An excellent website for finding and analysing film posters

Find the film poster(s) for your case study film poster and then click on the green cross on the side of the poster to enlarge it, etc.
http://www.impawards.com/

Otherwise find your film posters on the web or in Google Images.

Remember that several posters will possibly have been made for your film, i.e. a teaser poster, the theatrical poster and perhaps a poster with snippets of press reviews or Oscars or awards claimed for it. Think also how some films begin with art-house or minority audiences and cross over into the mainstream (audience-wise) if they become more popular than first expected.

Typefaces and Film Posters

As you click through the posters in the link below read Sebastian Lester's commentary about why each type face was selected by the films' distributors. You should try to indentify the typeface used for film posters on your case study films and the reasons for selecting them. This will prove useful when you discuss in your essays how your case study film was marketed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/entertainment_knowledge_of_all_fonts/html/1.stm

Financial Crisis Puts Squeeze on Hollywood

Essential reading for understanding the current climate for financing films in Hollywood and elsewhere!
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1842122,00.html

The tomb of the general who inspired the film "Gladiator" has been found

This is useful for our class case study film. Consider the reasons why the plot of the film differed from the story of the real general and the impact this might have for generating audiences.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7675633.stm

Read also this important BBC artcle written in the year 2000 which reveals how Russell Crowe was on the verge of joining the 'A' list of Hollywood stars from being just another 'respected' actor. This short article also draws attention to how the empire of ancient Rome can be interpreted as an allegory (a comparison) for the modern empire of an imploding USA. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/740653.stm

Music and Scenes from "Gladiator"

Here's a post for the student charged with researching Hans Zimmer, the composer of most of the music in "Gladiator". I'm looking forward to the feedback on the research on the Russell Crowe, Joachim Phoenix, Ridley Scott, Hans Zimmer, The Producer, David Franzoni (there are two) and how technology was used to cover up the fact that Oliver Reed died part way through the film. Consider also how speeches early in the film seem to foreshadow America and Britains' "War on Terror" in Afghanistan and Iraq with the US as the modern equivalent of The Roman Empire.

Students should also notice how "Gladiator" links the past with present with the current vogue of the Reality TV shows in which contestants try "do one another in" and then rely on audiences "saving" them in phone votes, etc. (For instance, The Weakest Link", "The Apprentice", "I'd Do Anything", etc.). Is it any wonder that Gladiator, made during the turn of the last century and the new Millennium in which audiences were encouraged to look back and look forward, appealed to modern audiences who have since been schooled in gladiatorial television series? The caesars are the panel show hosts with Carphone Warehouse sponsoring the plebs who vote from their armchairs and setees.

An interesting link for analysing and studying media corporations

A condensed concept map of what the major media corporations own just in the USA! Click on the map to enlarge.

This is a useful site with good posts and links on mass media organisiations.
Check out the analysis and the links for extending your own knowledge of institutions and the issues surrounding them.
http://powerofmediaconglomeration.blogspot.com/

I've also place this link in the media ownership section of links on the right of this blog.

Gladiator case study information

Jill Nelms's book "An Introduction to Film Studies" is essential reading for our class case study film, "Gladiator". Do not ignore the value of what can be found in books for your individual case study films.

http://books.google.com/books?id=vb_1ma9DKH0C&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=gladiator+case+study&source=web&ots=0jBd3E-uqw&sig=_M-dmK884o1FfEtY8ICkj8Ri_QA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA27,M1

NBC Universal Cable Networks

Look what they own! And that's just the TV cable networks.
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/NBC_Universal_Cable_Networks/

The concentrated ownership of the media - charts on media ownership

The media ownership charts that you can see with this link offer ready understanding of this difficult issue.
http://www.uwm.edu/People/woodsa/chart.html

Brief essays on Mass Media Ownership and how it manipulate the young

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/themes/mediagiants.html

What is a Film Distribution Company?

This information was found on the Net and it some of it may be somewhat out of date. Still, it's a starting point.

What is a Film Distribution Company?
The motion picture industry is very much dominated by large and very diversified conglomerates, such as The Walt Disney Co., News Corp., Sony Corp., Time Warner Inc., and Viacom Inc. which finance the development of new products, in this case motion pictures, own vast libraries of older products, and often own distribution channels for bringing these new products to the public. Sometimes the distributor will finance the movie from beginning to end and other times, they provide a portion of the finances and subsequently receive a cut of the profits.

According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), films financed by major distributors cost $53 million in 1998, almost triple the price tag of 10 years ago. Some films such as Titanic may cost in the range of $100 million while others, such as The Blair Witch Project, may be produced for $15 million or less, especially when they generate box office sales of nearly $140 million as this one did.

Where do Distribution Companies get their finances?
According to Standard & Poor?s, 20% is derived from domestic theater rentals (the movie theater renting a copy of the film of a new movie), 20% coming from foreign theaters, 40% from home video, and television provides the remaining 20%. The distributor?s portion of the theater rentals usually comes to about 50% of the box office total.

They consolidate their costs by taking on the marketing functions for more films produced by other companies. However, they also may have a lower payoff if the movie should have extraordinary success.

Where is the power of the industry concentrated and what are its sources?
The power of the industry is very much dominated in the distribution companies, for the product, the film, can not be completely produced without the finances and influence of the distribution company. These vast entertainment conglomerates very much dominate the industry because they do have more clout with theater owners and TV networks, if they do not own their own subset within the very conglomerate. They can offer brand name recognition to the viewer, and have more connections to the creative talent and experience with effective management. Having copyrights to any popular characters or brand names may seriously affect the success and thus the power of the distribution company, as seen in MTV, CNN?s Larry King Live, and of course Walt Disney. Access to capital is also a very significant factor in a distributor?s potential power. By examining the operating cash flow and the severity of debt as well as the ease with which the company may repay its debt is often an indicator of possible power.

How we watch now: tune in, log on, call up

Very useful info. on how we use technology, what we do while we watch TV and what we watch. Have a look at the great graphics at the bottom of this article. This is really useful stuff for applying statistics for Britons' use of technology in the home.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/14/ofcom.digitaltvradio

Headings for researching your case studies for the New Media Technology paper

The Audiences and Institutions Paper

New Media Technology Case Study Headings

Make sure your list of key words helps support many of your points where appropriate under these headings. You can either produce a PowerPoint or a Blog to represent your research. Devote pages to each heading after doing your research.

1. Give a detailed description of the technology that you are researching.

2. What is this new media technology’s history? (Give a brief history)

3. Explain your chosen new media technology’s uses and applications (that is, what it can do and the various ways in which it can be used.)

4. Identify the producers (institutions) of this NMT and explain who has hegemony in the market. (You will need statistics, sales, countries, the companies’ reach, the NMT’s models and how they vary in how they are used and their appeal, etc.)

5. What are the issues for this NMT? This will depend on the NMT. For instance, can it be used illegally; are their different competing technologies for the same NMT. For example, think about how consumers need to make the right decision on Blue Ray DVDs as buying the wrong format may be expensive in the long run. Consider related issues.

6. Who consumes the technology? Who is expected to use and buy it? (Audiences) intended market? How are consumers targeted by advertising?

7. Future developments? Where is the technology going? What can we expect to see happen to this technology in future? For instance, will there be more convergence?

Presentations will take place after half term. You will be given a lesson and a slot in which you give your presentation as either a Powerpoint or a Blog.