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Essay plans and practice: Section B

Explain the task:

I need to show my knowledge and understanding through case study material, although they do not need to be equally covered. I will be assessed on my ability to illustrate production, distribution, exhibition and consumption through two relevant case studies. 

The set question:

• Cross media convergence/ synergy
• Marketing products 
• Success and failure of marketing strategies 
• Promotional strategie to sell to an audience
• Cross media/ marketing/ global vs local
• Technology has changed
• Media ownership- who owns who?
• My own experiences

Definitions:

Cross media convergence= Everything on one device

• Mobile telephone
• E-mail
• DVD player
• Camera
• Pager
• Internet browser 
• Music player
• Game console
• Storage on the cloud
• Harddrive device

If one company owns everything this could lead to problems

Synergy= two or more things working together to make 'the whole' stronger/better

For a film, within the same month;

The film, TV programmes, sound track, computer games, toys, promotional merchandise, magazine articles

Globalisation: 

Making the world one market place

The internet has no national boundaries and is free

Question Example:

How has the media convergence and synergy played a part in the Media Area you have studied?

Set Answer:

Always the same, institution in control, selling more product more efficiently 

Always audience= more access, more convenience, more involved with the product

Production:

The Avengers- The characters within the film are characters in other films, such as 'iron man' this makes it more exciting as each of the characters are able to meet other super heroes from other films. There are also many well known actors/ actresses involved in the film. 

The Woman in Black- Daniel Radcliffe is well known for his acting as Harry Potter. 

Distribution: 

The Avengers- Merchandise, such toys and t-shirts to advertise the film. Billboards to advertise the upcoming of the film so a wider audience knew about it. There would be interviews with the main characters, like Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson so they are able to promote the film globally. 

The Woman in Black- Used posters some with Daniel Radcliffe and some without to appeal to more people, whether they are Harry Potter fans or not. Interviews with Daniel Radcliffe to promote the film.

Audience:

The Avengers- Cinema, box office, DVD, Blu-ray, 

The Woman in Black- Cinema, box office, DVD, Blu-ray, 

Practice Essay:

The two films I have studied, The Avengers and The Woman in Black, both use media convergence and synergy within their film companies. The Avengers was made by Disney and Marvel studios, and due to the fact that there were many well- known actors/actresses involved in the film, such as Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson. Many of the characters were also the main characters in other films, for example 'iron man'. I feel that The Avengers used more synergy and media convergence than The Woman in Black because it was produced on a much larger scale. The Woman in Black used the fact that Daniel Radcliffe had just finished the Harry Potter sequences to their advantage as it creates a sequel effect from the Harry Potter films. Cross Creek and Hammer pictures made the film. 

Synergy is when two or more things work together to make the outcome stronger and better as a whole, for films an example of this may be cinema showing and merchandise. For Avengers this was used a lot as they used billboards, magazine articles, promotional merchandise, posters and toys all to promote the film. Both films had the film released in the cinema and then on DVD/ Blu-ray. The Avengers had the main characters interviewed globally to encourage people to watch the film and for The Woman in Black Daniel Radcliffe was often interviewed. Disney often created the whole image with the use of merchandise, such as pencil cases with The Avengers on it. However there was limited merchandise for The Woman in Black, there was only posters and a few t-shirts this is due to the film being owned by a smaller production company, although the t-shirts were mainly based around the book or the play, therefore the main form of merchandising was just posters. There is no built in audience, only the Harry Potter fans(this defines its target audience), although there is a wide set audience for The Avengers which is why this was of a higher cost.
Both films were exhibited in different ways, The Avengers was shown in i-max and 3-D shown as a huge will looked up as the one to see, however in the UK the title of the film had to be changed to 'The Avengers Assemble'. Other films would delay their release so it was not released the same time as The Avengers so more people would be more likely to see their film.  The film was the most popular selling DVD of the year and made $200.3 million within its opening weekend.

The Woman in Black was a medium sized British which had a huge opening based on the fact that Daniel Radcliffe had just finished Harry Potter. They had to edit the film to make it suitable for for 12 year olds, the fact that they made it as scary as they could for 12 year olds made people want to see the film more. The fact that they made the film seemed like it could of been a 15 attracted a wider audience and it could generate more people to come and see it. They had a big premiere for its opening (one of the biggest premieres for a British film), made $20 million in the first week.
Both films are released in different orders, they are released firstly in the cinema, then Blu-ray, DVD, Sky, Netflix, downloads and will be released finally on the TV last. However to watch it on TV you may have to wait 1-2 years for it be shown. Through these staggered way of releasing the film they are able to advertise each of the ways the upcoming film is being shown to attract a wider audience. The Woman in Black had a shorter lifetime of showing the film than The Avengers, the film was shown on general TV just after a year the film was first released.
The Avengers was on a much bigger scale and had a lot more money spent on it, from more merchandise to advertising. The film has staggered stages but has a much longer lifetime than The Woman in Black, the film was produced and still hasn't been shown on general TV.
In 2012 media convergence was something the larger media companies were attempting although there are too many companies trying to get people to do media convergence, such as Netflix, Amazon, Sky, Marvel, Disney. This leads to too many companies needing to be negotiated with which makes it hard to be achieved as it is safer to spread the risk of losing money around rather than investing all the money into one company.

Exhibition

The order of importance in which The Avengers and Woman in Black was shown by the film company.
The most important way of showing the film is through the cinema, this is because once the film has been shown in the cinema it will encourage people to buy it afterwards if it was good or may persuade people to watch it after it has been in the cinema on other forms of media. The cinema also makes a lot of money for when the film is first launched, some people may even view the film at the cinema multiple times.
The second most important way of showing the film is by putting it on Blu-ray as people are able to watch it at home with very good quality of the picture. It can cost quite a bit as the machine costs around £320 and the Blu-ray disks cost around £15 each.
A form of media downloads, such as Netflix are used by many people due to the convenience of watching it and is fairly cheap costing around £6.99 per month. However these forms of media may be delayed as the film company will want their customers to pay to watch their film in the cinema first.
The Sky 'package' costs around £30 a month (£360 a year) which can be used to watch new films and can record them making it more convenient as you are able to watch it when you want to and can skip the adverts. This costs the consumer quite a lot of money as it will be making the film company and Sky a lot of money by using this. Sky uses a satellite rather than an ariel.
You will need to pay for a TV license, this costs around £150 a year and for the Sky package you will need to buy a Sky box. People may wait for the film to come on TV so they are able to watch it for 'free' if they pay for their TV license. Generally when a sequel film is shown on the TV there will the next sequence of it being shown within the cinemas, for example if The Avengers is being shown on TV then The Avengers 2 will probably be being shown in the cinema.
People may watch films on their mobile phone or tablet, this maybe as they are on a plane and is easy access entertainment. To access this on your phone you will either have to pay for the internet on pay as you go or will have a contract which includes access to the internet. A phone contract will cost anything from £10.
The next form of media is on DVD's this quite cheap compared to Blu-ray as the DVD player will cost around £30 and the DVD's will cost around £10 each for a new film. The film picture quality is not as good as Blu-ray however is reflected in the price.
The least important form of showing a film a film is by illegal downloads as this means the film will be making no money, this could prevent them from making another film. Films shown on these sites can be released before they are even shown in the cinema so people could be discourage people to see the film in the cinema, however on these sites watching a film this early before its cinema release will generally mean it will be shown in very bad quality. An example of illegal downloads is Pirate Bay.
Costs for Woman in Black and The Avengers
Two ticket costs £15
Blu-ray film costs for both films is £14
Blu-ray player around £320
Netflix for a year is about £84

History of Cinema

Film Facts: The Woman in Black and The Avengers

Ownership

The Avengers was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, ‘Marvel Comics’ owns the comic books, although the ‘Marvel Studios’ is the production company and owns the film. Kevin Feige is a producer for The Avengers.

Susan Hill, Hamish Hamilton and her publishing company owns the book of The Woman in Black, although the film is owned by four production companies, ‘Hammer Film Productions’, ‘UK Film Council’, ‘Film i Vast’ and ‘Cross Creek Pictures’.

Cost Budgets

The budget of The Woman in Black was $15 million.

The budget for The Avengers was $220 million.

Production

The Woman in Black was filmed in Osea Island in Essex, Cotterstock Hall in Oundle, The Causeway to Osea Island in Essex, Halton Gill in Yorkshire Dales, Bluebell Railway in East Sussex, Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire and Mangapps Railway in Essex.

The Cameras used for filming was the Arricam LT, Zeiss Master Prime Lenses and the Arricam ST, Zeiss Master Prime Lenses.

The Cast list is Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds And Janet Mcteer.

The director is James Watkins who also directed Eden Lake and Bastille Day.

Jane Goldman was written by Jane Goldman, known for writing Kick-ass and X-men: First Class.

The production designer is Kave Quinn.
The cinematographer is Tim Maurice-Jones and was edited by Jon Harris. 

The Avengers was filmed in the Public Square in Cleveland, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Cincinnati in Ohio, East 9^th St in Cleveland, Ohio, Plum Brook Station in Ohio, New Mexico, California, Pennsylvania, Raleigh Manhattan Beach Studios, Long Island and New York City.

The Cameras used for filming were the Arri Alexa, Panavision Primo, PCZ and Frazier Lenses, Arriflex 435, Panavision, Primo lenses, Cannon EOS 5D Mark 11, Canon lenses and the Canon EOS 7D, Canon lenses.

The Cast list is Roberts Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders and Clark Gregg.

The director is Joss Whedon he had also directed many other films such as The Cabin in the Woods and Firefly.

Joss Whedon and Zak Penn wrote the screenplay and story, Zak Penn had written PCU and Last Action Hero. The fact that Joss Whedon wrote the film as well as directed it meant that he had a better idea on how to film it than other directors may of.

The production designer is James Chinlund, known for his work on Requiem for a Dream and The Foundation.
The cinematographer is  Seamus McGarvey, edited by Jeffrey Ford and Lisa Lasek and the music was by Alan Silvestri.

Marketing

For The Woman in Black there are 9 trailers. The merchandise you can buy for The Woman In Black is quite limited ranging from t-shirts, key rings and mugs.

The marketing budget was around $3.5 million. The film was marketed by putting the emphasis on the well known actor 'Daniel Radcliffe', he would go to different places promoting the film, such as in New York. 

There was the film premiere to launch the film which was popular with a lot of Daniel Radcliffe's fans. It was on the 3rd February 2012 in the USA.

Reviews from different newspapers and from the public was another main way to advertise the film, as the public will give their honest opinions on the film. 

For The Avengers there are 34 trailers.

The merchandise you can buy a wide range of items raging from action figures, stickers, t-shirts, key rings and collectibles.

The marketing budget was approximately $55 million.

The Avengers advertised the film by interviewing the cast, such as the interview of Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth, posters and billboards.
The Avengers premiere also help launch the sales of the film with the cast. The picture below show a few pictures from this. It was on the 11 April 2012 in Hollywood.

In 2011, the cast was promoting the film in New York. This is good way to advertise their film as the actors/actresses are well known, such as Chris Hemsworth, Scarlet Johnson and Mark Ruffalo etc. 

The film had various reviews from others which would help sales if they were good. 

Woman in black was distributed by; Momentum pictures(UK), CBS Films(US) and Alliance Films(Canada).

Running time: 95 minutes

The Avengers was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Pictures. 

Running time: 142 minutes

Exhibition

The woman in black was released in 348 cinemas in the UK. The opening weekend made $20.8 million and was on show for 6 weeks.

Release date in the US: 3 February, 2012

In the UK: 10 February, 2012

Box office: $127,730,736

Is available online and on DVD's, these can be found on Blu-ray.

Age classification: 12  

Target audience: thrill seeking teenagers, aged 12 to 18

The Avengers was released into 1,700 cinemas in the USA. The opening weekend made $392.5 million and was on show for 4 weeks. 

Release date: April 11, 2012(El Capitan theatre) and May 4, 2012(US) 

Is available on DVD'S and online sites. 

Box office: $1.518 billion

Age Classification: 12

The primary target audience was for teenagers, but is often considered a family film