G322: Key Media Concepts Exam
The Film Industry
The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice
• What are the issues in the film industry?
• Social Influence; audience reception
• Bias; specific genres and cultures
• Dominance of industry; Hollywood vs the world
• Money$$$$$$$
The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing
• In media economics, synergy is the promotion and sale of a product (and all its versions) throughout the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate, e.g. films, soundtracks or video games.
• Walt Disney pioneered synergistic marketing techniques in the 1930s by granting dozens of firms the right to use his Mickey Mouse character in products and ads, and continued to market Disney media through licensing arrangements.
Synergy in Film:
• 20th Century Fox, produces, distributes and markets films
• Owned by News Corporation..
• Which is Owned by Rupert Murdoch…
• Who owns: Sky, News International, Harper Collins, MySpace
What does all this mean????
The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production,
distribution, marketing and exchange
The Digital Age
The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences
Impact of Digital Technology
• Downloading – itunes, ipod,
• Digital Piracy – DVD’s, filesharing
• Social networking sites - marketing
• Accessibility – everywhere??
• Control – industry/audiences
The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences
What does convergence mean and why is it important?
• When two or more technologies come together to create a new technology.
• Audiences: Everything in one product
• Institutions: Audiences tied to one product
The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by
international or global institutions
• Hollywood dominance• Appeal• Money $$ vs ££• Cultural
Values/Influence• Good vs Evil
The ways in which your own experiences of film consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of
audience behaviour.
How do you consume films??