From Jun 2010:
What significance does the continuing development of digital media have for media institutions and audiences?
From 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?
From June 2009:
How important is technological convergence for institutions and audiences within a media area which you have studied?
From January 2009:
Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences, within a media area which you have studied.
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Past Questions
Institutions and Audiences Topic List
- BIGGEST ONE Understand how all aspects of the media (websites, newspapers, television etc) are used to market a film and show you understand how companies work together to produce and distribute (and market) films.
- How film4 works with different companies and what those companies are
- What synergy is and how all the companies in your case studies make use of it and why they do
- Who are young bwark and why are they important.
- How your production companies have changed their production styles and methods of making films and why.
- How Film4 works as a company and its links to C4 – the particulars of the remit and it’s history
- The involvement of large non-British conglomerates in British companies and works and whether this is a benefit or a hindrance.
- How media convergence has affected your production companies (Warp, Celador and Film4)
- How changes in exhibition (all avenues including cinema, dvd, internet etc) have affected your companies?
- The rise of new media and how your companies have dealt with it – issues and benefits.
- The success of the smaller independent company and maintaining independence (and whether this is a good thing or a bad thing)
- How audiences respond to the products made by your companies and the different levels and types of audience (ages, classes etc)
- What has happened to Celador Productions and Warp Films recently.
- How your production companies have dealt with the rise of the internet.
- The conglomerates involved with all three films for all their aspects.
- How audience’s consumption of media has changed and how technological changes have impact on this (considering the home market as well as the cinemas)
- The different types of marketing used for both Four Lions and Slumdog Millionaire and the different types of advertising.
- How technological improvements have impacted the viewing experience, at home and in the cinema.
- How the increase and improvements made in technology are affecting the ways that films are made and distributed.
- How global institutions target national audiences.
- Why both films are considered successful.
Compulsion - TV Drama Question
Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity using the following:
Camera
Editing
Mise En Scene
Sound
TV Drama Clips
Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender using the following:
Camera
Editing
Mise En Scene
Sound
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Seven Areas - Possible Points
1. The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice.
- Move to large media conglomerates makes it more difficult for a smaller company to gain a foothold
- Smaller companies often are bought out by bigger companies – the conglomerate has subsidiary companies to help market their product
- Emergence of horizontal integration – companies having interest in cross-media platforms
- Vertical integration and concentration of media ownership means that smaller productions cannot avoid conglomerates if they want consumption to occur.
- Smaller companies do not have vertical integration and so need to seek others means e.g. – independent companies, television companies, government bodies, co-production agreements
- American companies can create a conflict of interest with a British company – companies may need to use synergy – are any products truly “independent”?
- Lack of ownership/control over social media makes it difficult to control success of media products
- Move to more ‘cult’ products and niche market mean that those companies are having success
- Exhibition ownership means that film releases need to be negotiated with – certain times of the year make it difficult for certain scenes
2. The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing.
- Channel 4’s ownership of different media platform-based companies make it easier to produce, distribute and market films/productions.
- Issues with synergy and needing to get other companies involved
- The impact of increased media availability to consumers means that companies have to diversify their product (e.g. film4 channeling their production on Film4 on demand)
- The target audience’s own preferences of marketing channels and consumption channels
- Issue of piracy and ease of copying.
- Cross-media convergence makes it easier to start marketing earlier.
- Distribution now happens across many platforms and styles which means more potential viewers but also means more cost.
3. The technologies that have been produced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange.
- New technology increases the availability of the product on different platforms for greater ways of consumption
- Allow for essentially four releases of the same product (cinema, DVD, Blu-ray and streaming)
- In principle it is cheaper – more commercially available products and different consumption products makes the cost of making media products cheaper (e.g. warp films)
- In production there is a variety of products now to make filming easier and better quality – the influx of HD cameras make professional looking shots for a cheaper price and the SI-2K camera allows for more authentic filming on location instead of studio-based (film4 does social realism well), equally the availability of editing device such as the ipad and available software such as adobe premiere and final cut have made editing on the go far easier and made marketing more commercially available as “sneak peeks” can be released in advance.
- In distribution, the majority of films are made in digital which makes the distribution of many products far easier as a digital copy can be made instead of a reel – easier for global release, easier to encrypt the data.
- Conversion of digital screens
4. The significance of the proliferation of hardware and content for institutions and audiences.
- The improvements in technology have meant as less clear audience consumption rate – for every box office ticket counted, it is harder to see where the other copies are being consumed.
- The impact of having the same product available on several different platforms means easier consumption but less easier to judge the amount of viewers.
- Cinema still fronts the majority of new technology e.g. 3D films and markets itself as a ‘viewing experience’ rather than just watching a film. Equally independent cinema are finding other ways of showing media products such as opera, football and theatre.
- People expect to have more of a relationship with their films across media platforms such as trailers, youtube extras, interviews etc – more must now be spent on marketing – Dyer’s star theory – audience want to know their actors
- Portable devices now means media consumption can happen anywhere to anyone – difficult to judge
- Consumers can do have more control of what, when and how they consume their media – which means producers have to work harder to gain audiences and consumption
- Production costs in film budgets are now smaller than distribution/marketing costs as content is prolific but the devices of viewing are just as prolific
- Films are now being made in different style for different genres and different audiences e.g. social realism vs fantastical special effects, realistic animation vs cgi vs hand-drawn animation – long tail theory
5. The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences.
- The availability of internet anywhere can now make the making , distribution and maketing of film immediately visible to the consuming audience – facebook, twitter, footage, youtube, trailers etc.
- Companies taking advantage of their other interests to exploit their other products (e.g. film4 and c4 tv shows/films cross pollination)
- The importance of online work (streaming, marketing, appeal to audience through email/social network)
- The ability of new technological device to perform multiple tasks which make the making of media products faster, more accessible and
- These devices also make it easier to update audiences on the progress of the film and generate more hyper and appeal.
6. The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically British) by international or global institutions
- A more diversified audience now means more diversified films – look at the different markets film4 goes for.
- British films often have difficulty in American markets due to content or approach
- Now more of a ‘global’ market
- Dominance of American companies means it is difficult to be independent – relying on independent cinemas to show their product restricts their product to the bigger, student-oriented cities e.g. London, Cambridge etc
- British companies often need synergy to market their product beyond a local audience
- Proliferation of different films for different consumers – long-tail theory – aiming wholly at a niche audience is often more beneficial for a smaller, British company.
- Britain shares language with America – makes it easier for cross pollination, equally Britain and India share cultural apsects
Certain times of the year for showing certain products
- Move to large media conglomerates makes it more difficult for a smaller company to gain a foothold
- Smaller companies often are bought out by bigger companies – the conglomerate has subsidiary companies to help market their product
- Emergence of horizontal integration – companies having interest in cross-media platforms
- Vertical integration and concentration of media ownership means that smaller productions cannot avoid conglomerates if they want consumption to occur.
- Smaller companies do not have vertical integration and so need to seek others means e.g. – independent companies, television companies, government bodies, co-production agreements
- American companies can create a conflict of interest with a British company – companies may need to use synergy – are any products truly “independent”?
- Lack of ownership/control over social media makes it difficult to control success of media products
- Move to more ‘cult’ products and niche market mean that those companies are having success
- Exhibition ownership means that film releases need to be negotiated with – certain times of the year make it difficult for certain scenes
2. The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing.
- Channel 4’s ownership of different media platform-based companies make it easier to produce, distribute and market films/productions.
- Issues with synergy and needing to get other companies involved
- The impact of increased media availability to consumers means that companies have to diversify their product (e.g. film4 channeling their production on Film4 on demand)
- The target audience’s own preferences of marketing channels and consumption channels
- Issue of piracy and ease of copying.
- Cross-media convergence makes it easier to start marketing earlier.
- Distribution now happens across many platforms and styles which means more potential viewers but also means more cost.
3. The technologies that have been produced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange.
- New technology increases the availability of the product on different platforms for greater ways of consumption
- Allow for essentially four releases of the same product (cinema, DVD, Blu-ray and streaming)
- In principle it is cheaper – more commercially available products and different consumption products makes the cost of making media products cheaper (e.g. warp films)
- In production there is a variety of products now to make filming easier and better quality – the influx of HD cameras make professional looking shots for a cheaper price and the SI-2K camera allows for more authentic filming on location instead of studio-based (film4 does social realism well), equally the availability of editing device such as the ipad and available software such as adobe premiere and final cut have made editing on the go far easier and made marketing more commercially available as “sneak peeks” can be released in advance.
- In distribution, the majority of films are made in digital which makes the distribution of many products far easier as a digital copy can be made instead of a reel – easier for global release, easier to encrypt the data.
- Conversion of digital screens
4. The significance of the proliferation of hardware and content for institutions and audiences.
- The improvements in technology have meant as less clear audience consumption rate – for every box office ticket counted, it is harder to see where the other copies are being consumed.
- The impact of having the same product available on several different platforms means easier consumption but less easier to judge the amount of viewers.
- Cinema still fronts the majority of new technology e.g. 3D films and markets itself as a ‘viewing experience’ rather than just watching a film. Equally independent cinema are finding other ways of showing media products such as opera, football and theatre.
- People expect to have more of a relationship with their films across media platforms such as trailers, youtube extras, interviews etc – more must now be spent on marketing – Dyer’s star theory – audience want to know their actors
- Portable devices now means media consumption can happen anywhere to anyone – difficult to judge
- Consumers can do have more control of what, when and how they consume their media – which means producers have to work harder to gain audiences and consumption
- Production costs in film budgets are now smaller than distribution/marketing costs as content is prolific but the devices of viewing are just as prolific
- Films are now being made in different style for different genres and different audiences e.g. social realism vs fantastical special effects, realistic animation vs cgi vs hand-drawn animation – long tail theory
5. The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences.
- The availability of internet anywhere can now make the making , distribution and maketing of film immediately visible to the consuming audience – facebook, twitter, footage, youtube, trailers etc.
- Companies taking advantage of their other interests to exploit their other products (e.g. film4 and c4 tv shows/films cross pollination)
- The importance of online work (streaming, marketing, appeal to audience through email/social network)
- The ability of new technological device to perform multiple tasks which make the making of media products faster, more accessible and
- These devices also make it easier to update audiences on the progress of the film and generate more hyper and appeal.
6. The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically British) by international or global institutions
- A more diversified audience now means more diversified films – look at the different markets film4 goes for.
- British films often have difficulty in American markets due to content or approach
- Now more of a ‘global’ market
- Dominance of American companies means it is difficult to be independent – relying on independent cinemas to show their product restricts their product to the bigger, student-oriented cities e.g. London, Cambridge etc
- British companies often need synergy to market their product beyond a local audience
- Proliferation of different films for different consumers – long-tail theory – aiming wholly at a niche audience is often more beneficial for a smaller, British company.
- Britain shares language with America – makes it easier for cross pollination, equally Britain and India share cultural apsects
Certain times of the year for showing certain products
Questions
“Media convergence is simply a response to the rise in digital technology” How far do you agree with this statement, referring to a media area you have studied.
"How has synergy and media convergence affected the products within a media area you have studied?"
"How have the changes in digital technology affected an institution you have studied?"
"How have changes in audience behaviour affected a media area you have studied?"
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