can use their size to promote a film as many people are interested in Disney films and therefore trust them that it will be a good film. Small companies can work together to promote business' by advertising to their specific audiences, this way, they can get a broader variety of people who see the advertisements and both the companies may end up becoming larger and gaining other audiences. Universal pictures had distributed the film and they cooperated by producing trailers and making posters which helped with the publication of the film.

The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange; 
 As watching films can be expensive, people like to download them at home so they can watch them without having to pay. Also, if cinema trips are too expensive, people quite often buy Blu-ray discs so that it can still be good quality whilst being at home. Ex Machina had used special effects for Ava's and all of the artificial intelligent bodies.The introduction of digital film has influenced the types of film made because producers are starting to film movies on IMAX (64MM) as more people prefer the ultimate cinematic experience, therefore, digital film influences the ways that producers film. Usually, films are made with a 32mm film, yet IMAX is 64mm.
The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;  
Film companies have had to alter the way they work because a lot of people can access the films on their phones or consoles. There are also sites such as Netflix or Now TV where you can watch the films a lot cheaper. Therefore, a lot more people stay at home to watch the movies and so less money goes towards the cinema industry. Audiences have changed their viewing habits by watching them on illegal websites or downloading the content. With Ex Machina, as it was not such a popular film, more people would have waited until it was available online, or perhaps was scrolling a long lists of films and found it and then watched it on websites that have full movies. 
The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences; 
Different technological systems evolve which improve the film industry. The ways that Ex Machina was distributed was by making trailers, posters and putting it over social media which is the main effective distributive way as there is a massive audience that use social media, therefore it was easily seen. Rather than keeping the audience together, institutions are trying to 'trigger engagement' in a variety of ways. They are using a new technique of push media Vs. Pull Media- they're pushing media towards us and the audience is choosing what media they want and in what form, hence pulling it in. 

The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions;
Film companies try and attract their audience by using a variety of techniques such as special effects, action scenes and two protagonists- Good and bad. It depends on the genre that they are using as some audiences prefer particular genres whereas bigger audiences prefer another. Producers also create a cliff hanger when they show the trailers, this brings in the audience as they want to know more. The film was marketed in the USA, Europe and the rest of the world by using trailers and posters which are specific to the country. For example, the posters would have different language to represent the country and their specific language use. 

The ways in which the candidates' own experience of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour. 
The wide variety of media consumption is decreasing the profit in the film industry, whilst also bringing popularity to it, therefore, it is neither a good or bad thing. I think that the developments of audience behavior from media consumption is a good thing as it is letting people be able to watch many different media perspectives instead of having to go to the cinema each time or going out to buy a film. 






key in starwars













Thursday 12 January 2017

essay

"Cross media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences." To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your media area?

I agree with this in the most case since it is hard for most company to never cross convergence and synergy and be able to make a whole film, in order for films to become successful it needs to have allot of work put on it possibly from different specialist company which are hired or owned by a larger company, most company have a different team or company to market and distributed the idea the larger conglomerate where more  convergence and synergy takes place the higher chance the company would be able to spend more, the tactic used by most big companys who have the money to do so is non targeting marketing meaning they market to everyone and not a specific audience this costs more but it makes the product more known and in all odds and percentages has a higher chance of making more money on its opening night because , although they not be fans, many many people would be aware of the film. f

Star Wars: The force awakens was an instant success due to the reputation of the Star Wars franchise through generations, and the fact film was distributed by Walt Disney, one of the big six, following Disney buying Lucas Film allowing them to create star wars the production company responsible for the previous Star Wars movies released for $4.05 billion meaning star wars are solely owned by Walt Disney studios. Walt Disney motion picture has marketed and distributed every Disney film made since there existence ,in 1953, through vertical integration, meaning they have a large amount of say, which is signification as it  star wars FA  will have the Disney name to it. Disney used their huge influences control and time worthy reputation such as the owner ship of ABC, Disney channel, ESPN and its theme parks allowing them to freely market star wars through this manner of distributed on a global scale, in the UK along with being played on 3,300 3D locations, 392 IMAX screens and 415 large screens, the fact the film was able to be watched on a variety of screens in a different options and the power of Disney connections through cross convergence and synergy meant that film could be viewed to a huge audience adding to its success showing that it is a vital process.


EX Machina: was owned by two smaller companies Film 4 and DNA films, both companies that have collaborated on films in the past Ex_Machina used cross media campaign when promoting the film pre-release. They promoted the film to teenagers, young adults through social media platform such as twitter and Instagram accounts, and for the more mature ages a tinder profile in the name of main character Ava, only created more advertisements for the film. Several television channels and services promoted Ex_Machina in simple ways such as adverts during prime time for all audiences and product placements so that the film had as much attention as possible based on the budget the film had on that part of the films promotion. Universal pictures were the company behind the distribution of the film, however the company didn’t own the film. If Universal has owned the films right the budget would have been considerably larger, and because of the reputation Universal has created for itself its success rate, opportunities for more exclusive things such as locations, quality and profit would have also been much higher. Despite that, Ex_Machina is an example of a smaller budget film that has become a great success without having big six company behind it, it is a film that is doing well as it has doubled its budget at the box office. The film was owned by two smaller companies Film 4 and DNA films, both companies that have collaborated on films in the past and have continued to make success out of the movies they create because of their genuinely good storys/themes the films they make are based on executing them perfectly meaning the budget is used wisely to ensure success such as pre and post production, being an example that although they did use other company for some vital aspects synergy and dominating other company like the big six is not vital and doing so can constrict others leading back down the money argument which rules over smaller company but is a safety cushion for the larger.

In conclusion cross convergence and synergy are important and vital to the success of media products such as the forgettable example of cross convergence is youtube which allowed most the world to assess film trailers and even rent films which with out this would greatly limit and constrict the effectiveness of film marketing strategies especially in the technological age and is great since even the public can upload winch makes it easy and nearly free for company to do so and is one of the largest aspects or marketing for smaller film company similarity how face book is also free to the public many film company's have official and fan pages which are seeked out by the audience therefore being the most specific and pin point accurate type of marketing showing that cross convergence is extremely vital, Ex machina also shows synergy ,collaborating for the greater good, is also important as film 4 would have struggled to market and distribute on its own and with the hired help of universal it was greatly helped showing that synergy can be beneficial, larger conglomerates do most things in house and have vertically integrated allowing them to keep all of the profit which is an cleaver solution to make more money instead of synergism. I agree with the statement through my experiences it is vital for a company to use one of the two processes to help market and gain greater sucsess.