MEGAFRANCHISES

1.  Your exam essay title: re word it so that you can write about film producers, audiences, platforms, issues and case studies.
2.  One para per point; underline; don't highlight. You may have to COVER ALL THESE SOMEWHERE:
3. GLOBALIZATION = spread of products, people & practices from one to many countries; entails interconnectedness between a multitude of countries leading to the integration into one global economic, cultural network; e.g. the megapower Big Six companies and horizontal integration with its benefits of synergies. See post on SYNERGY and CONVERGENCE HERE
4. It involves global organization (companies like The Big Six with global reach) as well as global production (co-productions between national institutions to pool resources, risk & distribution as well as global consumption (proliferation of platforms with new distribution & exhibition forms [satellite TV, DVD, internet] reaching BOTH mainstream AND niche audience world-wide. I would argue that Web 2.0 also a form of globalization, but with INDIVIDUALS LIKE YOU AND ME able to access global reach through platforms like YouTube, Twitter, FaceBook
5. Hollywood & The Big 6; Dalecki (“4-S Megafranchise Model”, comprised of synergy, sequelization, story and spectacle); Hollywood’s move from vertical integration towards horizontal integration and films whose core value is their deployability across multiple media platforms, as well as their “sequelizability” and ability to be cross-promoted with other media texts. 
6. SEQUELS - dominate film production esp. Hollywood (name current ones)
7. SYNERGY - the Disney Stores promote the consumer products which promote the [theme] parks which promote the television show.
8. SPECTACLE - big sets, big action, bleeding-edge computer generated imagery (CGI) and other special effects, high production value in any form— does not simply attract and provide enjoyment to audiences, it also increases the given megafranchise’s brand value. The ultra-high-budget spectacle actualized in megafranchises provides a robust “barrier to entry” to lower-budget, would-be competition (smaller budgets can't offer CGI). Spectacular design elements developed via CGI can be leveraged directly into other media, particularly videogames. 
9. STORY - All of the big franchises invest heavily in the development of their screenplays (Lord of the Rings, Pirates, Shrek, Spider Man, Hunger Games, Avengers). The majority of megafranchises present, and then re-present, a  hero’s journey in fairytale-like fashion— an effective, simple, and reduced narrative which then is integrated into other synergistic media within the franchise.
10. As former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner put it : constant media synergy. 
11. 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.'
12. 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 stuff like The Boat That Rocked when Danny Boyle says we should be producing challenging not easy-pleasing stuff.
13.  What characterizes British films and what do global, international and national audiences want to see? BRITISH FILM INSTITUTION; what British film industry does best (identify genres: historical films [Kings Speech], literary adaptations [Salmon Fishing], social realism [Made In Dagenham], romantic comedy); we need a national film industry to serve national and local audiences and national concerns ( drugs - Shifty, ethnicity - Four Lions); small films emerge from local sources ( crowd funding: Tortoise In Love, Compton Bagpuize; 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]
14. DIVERSITY DIVERSITY DIVERSITY is good!
15. Shifty (Eran Creevy, 2008) SlideShare here and interview with Eran Creevy here on how they came out of nowhere to win acclaim
16. Tortoise In Love (Guy Browning, 2011) How TIL (very low budget film) built its audience using social media TIL on FaceBook
17. It's a UK success story but it isn't typical (say why: Universal): Working Title: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson, 2011) View TTSS trailer here and Working Title website here
18. INDEPENDENT FILM PRODUCERS AND DISTRIBUTORS in Hollywood are LIONSGATE interesting because they handled both The Hunger Games and Salmon Fishing In The Yemen.  They have stakes in production companies, TV channels,digital platform Hulu, pay TV movie channel, music albums; acquired Summit (Twilight Saga) SO THEY ARE ALSO MEGAFRANCHISES
19. The Hunger Games(Gary Ross, 2012) Home page for The Hunger Games website : how are audiences engaged? Best opening weekend box office for non-sequel taking $200 million. Use Box Office Guru to compare audiences sizes click here for figures and projections and how Lionsgate involved fans all along the way with carefully scheduled marketing. Production budget relatively low ($75 million plus $45 for domestic marketing= under £76 m). Movie tie-in book here. Distopian game play Wikipedia article here
20. PLATFORMS have proliferated: (platforms= hardware used by audiences to view films) go from big IMAX to small handheld, including home cinema. Talk about how film insitutions use digital media to build audiences ( film websites, FaceBook, Twitter, two-step flow model of audience behaviour); give example of SHERLOCK (I WILL SUPPLY THIS IN TUESDAY'S REVISION) how audiences were built. CONVERGENCE CONVERGENCE! SAY WHAT YOU USE
21. ISSUES include digitalization (plusses= perfect quality, ease of distribution, proliferation of points of exchange & ease of exchange; minuses= piracy, loss of income, piracy 'haemorrages income'.
22. ISSUES include Web 2.0 = interactivity, consumers as producers Ridley Scott: Life In a Day is a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010,” said Kevin Macdonald."I hope it will be something that will open people's eyes to the possibilities of user-generated film."
23. TRENDS? Newspaper reports and trends: serials, sequels, superheroes, CGI, IMAX? CGI? 3D? Web 2.0 and user generated content? Certainly sequels....Avatar and CGI trends Read this PDF on Avatar's use of digital technology here.
24. The FDA 2012 annual report on the British film industry; the winners and losers
25. GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK!!