G322: Key Media Concepts Exam

The Film Industry

Important Terminology

• Synergy

• Convergence

• Cross media convergence

• Technological convergence

• Media Conglomerate

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 (sci-fi/ westerns)

• 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??