DRAFT: Exam practice essay: What significance does the development of digital technologies have for media institutions and audiences.

"What significance does the development of digital technologies have for media institutions and audiences."

Introduction- Digital technologies such as smart phones, tablets and computers and social websites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram are essential for film production companies in order to market and distribute their films in the 21st century. It is important that film marketing companies keep up to date with technology as it grows rapidly. Large companies such as Disney have several Facebook pages for their films to promote upcoming sequels and new films to keep up with evolving technologies.

Pre film opening- Before film production companies have distributed films for public viewing, many companies hold preview events and ask for audiences' critiques. This causes a buzz of the new film. These filmed interviews of members of this audience can then be used in adverts which entices possible future audiences due to the good review. Cross media synergy is often used before a film's premier in the form of adverts seen on the television and also on websites such as Youtube before videos which can be viewed on phones, tablets, game consoles and computers. It has become quite common that young children make fan-made trailers of a film such as Disney's Tangled which add to publicity. This is critical for film distributors and production companies to predict popularity. Social 'buzz' created on the internet about potential actors in films before they come out for public release can also act as pre-production marketing. Press were keen to be the first to publicise the un-named actor who will play Mr. Grey in 50 Shades of Grey in 2014 even though the film will not be coming out until early 2015. Photos of the set and filming locations can be found easily on the webpages of news companies such as E!News and social bloggers such as Perez Hilton.

Production- Disney's film 'Tangled' was criticised in the news and by animators due to it being the first use of a new animation technology, an improvement from CGI which enables there to be no need for hand-drawn animation. Many amateur cartoonists were in uproar over the effect this would have on their livelihoods, creating bad press. Usually, this would cripple small production companies such as 'Sixteen Films' as they do not have the privilege of vertical distribution like Disney as if the film were to receive bad press, the film could still be distributed easily and cheaply. If a film is going to be in 3D or IMAX, this can attract investors as these new steps in technology are appealing to audiences. However large companies can be affected by bad press but are not as affected. Disney's film John Carter (2012), although in 3D and had a large budget of £153.1 million, did not receive a profit due to critical reviews before public release, crippling box-office sales, only receiving £18.3 million on its opening weekend.

After film opening- Many characters that have had 'meme's created about them have fan created twitter pages which act as free marketing for the company. This however only applies to large grossing films from very successful film companies such as Disney and its film Tangled which grossed a box office of £5.1 million in the UK. The film, although aimed at a target market of 5 - 12 year olds, had a large viewing audience of teenagers and young adults who have more access to the internet, allowing more 'word of mouth' marketing on social media, making its reach worldwide. This form of marketing is the most effective and cheap but cannot be relied on as a main form of marketing. Fortunately for the production company 'Bedlam' who produced 'The King's Speech', 'word of mouth' marketing worked extremely effectively. The production company relied on this as it only had the budget to distribute the film in a limited number of cinemas and slowly feed it into worldwide cinemas. In total, 'The King's Speech' made a gross of £85.1 million.

Exhibition- The film 'The Angels Share' produced by the company '16 Films' did not make much at the box office compared to Disney's 'Tangled'. 'The Angels Share's s considering it's limited viewer market (as it is certificate 15) and had a low budget, performance at the cinema was more than expected making a total of £185,000. Some say this is due to the fact that the director Ken Loach was well renowned creating awareness for the film. 'Tangled' made a gross of £5.1 million, 27 times the gross of Sixteen Films. in the 21st century, the cinema is one small way how people view films. One factor that will always affect all film sales is the audience finding a cheaper way to view the film through piracy and film viewing platforms like Netflix which enables films to be viewed on portable devices such as tablets. Most large films, such as Tangled do offer direct links to Netflix and LoveFilms on websites such as IMBD. Films take a physical form in DVDs which can then be watched on demand but do not cost the consumer after initial purchase, unlike Netflix, which causes the film to loose possible money.

Conclusion- In conclusion, although making and distributing films has become easier and cheaper for everyone, large companies such as Disney make more of a profit by using cross-media ownership ironically, dominating the market. In the future, I believe that eventually, viewing platforms such as Netflix will over take the cinema due to how expensive a cinema trip can be. It is possible that laws may be changed so that films can be distributed to Netflix and DVD sooner after release. Because of an increase in smaller, portable devices that take away the need for a DVD player and TV system, eventually, all technology may be synced, disallowing the use for DVDs and Blue-Ray.

Disney Case Study - Tangled

For more than nine decades, the name Walt Disney has been preeminent in the field of family entertainment. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to today's global corporation, The Walt Disney Company continues to proudly provide quality entertainment for every member of the family, across America and around the world.

 In 18 November, 1928, Steamboat Willie is released at the Colony Theatre in New York, the real ease of Mickey Mouse cartoon and the very first appearance of Minnie Mouse.

In 21 December, 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney's first feature-length animated film, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.

 

In 17 July, 1955, The first Disney park, opened in Anaheim, California, to an invited audience on this day.

Media Networks

Media Networks comprise a vast array of broadcast, cable, radio, publishing and digital businesses across two divisions – the Disney/ABC Television Group and ESPN Inc. In addition to content development and distribution functions, the segment includes supporting headquarters, communications, digital media, distribution, marketing, research and sales groups.

The Disney/ABC Television Group is composed of The Walt Disney Company’s global entertainment and news television properties, owned television stations group, and radio business. This includes the ABC Television Network, ABC Owned Television Stations Group, ABC Entertainment Group, Disney Channels Worldwide, ABC Family as well as Disney/ABC Domestic Television and Disney Media Distribution. The Company’s equity interest in A&E Television Networks, Hulu, and Fusion round out the Group’s portfolio of media businesses.

Parks and Resorts

When Walt Disney opened Disneyland on July 17, 1955, he created a unique destination built around storytelling and immersive experiences, ushering in a new era of family entertainment. More than 55 years later, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (WDP&R) has grown into one of the world’s leading providers of family travel and leisure experiences, providing millions of guests each year with the chance to spend time with their families and friends making memories that will last forever.

At the heart of WDP&R are five world-class vacation destinations with 11 theme parks and 44 resorts in North America, Europe and Asia, with a sixth destination currently under construction in Shanghai. WDP&R also includes the Disney Cruise Line with its four ships - the Disney Magic, Disney Wonder, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy; Disney Vacation Club, with 12 properties and approaching a total of 200,000 member families; and Adventures by Disney, which provides guided family vacation experiences to destinations around the globe.

The Walt Disney Studios

For nearly 90 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built. Today, the Studio brings quality movies, music and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. Feature films are released under the following banners: Disney, including Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios; Disneynature; Marvel Studios; Lucasfilm; and Touchstone Pictures, the banner under which live-action films from DreamWorks Studios are distributed. The Disney Music Group encompasses the Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records labels, as well as Disney Music Publishing. The Disney Theatrical Group produces and licenses live events, including Disney on Broadway, Disney On Ice and Disney Live!

TANGLED

Origins

Tangled is loosely based on the German fairy tale 'Repunzel' in the collection of folk tales published by the Brothers Grimm, two 17th century writters who are the most renowned fairy-tale creators creating other classics such as Cinderella, Rumplestiltzskin and Snow White. The Brothers were known for their gothic style of writing and their stories which are told now have been drastically adapted.

Finance

Tangled spent 6 years in production at an estimated cost of $260 million which makes it the most expensive animated film of all time. The opening weekend in the UK, the box office made £5,106,612 and in total in the UK £35,518,895.

Distribution

There are two reasons why Tangled made big news on it's release.

1. As of yet, Tangled is the most expensive animated movie to date. To put it into context-

The movie holding the title of most expensive is the  Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers andThe return of the King) costing 281 million, only 21 million more.

However, James Cameron is famous for his big budget movies. Terminator 2 (1991) was the first movie to cost 100m. Titanic (1997) was the first to cost 200m. By the time James Cameron was making Avatar in 2009, budget was enormous. The official budget is supposedly 237m dollars, but it’s not uncommon to see claims and speculations that place the budget closer to 280m dollars.

2. The film uses a new animation technology which completely killed traditional hand-drawn animation, forever solidifying CGI as the “new cartoon”. This is one of the first time Disney has relied pimerily on CGI for an animated film. Many amateur cartoonists were in uproar over the effects this would have on hand drawn animations.

The C. Jung and I. Briggs Typology Test

While studying the company Disney as part of exam work, I cam across an image linking Disney princesses to a psychological, online test. According to the C. Jung and I. Briggs Typology Test, I am an INFJ - The Protector/Dreamer.

Take the test here:
http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html 

Disney and their world domination

The start of Disney:
In 1923, Walt Disney signed a contract with M.J Winkler to produce a series of Alice Comedies - this date was considered as the start of the Disney company first known as The Disney Brothers Studio. In 1927 and 28, the first two cartoons: Oswald the Trolley Troubles and Steamboat Willie were publicised. They both included first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Throughout the rest of the 20s and 30s, disney continued to produce cartoons until 1932 when they produced their first colour cartoon 'Flowers and Trees'. In 1937, disney released its first feature-length animated film 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'. 

On 2nd April 1940, Walt Disney issued its first stock for public sales- a big event for then, a small company.  By 1955, the company now spending most of the US was able to open its first Disney Park in California. By 1971, a larger Disney Park had opened in Orlando Florida with two linked hotels. In December of 1980, Disney signed an agreement to build its first inter nations Disneyland in Tokyo and opened three years later in 1983. 

Now 2014, Disney has produced 318 films and is worth $142.11 billion as of today (Jan 13th, 2014).  The enterprise owns some more unconventional things such as a baseball team, several cruise ships and its own currency. Disney owns some of the largest companies known in the US but also internationally for example ESPN and all of ABC's sub companies such as ABC Entertainment Group, ABC News, ABC Owner Television Stations and ABC Family. These ABC stations reach 23.3% of all U.S. television households. With Disney owning its own radio 'Radio Disney', it reaches the most highly populated areas of the USA with 45 radio stations such as:
WDWD- Atlanta
WMVP- Chicago
KESN- Dallas
KRDY- San Antonio
KSPN- Los Angeles
KDIZ- Minneapolis


http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about-disney/disney-history/1980-01-01--1989-12-31

Preparing to shoot!

As I have created my risk assessment, I have decided to arrange all acts, props and set(s) as soon as possible. I have decided to use my own home to film in (verisimilitude). The room I used had not been used in a while and became a type of storage space. I had to tidy the room quite a bit, and move larger pieces of furniture into the hall, out of sight from the camera, framed images on the wall and books that didn't bring the minimal theme I had in mind for my miss en scene. I left items that had been stored in the room such as the war time paintings and the old clock because I felt they were interesting, and would make the audience question my character: Why does she have these types of images?, Why does quite a modern, young woman have an old style clock?

I ended up using two actresses (at first, I only used one). The black and white shots are of myself whereas my coloured character, who we see more of the Mollie Greaney.

Task 12 - Audience Research

Audience Research with Fay Troote - age 17.

1. What is you favorite film?

• The Others

2. Who is your favorite actor/s?

• Keira Knightly
• Johnny Depp

3. What actors do you hate?

• Cameron Diaz
• Robert Downey Jr.

4. What are your favorite TV programs?

• The Vampire Dairies
• Awkward.
• The Carrie Diaries 

5. Who do you watch films with?

• Friends and Family

6. Whats films do you watch and when?

• Christmas films at Christmas 
• I don't watch thriller films at night because I get too scared
•  I always watch a horror/thriller film with someone 

I have come to the conclusion that people who watch thriller films are not always violent or dark people- that they can enjoy other genres of film, music or TV and still want to watch dark thrillers.

Foundation Portfolio Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment of Foundation Portfolio.docx

Task 11 - Certificate Ratings

Universal - All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children.

Parental Guidance - All ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for young children. May contain mild language and sex/drugs references. May contain moderate violence if justified by context (e.g. fantasy).

12A - (Cinema only.) Introduced in 2002. Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Those aged under 12 years are only admitted if accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years, at all times during the motion picture. However, it is generally not recommended that children under 12 years should watch the film. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, infrequent strong language and moderate violence, sex references and nudity. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sexual violence may be implied or briefly indicated.

12 - (Home media only since 2002.) 12A-rated films are usually given a 12 certificate for the VHS/DVD version unless extra material has been added that requires a higher rating. Nobody younger than 12 can rent or buy a 12-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game. The content guidelines are identical to those used for the 12A certificate.

15 - Only those over 15 years are admitted. Nobody younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, frequent strong language and limited use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed but without any strong detail. Sexual violence may be shown if discreet and justified by context.

18 - Only adults are admitted. Nobody younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. Very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence is usually permitted. Strong sexual violence is permitted unless it is eroticised or excessively graphic.


I think my film would be certificated as an 15 or 18 because if I were to continue my film, I would like to include a lot of violence and gory scenes to fit with my genre as most genres do not cater for market below these ages due to the tendencies of plot. 


Wikipedia. 

I don't think very gory violence will be shown in my film, so I would class mine as a 12 due to the slighting morbid themes.

Wikipedia. 

Task 10 - Conventions of a Thriller Film

Conventions of a Thriller Movie Opening from shona_r

Task 9 - Title Sequence of 'Se7en'

The first nine shots in the title sequence of ‘Se7en’ features close ups of objects that our character who we do not know yet is using. This inability to unmask the character makes the audience uneasy   yet intrigued.

·      The first shot shows a close up of the top of a book. We do not know what is written in the book if anything at all. In small text, the name of the producers company can be seen. The white font contrasts with the darkness of the scene but not too much that the mystery the shot gives us.

·        The second shot is a high angle looking down on a very detailed drawing of two hands. This suggests that the character the film opens with is a talented artist. Here we see the name of the director but the font used differs to that of the first shot. It is messy, looks creepy and like a child has written it.

·        The third shot is a close up of fingertips holding what seems to be a razor blade. This gives the audience a sense of worry as razor blades on their own (ie, not attached to a razor) are linked to violence and harm. There is not text on this shot meaning the audience are meant to focus in on the razor blade.

·        The fourth shot is of a typewriter underneath a table. Showing the typewriter partially hidden gives the impression that the item is deliberately placed there to be out of sight. The title of the movie suggests that the movie could be based around the typewriter. The font is again messy and scratched giving a sense of unease.

·        The fifth shot is a close up of a pile of pages or papers, maybe cryptic as we can also see a form of decrypting device being held by the hand on the right of the shot.  This shows the audience that this unmasked character definitely has something to hide. Again, no text is overlaid onto the shot so the audience can concentrate on the actions within the frame.

·        The sixth shot is a high angle close up of another drawing, this time of a man. The hands we see are working on the picture. Because of this, the audience now wonder why this character is drawing and documenting people. Credits of the casting directors in the white, edgy font are carefully placed so they do not interrupt the audience’s view of the sketch and the actions of the hands.

·        In the seventh shot, we see a close up of the fingers working on something. The finger nails look old, dry and damaged. Along with what seems to be small nails attached to a piece of tape, it is suggested that the character is creating something. Credits lay over the top of the tape, making the audience interested in what the hand is using.

·        Shot 8 is a close up of the fingers sewing two pieces of newspaper. Shot 9 is the same newspaper but being cut with a pair of scissors. The cuts we can see already been cut suggest that they are strategic and that the character is trying to form something.  The character is making something but we do not know what yet.

The end of the title sequence leaves the audience with more questions than answers- very common of thriller openings. I can tell this is a psychological thriller and I am really intrigued to watch the rest of     it.

I chose to analyse this title sequence due to the use of close up of actions and also items which are part of the general miss en scene but on this close up, look more sinister than they were before when they were seen as part of the whole concept. 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/se7en/#