Did someone say, 'media manipulation'?

This has nothing to do with the media units studied in AS. We were discussing the representation of video game female characters in an A2 lesson the other day while studying post modern media. The manipulation of reality is at the core of most media - and this manipulation has never been easier to achieve. This short video is a demonstration of how our perception of beauty is manipulated through advertising and a variety of "touch-up" artists.
It's the Dove Evolution commercial, which was later been parodied in postmodern fashion.

"Breaking Bad" - technological convergence and exchange

This is not a film yet the cinematography, editing, mise-en-scenes and great acting sets this exceptional TV series apart from every other. You could do worse than analyse scenes from this series from YouTube for TV drama. British TV drama is light years away from the quality offered by Breaking Bad. The programme is also one of the darkest, funniest, strangest and most humane programmes ever to air.


Here, you can see an example of EXCHANGE in which YouTube's contributor, Politely Homicidal, has edited together extracts from the programme and scored it with a song which features in one of the episodes. Of course, anyone (with the necessary editing skills) could do this by using digital technology in a laptop with decent editing software, and then uploading the result through the Net in YouTube. This is one of the great upsides of technological convergence. Ironically, the song is very significant for Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher with many family issues because White turns to cooking crystal meths after he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. The song is by Mick Harvey and its called, "Out of Time Man".



Here's a good example from the series:


And another, although this one plays around with the part after the explosion:

Comparing Your British Case Study Institutions and Films with US ones

You need to research more than just your British case study institution and film - you also need be able to explain how the British film industry compares with the much larger American (Hollywood) film industry. You should do this by researching a US institution together with one of their recent films from production, distribution and exhibition. Focus on how British audiences reacted to the film and the distributor's efforts to market and distribute the film. US conglomerates can use their size and reach to create massives synergies to awaken desire in audiences to see their films. They can cross-promote their films across their media empires!


20th Century Fox's "Avatar" (2009) would be an ideal choice. By comparing the film  and media practices of the much larger US film industry with your own wholly British Case study you will be able to appreciate differences in institutional ownership and media convergence. You will also be able to understand conceptually how the massive budgets of US film can offer choices of genre not available to primarily UK production companies. The types of films and the scale of their releases, together with target audiences can also be examined and compared. Even the application of technology and the growth of 3D films and the opportunities to produce such films can be compared.

Working Title began as a UK company. It still is a British run - at least in this country. But it is two thirds owned by the the massive American conglomerate NBC-Universal. Working Title makes a "slate" of UK and US films. Its £50 million budget for "The Boat That Rocked" sets it apart from most other "British" film-makers like Vertigo and Channel Four because the budgets for their films are nowhere close to this figure. Working Title can use its links with NBC Universal to make big budget films and tap into this conglomerate for giant synergies to market them.

 Film 4's "Slumdog Millionaire" only cost $15 million dollars - it did better business than the more expensive film by Working Title. News Corporation's 20th Century Fox is in another league! Its "Avatar" cost around $250 million to make and another $170 million in distribution and promotional costs! Much of the production costs went in developing new technology (special digital cameras) and special effects. 20th Century Fox was only able to raise this cash because it was part of  a group of companies worth many Billions. (News Corp). Media Convergence worked in its favour as News Corp own just about any type of media company you may imagine. The synergies available in a company like this enable massive promotion of the film across a range of media. Click this LINK and scroll down to News Corp to get an idea of the scale of this organisation. With the control over their product that this scale of vertical ownership gives them how can Channel 4 and Film 4 even begin to compete? And yet, somehow, with "Slumdog . . .", they did! But it's a one-off!

It's stating the obvious but we could not make such an ambitious film simply because our choices of film genres is constrained by cost. Even Cameron had to leave his his plans for his big budget blockbuster until technology caught up to make his film financially possible.


20th Century Fox's "Avatar"
Opening Weekend

$77,025,481 (USA) (20 December 2009) (3,452 Screens)
£8,509,050 (UK) (20 December 2009) (503 Screens)

£18,404,659 (UK) (27 December 2009) gross to date.

For further research:
Click here for the IMDB page. There are lots of stats for the UK box office, merchandising and other information on this 3D film to be found by clicking in the left column of this site.


"Avatar's" Official Website
Avatar's Website
The UK Website

Press reviews
A film preview by The Guardian.
Articles on the film

Is James Cameron's 3D film changing the way we watch films?

How much did Avatar really cost? by Vanity Fair

The articles above are important for understanding the issues around technological convergence and how it affects the ways we consume films. They also reveal the growing significance of 3D films and the newly developed cameras that help make them.


It seems only 10% of British cinemas can effectively show this films!
"In the UK alone, only around 320 out of 3,600 cinemas are digitally equipped, while in the US the ratio is even worse (2,500 out of 38,000). "So there is a big problem looming," admits Peter Buckingham, head of distribution and exhibition at the UK Film Council. "You are looking at about a minimum of £80,000 to get yourself into a 3D position. Even with the hike in ticket prices and the potential hike in audiences, that's quite a stretch for the smaller venues. The danger is that, in this digital switchover, a number of cinemas may well be left behind."

Audience Reviews - ordinary folk:

A review from IMBD

946 out of 1707 people found the following review useful.

Technically outstanding. Originality: oh well...., 11 December 2009

Author: elchocobollo from Spain

Well, I just saw Avatar this morning, one of the press premieres which are running on these days. My opinion: you've seen this story a hundred times, but never like this. Finally 3D is what it's supposed to be, an instrument at the service of the movie. You'll enjoy the visual experience, no doubt.

As for the story, some of the "inspirations" are so huge and so obvious that mentioning two or three of them would REALLY ruin the movie for you, and I'm not willing to do that. Lots of mysticism and ecology, if you like that stuff. If you're 15 or so, you'll have a great time thinking that it's the first time somebody makes something like this. If you're an experienced movie watcher, better leave your skepticism at the door, bring lots of pop corn and enjoy with the usual action-flick-with-moral-and-loads-of-clichés.


I liked it, however: "the movie that re-invents movies"??? No way.


For more comments on the film by the public try Amazon UK or the many uploads on YouTube


Production and Post Production for "Avatar"
For information on "how they did it" read parts of the production notes for "Avatar".
Read Avatar's production notes here


Distribution for "Avatar"
20th Century Fox and Newscorp "hedged" much of the $500 million risk onto allied companies and outside investors. This means that a significant portion of the film's profit will be lost because of the unwillingness to shoulder the whole financial risk.
3D articles of interest - movies budget pops from the screen
Some of the numbers below and the Fox's strategy for marketing the film. (Must Read) Avatar Soars and Fat Ad Spending, Mass Marketing

Practice Questions for Institutions and Audiences and a Revision Guide

With thanks to Renier Media for posting these Exam practice questions for G322's Section B:

‘Discuss the issues raised by an institution’s need to target specific audiences within a media industry which you have studied’.

‘The UK film industry, what must it do to flourish?’

‘Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences within a media area which you have studied’.

‘What is the impact of New Media Technologies on the film industry?

This very useful British Film Industry Revision Guide is from Beauchamp College Media - "by students for students" - to "kickstart students" own  revision:

http://api.ning.com:80/files/k0wXSMcPfnloHFrX7aXyMuw*GrnEnMScDsjhgD0*ZNk_/BritishFlimIndustryrevision.pdf

For further revision for this paper, try this:
G322 Revision

View more presentations from M Taylor.

Institutions and Audiences (G322 Section B) Practice question and answer

Institutions and Audiences

Be able to compare your British Case Study with an American One. 20th Century Fox's Avatar would be a good choice.
It's a very good idea to be able to discuss differences in institutional ownership, production, scale, budgets, genres, distribution, exhibition, use of technological convergence, synergies, etc. Of course, you would need, first, to research the ownership of a major US studio, i.e. 20th Century Fox and a film recently released by this studio.

(See Section 2 of the Exam - it begins on page 8 of the Answer Booklet. Remember to scroll down further to read the Examiner's comments on both parts of the Paper afterwards.)
This is an exam question from last year followed by a higher level answer. To practice, why not plan your own answer to this question and see you your plan measures up to the essay answer.


Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences within a media area which you have studied.
G322 Exemplar Cand B High Level answer

"Avatar" - an example of how audiences use technological convergence on the Net for exchange

Digital technology is increasingly important for modern action-adventure movies. The new Sherlock Holmes film uses digital effects to evoke Victorian London as an evolving city. Here, someone from Russia has digital technology to edit and create a series of images from "Avatar" with several songs from the film's soundtrack; they have also used digital technology and the Net to upload this on YouTube for others to see and comment on. This is a good example of exchange -the creative work of members of the public and unintended by the film-makers and distributors. The comments and probable answering videos may lead to endless exchange. To see comments on YouTube simply click on the image. By today it had more than 35000 views!

Useful websites for researching Exhibition Audiences, Exchange issues for Case Study Films

These sites are great for establishing the relative success or failure of case study films at the box office. You can later make comparisons major US institutions and their films to judge the state of the UK film industry and the types of films it produces and for whom.

Try the UK Film Council's search engine. They are great for statistics including box office stats., etc.
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org/weekendboxoffice

http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/distributionandexhibition

Another useful site for stats and info. is IMDB. See their left hand columns after finding your institution's films. Search other parts of the site, too.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1131729/business

Wikipedia has got to be a useful port of call for each part of your case study film and its institutions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_That_Rocked

Newspaper reviews are often crucial for discovering the reasons why a film succeeded or failed. Newspaper reviews are also a key source for finding out about box office statistics and comparisons with  other or previous films in the same genre:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/apr/07/richard-curtis-boat-that-rocked-box-office

http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/86395/the-boat-that-rocked.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-boat-that-rocked-15-1660783.html

Remember that DVD sales at Amazon (their rankings for the film's respective genres) is another indicator.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boat-That-Rocked-DVD/dp/B0027UY818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262872357&sr=8-1

Pearl and Dean - business section is really useful for statistics, target audiences, comparisons with films in the same genre, etc.
http://business.pearlanddean.com/