PROLIFERATION
From The Times 11April 2013 Andrew Billen
Are old technologies expiring? After the launch of satellite digital, we may be on the brink of a second TV revolution. These each have a different business model offering viewers something unique but all mine a world increasingly connected by broadband. Will traditional BBC opt out of licence fees and use only BBC iPlayer?
NETFLIX has origins in DVD rental and started as a steaming service. USP: all episodes available at once. To watch House of Cards, you must subscribe to internet service Netflix then view episodes on PC, tablet, smartphone or internet-connected TV. Next series Hemlock launches on April 19th and all episodes debut simultaneously. Netflix tracks what we watch, for how long, when we pause and rewind. It invested in director David Fincher (House of Cards) as 33 million subscribers had rented his films like The Social Network. " We know this ahis audience likes social dramas, horror and Eli Roth," says director of communications Joris Evers.
AMAZON the world's biggest department store (rival to Netflix) through its video arm LOVEFILM
makes available for free 14 TV pilots mostly sitcoms. USP: crowdsourcing Hunt for next big sitcom involves audiences critiquing scripts, adding to them, suggesting improvements eg Meatheads set in US gym. Attracts audiences that have felt excluded from Hollywood process & professionals wanting to do something different.
YOUTUBE adds an astonishing 72 hours of material every minute: in any ten days, YouTube has more content added than has ever been produced for TV. USP: front page now features channels of aggregated content so as you subscribe tochannels you like, your homepage changes. " We can build a following around almost any interest group. We are hugely interactive:audiences get really close to content and the creator has total freedom. We have no editorial control whatsoever."Ben McOwen Wilson, director of content.
..and remember to refer to your own habits & preferences as an audience...
..and finish with a brief discussion of trends!
HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTERS
Avengers Assemble, Skyfall and Iron Man 3 illustrate the Hollywood
4S mega franchise model and how global audiences are targeted through synergetic
distribution methods.
How Avengers illustrates Hollywood production and distribution practices HERE
Megafranchise post revise story, sequel, spectacle and synergy HERE
Iron Man 3: "This month, I have seen that distribution for Iron Man 3
has included film website trailers, in-cinema trailers and a TV advert
tie-in. I watched the 30 second teaser trailer with very high production
values which highlighted the thrills and spills side of the film; in
cinema whilst watching Oblivion I saw an extended trailer (addressed to like-minded audiences). On TV I watched no less than two
Audi R8 e-tron car advert featuring Robert Downey Jr extolling the
qualities of Audi engineering, linking his high-tech CGI suit to an Audi
("Iron Man approved" and "Engineered for Iron Man"). This is an example
of cross-promotion or synergy."
As former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner put it : constant media synergy.
Schatz (1997): 'movies, videogames and theme-park rides aren't
separate entities or isolated media texts. Rather, they are related
aspects or ‘iterations’ of entertainment supertexts, multimedia
narrative forms which can be expanded & exploited ad infinitum,
given the size and diversity of today's globalized, diversified
entertainment industry. The essential UR-text within these media
franchises is the Hollywood blockbuster.'
BUT In
future, Hollywood may not have such a hold over global markets. In the
first three months of this year, ticket sales for American-made films in
the world's second-largest cinema market took an unexpected nosedive.
Hollywood's bombastic superheroes have met their match as they struggle
to keep their foothold in China: revenues fell in China, compared with
the same period last year as big budget movies like The Hobbit failed
to impress. ChinaFilmbiz.com reports that American movies "now hold a
mere 23% of mainland China ticket revenues, a disastrous drop from the
57% share they held at this point last year".
It is interesting to note what Iron Man 3 has
done to distribution in China: although the hero, brash but brilliant
industrialist Tony Stark exemplifies the gung-ho spirit of the US, the
script was vetted by Beijing, the film has a Chinese co-producer, many
of the gadgets are from the Chinese electronics firm TCL, Ben Kingsley
plays The Mandarin and a famous Chinese actor plays the villain Dr Wu.
These measure aim to target the huge (global) Chinese audience. However,
China also manipulates figures by imposing quotas on foreign film while
giving incentives to national cinema.
Nevertheless,
it may be that Asian audiences in general are tiring of Hollywood
action films that prioritise spectacle over story or character, and rely
heavily on computer-generated explosions. I say this because I have
read in The Times (23.04.13) that Hollywood has not done well this year in Japan, Korea and other parts of Asia."
ISSUES ABOUT GLOBALIZATION: cultural imperialism (Team America
says it all); threat to national cinemas; lack of provision for niche
audiences; mainstream audiences are not the only ones to be served;
disagree with Cameron & think of the loss - King's Speech did just fine, a UK Council funded film from lottery money; if 'easy appeal' is the aim, then all we'll get is dross like The Boat That Rocked when Danny Boyle says we should be producing challenging not easy-pleasing stuff.
BRITISH FILM AND NATIONAL AUDIENCES
What characterizes British films and what do global, international and national audiences want to see?
- BRITISH
FILM What does British film industry do best:
identify
genres: historical films [The King's Speech],
literary adaptations [Salmon
Fishing],
social realism [Made In Dagenham],
romantic comedy
- Why do we need need a
national film industry?
To serve national and local audiences, and
reflect national concerns
and because Hollywood blockbusters do not meet all national audience needs: DIVERSITY is good! Britissh cinema can offer us:
National social history: Made In Dagenham HERE
London estate life: Shifty, Shifty (Eran Creevy, 2008) SlideShare here and interview with Eran Creevy here on how they came out of nowhere to win acclaim
As a result of early determination, Creevy last month released Welcome The Punch (2013) internationally with big names and big budget: investment in national talent pays, but has Creevy sold out to Hollywood values?
Ethnicity: Four Lions a film that allows audiences to see how terrorists are radicalised without stereotyping or demonizing all Muslims
Micro budget films
emerge from local sources (crowd funding from Compton
Bagpuize: Tortoise In Love (Guy Browning, 2011) ; Tortoise In Love How TIL (very low budget film) built its audience using social media TIL on FaceBook. TIL then helped by BFI funding HOW THE BFI FUNDED DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING HERE
Niche audiences: InBetweeners (Ben Palmer, 2011) TV spinoff. How the film beat records as most successful British comedy article here on breaking box office records]
- Working Title is a UK success story but it isn't typical
(say why: Universal): Working Title website HERE. WT produced Oscar-winning The King's Speech with Film Council funding as well as Les Miserables
EXAM PRACTICE ESSAY
'Successful media products depend as much upon
marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good
production practices.'
To what extent would you agree with this
statement within the media area you have studied?
Here, FIRST UNPACK THE
TERMS: ‘By production practices, I understand production values, digital distribution and production, CGI, choice of
genre, casting, choice of film techniques and so on. I intend to discuss this
question with reference to Hollywood blockbusters which target global audiences,
British film with national and international target audiences and, finally,
micro budget films with niche audiences.
As case studies, I plan to use The Hobbit, Avengers Assemble, Skyfall and Iron Man 3 to illustrate the Hollywood
4S mega franchise model and how global audiences are targeted through synergetic
distribution methods. I will discuss how Iron Man 3 used a range of methods to target the Chinese market, the second largest in the world, and why the success of Western production practices looks like slowing down in this market.
Next, I intend to refer to Working Title, The King’s Speech and World’s End as examples of British
production practices and the needs of national cinema to serve national
audiences with a diverse range of film genres. I will also cover micro budget
films with niche audiences, such as Tortoise In Love.
Finally, I will consider what trends indicate about
future practices in the film industry, based on my own film viewing preferences and that of my peers, as well as what I have noticed in the
press about the platforms like YouTube, Netflix and LoveFilm as well as the
interesting reasons given by Peter Jackson for his choice of using 48 fps for The Hobbit to lure
younger audiences away from handheld devices and back into cinemas.’
