Issues Raised by Media Ownership. - Homework.

Disney - Synergy

Disney - Synergy

InBetweeners - Cross convergence and Synergy.

InBetweeners - Cross convergence and Synergy.

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the media area you have studied?

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the media area you have studied?

Digital distribution is a distribution (providing / giving out) method in which media content is delivered without the use of physical media (E.g. Film tape.) These distribution programs are now being improved more to offer more secure on-line transactions, consumer licensing and anti-piracy measures.This digital distribution method is potentially minimum expense, This furthers results into consumers getting goods cheaply, easily and with increased profits, this also includes an increased artistic freedom. Moving through into marketing section, this marketing method is based around the action or business of promoting and selling products or services. This marketing also includes the market research and advertising. Finally the consumption of media products, is where the sum of information and entertainment media is taken in by an individual or group. This activities can be interacting with new media such as reading books and magazines, watching television and films but also listening to the radio. 

To begin with, the Digital distribution affects the marketing and consumption of media products due to the rapid change of consumption from the consumers. The reasoning behind this rapid change, is because more consumers are now choosing to consume more media product files on the internet or in the comfort of their own home, with the home cinema surround sound instead of going out to public cinemas to pay money to generally watch the same film. There is now a high dependance on the internet for many. With the film industry taking this into account and having to consider promoting and distributing the film digitally on the internet, there is actually less exchange from consumers at the cinema, which means a lower profit. This profit needs to be raised again, which means the film industry needs to find a sensible distribution method which can be made and completed rapidly but also stay digital for the now dependent digital consumers. These methods are now; DVDS, Blu-Rays, VOD (Video On Demand) and on television. The positive outcome of being able to digitally distribute the product to consumers is that, the product can now be be given around a broader scale such as going world wide, but also being cheaper to transport the products to the consumers through DVDS e.t.c. or even on VOD, because the money does not now have to be paid for transport of actual film tape. More profit is then taken and saved by the film industry. Skyfall as an example had decided to keep the budget of $2000,000,000, before earning the profit of $918,000,0000 in just ticket sales before selling 2 million DVD copies in the UK alone, for a higher price than a ticket in the cinema. This digital distribution based on the consumers way for Skyfall alone, has shown that the consumers way of consuming the film is an extremely important based section as technology advancement has made the consumers advance as well, wanting a more appropriate method of watching the film, compared to having to make a trip to the theatre to watch a film. 

On the other hand, digital distribution through the marketing side is pretty well important compared to the way this digital distribution is consumed. With the old marketing style of posters being printed across sides of buses, or in the under-ground tunnel walls, consumers are now too busy with their travels to work or to important occasions, that this advertisement does not even get noticed anymore like it used to be when consumers had spare time on their hands to actually look around. With the technology becoming more advanced and consumed more in the consumers life, the film industry has too look personally into how their own product can be marketed digitally and become noticed. For example, when the consumers are only waiting for a bus in public or even on a train, phone technology has taken over their lives as every spare second would be spent checking the internet and social networking sites. This is a break through, for digital distribution, as they could create fan pages to promote a film on a social networking site, so the consumers could send in private messages or even public messages on the page asking for information. Google has also linked in with many digital distribution advertisement, which takes information from pages people have mostly visited, either on phones or laptops, before revealing adverts 24/7, linking to an appropriate subject or film. The positive outcome for this digital marketing across social networking sites and pop up ads or even trailers being shown on the sidebar or television when consumers are at their most relaxed, makes the both the consumer trustworthy and more believable to what this advertisement has to say, but becomes a cheaper and quicker method for the institution. With the institution also being already creative and unique for their advertisement and the payment to show this a lot cheaper than having to print on the paper, the only problem the institution has to promote their digital product with digital distribution, is by placing their advertisement in certain areas at certain times to attract the right target audience they want. For example, a film with the classification of 15, would not be shown around about noon for younger children too see, instead it would be placed on in the late evening at around about 9 pm for those consumers who have had work, to return home, relax and see the digital distribution of marketing, before wanting to see more of the film from just the trailer. Harry Brown for an example, was made a digital fan page for advertisement and received 1534 likes from fans and 66 consumers have talked about the digital media product and had 'tagged' them as a link to what they had to say. This all does not include the posts in which are made by the fan page, that consumers have 'liked' and 'commented' on. 

How your experiences of media consumption illustrates wider patterns and trends

How your experiences of media consumption illustrates wider patterns and trends

In the consumption section, audiences are now changing the ways they would like to consume the media product due to the multiple choices they have with the newer and broader technology. An example would be through that home cinemas and downloads now battle against a trip to the cinema. Trends are also becoming well known amongst the audience such as Netflix and DVD's, but also the synergy techniques such as Orange Wednesdays at the cinema. The main danger and problem for institutions are Illegal downloads, which most of the audiences have taken on. I, myself have consumed the film Skyfall in these multiple choices of consumption. 

With the cinema being the main chose of my consumption for Skyfall, the production of this film had to be carefully thought about, to make it the correct viewing for the consumers at the cinema. The budget of this film was $200,000,000, before the overall worldwide gross over took this, giving them an exceeding amount of profit. With the film being recorded on the Arri Alexa digital video camera and the Sony Digital Cinema 4k digital video projector, the expectations and overall film product was shown to be in high quality, resulting into the consumer and myself wanting to watch this film again. The CGI which had around 500 CGI shots against a green screen were also shown to have a more realistic appearance compared to previous films, which made it more acceptable for such a growing audience around my own age to want to consume more of the technology used. The only negative factor with the production, was the fact that Barbra Broccoli the producer, believed that Skyfall was not 'ready' to be produced in 3D. The reason this is actually negative, is because us as the audience are becoming more focused on consuming films which have a more realistic grabbing effect upon us but with also a higher quality. The reason I, as the audience prefer 3D, is because I find it more unique and entertaining with the way it is produced with different technology. The fact that the cinema already produces a bigger screen and a louder and more clearer sound system in placed with the silence of the audience, the consumer such as myself can find it easier to watch the film without disruptions and background noise but also feel the full effect of the screen. 

Moving on from this, the main distribution of Skyfall, well known as Columbia Pictures, distributed 'Skyfall' through the popular method of using emails on the internet digitally, due to the film being already filmed in digital. This distribution can be a negative factor, due to the advanced technology of hacking into email accounts, before exploiting the films illegally through piracy websites. I have previously watched other films through pirate websites, but have found that most of the quality is extremely bad or have previously been filmed by other consumers in the cinema, so it included a shaky experience, people moving in the audience in front of the camera and muffled sound. Another negative factor of this being digitally exported and watched, is that the quality is more negative compared to original way of the film actually being filmed and placed on film to be watched. The positive factors of the distribution of a digital film, is that it cannot be lost, there is no fuel expensive, the film can be digitally sent out to wider places around the world. Skyfall was actually released to 85 different countries, worldwide. The distribution company Columbia pictures is also well known for distributing other films such as; The Grown Ups 2, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Smurfs 2. The fact that this distribution both has a record of distributing the second sequels of films, and is well known with the audience, this makes us all including me except the highest quality and expectations when their logo is shown on the screen in a trailer. My experience with this distributor company, is that when I see their well known logo, I automatically believe that the films the distribute would be excellent and worthwhile too watch, due to previous films they have shown. 

With Columbia Pictures being the distribution company of the film, they are also in charge of marketing. This marketing is focused on raising awareness of the actual film but to also target a certain group of people for the audience. This is all done through creating publicity in various methods. With the target audience for Skyfall being between the ages of 15 - 60 year olds but also for both genders, this movie has been aimed at my own age group in which can cause discussions between my group of friends. The various methods of marketing were through; Bonding with Coke ( Became the appearance of the can), Sony previews 4 minutes of Skyfall at the CineEurope, Trailers, Posters, Clips shown on social networking sites such as Facebook, (These clips, can be shared onto other mutual friends walls, shared so it appears on everyones timelines, tag people into the clip so they can also watch it). With everyone in the target audience's tastes being different, I found that by using trailers mainly located on T.V but also my well used account on Facebook the social networking site, I became enticed to actually watch the full film from watching the trailers repeatedly or watching the other films. 

After the film has been marketed, the exchange (Point of sale) becomes the main sector. This point of sale includes, downloading, receiving the DVD through post and buying the ticket online or in box office. As an overall worldwide gross, Skyfall had earnt $918 million in ticket sales, sold 2 million DVD copies in the UK and a high unknown amount of unknown illegal downloads. This then follows through to the Exhibition (The way we watch a film as the paying audience). 

Gender Homework.

In this clip shown, the representation of Gender is shown through the use of camera work e.g. Camera shots, movement and angles. but also editing, sound and finally mise-en-scene.

The first shot used, was a medium long shot. This medium long shot was to reveal the feminine gender in a stereotypical view of a women. This shot is also used to show the mise-en-scene on how this feminine character obeys to the stereotypical rules by wearing an extreme amount of make-up against her red silk dress, to show the expensive taste this character has but also how she is very classy. The connotation of the  colour of the dress also symoblises danger and emotion with it's striking colours which shows how the feminine trait can not be trusted, but also that she must be the 'villian' which goes against societies stereotypes upon women, due to the male gender being the evil ones. Moving on from this a contrast was used by comparing this with a medium close up camera shot of a masculine dressed women, as she is shown in a more of a suit sort of costume with the mise-en-scene which links in with her leather jacket. This shows masculinity through the fact that she is covered up and more formal to show off her strength and power but also to be feared of. The outfit also shows how the female character does not link in with the feminine trait about having to be self conscious with her appearance, making her more masculine. The denotation, automatically shows the audience to expect that this masculine female to have been a part of a male dominated work place in which she has managed to be apart of, solving crime.

Another representation of gender through camera work is a high angle camera shot which is shown to be focused upon the male character. The way this camera is placed, is to exaggerate the fact that this male character can be feminine and looked upon as he does not show an extreme amount of power and strength. The vunerability of this male character makes him extremely feminine and it's stereotypical point is always placed upon the feminine role. The mise-en-scene of this character contrasts against the camera work, as he is shown to wear a suit which shows control and power, which is also a masculine trait. Continuing on from this, the stereotypical feminine characteristic is also shown in an extreme close up of the masculine appearanced female character who goes into a flash back of struggle and fear. This contrast well against her masculine appearance, as this flash back is linked with emotions, which is then shown only with the feminine characters.

The last shot that really stands out is the medium close up shot, due to her body language and the way she is shown to confront the male character. The masculine traits of braveness, power and control are all shown in the confrontation of her domination over this feminine male character. This shows a role-reversal between stereotypes in the clip as the females are now shown to be masculine while the male characters are shown to be feminine. This also links clearly into verisimilitude, as the construction of the action shown, constructs a believable world that people are living in as this resembles the problems many families or students in school have, when female show the masculine role of taking control and becoming argumentative, whilst males are more sensitive and can become easily upset.

The representation of gender is also shown to be used through editing. Things such as eye-line matches are use constantly between the switches of camera shot angles. An example of this eye-line match would be between the man in the suit and the masculine female character. During the actual eye-line match, the man is shown to be at a higher level, dominating over her with more masculine traits where else the masculine women becomes more feminine with the lack of power. Another editing skill was through the montage edit of the flash back as the women is shown to be both feminine with emotion but masculine with the flash back action of her. A following cross dissolve was used to portray two lots of action to show the difference between her feminine side and masculine side.

Keywords that need to be included from now on.:

Realism - do the different techniques used make these piece realistic? - Is the setting realistic 

Verisimilitude - the construction of a believable world, bearing resemblance to real world - Is the action believable. Stereotypes - how people are expected to be or represented in larger groupsDenotation ( or denotes) - the meaning of something eg we could see that from the empty bottles they had been drinking.Connotation ( or connotes) - the implication of that meaning eg they are all alcoholics and will die due to lover failure!