Warp Films- Info

Warp Films

• Founded by Steven Beckett and Rob Mitchell
• Created with financial help from NESTA- Where they then created a number of short films
• Rob Mitchell passed away in 2001, Steven Beckett gave the position away to Sheffield friend Mark Herbert
• First film Chris Morris' My Wrongs (Shot in 2002)- Won award for best short film in 2003
• 
  

Disability clip - Touch Of Frost

Within the clip for touch of frost, our main focus is on Billy. Billy is quite clearly disabled. The first scene of the clip is billy wiping down his jeans, then we see that there’s police with dogs obviously looking for someone. These two things put closely together could show straight away that Billy is suspicious. The music within this is quite suspicious, mysterious music to add to the tension. At this point, we don’t know that Billy is disabled. We then discover straight away that his, we get a close up of his face, and we see that he notices the police lights and he panics, there is then a panning shot as the police begin to chase him down when Billy runs. This could give the audience a sense of feel like they are also chasing him along the screen. The music is now stopped at this point, and we here dogs barking and police shouting instead. We then hear billy speak for the first time, telling them he hasn’t done anything, we can sense he sounds scared. The camera angle at this point is looking down on billy, making it feel as though he’s very vulnerable at the minute as he’s been caught by the police and he can’t get away.

Next, we are shown the police car outside a house, with all the neighbours hanging about. The camera pans across showing the extent of the situation. We are next introduced to an old man, and the investigator. The camera angle at this point in the clip, is up from above slightly right, and this could suggest that as they are having an important secretive conversation, that we could get a sense that we’re kind of eves dropping on the conversation. In this conversation, we get the first comment about Billy’s disability where the inspector describes him as “mentally subnormal” and the old man corrects the investigator to describe him as “handicapped”.  The inspector then suggests he needs someone in the room with him, to keep an eye on billy. We’re next introduced to an older woman, by now we could think this is Billy’s house, and that their Billy’s parents. If so, then his mother, the older woman, brings up to the door a bowl of soapy water and tells the investigator billy would feel better if he was cleaned up first. This could suggest that Billy is less abled as well. Investigator refuses and speaks to billy first. We see billy sitting on a chair inside a room, his dad speaks to him like he’s a child, and billy keeps saying that he hasn’t done anything. The inspector also talks to billy as though he’s a child.

As the investigator talks to billy, the camera shots show shots of Billy’s face close ups, shots of billy with his dad sat behind him, and shots of the investigator, but there are no shots of billy and the investigator together, these shots could show, billy is alone in this, but then it shows also that his dad is going to be there to speak for him and help him out. The fact that billy is sat in the middle of his dad and the investigator puts him in a position where he looks vulnerable, over-powered, and targeted. The way that the investigator talks to billy, is not only in a childish manner, but he’s sort of trying take advantage of the fact billy might not fully understand or tell truth as he’s scared. So the investigator talks to him and says things to try and catch billy slip up, and say something wrong, because he knows billy is vulnerable because he’s disabled.

At this point, I would say I wouldn’t know as an audience whether or not to believe billy. Understanding he’s disabled, I feel sorry for him and I believe him, but I also have a feeling he could have done something accidently and freaked out and is now scared.

By now, we see the investigator becoming agitated that he’s getting nowhere with billy. Billy’s dad interrupts and says that billy said he was going out to “play”, billy corrects him and says he was going to walk by the river. Just by this sentence or two, we see more of younger, childish with billy.

Thoughout the clip we see that disability is treated differently with lots of emotions because of their disability.

Class and status essay

                                

The clip from the street represents class and status. We see two families. Living on the same street, there’s some kind of affair going on between the adults. The first family we see, arguing, 3 children, a mother rushing and a father obviously angry about something they can’t afford to replace. We then see him go to work, and he obviously works at a building site. Then we see the mother has a bit of an accident in the kitchen, where a pipe bursts and she’s run to get her neighbour, who she’s actually having an affair with. Next we then see him go to work, in a suit, more upper-class job than the building site man. In the office man’s house, we see his family with children, a little hectic but not as hectic as the family from the start. He then rushes out because he’s probably late for work, and in the rush he runs down the child of the woman he’s having the affair with. The mother of the child accuses her husband of being selfish because he was watching football, and not watching his children.

Through this, I’m going to analyse firstly the two men who contrast with each other a lot. They both have different jobs, one man in an office, and one man a builder. Just through how they dress we can already see that one is more upper-class than the other. The office man, for example, wear a grey suit, he’s quite slim also, for work. The builder wears a vest, he’s a little chubby, and he doesn’t look like he can be bothered to take pride in his appearance. Just through these two men, we see a huge contrast in not only gender factors, but also their class and status.

When we look at the two mothers, there are not many differences. Both are or could be housewives, do the cleaning, go shopping, take children to school and look after them whilst their husbands go to work. The mothers both seem to be run off their feet. The fact that we can see this shows us that both families are not extremely rich. Although, then we can say that one family is probably a little more wealthy than the other.

The first scene of the family arguing and the little girl looking through the gap in the door, could suggest she’s scared, she doesn’t want to see it and the music we hear is quite jolly, and obviously to a TV or a radio. This could more effect to the fact of the hectic morning before work and school.

Hustle essay

Introduction

We watched a clip from Hustle. Within this clip we analysed the characteristics of male and female characters. We focused on four main characters; Sarah, Shop assistant, older woman, and the con man. Through analysing this section I discovered that the men and women were portrayed very differently. It showed a sophisticated woman, and a working class woman. Both were acting as I'd expect a woman to act, but each differently to one another. It showed the men as different people as well. The con man was portrayed as quite street wise because of his strong London accent, but with a lot of money show by his suit. Whereas it showed the shop assistant as a feminine, stuck up, self-obsessed man, but very well spoken.

Within the clip of Hustle we see a much contrasted set of characters that display different assets of gender. This is a good clip to compare gender. Taking the two women we see for example. The older woman and the younger woman. The older woman is wearing more down to earth clothing, casual usual clothes, with scraggly going-grey hair. The younger woman, looks more sophisticated in the way she dresses, in her grey stone suit, and perfect hair, blonde, takes pride in appearance. This gives a contrast already on the two women and their gender, and how women can act differently. The men that are represented in the clip, the con man and the shop assistant, seem very different. For example, the shop assistant, he acts quite feminine, and he clearly loves his job. The older lady shopping in the shop, he asks what they want and he rushes her out of the shop, being quite rude, and judgmental. After this he practically runs over to the younger lady, because he can obviously tell she’s going to be a big spender. He picks out a dress for her, again showing his feminine side, and she tries it on. He comments on how she looks etc. Next we see the con man, who compared to the shop assistant is a lot more masculine. His language is quite normal, London cockney language and we see a contrast of this as the shop assistant speaks well spoken. The con man is in a suit which I would say doesn’t contrast with the shop assistant, but we can tell that the con man looks well off with money. He seems to be a little over-powering over the shop assistant. You can tell a lot about gender within characters and contrast them well, just by looking at the clothes they wear and the languages they speak in and accents. The fact that the shop assistant is working in a high-end woman’s clothes shop, suggests to us that this could also be pointer that he is very feminine.

Attack the Block Review

Attack the Block Review

Attack The Block

Attack The Block was produced by a company called Big Talk Productions. BTP also produced films such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot fuzz. They also produced along side Film4, The UK Film Council and StudioCanal. Overall the film was shot across many different estates around London, as Joe Cornish the producer explains in a quote. But They used an opening scene shot of a birds-eye view of an estate to use as the map for the film. interior shots were filmed in a studio. 

Attack The Block was based upon Joe Cornish, coming into contact with a very realistic gang himself. Due to being previously mugged, Cornish decided to investigate into large gangs and estates around London, and this influenced and inspired him into making the film.

Cornish went on to say in an interview that he thought "In the UK there are a lot of hood movies. They're usually quite depressing." Joe claimed that he wrote from his instinct and wrote what he thought about were his genuine ideas.
The soundtrack in attack The Block was composed by Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton from the Basement Jaxx and also Steven Price. They did actually use a song or two that was a Basement Jaxx song. So they brought their own work into the film.With money saving problems, driectors only used CG effects when necessary, and had an extreme budget on how they did their special effects with the aliens, using puppets and even people in alien costumes.
Problems Whilst making attack the block, they didn't have the correct budget to have 3D animated aliens so had to improvise.

5x5

5 Favourite Bands/Artists

You Me At Six
Two Door Cinema Club
Blondie
Fleetwood Mac
Chase & Status

5 Favourite Actresses

Evangeline Lily
Emilie De Ravin
Kristen Stewart
Mila Kunis
Maggie Grace

5 Favourite TV Programmes

Lost
Desperate Housewives
How I Met Your Mother
Ghost Whisperer
CSI

5 Favourite Actors

Johnny Depp
Jason Statham
Matthew Fox
Josh Holloway
Michael Emerson

5 Favourite Films

Titanic
The Twilight Saga
Harry Potter
Fast & Furious
Jurassic Park

Good Cop Homework

Good Cop Homework

TV Drama, Lost

TV drama

The idea -

• People become inspired for new film idea.
• Producer decides to make idea reality
• director visualises script
• Writer defines main characters and plot
• Writer makes descrpition of film and main characters
• Producer does a pitch to sell film to finances

Development finance -

• Producer uses pitch to persuade for funding for a script
• Producer then goes to film production companies
• Producers offer percentage of money made, in return for money for a script
• Producers applies for public funding body for development grant
• Might pitch the film to private investors to try and get more funding possibilites

Script Development -

• Produce sypnosis, then decide on key events and scenes in the film
• Create step by step outline on how to produce their script
• First draft is made
• Once draft is done and happy with, sent to finances for them to tweek it
• Once everyone is happy with final draft, becomes final piece and the writer is then paid
• Creation of sales treatment

Packaging -

• Producer and director package script
• Start attatching well-known actors for script
• Heads of deparment consider finances
• Decide on how much it will cost to make
• Investors interest in how they will make the money for the film, and how it is paid back
• Finally finished, sent off to see what other outsider people think about it

Financing -

• Producer travels to make the film
• Proucer lawyer makes contracts to finalise the deals
• Makes money before film is made (Pre-sales)
• Certain banks offer loans to make the film
• Insurance for production, completion bond
• Once essential funding is comfirmed, film can start to be produced

Pre-Production -

• Department heads are hired, pre-production begins
• Casting director, director and producer do a long process of finding the right actors
• Storyboards are created for blueprints of film
• Production designer plans how film will look, hires people to design and build each part
• Effect shots are planned in more detail, as they take longer to make
• The line producer and production manager make up key triangle of production

The shoot -

• Shooting begins, funding released
• Camera department get all footage for director and editor to make the story
• Lighting and sound set up, hair and make-up complete, shot begins
• Actors begin to act in a way to attract audience attention
• Special effects filmed carefully, with minimal trying risk to injury
• Producers have time limit, if fall behind schedule insurance and financers may step in

Post-prodouction -

• Footage goes to editor, narrative sequence is created
• Sound department work on audio tracking
• Digital effects, credits and opening titles are added by Special effects
• Final stage to adjust colour of the film and shots
• Rough sound mix is sent to dubbing theatre to create final sounds
• Film is finished and ready for duplication

Sales -

• Producer secures sales with sales agent
• Trailer is made to show main market aspects of film
• Producers get everything together in order to sell to distributors
• Producers goes to great extents in order to try and compete with other film producers marketing films
• High-profile screening of the film is shown
• Negotiates with international distributors

Marketing -

• Producer hires sales agent
• Market team run test screens to lure in audience
• Audience is targeted. E.g. posters, trailers, TV
• TV, radio and newspapers promote film by word of mouth
• Internet also displays information about movie
• Distributer makes deal with cinemas to screen the film

Exhibition -

• Premier to launch film with high media coverage
• A lot of cinemas for it to be displayed in
• Prints of film are made for Ehibitors
• Exhibitors take box office receipts, distrobuters gain marketing costs back
• Once paid, Finance can recover their investment 

Other windows -

• Sells to in-flight entertainment, and hotel channels
• Goes on DVD for box office failure
• TV is used for pay-TV showings on the film
• Create games of the film
• Profit is made. Producer and key people get rewarded
• Income is constantly made for film e.g. film being re-released

Selected Key Terms for Institutions and Audiences - The Film Industry

An institution (in the film industry)
Definition: any company or organisation that produces, distributes or exhibits films. The BBC makes films with their BBC Films arm; Channel4's Film Four produces films, Working Title also produce films, as does Vertigo Films, etc. Some institutions need to join with other institutions which distribute films. Vertigo Films is able to distribute its own films, Channel Four distributed Slumdog Millionaire through Pathe. Working Title's distribution partner is Universal, a huge US company which can make, distribute and show films. The type of owner ship within an institution matters as, for instance, Channel 4 and the BBC are able to show their own films at an earlier stage than other films made by other institutions. They are also better placed to cross-promote their in-house films within their media organisations. Use you work on Film Four as the basis for most of what you write, Moon is a good cross comparison as Duncan Jones had to create his own institution just to get the film made.


Distribution and Marketing

Definition: the business of getting films to their audiences by booking them for runs into cinemas and taking them there in vans or through digital downloads; distributors also create the marketing campaign for films producing posters, trailers, websites, organise free previews, press packs, television interviews with the "talent", sign contracts for promotions, competitions, etc. Distributors use their know-how and size to ensure that DVDs of the film end up in stores and on supermarket shelves. Distributors also obtain the BBFC certificate, and try to get films released as the most favourable times of the year for their genre, etc.


Examples:
Universal distributed Working Title's The Boat That Rocked; Pathe distributedFilm4 and Celadors' Slumdog Millionaire after the original US distributor, Warner Independent went out of business. TRON was heavily marketed across a variety of mediums, Moon struggled to get press attention and Duncan Jones had to really push the film  in obscure places like Popular Mechanics etc. The Kings Speech was distributed by Momentum (a susiduary of Aliance films) who are a major independent film distributor.


ExhibitionDefinition: showing films in cinemas or on DVD. Media attention through opening nights and premieres How the audience can see the film: in cinemas, at home, on DVD, through downloads, through television, including premieres, the box office take in the opening weeks; audience reviews which includes those of the film critics, ordinary people, cinemas runs; awards in festivals, The Oscars, BAFTAS, etc.


Examples:
Slumdog Millionaire almost never got distribution. Its early US distributor, Warner Independent was a victim of the economic downturn and went out of business. The film's makers then struggled to find a distributor! Then Fox Searchlight stepped up and "the rest is history". The 8 out of 10 Oscar nomination wins ensured that the film has been the greatest British success in awards and in box office for nearly 60years.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/boyle-reveals-slumdog-millionaire-was-nearly-never-made-1331821.html

Motherhood took just £86!
Moon. Initially Sony Pictures Worldwide were due to distribute the film but they specialise in straight to DVD features. Following positive reaction following its Sundance film festival the rights were acquired by Sony Classic Pictures who gave the film a limited release in the US in Cities like New York and LA.

Exchange
Definition: The unintended use of an institution’s media text (i.e. a film) by OTHER PEOPLE who use the film or parts of it to form new texts. What happens to a film, etc. after the public get their hands on it using digital technology. 

Examples:People unconnected to the institution/ film using WEB 2.0 applications such as YOUTUBE, Blogger, Amazon film message boards, TWITTER, Face-Book, discuss the film or edit parts of together to form a new text which the may then put a new soundtrack to and publish on YOUTUBE, etc. When you add a trailer from a site like YouTube on your blog you have been engaging with exchange. Look back to MArk Kermodes video regarding piracy and the new release strategies for films like Ken Loach's "Route Irish" (Loach has reportedly steeled himself for a frosty response from critics and anticipates an underwhelming box office, noting the difficulty he faced securing a distribution deal. Though pragmatic in his view that “people don’t make films to communicate; they make it as a commodity”,an unorthodox release strategy utilising Sky Movies Premier - which will place the film (and by extension, its subject matter) in a wider public sphere than it might otherwise have reached – suggests he hasn’t given up on pedagogy entirely.) or the Jack Ass 3 release on DVD and Sky Box Office.


Vertical and Horizontal Integration
Definition: Absorption into a single firm of several firms involved in all aspects of a product's manufacture from raw materials to distribution.


Example:
Vivendi Universal have integrated film, music, web and distribution technology into the company, including owning big stakes in cables and wires that deliver these services. Therefore they are vertically integrated because they own all the different companies involved in film, from production to distribution to exhibition. They are also horizontally integrated because they have all the expertise for producing media content under one roof – films, TV, magazines, books, music, games thus being able to produce all the related media content for one film under the same roof (see synergy). This is important for the control the institution has over their product/film.


Synergy/Synergies 
Definition: The interaction of two or more agents (institutions/companies) to ensure a larger effect than if they acted independently. This is beneficial for each company through efficiencies in expertise and costs.

 
Examples:
Working Title know how to make films and they have formed a business partnership with Universal, a massive US company, who have the experience and size in the marketplace (cinemas, stores, online, etc.) to distribute them. (They create the marketing campaign to target audiences through posters, trailers, create the film’s website, free previews, television and press interviews featuring “the talent”, drum up press reviews, word of mouth, and determine when a film is released for the best possible audience and the type of release: limited, wide, etc.) Channel Four’s Film 4 and Celador Films(Celador also produce Who Wants to Be A Millionaire and films, too) benefited by pooling their know-how, experience and expertise to jointly produce Slumdog Millionaire. These companies formed a business relationship with France’s Pathe to distribute this film. In the UK Pathe helped create the poster, trailer, website, etc. In the USA the film found another distributor after being nominated for the Oscars.


Viral Marketing

Definition: A marketing technique aiming at reproducing "word of mouth" usually on the internet and through existing social networks. YouTube Video pastiches, trailers, interviews with cast members, the director, writer, etc. You can find interviews of “the talent” trying to gain publicity for your case study films on YouTube. Find some clips from the films we have studied to help you in the exam.
Guerilla MarketingDefinition: The use of unconventional and low cost marketing strategies to raise awareness of a product. The aim is usually to create “buzz” and “word of mouth” around a film. Unusual stunts to gain publicity (P.R.) on the film’s opening weekend, etc.

Examples:
Sasha Baron Cohen created “buzz” before the release of his film “Borat” by holding fake press conferences. The studio also accessed the popularity of YouTube by releasing the first 4 minutes of the movie on YouTube, a week before it’s release, which can then be sent virally across the nation. At a special viewing of “Bruno” Cohen landed on Eminem “butt first” from the roof MTV Awards venue, dressed in as an angel outfit with rents in the rear end.


Media Convergence
Definition 1: Convergence of media occurs when multiple products come together to form one product with the advantages of all of them.

 
Examples:
More and more films are being marketed on the Internet and on mobile phones. You no longer need even to buy the DVDs or CDs as you can download films and music directly to your laptop, Mac or PC. Blue Ray DVDs can carry more features than ordinary DVDs and can be played on HD televisions and in home cinemas for enhanced/cinematic picture quality. You can save films on SKY digital, Free-box digital players, etc. You mobile phone has multiple features and applications. With media and technological convergence this is growing year on year. Play-Stations, X-Boxes and the Wii can can connect with the Internet and you can play video games with multiple players.


Technological ConvergenceDefinition 2: The growing interractive use of digital technology in the film industry and media which enables people to share, consume and produce media that was difficult or impossible just a few years earlier.

Examples:
For instance, the use of new software to add special effects in editing; the use of blue-screen; using new types of digital cameras like the one Danny Boyle used in “Slumdog Millionaire” (The Silicon Imaging Camera to shoot high quality film in tight spaces); you can use the Internet to download a film rather than go see it in the cinema; you can watch it on YouTube; you can use special editing programs like Final Cut Pro to edit bits of a film, give it new soundtrack and upload it on YouTube; you can produce illegal, pirate copies on DVDs from downloads and by converting the film’s format; you can buy Blue Ray DVDs with greater compression which allows superior viewing and more features on the DVD; distributors can use digital software to create high concept posters; cinemas can download films to their projection screens and do not have to depend on a van dropping off the film! The is also the Digital Screen Network. There are tons of ways in which technological convergence affects the production, distribution, exhibition and exchange by prosumers. ( A prosumer is someone who not only consumes (watches films) but also writes about them the Net, blogs and make films out of them, often uploading them on sites like YouTube, etc.

A Mainstream Film

Definition: A high budget film that would appeal to most segments of an audience: the young, boys, girls, teenagers, young people, the middle aged, older people, the various classes in society. Distributors often spend as much or more than the film cost to make when distributing mainstream films that are given wide or universal releases.


Example:The Boat That Rocked was a mainstream idea and was given the mainstream treatment on wide release. The film flopped at the UK box office on release ( and has not done too well since mid November 2009 on release in the USA. This was mostly because of its poor reviews, particularly from “Time-Out”. However, when young and older audiences see the DVD they generally like the film because of its uplifting storyline and the well-chosen soundtrack.


Art House Films

Definition: A low budget independent film that would mostly appeal to an educated, higher class audience who follow unusual genres or like cult directors that few people have heard of. Therefore it is usually aimed at a niche market. Foreign films often come under this category.


Examples:
The low budget film, Once (2007) which found a specialised, boutique distributor in Fox Searchlight fits this label. (FOX the mainstream company usually distributes big budget film and blockbusters); So does “Juno” from 2008 which began as a low budget film about teenage pregnancy that the big studios thought too risky to touch – but it found popularity through its touching storyline, engaging music and its Oscar nomination for best script. Like “Slumdog Millionaire” the film crossed over between art-house cinemas and audiences to mainstream ones because of the recognition it received from Canadian film festivals and award ceremonies like Britain’s BAFTAS and the Hollywood’s Oscars.

Ratings bodies BBFC - The British Board of Film ClassificationHow your institutions films are rated will affect audiences in so far as WHO can see them. Remember that sex scenes, offensive language, excessive violence, the use of profanity, etc. can affect the rating and certificate the film receives and therefore affect

This is a two shot angle from the movie Juno.

This is a point of view shot from the Film Cloverfield.

This is a close up from the TV drama Lost

This is a medium camera shot from the film The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas.

This is an ebstablishing shot from Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone

This is a long shot camera angle from the movie Superbad.

Section B

Section B: Institutions and AudiencesCandidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and institutions. In addition, candidates should be familiar with:

• the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;
• the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;
• the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;
• the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;
• the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;
• the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions;
• the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.

This unit should be approached through contemporary examples in the form of case studies based upon one of the specified media areas.  See explanations below.

Section B: Institutions and Audiences.
The Exam Board will select one concept to devise a question for the exam.

Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and institutions. In addition, candidates should be familiar with:

• the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary (current) media practice
The depth and range of ownership across a range of media and the consequences of this ownership for audiences in terms of the genres and budgets for films. How for instance, can Channel4's Film4 survive in the British market place against the high concept, big-budget films made by Newcorp's FOX, Warner Bros, Disney, Universal, etc.? What kinds of niche audiences are left for Film4 to attract? Are mass audiences out of reach given the genres of films Film4 have the budgets to make? How successful have they been in reaching mass audiences with their films? How healthy is it that just a few mega media groups can own such a range of media and can decide what the public may see, and, perhaps, shape audience's tastes?

• the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing
 Digital technology is enabling various media to converge in hubs, platforms and devices. For instance, mobiles phones do a lot more than act as hand held telephones: you can download and watch films and TV programmes, use them as alarm clocks, watches, play music on them, take photos and short films, text, go online, use GPS functions, a range of apps, and a whole lot more. New HD TVs, Playstations, X-Boxes, I-Pads, Notebooks, MacBooks, etc. are also examples of hubs which in which a variety of media technologies can converge for convenience for users. Media convergence is having an enormous impact on the film industry because of the ways in which institutions can produce and market for audiences/users on a widening range of platforms, capable of receiving their films.

Synergies can come out of an organisation's size; smaller media organisations such as Channel4 can-cross promote their films, etc. but the scale of cross-media promotion is nowhere near as great as that which can be gained by massive media organisations. Film4 is therefore unable to promote their lower budget films on a level playing field.
• the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange
The audience's ability to interact with films by, for instance, using digital technology to put extracts on You Tube and overlay new sound tracks on them, etc. and make answering videos has been greatly enhanced by Web 2.0; Film studios can make films using CGI, greenscreen and other special effects that were impossible to make only a few years ago. The ways of filming and editing films have changed, too, with the introduction of digital film and film cameras, editing software, laptops, digital projectors, etc. Distributors market films using the latest software for designing high-concept film posters and trailers. They can use phone apps., online marketing, Face Book, etc. File-sharing and piracy are growing issues because the software exists to take the protective encryption of DVDs, etc and WEB 2.0 enables people to make and share copies of films easily. One way in which film companies are trying to get around this is by releasing films soon after theatrical release by selling them on video-on-demand, premium TV channels and downloads. US and UK cinemas chains are not happy about this, especially after all the investment some have made on digital equipment, projectors, etc. which unfortunately quickly goes very quickly out of date!
• the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences
This means the increase of something: i.e. digital cameras, software, CGI, 3D films, film genres, etc. which are part of current trends; how significant is this for See Saw Films or Film4? Or are they still able to be successful without it by making films with genres that do not need the latest breakthroughs in digital technology? Research the film company's use of cameras, special effects, software, posters, digital distribution of films, etc.
• the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences
This is a WEB 2.0 issue and how technology is coming together in hubs like laptops is one of the features of our age; the mobile phone in your pocket is a great example of technological convergence: it can do so much more than a simple phone call; think how this is affecting film making at the production, marketing and exhibition stages? The Internet is acting as a hub for many aspects of film: you will find film posters, You Tube videos on films, interviews, trailers, official film and blog websites, etc. on it.  Audiences can also remake their own films by creating extracts and running new scores over them and then posting them on You Tube. This often leads to answering videos, never mind the comments, etc. that people make  on such sites. The internet, film and videos games seems to be converging in so many ways. People can watch films in a range of ways, using an astonishing range of hardware and software. They can also find audiences of their own. This amounts to free publicity for film institutions for their films and "A Long Tail" sales into the future through endless exchange.
• the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions
"Slumdog Millionaire" was originally aimed at Asian audiences living in various parts of the UK and also at Danny Boyle fans. The film's unexpected success at film festivals and being nominated for the Oscars led to another theatrical release and a crossover from the "indy" art-house into the mainstream. British film makers often make social realism films and aim them at local and regional audiences whereas this would never be enough for the major media players who tend to make high budget, high concept films. They have boutique offshoots who make and often distribute lower budget films, aimed at more high brow audiences. Disney's Mirimax and Fox's Fox Searchlight are examples of such boutique, art-house film distribution.
• the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour
How you consume films whether it is as a social activity after visiting a shopping centre or on an MP4 player or Playstation, is what is at issue here. Visit Pearl and Dean to see how multiplex cinemas are adapting the experience of cinema-going to gain audiences. In an age of falling DVD sales, home cinema and an increase in downloading for both music and film audiences are changing in how they want to consume film. Identify trends and consider where the audience trends are going in the near future.
This unit should be approached through contemporary (up-to-date) examples in the form of case studies based upon one of the specified media areas.


Thanks to DOG for this post.

Recent film choices

Films seen recently.

Ted, The Expendables 2, The Amazing Spiderman, Shaun Of The Dead, Scary Movie

Influences on why I wanted to watch them.

I wanted to see the movie Ted because I had seen trailors for the film and it seemed funny. I enjoy watching comedys. I went to see The Expendables 2 at the cinema because I also like action films, and another reason was because the group of actors put together for the film seemed interesting. I went cinema to see The Amazing Spiderman because I had seen the first 2 films of the original Spiderman, and I wanted to see this new one to see if it was any different. At home I watched Shaun Of The Dead because I enjoy horrors and comedys and this film includes both. This is the same for Scary movie.

Factors for choice of films.

The factors for my choice of films was because of all my free time during the summer holidays, I sometimes wanted to get something out of it. I enjoy to watch films, so either going cinema and watching a new released film or staying at home and having a film evening was something I did to relieve my bordem.

Did I like or dislike the films I watched.

I enjoyed watching Ted because of the humour in the film. it was a delight to see and I'd watch it again. The Expendables 2 was extremely interesting to watch, it was full of action and sometimes suspense. It also had hints of humour and I enjoyed it more because of the range of actors.

Film Review

Media Studies

Magazine Analysis

Analysing Magazines