Representation of Age

Textual Analysis - Waterloo Road

Waterloo road is a British drama series that is aired on BBC 1. During the clip we have studied, age is constructed to reinforce the stereotypical binary opposite between young and old.

In the first scene of the extract, the director starts by using a following pan to follow the teachers shoes walking across the room. In addition, they use selective focus to position the audience to focus on the shoes opposed to the chairs he is moving past. Simultaneously, the director also incorporates the diegetic sound of the footsteps created by the walking of the older teacher. Using cross cutting, the director transitions the shot to a per down shot which introduces the audience to the students who are completing the suspicious act of attempting to hide the broken camera. This immediately gives the audience the impression that the teenagers are mischievous, this conforms to the common generalisation that teenagers have the ability to commit rebellious acts.

The director then uses a variety of master shots and over-the-shoulder shots which involves all the characters that are the focus of the scene. These are edited together using the shot-reverse-shot technique to capture the conversation. This allows the audience to view one character who represents a stereotypical middle aged man in relation to two of his students who are younger teenagers. It also demonstrates the dialogue exchanged between characters. The two teenagers attempt to cover up their guilty act however the teacher out smarts them with the sarcastic comment "holding his hair back". The director has included the middle aged teacher out-smarting the younger students. Again, this follows the stereotype that, in contrast with the teenagers, adults are often intelligent and smart. In addition - at first glance, the teacher is presented to be smartly dressed. However, throughout the clip the audiences attention is often drawn to the knitted cardigan worn underneath his suit. Typically this item is thought to be unfashionable and therefore presents the character as conforming with the generalisation that old people often have an outdated fashion sense.

In the second scene of the extract, the director uses a crab left shot to introduce the two new characters. Through the use of mise en scene, the audience can immediately see the difference between the representation of the older character in contrast to the younger character via their costumes. Through cut editing the crab left shot transitions to a two-shot of the student and the teacher engaging in conversation.

Next, the director uses an establishing shot to introduce a new location from a vantage point however this is quickly transitioned to a long shot of two students. This is accompanied by the diegetic sound of murmuring voices which will allow the audience to feel more engaged in the scene. Again, through mise en scene, the three characters are presented as being chavy, a common stereotype associated with teenagers. Key features such as 'bling' jewellery and loose ties are made noticeable due to the fact that they are filmed through a medium shot which reveals a large proportion of their costumes. Another big indication that the characters rebelling presented as 'chavy' is the diegetic sound. The dialogue highlights pronunciation and colloquial expressions used by the teenagers.

There is a scene of conflict between two of the students that occurs during the extract. Initially, the scene is filmed through two different over-the-shoulder shots, one pint of view to another, these are transitioned through continuity editing. The director then transactions to an establishing shot, this gives the audience an indication of the location of the conflict but it also reveals in the situation.      

Essay 3 - Mr Ford

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

Media ownership is having control of a mass of media products. The scale of ownership often depends on the amount of money the company earns. A big and wealthy  institution can buy out other smaller companies in the industry, they therefore have ownership of these smaller institutions and they become subsidiary companies. These wealthy institutions are called conglomerate companies because all the profit and money made as a result of the subsidiary companies remains in the conglomerate. This relates to Walt Disney Studios which were the producers of Star Wars: Force Awakens. On the other hand there are independent institutions, such a DNA films, which do not have much media ownership and therefore have to synergise with other independent companies. This can have a huge impact on the range of products available to audiences.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was produced my Walt Disney Studios, a conglomerate company that is recognised for being one of 'The Big Six' media companies that dominate and control 90% of the industry. A media conglomerate is a company that has ownership of numerous smaller companies involved in the industry in various sectors including production, distribution and marketing. Walt Disney Studios has ownership of nine different institutions excluding its self, these include; Touchstone pictures, Lucasfilm (producer of Star Wars), ABC Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment. If Disney, the conglomerate, alone does not have the capability of creating certain products, it can vertically integrate with its subsidiary companies to create the product in demand. This results in the media conglomerate, Disney, having the competence to create a huge range of products. Due to the fact that Disney was responsible for all aspects of Star Wars: Force Awakens production, distribution and marketing it had to vertically integrate with Lucasfilm, one of its subsidiary institutions, to produce the film. However because the company was owned by Disney, all profits made remained in the conglomerate. Another example is when Disney used ABC Entertainment to market the new Star Wars: Force Awakens film by having the anchors from ABC showed up on 'Good Morning America' (A popular American chat show) dressed as Star Wars characters. This highlights that media conglomerates can use all of its subsidiary institutions, which specialise in a variety of areas with in the industry, to create a wide variety of audiences. Along with creating the products, the companies also help to cater for different groups from the four quadrant which will improve the availability of the products.

Star Wars: Force Awakens is a vertically integrated film. Vertical integration is where an institution has ownership of the means to produce, market and distribute a media product, as a result of this they will receive all profits made from the product. In order for Disney, a conglomerate institution, to complete production process, it had to vertically integrate through its subsidiary company, Lucasfilm.  In contrast, horizontal integration is where a company expands into other areas of the industry. This means that the company can develop in a particular area of production or they can buy out companies that deal with these areas.Both types of integration involves companies working together, this could result in the production of a bigger range in products because the companies can have an influence on each other.

In contrast to conglomerate companies, we also have independent companies. These are predominantly smaller institutions that have no input from major studio companies, therefore it works on its own. The domination of media conglomerates results in the smaller/individual production companies having little media ownership. This can often damage the overall profit created from the niche films they have to synergise with other separate companies that specialise in a particular are such as distribution or marketing. This means that the independent institution would have to share the profit with the company that it synergised with, which results in less money being made. This often means that independent companies do not have the financial strength to fully produce a film individually. Due the fact that DNA films, which is an independent institution, was the producer of Ex Machina, it did not have the means to produce the film on its own. Incidentally the company synergised with Film 4 studios which would improve the end product ex Machina as the companies could combine each others equipment, money, name and popularity. However, despite the successful product, there was no cross convergence which resulted in a lack of products relating to the film. Despite the two companies combination of money, they still only had the budget of $15 million which is not a lot in comparison to Star Wars: Force Awakens $306 million budget. This resulted in a high quality film but no excess money to spend on film related products and tie products. This could be proven by the lack of marketing for the film.

Another aspect of media ownership that can have an impact on the availability is synergy. This is where two different media platforms work together to use an idea that can be promoted but that benefits both of them. In addition, as a result of Disney's popularity other companies, not involved in the media industry, were willing to collaborate to promote the new, up and coming film in order to gain recognition for themselves. Collaborations with companies such as Covergirl, Hot wheels, Duracel batteries and Tesco could be seen months before the release of the film. Synergy is a clever marketing strategy especially for a media conglomerate that produce mainstream films. This is because these films are made to captivate all areas of the four quadrant. Incidentally, the marketing campaign also needs to be available for all ages.

Cross media convergence is where two or more companies work together to produce, distribute or exhibit a film. DNA films and Film 4 cross media converged with Invada Records (a part of the music industry) to create the Ex Machina sound track. Geoff Barrow composed the songs and then with the collaboration of the record company, they were able to distribute the soundtrack on to CD, Vinyl and enable it to be available for download and streaming. This system can help film institutions produce a wider variety of products as they are cross media converging with other companies that specialise in other area of the media industry (i.e. the music industry). This will be available to more audiences in the four quadrant as the different product will cater for different people.

In my opinion, media ownership is often to do with the financial strength of a company. If the institution is worth a lot of money, it is easy for the institution to expand by purchasing other production companies, which is where it then transitions to a media conglomerate. This then gives it control and power, which enables it to produce any product that the company thinks it can sell and make profit from.

Overall, media ownership does have a large impact on the range of products available to audiences. Media conglomerates, due to their financial strength, they hugely dominate the media industry. This results in them having access and ownership of institutions thats specialise in other areas of industry who will produce the product in demand, therefore expanding the range of products. Horizontal and vertical integration wide the variety of products as companies are collaborating together to create new products thats they do not already of the means to create. Independent companies who have very little ownership and money do not produce a range of products, as seen by Ex Machina - a niche film. Lastly, Synergy and cross media convergence are also the process of companies working together to produce that will benefit them both, often expanding in to other ares of the media industry.

Past Exam Questions

Audience and Institution Questions

January 2010

“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?

June 2010

What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?

January 2011

Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area?

June 2011

“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?

January 2012

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the area of media you have studied?

June 2012

"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?

January 2013

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

June 2013

Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of products in the media are you have studied.

June 2014

The increase in hardware and content in media industries has been significant in recent years. Discuss the effect this has had on institutions and audiences in the media area you have studied.

Piracy Articles

Article 1


Hypothetically, two movies come out on the same day: The Wolf of Wall Street and the new Transformers. You are allowed to see one in an IMAX theater and you will illegally download the other one online. Most people would choose Transformers over The Wolf of Wall Street due to the fact that there are robot dinosaurs and everyone else is going to see it in theaters. Those robot dinosaurs will look a lot cooler in a theater rather than on a laptop. Many people then realized how lacking the movie really was after walking out of their local theater’s showing of Transformers: Age of Extinction. Meanwhile, many of the same people went on to watch The Wolf of Wall Street online to realize that it was actually a really good movie. Most people don’t realize that this is at all a problem, and at first glance it’s not. However, after more in-depth research, the problem soon becomes apparent. Transformers: Age of Extinction only gained an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (Transformers, Rotten Tomatoes), one of the most critical and most trusted film-review sites online. The Wolf of Wall Street, however, gained a 77% rating on the same site (Wolf of Wall Street, Rotten Tomatoes). It was also nominated for five different Academy Awards. The Wolf of Wall Street is clearly the better film. Yet, besides the fact that Transformers was clearly not a great film, it somehow managed to be named the highest grossing film worldwide of 2014 and earned over one billion dollars in the Box Office (2014 Worldwide Grosses). The Wolf of Wall Street went on to be the most pirated film of 2014 with over 30 million illegal downloads (Spangler, 1) and didn’t even gross $117 million, giving the producers and the studio under $17 million after the production cost, which is not a much of a profit at all for such a high-budget film.

Piracy has become more of a problem in the past decade than it ever has before, specifically movie piracy. In fact, a study from Columbia University came out recently that said at least 45% of US citizens pirate movies actively, but that number bumps up to 70% if you include the younger demographics as well (Mick, 2). This act of pirating is growing more and more common every year and most people do it mindlessly, not realizing what it costs. Everyone has seen the text at the beginning of movies saying “Piracy is not a victimless crime,” and this is completely true. Piracy is extremely harmful to the movie industry and its effects are larger than anyone could imagine.

But Where Do These Pirated Movies Come From?

There are many different ways that people pirate movies. One of the most classic ways people pirate is by “leaking” them. This involves a person going into a movie theater with a camera or a phone and recording the movie as it plays. It is usually a poor quality, but many people still download these recordings anyways instead of going to see it in a theater. This usually occurs when it is only in theater since that is the only version most people are able to see. Sometimes these leaks occur before the movie is even premiered, often because it is filmed during a special premier before the opening night. This is referred to as a pre-release, and they tend to result in a 19% decrease in how much the movie makes at the Box Office (Hart, 2). Many people defend pre-releases because it gives a movie more publicity so more people would want to see it, but the facts state otherwise. Leaking a movie that’s in the theaters always tends to decrease how much the movie makes regardless of when it is released and sometimes even leads to the movie not even making as much as there was put into it.

One of the other common ways for a movie to be pirated is for it to be digitally hacked. This one has become more common lately as technology improves. One of the most extreme and recent examples was the Sony hacking. Though some people will claim that Sony faked the hacking, evidence shows that they were legitimately hacked. During this hacking, many of Sony’s movies were released illegally online, such as Annie and Fury (Note: Annie had not even been released yet). A hacking involves someone digitally cracking into the studio or company’s computer system and taking the movie from their files. This logically would actually decrease a movie’s Box Office revenue by even more than someone’s recording of the movie would because it’s a better quality.

There are more ways to watch a pirated movie other than just downloading it online. In fact, some people tend to start their own pirating businesses. It’s very inexpensive and easy for a person to start one of these businesses. More recently, people only need to buy a bunch of blank DVD’s, the same amount of DVD cases and a computer that can burn a DVD. From there, they must find a source to get the pirated movies from. Sometimes they will personally film them in a theater, or find a hacked or leaked version online and download it. After that, all they need to do is download the stolen films onto their blank DVD’s and sell them to anyone who is willing to purchase it. Within a short amount of time, this person has made a great deal of money that should have gone to the movie studios.

What Kind of Effect Does it Have?

Most people would just say that pirating has a small effect on the industry and that the studios already have enough money. They believe watching a movie online isn’t going to hurt anyone. The Motion Picture Association of America looked into this belief and discovered that piracy costs around $20.5 billion annually in the United States alone (Plumer, 2). In fact, a study back in 2005 estimated that a 10% decrease in worldwide piracy, including both film and music, over the course of four years would add 1.5 million jobs, $64 billion in taxes and $400 billion in economic growth (Kai-Lung). That, however, was ten years ago and is outdated. Those numbers are likely to be much higher today due to inflation and an increase in popularity of the film industry. This means that the studios are making much smaller amounts of money than they should be making from their films due to piracy.

Quit Talking Numbers. How Does it Effect My Movie Experience?

The decrease in money from studios will often decrease the quality of other movies and even sequels, but more often it will decrease the quantity. A studio is much more likely to throw all of their money into the next big franchise sequel than give half of it to the franchise and the other half to a movie like Twelve Years a Slave simply because Twelve Years a Slave won’t sell as well in theaters as the franchise movie will. Movie studios and production companies don’t look at reviews and DVD sales nearly as much as they look at the Box Office Revenue, or how much it makes in the theater.

In many cases, piracy of a film will even damage the likeliness of a franchise sequel. For example, the Kick-Ass movies came to an end due to lack of funding from piracy. According to Chloë Grace Moretz who stars as “Hit-Girl” in the series, Kick-Ass 2 was one of the most pirated films of 2013 despite having an extremely low Box Office Revenue (Highfill). Because of this, the plans for the third movie in the series have been cancelled. Whether or not you like the Kick-Ass series, it is clear that piracy has become a serious problem and will only continue to damage the film industry.

What About New Movies That Aren't Franchises Yet?

It is not franchise movies that need to be worried about, though; it is the movies by the independent filmmakers. Due to the increase in film piracy, production companies and movie studios are now much less likely to loan money out to an independent filmmaker with an idea than they are to a team of writers and producers working on a Harry Potter spin-off. When people think of the term ‘independent filmmaker’, they think of a man in his 20’s with an Associates Degree in Theatre that wrote a screenplay in two weeks. Though these people are independent filmmakers, I refer to the higher kind of independent filmmakers that actually make Oscar nominated films, but take out enormous loans to do so. Now, due to piracy, no matter how many Oscars their movie is nominated for, many filmmakers are having to foreclose their houses or take out further loans from a bank to make up for the losses in the Box Office for their film due to piracy. It also means that the studios do not get their money back that they invested with and therefore stop funding films without promises of success like Birdman or The Theory of Everything, both of whom won Oscars this year.

Now Let's Think More Economically...

The loss of money affects more than just the filmmakers and studios, however. It helps the entire economy grow due to tax and job increase. Pirating less films will mean that the studios will get more money, which leads to more movies, which employs people like hairdressers, electricians, actors, costume designers and countless other occupations. This will add more jobs to the United States and will also add more tax money to help the country.

But Is It Really Stealing?

Many people argue that piracy is not illegal because they are not technically stealing anything. Though they are not physically taking away anything from anyone, they are stealing intellectual property. Just because you can’t hold a movie file in your hands does not mean that it is not someone’s property. Downloading a film online is the equivalent of stealing a movie from a movie store. It may not come in the same fancy case as a movie at the store, but it still carries the same contents. By pirating a film, you are stealing the money that should have been paid had you watched the movie legally. You do not have a right to watch whatever movies you want to watch without having to pay for them just as I do not have a right to walk into the local Dollar General and eat their candy bars without paying first. As much as people may argue it, film piracy is stealing. It is not your property, so it is not yours to take without paying for it first.

Going Back to my Original Example at the Beginning of All of This...

The Wolf of Wall Street was 2014’s most pirated movie with over 30 million piracies worldwide. Let’s do the math to see how much money piracy actually robbed this movie of had these people gone to see it in a theater instead. In 2014, the average price of a movie ticket in the United States was $8.17 (Linshi, 1). When a person goes to see a movie in the theater, the money spent on the ticket goes to two different places. It is split between the movie studio and the movie theater, with more going to the theater the longer the movie has been out (Campea). For the purposes of now, let’s average that overall the theater and the studio would each get 50% of the ticket price. Now for the part with the actual math. If each illegal download of The Wolf of Wall Street, which more specifically evens out to around 30,035,000 downloads (Spangler, 1) equals one movie ticket that costs $8.17, and the movie studio only gets half of the amount from each movie ticket, that results in about $122,692,975 that was robbed from Paramount Pictures for just that one movie. That amount stolen was more than the movie actually made in the Box Office, and that is assuming that only one person watched each illegal download. Several of those downloads were most likely copied onto multiple different blank DVD’s and given out to others to watch illegally. That is even more money that was robbed from The Wolf of Wall Street. In the Box Office, the movie barely broke even out of how much they spent making the film. These numbers would have helped the studio, the filmmakers and the crew a lot more in order to make even more Oscar nominated movies. Unfortunately, these thirty million people seemed to overlook that.

Now the Real Question: How Do We Stop Piracy?

It all starts at home, just like it takes a spark to start a fire. Many people argue that “everyone is watching movies illegally online, so why is it different if I do it?” Well the same argument could again go for people that steal candy bars from a store. It may cost more than you like and others may do it, but it is not your property to steal. Like voting, if just one person takes a stand against piracy it will make a difference. Simply quit pirating movies or watching them online. There are many different excuses people use about watching movies online illegally, but it does not override the fact that it is illegal. Even streaming movies online is illegal if it is not authorized by the studio that made the film. If you aren’t willing to pay to watch the film, you aren’t allowed to watch it. This is the way the industry works.

What Can The Theaters Do?

A way for movie theaters to prevent piracy is to change their types of projectors. In the past, the government came up with a way to prevent the filming of a movie in the theaters. They did this by projecting an infrared spectrum over the projected film. This infrared image was not visible to the audience, but it would make the video on the camera someone brought into film the movie into a very low quality that would make the video almost unbearable to watch. Since then technology has improved to attempt to improve the quality of the filmed video regardless of the infrared. Though this has worked to an extent, film pirates have not yet fully recovered from the addition of the infrared. Only more research will be able to help improve the projectors so that this does not happen anymore.

What Happens if Someone gets Caught?!

When it all comes down to it, one of the major reasons you should avoid pirating movies is that its an enormous risk. Since it is illegal, there are certainly punishments for those that choose to break this law. These punishments are severe. For example, if a person is convicted of a misdemeanor in piracy, as in they only downloaded or uploaded a small amount of movies without the owner’s consent, the person would be punished with up to a year of prison time and would have a fine of up to $100,000, depending on the extent of the piracy. That, however, is just for a small offense. For someone that downloads or uploads movies illegally without the owner’s consent in large amounts will be charged with a felony. The punishment of this crime is up to 5 years of imprisonment and up to $250,000 in fines. The fine, though, can be more. In some cases, the fine is set as double what the person gained for pirating the films if they made money off of it, or it set as double the amount of money the person cost the studios he or she stole from (AlanS). In any of these cases, it is clear that movie piracy is not worth the risk.

Piracy is Clearly an Enormous Threat

Filmmakers are in danger of losing their jobs and the movie theaters are in danger of only showing films like Transformers sequels and Terminator reboots. Helping the film industry does not just entail not illegally watching a movie, it also entails going to see those movies in a theater to reverse the mistakes made by those who don’t realize the consequences. Some of the greatest films do not get the proper credibility in the theaters because people are too distracted by other films or because people would think it’s smarter to illegally watch it on their computer than paying to see it in a theater. As stated earlier, this has many more consequences than these people would think, such as taking away jobs, taking over $20.5 billion from the US film industry and decreasing both the quantity and quality of the very movies they are downloading. In addition, is it really worth spending five years of your life in prison just because you didn’t want to pay to watch a movie? It’s time to stop pirating and to stop making excuses for watching a movie illegally online. Film is a form of art. People use it to tell their stories.


Article 2


The movie industry excels in selling dreams. But since the dawn of the digital revolution, there is one narrative they've consistently and conspicuously failed to sell: that piracy is theft and consumers who indulge ought to feel guilty about it. Recent research by Ipsos suggests that almost 30% of the UK population is active in some form of piracy, either through streaming content online or buying counterfeit DVDs. Such theft costs the UK audiovisual industries about £500m a year.

LINK to rest of article

Disney as a Conglomerate

Disney is a conglomerate

A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet. Media conglomerates strive for policies that facilitate their control of the markets across the globe.

Disney owns...

• Walt Disney Studios
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment
• Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group:
• Touchstone Pictures
• Pixar Animation Studios
• Lucasfilm
• ESPN
• ABC Entertainment Group
• Marvel Entertainment
• Disney Music Group

The media industry is dominated by 'The Big Six'...

Just how dominant are 'The Big Six' studios?...

How many independent films can you spot?...

Why might conglomerates be seen as a negative?

Global conglomerates can at times have a progressive impact on culture, especially when they enter nations that had been tightly controlled by corrupt crony media systems (as in much of Latin America) or nations that had significant state censorship over media (as in parts of Asia). The global commercial-media system is radical in that it will respect no tradition or custom, on balance, if it stands in the way of profits. But ultimately it is politically conservative, because the media giants are significant beneficiaries of the current social structure around the world, and any upheaval in property or social relations—particularly to the extent that it reduces the power of business—is not in their interest.— 

Robert W. McChesney, The New Global Media; It’s a Small World of Big Conglomerates, The Nation Magazine, November 29, 1999

Theorists

Tessa Perkins

Perkins's theory is that stereotypes are not all that simple. They can often be challenged and they are not a simple process. So she came up with five different generalisations that could be challenged or considered as 'wrong':

1. Stereotypes are not always negative. e.g The french are good cooks
2. They are not always about minority groups or the powerless. e.g "Upper class twits"
3. They can be held about ones own group.
4. They are not rigid or unchanging.
5. They are not always false.  

Earlier this year we completed a textual analysis on a clip from Hotel Babylon where we focussed on the representation of ethnicity. With in the clip there are a lot of negative stereotypes which are typically aimed at the migrant workers, such as they are uneducated, powerless, from a lower class and have poorly paid jobs. There is no evidence of positive stereotypes in the sequence that we have studied there is no evidence of positive generalisations. In the clip the migrant/police officers are presented through mise en scene as being the antagonists. This is a stereotype that White people, who are a majority as it is a British TV series, can be mean spirited and unsympathetic to those in a worse situation to them. This demonstrates that stereotypes are not always aimed at minority groups.

Leon Festinger  

Festinger is responsible for the theory of 'cognitive dissonance'. The human race often stereotype due to the way that the media portrays certain groups of people in a certain. However we are inquisitive beings that are desperate to prove every theory and idea. Therefore we like to justify the generalisations that we have of a certain group of people. This is the theory of 'cognitive dissonance' which is where we seek out conformation of out beliefs and that they are not usually changed unless we are faced with overwhelming evidence.
This can often explain why TV dramas similar to Hotel Babylon are so popular. Generalisations play such a huge role as there is diverse representation between groups. People enjoy seeing there stereotypes justified in the media particularly film and TV.


Alvarado's Racial Stereotypes theory


His theory is that stereotypes regarding race, can be presented in four different ways.

1. Pitiful - Some certain racial groups are often presented as being powerless, poor and victims of poverty. A typical example of this is when adverts and documents are released that raise awareness for the African children who are suffering form poverty and starvation. The impression that this gives to the audience causes them to feel pity ad want o help them.
2. Dangerous -  Certain characters in film and TV can often be presented as dangerous. For example, a person from a certain racial background could play an antagonist in a TV drama, this means that the audience will associate that ethnical group with evil acts.  

Essat 2 - Mr Ford

Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of production in the media are you have studied.

The two media areas that I will be referring to is Star Wars: Force Awakens and Ex Machina. Star Wars is a part of a well known and incredibly popular film franchise. It is a  huge mainstream film which is a huge contrast with Ex Machina - a niche film. Due to the opposing popularity of the two films, they both had very different marketing campaigns. Both films used digital technologies in their marketing campaigns. This played a crucial role in the consumption and successes of the films. In the 21st century digital technologies have become such an essential part of our lifestyles therefore it is no surprise that it has impacted on the film industry. Digital technologies effectively create awareness for the release of new film products due to the fact that so much of the population use some sort of digital device.

Considering that Ex Machina was an indie film with a very small budget, DNA films had to plan their marketing effectively. They chose to use below the line viral marketing which could be accessed by the public through digital technologies. It was both cheap and original, which cold be successful as it is a refreshment from traditional marketing campaigns. It was a very successful example of viral marketing.  DNA films advertised their film Ex Machina on the social media app Tinder. Their chosen media tells us something about their target audience regarding the four quadrant. DNA films used the excessive number of people using the Tinder app and its geographic proximity features to their advantage. The location of this public stunt was perfect, they had chosen to perform this marketing miracle at the Southwest festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas where the film was due to premiere. They used the location and Tinder's geographic proximity features to their advantage as they captured their perfect target audience, people who are interested in the film and who have come to witness the premiere. They incorporated the theme and positioned the film, which is about the Turing Test, perfectly. After they performed the Turing Test on some of the film premier attendees, the people managing the tinder account would divert them to their Instagram page which was their promotional site for their film Ex Machina. Instagram is another hugely popular social media, recent study found that over 400 million people were currently using the site in September 2015.  By choosing to use this digital technology for marketing and the huge amount of people that are active, implies that more people could become attracted and interested in the product, so would want to consume the product. The innovative and brilliant marketing of Ex Machina also lead to a huge amount of press interest. Due to the role that digital technologies played in the unique Tinder marketing scheme, the word spread fast as it was open to such a huge audience. Very quickly, DNA films was getting recognition for their media product and were being requested for TV and written interviews from cast and crew. Many of these interviews were then uploaded onto Youtube which is also a huge social media platform with over 8 billion users all over the world. It can be consumed in any way using digital technologies and can be accessed all over the world. This will effectively awareness for the release of the film. Following from the Tinder stunt, Ex Machina also created a website where they would release update about the film and trailers. The website is very simplistic with minimal writing and graphics. However, anyone with a digital device had access to this website as it was the second or third result when searched for on the internet. 

The fact that Star Wars: Force Awakens is the seventh film in a film franchise which has had a huge impact on the film industry as it was based on an original trilogy suggests that just the name of the film will draw an audience to film.  Over the years the Star Wars fanbase has grown and grown and now consists of all age groups in the 4 quadrants. Therefore, they had to use a method that captivated and appealed to a mixture of people. Similar to DNA films, Disney had a huge focus on below the line marketing viral marketing on social media sites. Due to the fact that such a huge percentage of the population use digital technologies to access social media, it played an important role in Disney's campaign to market Star Wars.  Not only did they have official social media profiles but the actors and actresses were also advertising the film on their social media accounts which was available for over 5.9 million people to view. Star Wars has also created an official website where they continued to used it as a platform to post regular updates and advertise other marketing campaigns that were being released. At the top of the web page they also include links to their official social media sites. This highlights the importance of digital technologies in the marketing for Star Wars: Force Awakens as it ensured that a larger audience were able to access it due to the internet via digital devices. Another crucial part of the Star Wars marketing campaign was the TV and online interviews. The huge coverage over TV particularly in America would really help to market the film to all audience demographics as so many people could access them through digital technologies. Not only was there a huge audience viewing the interviews as they were live but many of the interviews were uploaded onto the social media site Youtube which has over 8 billion users. The TV interviews that were uploaded to Youtube and were received millions of views which demonstrates the success of the marketing. This highlights the major role that digital technologies payed in the marketing campaign as so many people were able to access the interviews.



As well as using viral marketing, Ex Machina used some above the line marketing methods which are more traditionally seen in film marketing. Although this was not the highlight of their marketing campaign, DNA films did release a film poster on the 29th October 2015 which included their tag-line. However this was not quite as publicly recognised as the viral marketing. This could be because there was a lack of digital technologies used in the distribution and purchasing of the marketing products and therefore highlighting the importance of digital devices when accessing a media products marketing and merchandise.



Regarding blockbuster films, similar to Star Wars: Force Awakens, have stuck to more traditional methods of marketing. They have resisted completely altering their methods to fully conform to fit with the interests of their often younger generation of the four quadrant and digital audience. Star Wars: Force Awakens still wants to continue to facilitate for their old fan base to ensure that the marketing will reach everyone with an interest in the trilogy. Although digital technologies widen their audience by numbers, it may not reach everyone in the world as not everyone has access to the internet. An example of this is the Star Wars poster. During a fan convention Disney released a film poster in August 2015 which was designed by Drew Struzan who also designed the posters for the other Star Wars films that featured Luke Skywalker. This is an example that digital technologies are not always essential for a films marketing as they are not needed for the selling and purchasing of the films posters. However, once the posters were released photos of the products were being spread over social media which was reaching the digital audience. In that sense, digital technologies did contribute to the success of the film poster - a traditional marketing technique - but was not essential. Another example from the marketing campaign that was not greatly influenced by the use of digital devises was merchandise and tie-ins. On the grounds that Star Wars: Force Awakens was a blockbuster film and had a big budget, they were able to invest a lot of money into their merchandise for the film. Disney did several collaborations with companies such as Covergirl (makeup brand),  Hot Wheels, Tesco and Duracell Batteries to market their product. This stratergy of marketing did not require digital technologist be viewed by the public yet was still a massive success in effectively raising awareness for the film. Same applied to the official star wars merchandise that was sold in the Disney store before the release of the film. Therefore it could be argued that the audience would still consume the marketing towards the film with digital technologies playing a minor role. On the other hand, people could still claim that digital devices are needed even in the release of merchandise in order for people to here about them. With out digital technologies, if you did not live near a location that was selling the official star Wars merchandise, then you would not be aware of the product. 

Digital technologies also play a major role in the consumption of a media products as people use them as a method of viewing the film. Ex Machina was released in the UK on 1st June 2015, along with Blu-ray. It was also available on digital download as early as the 18th May 2015, which was the first opportunity to catch the film following its box office run. This appealed to many of the male and female audience aged under 25 in these two quadrants of the four. They would be able to access the film from the iTunes store on their preferred digital device. Returning back to the fact that Ex Machina was a low budget film, DNA films would have struggled to get screenings on a wide spread of cinemas across the world. When the film was released on the 23rd January 2015 in the UK and 10th April 2015 in the US, this resulted in a lot of people being unable to consume the product in the cinema. At peak time, the film only screened in 2,004 screens in America out of a total of 39,356. This meant that a lot of the audience was unable to consume the film as it was not being screened in any of the cinemas that they had access to. In retaliation to this problem, a lot of the audience illegally downloaded the film in order to engage with it. Due to the fact that the product was being downloaded illegally, it means that the film did not make as much money as it should have done, Piracy was the main reason for the film not being a complete success. This illuminates the fact that digital technologies had a large negative impact in the consumption of Ex Machina as they contributed to the consumption of the product illegally. 

Although digital technologies have been proven to play a major role in the marketing and consumption of a film product, it can also reflect a negative impact on the institutions. Whenever a film is released the audience have a choice where they can decide to engage with the media product in the cinema, purchase it on DVD or Bluray, download it legally (from iTunes) or illegally download it from a piracy site. People see illegally downloading a film as the easier option as it is free, you can watch it in the comfort of your own home and all you have to do is google the film you are looking for. The piracy problem has been becoming a much bigger problem in recent years purely because people aren't aware of the implications it has on film institutions. Films are usually 'leaked' through recordings of films from the cinema, or even in special screenings at premieres. Theses usually result in a total 19% decrease in how much the film makes in the Box Office. This means that the studios are making much smaller amounts of money than they should be making from their films due to piracy.

The one major contrast between the consumption of Ex Machina and Star Wars; Force Awakens was the budget. Due to the big budget of $306 million, Disney could afford to screen the film in 4,134 cinema screens in the opening weekend across the America and in a total of 937 IMAX screens across the world. This resulted in the film being available to so many more people. Incidentally, Star Wars had a lot less pirating issues that would damaged the films profit. The film would still have been slightly effected by pirating but because of the success in all the other methods of consumption, it didn't have a huge effect on the overall profit. This again highlights that digital technologies an have a negative impact as it creates the accessibility to pirating sites. Star Wars: Force Awakens was available download from iTunes and other sites which was accessible through digital technologies. This widened the availability of the film to even more audiences.

When I consumed the marketing for Star Wars: Force awakens, it was predominantly on social media. Due to the fact that I am in the under 25 female group of the four quadrant, this method of consumption appealed to me the most. I regularly came across the teaser trailer and full length trailers on the social media site, Facebook. This is where I witnessed most of the Star Wars marketing. I was able to access this through digital technologies which highlights the viability it brings the younger groups of the four quadrant. I did not come across and Ex Machina marketing. However digital devices would make it incredibly easy to search for it on the internet and it will bring up a selection of results on the search engine Google, such as there official website which include their social media links.  

In conclusion, digital technologies have a major role in the marketing and consumption of the media products because they effectively widen the availability of the film to a bigger audience. With out it, the final product would not be as successful as no one would be aware of it's release. There are methods of marketing that do not involve digital technologies however in order for these methods to succeed the availability needs to be expanded to the audience through digital technologies.  

Ex Machina Marketing

Summary
A film about robots and love has the digital world at its fingertips when looking for marketing ideas, and Ex-Machina did exactly that; in the run-up to the film’s release, attendees at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas were approached by an attractive girl on Tinder (Alicia Vikander, the movie’s main actress) who asked them questions about love and being human, before revealing the stunt and breaking a few hearts.

An easy marketing method that’s free to employ – we like it.

What they did well: They picked the perfect platform – Tinder – as their main marketing hook.

What they could’ve done better: A lot of Ex-Machina’s marketing comes from word-of-mouth recommendations. Perhaps there should’ve been more adverts.

The Tinder tactic
Used the clever force of social media. They advertised on tinder, when someone got into contact 'ava' on tinder they did a mock turing test on them, after they would tell them to visit her instergram which is called 'meetava'. This was promtional page for there site. Because the people who had been in contact with 'ava' were so shocked they would have spread the word, a very original and intriguing tactic of advertising.

LINK

Posters
Although there was a few film posters, it was not a very important part of the marketing campaign.


TV and Press
Not only did the Tinder trick gain public interest for the release of the film, but it also gain press attention. The film got a lot of press interviews and gossip about there new and original way of marketing their film.


Website

Star Wars Marketing

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has had its fair amount of marketing; from BB8 oranges to lightsaber BBQ tongs, they went all-out on the marketing front and it is no surprise that they were so successful. Here's a few examples of the extent the Star Wars marketing team went to, to get the word out.


Websites
If you Google Star Wars websites you will notice that there is a crazy amount of fan clubs and news pages (just about Star Wars news) and companies, which sell Star Wars themed products, like Lego. These websites go on for thousands and thousands of pages and altogether there was 94,000,000 results.

Facebook

You might notice the little Facebook icon in the picture above, this is a button you can press that will take you to the Star Wars Facebook page, which will then take you to the masses of Facebook fan pages and clubs. On these, Star Wars obsessed fans post news and predictions about the saga, stating how much the adore it and sharing inside jokes that only 'true fans' would understand.

A really good marketing technique Star Wars used to promote the new Force Awakens film was giving Facebook users the option to put a lighsaber on their profile picture. This really got the word around about the movie and was a very fun, clever marketing scheme.

Twitter

The Star Wars Twitter page is crazy. The have 2.47million followers and post almost by the hour. This is a really effective marketing technique as it allows the fans to have daily (or even hourly) updates; keeping them interested. Not only this but there is thousands of them when you add all of the fan pages and its not like there is just one official page; there's also @StarWarsUK and @EAStarWars, both of which have thousands of followers.

Trailers

Trailers are the marketing technique that majority of film producers adopt. Some just do one official trailer that gives a little summary of what's to come in the upcoming film and makes viewers intrigued whereas, some bigger film companies, who are producing sequels and prequels, tend to give teasers away first before launching the official trailer to get fans (who the company already have) hyped up for the new movie. Star Wars was obviously already very well-known, so when The Force Awakens came out, they knew they needed to get the fans really excited and intrigued about what was going to happen in the newest episode. They first did this by releasing a teaser trailer on 28th November. This really didn't reveal a lot; the Star Wars theme tune was played as several images form previous Star Wars episodes were shown but didn't give anything away, this was actually a very clever because it sparked a lot of conversation on social media about what could possibly happen in the upcoming film. There was another released in April the following year, which gave a little more away. Nothing massively but it did show some clips of old and new characters which gave the audience even more excitement. Finally the last full-length trailer was launched on the 19th October this showed a couple of glimpse of the movie and gave away a few hints. This trailer managed to get a whopping 95million views on YouTube and definitely helped their success.

Posters:
Posters provide a logical and cost-effective way of communicating to a particular target market. When placed correctly, attractive posters can lure nearby people into a specific event and alert them of an upcoming product or service. Posters have the ability to stick in viewers' minds. The biggest advantage of using posters is that they can be put just about anywhere and seen by almost anyone. Posters can be strategically located to target a particular target audience.

Find as many examples as you can from different media that were used to market Star Wars: The Force Awakens - add still images and video clips to your blog. Include: 

• Websites
• Facebook 
• Twitter
• Trailers
• Posters
• Chat shows and other TV interviews
• Product tie-ins
• Toys
• Any other areas you can think of

Representation of disability

Textual Analysis - Casualty


Disability is constructed in this extract to demonstrate some of the stereotypes surrounded with physical disability. We see a contrast with physically healthy characters and characters we are effected by a physical disability. There is a lot of focus put on the attitude of the disabled characters especially because the clip is set around Christmas.


We are introduced to two of the characters through an over-the-shoulder shot of their reflection in the mirror. We meet Alex who appears to be in a wheel chair in the background of the reflection. He is accompanied by his brother who is positioned much higher in the frame this could connote dominance. If this representation suggests power, it could also signify that physical disabilities strip away a persons

DNA Research

DNA films

1. Who were the co-founders of DNA Films? - It was founded by Duncan Kenworthy and Andrew Macdonald.
2. When was the company founded? - 1983
3. Where is DNA based? - It is located in London, UK
4. How many films have DNA Films produced? - They have produced 21 films in total.
5. What awards have DNA Films won? - BAFTA
6. How many full time staff does DNA Films employ? - One full time worker out of a total of 50 staff members
7. What is DNA Film's philosophy?
8. List 5 box-office hits that DNA Films have made.
9. List 5 flops that DNA Films has made.
10. What is Danny Boyle's relationship with DNA Films?
11. List 3 famous directors that DNA Films have worked?
12. List 5 famous actors who have starred in films made by DNA Films ?
13. What has been DNA Films highest grossing film?
14. What Hollywood studios have DNA Films worked with?
15. List two of DNA Films big blockbuster films and find out their budgets.
16. What film is DNA Films most famous for?
17. What other genres do DNA Films films like to make?
18. Who have DNA Films entered into a partnership with for DNA TV Limited?
19. What information can you find out about DNA Films through their web page?
20. Find out one other interesting fact about DNA Films that you would like to share with the class.

Ex Machina - Review

Ex Machina


In have recently watched the independent science fiction thriller film - Ex Machina, released in 2015. Despite this film had a very low budget, it is made incredibly well. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole film and not once was I left not sitting on the edge of my seat. Not only is it interesting, but it also challenges a lot of ethnical views.


There is a very small cast in this film. It is made up of four main characters: Domhnall Gleeson (Caleb), Oscar Isaac (Nathan), Alicia Vikander (Ava) and Sonoya Mizuno (Kyoko). With in the cast there is only one A-list star, Domhnall Gleeson. He has featured in some big block buster movies such as Star Wars: Force awakens, Harry Potter and about time. In the majority of these films he has played a starring role, with the exception of Harry Potter. They all work together really well and there acting talents bounce off one another creating the perfect relationships between characters. Domhnall Gleeson plays the part of Caleb immaculately, he is a geeky coding enthusiast and plays a very innocent role in the film. Vikander's talent is also well reflected in the film. Although she is playing a robot, who will have limited facial expressions and emotion, she must have the hardest acting part of them all. Her physique, posture and elegant movement fits perfectly for the role of Ava.


Although the Alex Garland adopts the very common 'futuristic robots taking over the world' theme, he manages to reboot it and give a whole new perspective. Considering the fact that this is Garland's directing debut and that he only had a very modest budget to work with. The film appears much more clean and sleek than initially anticipated. A clever tactic that Garland adopted was keeping the scene in one location. This gave the film a very claustrophobic feel and managed to ramp up the tension so much more than your typical Si-Fi.


There was nothing unordinary about the filming of Ex Machina, it was filmed like any other live action film. There was no special effects used during filming. The special effects were done in post-production to create Ava's body. The special effects crew, led by Richard Conway, did an incredible job. Ava's body was a miracle of visual effects. They made her look incredibly futuristic by steering away from the typical mechanical aspect of robots and focussed on a new original idea. It was also very interesting that they chose to use mesh opposed to metal or some opaque material. Because Ava's body was transparent in some areas, they had to film some scenes with and without Vikander present. In post production, they then rotoscoped her face and hands. Camera and body tracking systems then transferred Ava's performance on to the CGI robot's movements. For me, this really hid the fact that this was a low budget film.


The film challenged a lot of ethical and moral questions. This made the film very interesting and in some way confusing (in a good way). It was often hard to figure out who's side you were on. Obviously the audience is positioned to see thing Caleb's point of view but do we listen to the genius in the matter (Nathan) or save the poor helpless machine (Ava). Despite the fact that in the end we discover that Ava is only 'pretending' to feel emotion, during the film we a blissfully unaware. This makes it easy for us to side with Ava as she is presented as the victim. However when Caleb confronts Nathan about Ava, he reminds us that she is only a machine trying to pass a test. It also makes us question whether if it write to trap anything in a cage. If Ava is a machine and she wanted to break free, then does that mean that trapping anything from humans to goldfish is wrong.


Considering that Si-Fi is not my 'got to' genre of film, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I love how you are tricked into siding with Ava and viewing Nathan as the antagonist. It manipulates you to see things how Caleb does, even if you don't necessarily agree with his actions. The film really makes you think and question society. It also makes you think about the future and the impact that modern technological advances will have on the way we live our lives. The visual effects of Ava's body were insane, so hats off to the special effects team.