“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?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was distributed by Disney Motion Pictures and was produced by a subsidiary of Disney which is Lucasfilm and it was also produced by Bad Robot Productions and the film had a budget of $306 million and earned a box office of $2.028 billion. The film was very successful due to the effective marketing, distribution ect which was all done by the conglomerate institution of Disney and without this, the film most likely wouldn’t have been as successful. This shows that due to the fact that Disney is one of the Hollywood ‘Big 6’ companies so therefore will be well known and this means any marketing Disney does for the film will be very wide spread and earn Star Wars a lot of publicity. Because Star Wars is such a well known series, the fact Disney are distributing the next film will already gain a lot of interest in the film due to the amount of companies Disney work with which will be very beneficial for the film’s success. This agrees with the idea that media production is dominated by global institutions as the fact Star Wars: The Force Awakens was distributed by Disney will be a secure factor that the film will be successful as Disney can easily market the film to the audience.

Disney is considered to be a global institution as it’s a very successful company and has subsidiaries of various well known companies including The Muppets Studio, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm.  The Walt Disney company is very successful and has its own theme park and through Disney Consumer Products, they produce toys, clothing and other merchandising based on Disney. This means when Disney work with a film The Walt Disney Studios will begin to market the film through merchandise and publicity acts such as ‘Force Friday’ which was the date they released the merchandise in order to build excitement for the upcoming film. This shows that by having a global institution promote the film will already benefit the film due to the wide spread marketing Disney will be able to produce for Star Wars: The Force Awakens which is evidently shown through the merchandise of toys such as Lego and the products aimed as girls such as the Stormtrooper necklace by Kay Jewelers and the ‘Dark Side’ mascaras by Covergirl in order to be able to achieve the film related products to both audiences in order to gain as much publicity possible for the film. This agrees with the statement as it shows the simple fact that the film was promoted and distributed by a subsidiary of Walt Disney which is a wide spread global institution that earned the film effective marketing and publicity.

In contrast to this, Ex Machina had a budget of $15 million and earned a box office of $36.9 million and it was produced by Film4 and DNA Films and it was distributed by Universal Pictures. Universal Studios is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Universal Studios is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America and is also one of Hollywood’s ‘Big Six’ studios. Biut Universal Studios didn’t have as large as a marketing campaign compared to Disney which explains why Star Wars: The Force Awakens was so much more successful than Ex Machina. Although Ex Machina has the basic publicity marketing areas such as film posters and trailers, other than a Tinder publicity stunt there wasn’t much marketing in order for the audience to gain interest in the film. Ex Machina used guerilla marketing in order to gain publicity for the film which included setting up a Tinder account for the main character which earned the film a lot of publicity and didn’t cost the film any extra money so there was no loss of money which would impact the profit of the film. This suggests that having a well known institution is only beneficial for the films success if the institution uses it’s well known name and success in order to achieve successful marketing which will earn a large amount of interest in the film. For example, it’s very likely Star Wars: The Force Awakens wouldn’t have been as successful if Disney didn’t use cross media convergence and synergy (both of which are very important and significant processes in the film’s success) as the film wouldn’t have been seen by the audience so no one would’ve heard about the film or bought the products. There wasn’t really any merchandise for Ex Machina which may have helped the film’s success as members of the public would’ve seen the products and furthermore gone on to look into what the film is about.

Overall, I feel that media production is dominated by global institutions but it depends on what these global institutions do with their well known name and how they promote the film. By using cross media convergence and synergy in order to use other companies to reach to all audiences the film will most likely be much more successful than a film which hasn’t used this marketing technique as no one would’ve been able to hear about the film. This is shown through Star Wars: The Force Awakens marketing techniques through lots of different companies so many members of the target audience heard about the film so would buy the products and wait for the release date. But, Ex Machina didn’t promote the film enough on a wide spread scale so not many members of the audience would hear about the film and which inevitably leads to less success than Star Wars. But I feel for a low budget film Ex Machina did very well especially due to the fact they used guerilla marketing through the Tinder publicity stunt, it was a clever idea and I feel this did earn the film a considerable amount of audience members seeing the film but I feel if Universal Pictures promoted the film more through other companies the film would’ve been much more successful.

"Cross media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences." To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your media area?

To some extent I agree with this statement as cross media convergence and synergy are important processes in order for certain films to be successful. Cross media convergence is the way films and other products are produced and distributed to other marketing platforms in order to publicize the film from another aspect. An example of a global institution which does this is Walt Disney who distributed the high budget film of Star Wars: The Force Awakens which had a gross budget of $306 million and earned a box office of $2.068 billion. Disney is a conglomerate institution as it’s a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, movies and the internet. An example of some of the companies Disney owns is Walt Disney Studies, Pixar Animation Studios and Lucasfilm. Lucasfilm alongside Bad Robot Productions produced Star Wars: The Force Awakens which shows the effect of how Disney is a conglomerate company and owns Lucasfilm which overall earns Disney lots of profit and publicity.  An example of cross media convergence is through social media how sharing the film through Facebook can lead to the film being discussed on other media platforms such as Twitter or Instagram. This is an effective marketing method as it doesn’t cost Disney any money for this marketing as the audience are taking it upon themselves to talk about the film which overall leads to more success and profit for the film and the film products.

Ex Machina had a budget of $15 million and earned a box office of $36.9 million and it was produced by Film4 and DNA Films and it was distributed by Universal Pictures. Universal Pictures is also described as being one of Hollywood’s ‘big six’ but they weren’t as effective in their marketing campaign promoting Ex Machina. Ex Machina used guerilla marketing setting up the main character a Tinder account and matching it with numerous users. This was an effective marketing campaign as through cross media convergence the audience then took it upon themselves to discuss this publicity stunt on various social media and earned the film free publicity. But I feel that other processes of the marketing are important too as wide spread marketing is very important which is displayed in Star Wars but wasn’t in Ex Machina as the film would then introduced to many members of the audience. By not having lots of marketing with different companies, it’s possible that the marketing technique won’t appeal to all demographics. This factor isn’t present in the marketing of Star Wars as they used many techniques appealing for all age groups and both genders.

Synergy is the interaction and cooperation that two or more organizations have on certain products which means that agents can produce more effective marketing techniques in order to achieve maximum profit, publicity and success for the film and the film products. In relation to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, synergy was used to tie in different companies to release products and merchandise that would be available for the audience to buy. Disney Consumer Products and Lucasfilm announced that the 4^th of September 2015 would be called “Force Friday” and that day was the official launch of all the merchandise for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Starting at 12:01am, fans could buy various products relating to the film such as toys, books, clothing and various other products at the Disney Stores and other retailers around the world. Some merchandise that was available was the popular Lego Star Wars sets and it was the third most popular toy that was bought on Black Friday and the Star Wars Battlefront game which Sony holds the exclusive rights for. Disney also released merchandise targeted at girls including “The Dark Side” mascara by Covergirl and jewelry such as a Stormtrooper necklace at Kay Jewelers. This is an effective marketing technique as it promotes the fact the target audience is both females and males aged 12 and over which demonstrates how the film isn’t just traditionally for males. This overall benefits the marketing of the products as females will be more likely to take an interest in the film as it’s more openly accepted that the film is targeted at both genders. Ex Machina on the other hand did not use synergy to promote their film which I feel was a decision that had an impact on the success rate of the film. I feel by cooperating with other organizations the film will be available to a wide spread audience and will help achieve the maximum success and interest rate in the film.

Ex Machina did release a soundtrack including the artists Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury and it included songs that were in the film including ‘The Turing test’, ‘Watching’ and ‘Ava’ but there was also many more. This soundtrack album was released digitally on the 20^th of January 2015 with an LP AND Compact Disc UK release in February 2015 by Invada Records. This demonstrates synergy as the organizations are working together to produce this soundtrack and sell to the audience. But, apart from this soundtrack no other official merchandise was released and I feel Ex Machina should have released merchandise for the film as it’s an effective way to earn more money through the products and as members of the audience see the products they’ll be reminded about the film so will encouraged to go and watch it. This will cause an increase in the amount of interest shown for the film.

Overall, I feel that cross media convergence and synergy are vital for the film’s success but I feel the actions of the distributers promoting the film have a large effect on how successful the film will be. This is shown through Star Wars as Disney showed successful marketing over a wide spread campaign with several companies in contrast to Ex Machina which Universal Pictures did not achieve successful marketing which meant the vast majority of the target audience were unaware about the film.

Film Case Study- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them- Steph and Ceri

Film case study- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from Steph2000

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What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products available to audiences in the media area you have studied?

The media areas I will be referencing to in this essay is Ex Machina which earned a box office of $36.9 million and had a budget if $15 million and Star Wars: The Force Awakens which earned a box office of $2.068 billion and has a gross budget of $206 million. Ex Machina was produced by Film 4 and DNA Films which although DNA Films is said to be the most successful film company in the UK, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was produced by much more recognizable companies which was Lucasfilm and Bad Robot Productions. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was also distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures which is subsidiary of Walt Disney which is a very successful independent conglomerate production companies which is widely recognized across society which creates a benefital impact on the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This is due to the factor of Walt Disney being a four quadrant company so although generally children enjoy the films more, it still appeals to older audiences as they know the film will be well made due to the overall representation of films that Walt Disney produces which means by being distributed by a subsidiary of this company, the audience will watch it purely because they know the film is likely to be worthy of their time and money. This impacts the range of products as parents will buy the film for children who are fans of Walt Disney due to the factor that Walt Disney only tends to get involved in well made films so they know due to the high budget, the special effects and actors will be amazing so the audience will feel they’ve spent their money on a good, well made film.

Ex Machina was produced by DNA Films and Film 4 and DNA Films is described as “one of the UK’s most successful production companies.” DNA Films have produced the films Love Actually and 28 Days later which both did fairly well with Love Actually earning a box office of $246.9 million and had a budget of $45 million. 28 Days Later had box office $115 million and had a budget of $15 million. Film 4 produced the films 127 Hours and The Iron Lady. 127 Hours earned a box office of $60.7 million and had a budget of $18 million and The Iron Lady earned a box office of $115 million. DNA Films and Film 4 produced the film The Last king of Scotland alongside Fox Searchlight Pictures who also distributed the film and it earned a box office of $48.4 million and had a budget of $6 million. In comparison to Ex Machina, it was produced by the same companies apart from Fox Searchlight Pictures but it was distributed by Universal Pictures. Ex Machina earned a box office of $36.9 million and had a budget of $15 million so we can see the similarities of the box offices between all of the films which shows although the films were successful, the films never became blockbusters. Although The Last King of Scotland was produced by the same companies and Ex Machina was distributed by a more well known company, The Last King of Scotland was more successful which suggests that Universal Picture’s distributing techniques weren’t as effective as the techniques used for The Last King of Scotland. Yet, Ex Machina’s widest release was it was shown in 2004 theatres yet The Last King of Scotland was shown in 540. This shows that The Last King of Scotland’s marketing techniques were most likely more effective than Ex Machina which demonstrates how the the success rate of the film is effected by other factors as well as the media ownership involved.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is part of a series so many fans are already aware of the film’s release as Star Wars hints on social media to the audience that there will be another Star Wars film. This builds excitement in the audience and they will look out for the films release so this factor has a heavy impact on the success of the film as many fans knew about the film and were determined to either see it in cinema, download and so on which shows Star Wars: The Force Awakens can get high publicity even without a wide marketing scheme. These two factors effected the popularity rate of the film but it was also effected by media ownership as if Walt Disney Motion Pictures didn’t release the film in multiple cinemas, there would’ve been less of an opportunity for the fans to go and see it. Star Wars: The Force Awakens The widest cinema release was in 4,134 cinemas which shows it’s almost double the release for Ex Machina which means it’s more widely spread so there’s more of an opportunity to go and see the film. It’s likely the audience will go to the cinema with friends or family without deciding on a specific film to watch and may watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens as it’s a four quadrant film with an age rating of 12 so it’s a film that can be easily agreed on. This shows that Walt Disney Motion Pictures were successful at distributing the film which shows me how having a big company as a distributer for the film will benefit the overall success as larger companies will have more experience in the film industry so they understand how wide spread distribution is benefital to the overall success of the film.  Walt Disney is a huge company and it has lots of money which means the film can have a big budget which means the film can include A list cast and the director, impressive locations, CGI and successful wide spread marketing and distribution. These are all shown in Star Wars the Force Awakens as it had a gross budget of $306 million, it contained many A list actors but the main recognizable character was Harrison Ford and the director was J.J. Abrams who is well known for his work in directing the sequel to Star Trek which was Star Trek Into Darkness, scenes were filmed in huge locations such as the desert near Abu Dhabi, Rub’ al Khalu desert and the area in Myvatn which is around the Krafla volcano in Ireland. We can see the marketing was very successful as many products were released such as games, books, CD’s, Lego, games, comics, vinyl, toys, download and streaming, DVD and Blu-ray and the soundtrack. As children can watch the film compared to Ex Machina which has an age rating of 15, it’s likely many children enjoy the Star Wars series as it’s aimed at both so this helps marketing as it was released on the 17^th December so it’s in the build up to Christmas so many children will ask for Star Wars products for Christmas. This shows a positive impact that media ownership has on the range of products as Walt Disney is very well known and generally children enjoy the films and merchandise more than adults so by Disney releasing the products, it means children will see the toys in the Disney shop and in the build up for Christmas as parents are Christmas shopping and as they know the positive representation the Star Wars Films have, they will see the products and be reminded the film is out so they will buy both the products and tickets for the cinema. This shows the audience consumption of the film of how products benefit the film as through my own media consumption, I remember seeing the products everywhere when the film came out and I knew my younger cousins enjoy the Star Wars series so I would buy them the toys as Christmas presents. This is due to the successful marketing as if the products weren’t released at a benefital time near Christmas, it may of not been as successful with the selling of products.  This shows how having Walt Disney Motion pictures as a distributer most likely made the selling of products more successful which increases the interest in the film in the audience.

In comparison to this, Ex Machina was produced by Film4 and DNA Films and was distributed by Universal Pictures and although Universal is a big company, it isn’t as well known as Walt Disney but since Ex Machina has an age rating of 15 and Walt Disney is more recognized by children so I feel that it doesn’t make too much of an impact on the film. Ex Machina didn’t use as effective marketing techniques as although their Tinder publicity stunt brought a lot of interest to the film, there wasn’t much advertisement apart from on social media which teenagers typically use more than adults so this marketing technique may not reach all aspects of the target audience.  The products Ex Machina released was the CD Soundtrack, vinyl, download and streaming, DVD’s and Blu Ray so we can see the difference in products released for both films. This tells me that the media ownership for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was more successful than Ex Machina which effects the overall box office for the film due to the selling of products. Ex Machina was released in cinemas on the 21^st of January 2015 for the United Kingdom but the date has no effect on the selling of products such as toys due to the fact they didn’t release any. I feel the success of the film could’ve increased if they released the film around December time like Star Wars: The Force Awakens did and released products including the character Ava which would be seen in the build up to Christmas which may increase interest in the characters and built up publicity in the film.

Overall, I feel that Star Wars: the Force Awakens had a much more effective marketing and distributing campaign than Ex Machina did and this effected the overall success of the film due to the audiences’ consumption of products. As Ex Machina released minimal products for the film, they failed to take this opportunity to increase publicity and increase the profit in the film.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens was successful as it’s a mainstream blockbuster that’s interesting to all ages and it earned on opening weekend $247,966,675 in 4,134 theatres earning a $59,982 average at a #1 rank. In comparison to this, Ex Machina is niche film that’s aimed at an older audience due to the fact it’s a Sci-fi/Indie film so requires specific interest. It earned $5,349,500 on it’s wide opening weekend in 1,255 theatres earning an average of $4,263 and was at #6 rank. Looking at the differences in these figures we can see the success rates of the film and the effects of distribution as Star Wars: The Force Awakens was shown in more theatres in the opening weekend and the peak number was higher than the theaters for the opening weekend with Ex Machina. This shows how the media ownership effects the overall success of the film through the range of products available to the audience.