Thursday 28 November 2013

Essay Question 29/11/13




“Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to national audiences.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?


     An institution is an established organisation which is embedded within society. It is easy to see how global institutions could be seen as dominating media production. These institutions hold a vast amount of money, which consequently gives them a large amount of power in the marketing and distribution area. An example of a global institution is Sony, who have produced and distributed many different films over the years. Because of their success they can afford to use both horizontal and vertical marketing to make their institutions’ name become recognised and by doing this it enhances their growth. However, it is possible for smaller businesses to sell their products successfully; in 2011 for example Bedlam Productions and See-Saw Films with their box office success, ‘The King’s Speech.’ , both small UK companies achieved massive success with 'The Kings Speech', proving that small national companies can reach global audiences.
     Sony is considered a global institution as it owns film companies such as Columbia Pictures, it has online games, video on demand, mobile entertainment and TV channels. Sony uses all its ‘arms’ to help sell to its target audiences with horizontal marketing. Sony’s target audience is aimed mostly at adults and teenagers. ‘The Kings speech’ is a British traditional story, quite patriotic and uses famous British actors. For example ‘Helen Bonham Carter’. ‘The Kings Speech’ reached global audiences with a production budget of £15m compared to the Skyfall budget of £150-200m.

     Both film companies used synergy method to distribute and sell their products. ‘The Kings Speech’ had interviews with famous actors that play characters, some of which are well know and may be role models for some people. There is a massive cost difference in the budgets of global institutions however, digital media is getting cheaper and cheaper by creating your own websites, viral marketing etc. This is a massive advantage to small companies. Small film companies also advertise films in more simple ways such as newspapers, interview with characters, Sunday Supplements that get them noticed.

     The consumption of film media is changing. You don’t just have to go to the cinema, you can download film watch them on TV and audio’s on the radio. This leads to massive profit and small companies benefit largely from this.

     Another point that proves the difference in domination is the opening weekend gross revenue of the films. ‘The Kings Speech’ on the opening weekend grossed at £3.52m and ‘Skyfall’ had a gross profit at the opening weekend of £20.1m worldwide. Even though ‘Skyfall’ was always guaranteed to produce lots of money, the up-to date aspects of there media could of helped them to gain even more than expected.

     To conclude I believe that media production isn’t all dominated by global institutions selling their products. ‘The Kings Speech’ was highly successful and watched worldwide. However it has to be said Disney as a global company has managed to generate massive profits compared to ‘The kings Speech’ and are slightly more dominant in the media production than smaller companies.

How has digital technology changed film distribution?



Digital Technology and Film Distribution



Thursday 21 November 2013

Curzon



     CURZON

'Showcasing the best in cinema for over 75 years'

Curzon Cinemas is a leading arthouse cinema chain with six venues across the capital and one cinema in Knutsford, East Cheshire. They also have a home cinema service. Curzon cinemas are one of the few independant echibitors left in the UK. They own many cinemas located across the UK. There is Curzon Soho, Renoir Cinema, Curzon Chelsea, Curzon Richmond, Curzon Knutsford, Curzon Ripon and Curzon Mayfair.

Curzon has more than just cinemas, they also have the Curzon home cinema service which allows anyone to watch newly released films from their own home. The film releasing label Chelsea films and fusion media sales providing digital and DVD sales for 15 different distribution labels.     

Curzon cinemas are just a small subsidary of the parent company Curzon world, the intergrated cinema and content distribution group. Curzon Cinemas were established in 2002. They are a subsidiary of parent company Curzon World. Their first cinema was in Mayfair. If Curzon develop even further then they could no longer be an independent cinema.

Gravity Case Study


GRAVITY


     Gravity is a 2013 3D science fiction thriller and space drama film. Gravity was directed by Alfonso Cuarón and produced by him too as well as David Heyman. It was written by Alfonso Cuarón and Jonas Cuarón and its cast consists of Sandra Bullock and Geroge Clooney. It was distributed by Warner Bros, Pictures. It released on 28th August, 2013 in Venice, October 4th, 2013 in the US and November 8th, 2013 in the UK. They had a budget of $100 million and made $535,419,248 worldwide in the box office.
     Although the first trailer had audible explosions and other sounds, in the final film these scenes are silent. They put explosions in the trailer. There is no sound in space. In the film, we don't do that."The sound track in the film's space scenes is populated only by the musical score and sounds astronauts would hear in their suits or the space vehicles.
     Most of Bullock's shots were done with her inside of a giant mechanical rig. Getting into the rig took a significant amount of time, so Bullock opted to stay in it for up to 10 hours a day, communicating with others only through a headset. Cuarón said his biggest challenge was to make the set feel as inviting and non-claustrophobic as possible.
     The movie has clearly been successful by looking at this chart showing the awards they achieved and were nominated for. 
Awards
AwardDateCategoryRecipients and nomineesResult
Hollywood Film FestivalOctober 20, 2013Best ActressSandra BullockWon
Palm Springs International Film FestivalJanuary 13, 2014Desert Palm Achievement AwardWon
People's Choice AwardJanuary 8, 2014Favorite Dramatic MoviePending
Favorite Dramatic Movie ActressSandra BullockPending
Favorite Movie DuoSandra Bullock and George ClooneyPending
Venice Film FestivalSeptember 7, 2013Future Film Digital AwardAlfonso CuarónWon
     Film review reports that 97% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 275 reviews, with an average score of 9.1/10. Cuarón has stated that the film is not always scientifically accurate and that some liberties were needed to sustain the story. Nevertheless, the film has been praised for the realism of its premises and its overall adherence to physical principles, despite a number of exaggerations.
     Gravity was released in 3D and IMAX 3D on October 4, 2013. The film was originally scheduled to be released on November 21, 2012, before being re-scheduled for a 2013 release in order to complete extensive post-production effects work.

Sunday 13 October 2013

How the film industry has changed in the last 20 years

The Film Industry and how it has changed in the last 20 years


I worked in a group to find out other people's thoughts on how the film industry has changed and developed over the last 20 years. We did this by interviewing some people from the school and filmed their responses. 

Below is an edited version of the video we took:



Tuesday 8 October 2013

Skyfall


Skyfall Research


     I researched lots of information about Skyfall from the production to the profit made on its opening weekend. I then put it all into a powerpoint presentation to refer back to when we study it in detail. Once I had completed this I used slide share to upload it to my blog.