How does media ownership have an impact on the successful distribution of media products in the media area you have studies.

Media ownership has a great impact on the successful distribution of media products in the film industry. Walt Disney is one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. Disney owns many different smaller companies as well, a main one being Pixar. It also owns all of the Marvel characters, apart from Spiderman. Disney is known for producing high budget movies. It is part of the oligopoly of the Big Six, giving it a great amount of power on the film industry.

One of its biggest, recent movies is Maleficent which had a production budget of $170,000,000 USD. Disney made back nearly a quarter of the amount of money spent on the movie on the movie’s opening weekend in the United States alone. Due to the size of the Disney institution, the company was able to produce and distribute their film independently in the US and UK. They used social media to promote their film, which cost little-to-no money and also produced many YouTube trailers and teasers. The film also had its own webpage where people could find out more information about the film. This website also had activities for young children to get them excited for the release of the film. There were also traditional marketing techniques used such as television trailers and posters/billboards which also helped to create awareness and hype for the film. The film was filmed using high-end cameras and was also filmed and showed to the audience in 3D. This helps to deal with the increasing levels of piracy which is a never-ending problem for Disney and the rest of the Big Six.

In 2013, the British Film Institute released an independent film, The Selfish Giant. The film was directed by Clio Barnard, who was already known in the British film industry for her short films and documentaries. The production budget was a massive contrast with the production budget of Maleficent at only £1.4 million. The Selfish Giant was distributed by Film4. There was not much money available for the marketing of the film and so the distributers relied heavily on the reviews that the film was given to promote their film. They also had posters up in the London Underground and also had some page advertisements in magazines. 

The BFI produce films for a much more niche market than Disney does who produces films that can be enjoyed by a large variety of people. Disney can also sell cinema tickets much more easily than the BFI can as they have more money to market and distribute their film. It is also easier for Disney as they have a much bigger and well-respected name for themselves and have many positive connotations attached to their company, therefore they will never have a problem with selling tickets as their films are on very high demand.

This concludes that media ownership has a massive impact on the distribution of films, due to money and name, making it impossible for small companies to be able to distribute their film successfully and compete with the Big Six. Distribution is very important in making back the money spent on a film because if a film is not distributed it is not seen by the audience, therefore no matter how good a film is it cannot make any money.

Evaluate the role of the digital technology in the production, marketing and consumption of products.

Evaluate the role of the digital technology in the production, marketing and consumption of products.

 

Digital technology is vital in the production, marketing and consumption of film. In this essay I will be discussing the role of digital technology in and evaluating its use.

Digital technology is used in many aspects of the production of film- camera, sound, editing software and lighting. Up-to-date technology is very important for making the most effective and visually appealing films. Different cameras are used to get different effects. In The Hobbit, Red One cameras were used and they had 48 frames per minute which created a much more seamless picture and took away the motion blur when the camera moves that is usually seen in cameras that film with 24 frames per second. 3D cameras must also be used for any films that are planned on being released in the cinema in 3D. It is most common for digital cameras to be used in filming. An independent film from 2015, Tangerine, filmed the entire film on an iPhone and edited the film on a cheap app on the iPhone as well. This shows that digital technology for production does not have to be expensive but more expensive cameras will create much better cinematography.

Many films use the software Adobe Premiere Pro, for example Deadpool and Gone Girl. This can be used to edit different shots together and use effects such as expansion of time and visual effects. It can also be used to edit sound and add foley. Another commonly used software is CGI. This is used to add visual effects to films, for example Jurassic World used CGI for the dinosaurs. They added affects to humans to make them look like dinosaurs and used CGI to make objects look like jungle scenery.

Digital technology is also crucial for the distribution and marketing of films. A major way of marketing films in recent years is through the internet and viral campaigns. Social Media platforms allow people to share videos and opinions about film. This is below-the-belt as little-to-no money is put into it; this is just regular people promoting the film online. An example of a viral internet campaign is the prank in the coffee shop which was used to promote the film Carrie. However, some mainstream films will have larger marketing campaigns which will include billboards and television advertising, for example Disney's Maleficent. Sometimes, even more elaborate means are used. For example, Star Wars: A New Hope promoted their film by projecting videos onto the Great Wall of China and they also had Stormtroopers marching and many merchandise available.