REMEMBER WHAT TO SAY ABOUT YOUR CASE STUDIES

..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