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AS Media Studies

Study Notes

Unit G322 Section BAudiences and Institutions

The Film Industry

Part 1

General Introduction

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General Introduction

Preparin !or the e"am

The specification says

For the exam you should be prepared tounderstand and write about the processes offilm

production, distribution, marketing andexchangeas they relate to contemporary mediainstitutions.

The nature ofaudience consumptionandtherelationships between audiences andinstitutions.

In addition, you need to know about:

the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media

practice;

the importance of cross media conergence and synergy in

production, distribution and marketing;

the new technologies that hae been introduced in recent yearsat the leels of production, distribution, marketing andexchange;

the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for

institutions and audiences;

the importance of technological conergence for institutions and

audiences;

the issues raised in the targeting of national and !ritishaudiences by international or global institutions;

the ways in which your own experiences of media consumption

illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaiour.

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General Guidance

#hat do you need to do to prepare !or Section B o! the e"am$

"ndertake case studies of the !ilm industryconsidering their production, distribution and

consumption#

$ou are looking at institutional processes and audience consumption. There should be somefocus on $%"& experience of being a consumer of film yourself.

%ase Studies & 'hat do they need to include$

These need to inole the study of a specificstudio or production company within thecontemporary film industry that targets a !ritishaudience. These can be based in the "'

()ollywood*, in !ritain (Film+, !! Films*, orpart of -orld inema (!ollywood*.

They need to include the study of a studiospatterns of production, distribution, exhibition andconsumption by audiences.

This should also be accompanied by study of how contemporary films are distributed (digitalcinemas, /, )0/, downloads, etc.* and how this has changed the production,marketing and consumption of films.

#hat do you need to (no' !or Section B o! the e"am$

$ou need to hae a good up0to0date knowledge of the key issues inoled inproduction, marketing, distribution and consumption of films. $ou need to be able to refer toactual examples to support your points. $ou also need practice at the format of theexamination in order to hone your skills.

)o' lon should you spend on the section B *uestion$

$ou should spend +1 minutes on your section ! 2uestion.

#hat sort o! *uestions 'ill +e as(ed in Section B$

$ou will be expected to answer the 2uestion using examples from your case studiesto support points made in the answer. The 2uestions might ask students to consider some orall of the following:

)ow is the film industry making use of adantages in digital technology#

)ow do film audiences consume3receie a particular text#

)ow and why are changes in the consumption and production of films happening#

To what extent are film audiences the agents, beneficiaries or ictims of changes in

production, distribution or exhibition#

-hat are the methods of distribution3exhibition for the film industry#

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The e"am *uestions 'ill resem+le these in !ormat,

-hat impact has digital technology had on institutions in the media industry that you haestudied#

)ow does the institution you hae studied attempt to target the audience for its product#

iscuss the claim that 4all media institutions will become fully digital or decline5 withreference to the media industry you hae studied.

)ow has your institution responded to the pace of change within the media industry youhae studied#

escribe the arious strategies used by your institution to secure its surial in thecontemporary marketplace.

)ow has the institution you hae studied attempted to target its audience across differentmedia, platforms and markets#

Specimen e"am *uestion

-iscuss the issues raised +y institutions. need to taret speci!ic

audiences 'ithin a media industry 'hich you ha/e studied0

6ossible essay plan:

!y institutionsthe 2uestion is asking for you to write about a particular studio3production ordistribution company specifically. !yspecific audiencethe 2uestion is asking you to writeabout a cross section of the potential film going audience 7 you might like to think of thetypical target audience for most mainstream films. 8nd naturally, you are focussing on the

film industry.

$ou will be marked on your ability to illustrate changing patterns of production, distribution,exchange and consumption through releant case study examples and your own experiences.$ou should coer the following in your response to the 2uestion:

)ow different production practices (ways of making films* allow films to beconstructed for specific audiences.

/arious distribution and marketing strategies that raise audience awareness of

specific films or genres of films.

The use of new technology to enable (more accurate#* targeting of specific audiences.

ifferent audience strategies (ways of connecting with an audience* that help or

challenge film industry practices.

$ou will be gien credit for your knowledge and understanding, illustrated through casestudy material, in any of these areas; there is no re2uirement that they should all be coered

e2ually. 9xaminers will be prepared to allow points, examples and arguments that hae notbeen considered if they are releant and ustified.

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Mar( Scheme

To et a top mar( le/el out o! 45 you need to do the !ollo'in,

. 9xplanation3analysis3argument ( marks*

'hows excellent understandingof the task9xcellent knowledge and understanding of institutional3audience practices 7 factualknowledge is releant and accurate8 clear and deeloped argument, substantiated by detailed reference to case study materiallearly releant to set 2uestion

=. "se of examples ( marks*

%ffers fre2uent eidencefrom case study material 7 award marks to reflect the range andappropriateness of examples%ffers a full range of examples from case study and own experience%ffers examples which are clearly releant to the set 2uestion

?. "se of terminology (@0> marks*

"se of terminology is releantand accurate

+. 9xpression and coherence of argument

omplex issues hae been expressed clearly and fluently using a style of writing appropriateto the complex subect matter. 'entences and paragraphs, consistently releant, hae beenwell structured, using appropriate technical terminology. There may be few, if any, errors ofspelling, punctuation and grammar.

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Introduction

6Anticipated !or almost as lon as the second comin7 the diital media era is !inally upon us

and that much misused 'ord 8con/erence8 has +ecome meanin!ul0 From 9upert Murdoch8s

deal to +uy MySpace to the sellin o! :ouTu+e !or more than a +illion dollars a!ter 1; months o!

tradin7 'e are slap +ac( in the middle o! the second dot0com +oom0 -on8t e/en mentionGoole7 'hose !ounders7 Serey Brin and

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%on/erence

onergence describes two phenomena: First,technologies coming together, for example, a mobile

phone you can use as a still and moing image camera,download and watch moing images on, use as an A6?

player and recorder and access the internet with.

'econd, media industries are diersifying so they produceand distribute across seeral mediaCfor example, anewspaper with an online ersion and audio podcasts orthe coming together of ideogames with films e.g.Duantum of 'olace (=>>@*.

-e no longer lie in a media world where teleision,

ideogames, films, newspapers, radio, magaEines andmusic exist separately. For this reason it is essential thatyou study the impact of conergence on the film industry0 the focus here is on the contemporary nature of film

production, distribution and exhibition.

Extracts from#hy -oes %on/erence Matter$

U> Film %ouncil ?anuary 244;

If, by conergence, we mean the trend for different technologies for the deliery of contentto start to resemble one another, what will this mean for us#

For example, teleision sets will increasingly resemble computers while computers willincreasingly resemble teleisions; both will be used to download moing films from theinternet, and eentually the distinction between the separate technologies are likely to beerased. onergence has already led to the deelopment of ideo0on0demand, which can bedeliered by a ariety of different deices.

!ut technological conergence itself is only a means to an end; what is also being changed isboth the economics and culture of the moing image, including film. The debate about theimpact of conergence has important conse2uences not ust for the film industry but for theway in which we all reflect ourseles to ourseles and to others.

#hy is con/erence important !or consumers7 and the economy as a 'hole$

For consumers, conergence helps to ensure greater price transparency as regards watchingfilms in different media and makes accessing those films more conenient. onergence also

presents us with the potential to choose from and access a far wider and more dierse rangeof films in different media.

For the " economy conergence represents an opportunity to build on its competitiestrengths internationally in respect of creatie talent and content creation and thereby to

enhance growth and productiity and to deelop skills. For the film industry it presentsopportunities to reach wider audiences. !ut it also presents large challenges in respect of

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rights, windows and financing models, most particularly for independently0produced !ritishfilms.

)o' does the U> compare internationally$

The " is ery well placed to seiEe the opportunitiespresented by conergence proided it addresses thechallenges identified listed below. 8 rapid transition to thenext generation of +road+andaccess networks is critical ifwe are to remain competitie with other economies such asthose of )ong ong, 'outh orea and 'ingapore whichhae inested ery significant resources in adanced

broadband networks. In )ong ong speeds of G! arealready aailable, while the highest speed on general offerin the " at the moment is 1>Abs.

I! 'e 'ant to ta(e ad/antae o! 6con/erence. 'hat arethe (ey challenes and opportunities it presents !or the

!uture$

The " Film ouncil beliees that, going forward, there will be substantial challenges forpublic policy around conergence with respect to film. There hae already been tensionsaround some core issues relating to new media such as Internet 6iracy.

There has already been a great deal of debate trying to describe the likely impact ofconergence upon the creatie industries. %n one side some existing and powerfulinstitutions hae adopted, at least until recently, a largely defensie approach to theemergence of digital media, apparently in the belief that the status 2uo would preail largelyuntouched and that existing business models would remain fit for purpose.

%n the other, some commentators hae claimed that the impact of digital media will sweepaway all our present assumptions about the way in which the creatie industries, and film in

particular, operate and that in a brae new world of digital abundance the industry willeentually cease to exist as we know it.

These positions are mirrored, for example, in elements of the debate around copyright theftand online copyright infringement. 'ome powerful interests hae behaed at times as if the

only way to fight piracy is through protection and more extreme forms of enforcement. 'omeothers hae behaed as if access to any form of intellectual property at any time for free is ahuman right.

The ability to create and distribute content in a much larger ariety of ways will acceleratethe sementationof the film sector such that there will be many more different business andcultural models, each based on different sets of aims and obecties. Hust as the audience5sability to choose between different ways of consuming product is greatly enhanced by digitaltechnology (e.g. the emergence of i6layer*, so too is the ability of institutions to createdifferent ways to make films and to disseminate them to audiences.

The " Film ouncil is clear that the history of technological innoation in the filmindustry, from the arrial of sound in the ?>s to the adent of widescreen in the 1>s,offers real benefits to audiences but can also turn against public policy and the indiidual.

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For example, the market power of the maor operator of pay0teleision in the " 7 !'ky! 7created a situation in which a series arrangements with the )ollywood studios worked to thedisadantage of smaller independent suppliers and was thereby detrimental to audiencechoice. 'ome independent suppliers reported that they were either unable to sell films

directly to !'ky!, despite those films haing achieed commercial success, or that theyreceied prices which were not e2uitable with those achieed by the studios on a like0for0like

basis.

The " Film ouncil has consistently argued that film theft and online copyrightinfringement represent a maor threat to all elements of the " film industry and to filmculture. 'ome 1J of " adults hae downloaded a film and3or a T/ show and the 2uantityof titles illegally downloaded has risen to an aerage of between K01 per year. The eryrapid take0up of broadband in the " could increase copyright infringement by means offile0sharing.

@10 #hy is con/erence +oth a +lessin and a curse !or the U>!ilm industry$

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Audience

8udience is a huge area of Aedia 'tudies with many ariants and competing approaches, soit is important to be precise about our focus which is on the relationship between audienceand institution.

For this part of your course you are more concerned with audience theory, as you will beexploring the ways that audiences are created3constructed for different films.

$ou will need to analyse the more complex nature of ne' mediaaudiences and how digitalmedia distribution and consumption has allowed consumers to become producers or at leastinteractors, and thus far more actie users of media. This is more difficult than simply sayingBthe film industry targets teenagers5.

The new media erodes the boundary between producer and audience:

%on/entional research methods are replacedor at least supplemented+y ne' methods

'hich reconise and ma(e use o! people8s o'n creati/ity7 and +rush aside the outmoded notions

o! 8recei/er8 audiences and elite 8producers80

Gauntlett 244=a5

Audience Framentation

This phrase is used to describe the ways in which people engage with media, and it showshow the idea of audience is in the digital era is changing. The ways in which conergence,user0created content and social networking hae transformed the audience are often thought

about in terms of audience!ramentation. This means that the internet 0 rollingentertainment news and internet gossip sites, films downloaded in arious ways 0 Bbreaks upBthe potential audience group for any particular film. There5s less point in the " distributorsof Quantum of Solacepaying for an expensie T/ ad during Coronation Streetif they knowthat fewer members of their taret audiencewill be watching.

%n the other hand, sigo (=>>K* sees this trend as a 4duality.working in two ways 0conergence leads to the traditional mass audience fragmenting into smaller niche audiences

but also 4!allin toether.in other ways by becoming more intimate members of smallergroup. In other words there are less big0budget, blockbusters now, and more films aimed at

promoting a 4cult5 audience.

In this new climate the film industry is desperately trying to proide ?0degree +randinfor their films 0 to surround us with them across all the arious conerged media forms thatwe come into contact with. sigo suggests that media institutions like the film industry areno longer interested in keeping the audience together, but in 4trierin enaement.0

onerging media can lead to both control by the film industry 0 as the arious filmcompanies get bigger and bigger and control more and more of the industry but alsoresistance by the consumers, who now get to produce their own films and upload them ontoYouTube.

For the film industry this imposes key changes: the media world changes from a 8/aluechain8where films are made and distributed to audiences 0 to a social net'or(0 a complexsystem where producers and audiences are mixed up 7 think about how the music industry

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colonisedySpaceor how big companies hae populated the Internet.

8nother way of describing this is the shift from 8push media8(where producers push films atus and we receie and consume them passiely* to 8pull media8(whereby we decide whatwe want to do with the media and access it in ways that suit us*.

This new media world in comparison to the old mediaworld is:

000 richer7 more di/erse and immeasura+ly more comple" +ecause o! the num+er o! producers7

the *uantity o! the interactions +et'een them and their products7 the speed 'ith 'hich people

in this space can communicate 'ith one another and the pace o! de/elopment made possi+le +y

u+i*uitous net'or(in0

Source,http,CCreutersinstitute0politics0o"0ac0u(Ca+outCdiscussionC+loin0html last accessed

Septem+er 244=D

@20 )o' has the Internet allo'ed !ilmma(ers to !ind and attract

audiences in di!!erent 'ays$

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http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html%20last%20accessed%20September%202007http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html%20last%20accessed%20September%202007http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html%20last%20accessed%20September%202007http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html%20last%20accessed%20September%202007http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about/discussion/blogging.html%20last%20accessed%20September%202007

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%orporate Intrusion into %y+erspace

It is important to contextualise some of the new digital media actiities that hae madeconergence possible and in fact accelerated it.

-urin the 1EE4s7 the shi!t to diital transmission o! all !orms o! data has increased at an

accelerated pace0 This shi!t to computer lanuae has already rede!ined the music industry and

'ill o/erta(e !ilm7 radio7 and tele/ision production and distri+ution0 In the !uture /irtually all

!orms o! data and in!ormation 'ill +e produced and stored in interchanea+le diital +its0

)erman and Mc%hesney 1EE=5

-hen preiously Bdo0it0yourself5 media institutions like $ouTube and Ay'pace werepurchased by big media players (Lews orporation bought Ay'pace; Google bought$ouTube*, immediately the relaxed approach to copyright ceased and the sites became moreisibly BcorporateB. For example, much illegally posted material has been remoed from$ouTube and Ay'pace is now using the Gracenote software made famous by iTunes to clear

copyright and intellectual property at the point of download.

If it seems strange that the big corporations are keen to either take oer or form partnershipswith websites that threaten them by distributing material for free, then consider this. " onlyinternet adertising generates around M= billion a year 0 more than 1> per cent of the moneymade from T/ ads. This figure has increased greatly in the course of =>>K. -hy# Aore "homes are now e2uipped with broadband. This results in an increase in time spent onlinecompared to other media (such as T/* and this has in turn created a huge increase in moneyinested in online adertsCa fairly simple e2uation. urrently, Google alone Bclean upBaround +1 per cent of all the reenue from online ads in the " 7 about M billion.

)o' is the Internet chanin thins$

-eb =.> describes a new phase of the internet, which allows us to create material, distributeit to one another (and thus share it* and perhaps moe closer to the democratic spirit of theinternet that its inentor, Tim !erners0Nee, had in mind.

There is a ro'in trend in media a'ay !rom esta+lished institutions and 8e"pert8 content7

to'ards user&enerated content and the po'er o! /irtual communities0 :ou can8t ha/e !ailed to

come across the story o! ho' The Blair #itch ProHect used /iral mar(etin or ho' the Arctic

Mon(eys used MySpace to ta(e o/er the 'orld0 /en thouh the latter is not strictly true7

MySpace did help to enerate a tremendous amount o! interest in the +and amonst users7illustratin the po'er ne' media has to reach audiences0 It also demonstrates 'hy traditional

media institutions !eel threatened +y ne' media, i! they don8t (eep up they miht die0 #hy else

did Ne's %orp +uy MySpace7 or MTJ o!!er screen time to user&created content7 or The

Guardian set up so many +los and tal( +oards to encourae audience participation$

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-eb =.> is a positie, 4democratic5 deelopment for ordinary people who find themseleswith relatiely cheap, instant access to film production and distribution 7 een a camera

phone or webcam, combined with a broadband connection can make you an oernightsensation on $ouTube 0 but we need to take a Breality checkB with regard to two issues.

. The most popular web =.> sites are owned by huge companies so eery moment ofdemocratic 8#e Media8social networking makes money for the big corporations 0the same ones that were making billions from the web first time round are nowgetting een richer.

=. onsider these statistics from (=>>K*:

%nly >.< J of $ouTube isitors upload ideo

>.= J of Flickr isitors upload photos

-ikipedia, the most web =.> site imaginable gien that the online encyclopaedia is

written by its readers, only gets edited3expanded by +.1 J of users.

These figures make it clear that most of us are still ust using the web to read, watch, playand listen and not to produce (create* and distribute (upload* which is how we were usingBold mediaB. )as anything really changed#

:ouTu+e

$ouTube is possibly the most reolutionaryexample of this new approach using new media.For many people it has become the first port ofcall when seeking ideo material, and along withAy'pace, it enables amateur film0makers and

musicians to distribute their material to a astaudience. 8 feature that is especially useful to media students is the way that users can postcomments on a ideo.

$ouTube, like Flickr and el.icio.us, offers social tain, which means that the userscategorise and classify the content (as opposed to this being done by the website or throughsoftware*. $ouTube is an interesting mix of I$ uploads, with some notable examples ofordinary people achieing global recognition for their ideos but it has also created a recentmoral panic.

The uploading of ideos made by teenage gang membersbrandishing guns is causing serious concern in theaftermath of fatal shootings of children across the country,and the perhaps less serious Bhappy slappyB culture wasmade possible by $ouTube.

)oweer, much of $ouTube consists of uploads of existingcommercial material, music ideos, film trailers etc which effectiely act as free or Bbelowthe lineB adertising for film and music distribution companies.

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MySpace

Aost Ay'pace users are between < and =1, which, consideredalongside the staggering number of profiles in existence, helps

us realise why &upert Aurdoch wanted to buy the site.

This age group is one that adertisers are always desperate toreach, as they are the maor audience for a host of entertainment0related products and serices.

Ay'pace has become a hub for a ariety of commercialenterprise, much of it the independent distribution of music by

bands without a record deal. It is now possible to sell music ia 6aypal through Ay'pace, sowe currently hae the ironic state of play whereby small bands and independent film makerscan use a website owned by Lews orporation (the most maor of all the maor mediainstitutions* to bypass the mainstream music and film industries. Ay'pace now has its ownmusic label, and many existing bands with long established recording contracts now releasesome of their music on the site.

The content pu+lished on MySpace +y its users /aries !rom personal diary entries and

discussions a+out the latest !ilm or tele/ision episode7 to the pu+lication o! oriinal creati/e

'or(s such as diital photoraphy and art'or( or poetry0 K! particular interest to Ne's

%orporation is that prior to its purchase7 the top !our discussion areas on MySpace 'ere !or

content o'ned +y Ne's%orp itsel!, Family Guy7 The K%7 The Simpsons and Napoleon

-ynamite0 #hate/er the !ate o! MySpace7 it8s clear that media companies +oth ne' entrants

and esta+lished players5 are startin to see the /alue o! user&enerated contentand the

ad/ertisin re/enue that can +e made !rom it0 Murdoch may +e riht in his /ie' that the8MySpace eneration8 'ants to consume and produce media on their o'n terms7 +ut i! he has

his 'ay it 'ill still +e the one od&li(e !iure !rom a+o/e 'ho 'ill +e the one to pro!it0

K8)ear 244L5

)oweer, that was four years ago, and things moe fast online:

MySpace hal/es U> audience

ySpace has hal!ed its "# audience within the last $% months&'aily Telegraph ( %% )ul

%*$*

The new figures reeal that Ay'pace5s audience numbers dropped by + per cent oer thelast year, falling from >, to ust ?.? million in Aay =>>.

The news comes hot on the heels of the site5s maor rial, Facebook, hittin 44 millionreistered users.

Ay'pace, founded in =>>?, at its peak had more than >> million registered members, but itsaudience has been declining since the rise of Facebook in =>>@.

The latest set of data also reealed that nine out of ten of the ?@.= million " internet usersoer the age of 1 used social media in Aay =>>. Twitter was found to hae +.? million

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users in the " but unlike Ay'pace, has grown its audience by .+ million people in the ", which worked out as K per cent of thecountry5s online population.

Ay'pace5s decline is in spite of areampof the site5s functionality and renewed focus onmusic and entertainment content. The site also launched MySpace Musicin Aay =>>, anew streaming and subscription serice, which has faced stiff competition from the likes of

Spoti!y.

The site, which was bought by &upert Aurdoch5s Lews orp for O1@> million (M?1million* in =>>1, has also lost two chiefs executies in the last six months.

@30 Summarise ho' you thin( sites li(e :ouTu+e7 Spoti!y and

Face+oo( are ood !or !ilm audiences0 #hat do they let us do7that 'e couldn.t +e!ore$

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