G322: INSTITUTIONS and AUDIENCES

In Section B of your examination, you answer a long essay question on aspects of the film industry and processes of production, distribution, marketing and consumption. 

We focus on specific studios/production companies that target British audiences (e.g. Hollywood, UK film). 

We consider contemporary film distribution practices (digital cinema, DVD, HD-DVD, downloads etc) and how these affect production, marketing and distribution. 

In the words of the specification, we will study:

• 'the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice' = who makes, owns, funds and distributes specific recent films; the difference between the way in which the 'Big 6' function (Dalecki's 5 S megafranchise model found here) and the British film industry
• 'the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution & marketing' = technological convergence is the way in which technologies and institutions come together in order to create something new. My games console Xbox 360 is a platform on which I access multimedia: as well as playing games (including multi-player games), I watch films on Netflix, listen to music, surf the internet using apps such as YouTube and Facebook. I contribute to viral marketing Facebook Spoderman The iPad represents the convergence of photography, videos, music, newspapers, books, TV, maps, the internet and the mobile phone. Marketing convergence and synergy is the way in which a product  a film) is marketed / advertised / promoted in a range of ways. Use the Disney film Avengers case study HERE as a case study read this. View this.
• proliferation in hardware and content for institutions & audiences
• how national and British audiences are targeted by film institutions
• how your own experience illustrates wider trends