To what extent does Media Ownership impact the success of a film.

Media ownership impacts the success of a film greatly as many conglomerates can have big marketing schemes compared to a small independent film companies. Hollywood has a major dominance over the film industry and many people see it is as the capitol of film making. In Hollywood there are 5 big conglomerates that make up the majority of AAA title films that are released throughout the year. The Big five are: Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, MGM, Paramount, Columbia Pictures. Disney is by far the biggest conglomerate worth over, $130 billion. Disney has the ability to create major films that can bring in lots of money such as ,"Star Wars Rise of the skywalker." This film grossed over $1,074,141,030 billion in the box office. This film was made by Disney and by this we can see that the bigger conglomerate will bring in more money on average compared to a smaller film company. If we contrast the New Zealand Film Commission to Hollywood and their film conglomerates we can see the difference in the amount of films being produced and also the amount of money that each of the film made in the box office. Another comparison between these two areas in the fact that the NZFC uses mostly NZ locations to try and promote the amazing landscape that NZ has, however Hollywood conglomerates use locations across the globe as they have the money to do so. 

The money that large conglomerates have affects the way the film can be marketed. For example the "Why so serious" campaign for "The Dark Knight" involved 10 million people and spanned over 75 different countries. The film grossed over $1,003,509,293 billion and this can definitely be credited to the large marketing scheme that helped the film do as well as it did. A contrast from a large film conglomerate marketing their film would be to take a NZFC film like "Boy" and compare the marketing for that film. "Boy" which released in 2010 and grossed over $6,000,000 million in the box office was directed by Taika Waititi who had a bit of a scandal regarding his way of marketing the film. He used a Go-Fund me page and said to the donaters that they would receive rewards for donating to the film. However those donaters never received their rewards. This hurt Taika's career but he eventually bounced back. Another reason that having more money when making a film is the fact that during production you can have more crew to help out with the jobs that need doing. Having more money and being signed to a conglomerate means that your film can include "A-list" actors that will promote your film by just being in it. When audiences see that a big actor is in a new film they are immediately drawn to going and watching it based on how popular the actor is and how good their truly are. For example "Robert Downy Jr" promoting the new avengers movie will help the movie overall as audiences will be drawn to watch the film as RDJ is in it. Another good use of a conglomerate and having a lot of money would be because of the use expensive equipment and vfx. The better the equipment the better the overall quality of the film will be. 

A way in which conglomerate are better than indi film companies would be the fact that they can use money for their distribution so that more people can see the film. I mentioned the Dark Knight Film earlier and their marketing plan and distribution would have cost lots of money and for a conglomerate this is very easy. This would be a big difference between a conglomerate and an indi film company. Having more money within a conglomerate definitely gets the film a better chance to do well due to the expensive production, better marketing and more distribution. 

Piracy has had a massive impact to the film industry and has made many conglomerates lose a lot of money. Piracy takes place when a film is produced in the form of a videocassette without proper authorization from the right holder i.e. the producer. Often, film producers sell video rights to another party (generally after six weeks or more of release in theatres), which makes video cassettes for selling, or lending. Piracy grew largely when the internet got better and started to gain popularity because it gave people a platform to download films off the internet illegally. In 2018 in the United States piracy websites had been access over 17 billion times, and that is just in the USA alone. This shows us that piracy is stil a major problem in our world today. However the introduction of streaming services has actually decreased the amount of piracy that goes on. This is due to the inexpensive cost to subscribe to streaming services and many people who would normally pirate films would rather just pay the $15 to have access to the all the films as it is not THAT expensive to own.  

  
   

Distribution

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• Film distribution is the commercial process that makes a feature film available to the general public. It usually also includes determining a marketing strategy.

• In the old days, major film distribution companies put a movie into theaters, it ran there for up to a year, and then was gone.
• Nowadays movies are... everywhere. That "everywhere" is called ancillary rights.
• Ancillary rights and revenue gets hammered out in the initial deal between distributor and filmmaker. So a filmmaker can lose money off his film.
• Why? Because people are chomping at the bit to see the movies at home. Or on their mobile device.
• Ancillary rights have become so important that now movies are doing a simultaneous release. 
• Distribution rights refer to the ability of one company to sell another company's product. 
• green-light something is to formally approve its production finance and to commit to this financing, thereby allowing the project to move forward from the development phase to pre-production and principal photography.
• Ancillary markets are non-theatrical markets for feature films, like home video, television, Pay Per View, VOD, Internet streaming, airlines and others.

Marketing & Distribution

Research Question 1

This franchise uses a multitude of cross-media convergence methods for both business and artistic reason.

This comicbook was released in conjunction with the first Avengers film. This was designed to milk the success of the Avengers film by giving readers more of the flavour of those films.

Following the Avengers’ release in 2012, Marvel began production of the television show Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, which would explore a post-alien invasion Marvel Universe. The show would be used to tie-into the films, giving the release of the films extra promotion.

Research Question 2

For a while there, it seemed like piracy was over. The major media conglomerates had figured it out. Thanks to broadband internet and adequate streaming technology, it was easier to access movies and TV and music legally than to turn to peer-to-peer file-sharing.

Streaming media has been successful. But possibly it’s been too successful. Where there was once only Netflix and grainy clips with a Divx watermark on YouTube, there are now dozens of streaming services in operation or slated to launch soon. Such as: Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, Spotify, Apple Music, Disney+, Apple TV+, Quibi, CrunchyRoll, the Criterion Channel, YouTube Red, Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Music, Tidal, CBS All Access, Crackle, Sling, PlayStation Vue, ESPN+, DC Universe, Aereo (RIP), Seeso (RIP), VRV, Boomerang.

These services generally cost between $5 and $15 a month, and if you were going to pay for all of them, you’d end up paying about as much as a monthly cable-TV subscription. This still led to piracy because illegally downloaded movies and TV shows are free!

So you could pay for a dozen different services to try and consume every new series and album and movie you’re interested in legally. Or you could pay for it on home video, if it’s even available (The Office is $84.99 on Amazon right now). Or you could just pirate it.

Research Question 3 

Stay-at-home Britain appears to be becoming a nation of streaming pirates, with traffic to illegal movie and TV sites surging since lockdown measures were introduced. 

Stats: 

• In the last week of March, visits to film piracy sites were up by 57% compared with the last week of February. Sites allowing viewers to illegally watch TV shows and series saw a 29% increase across the same period.
• In total there were more than 300m visits to sites allowing film and TV content to be downloaded illegally last month.
• As the nation stays home, viewing levels are soaring, with households watching an average of five hours more TV each week than before lockdown, according to the TV marketing body Thinkbox.
• Family nights in are also back on the agenda, with shared TV viewing up 37% since lockdown began. Shows including Channel 4’s Gogglebox (up 41%), and channels such as Sky Cinema, which has lots of family-friendly films (up 48%), have benefited.

Research Questions 4

The survey of 1000 adults 

Stats:

• About half the people had pirated content at some point in their life, but only about 10 per cent of people say they pirate today.
• Only about 3 per cent of people prefer to pirate as their main source of content," he says, which he sees as a hardcore rump.
• Today, about 80 per cent of Vocus' peak-time traffic is for legal streaming sites like Netflix and YouTube.

Research Question 5

Audiences and Institutions essay

How does your own experience of media consumption illustrate a wider pattern and trend of audience behaviour?

My own experience of media consumption, in many ways, demonstrates and mirrors current trends in audience behavior. This can link to how I tend to follow the current trends of today's society by watching Netflix and using my phone to consume media through YouTube and Instagram. My screen time on my phone is at a daily average of 3 hours, and social media like YouTube and Instagram take up the majority of this time. At night time I tend to watch something on Netflix like a film or a TV show and this would definitely be the "normal" in today's society. According to my survey I conducted, Netflix is the most popular platform for media consumption. In New Zealand alone the amount of people that are using social media is at 3.40 Million out of 4.886 million. This indicates that social media is at high usage and I am following the social norms of consuming media.

I have found that web 2.0 has drastically impacted my own media consumption and this is evident in a greater, global audience trend of consumption too. Web 2.0 is the second phase of the internet no way of leaving a comment or interacting with people. Second stage of the development of the internet characterized by the change from static web pages to dynamic or user generated content and growth of social media. Web 2.0 has allowed the spread of streaming services and audience trends to grow online. This includes the use of social influencers that can promote a piece of media to their followers. Social media influencers have a big impact especially on the young people. The growth of the internet has affected the way things are marketed and this can link to the influencers in our society and how they can create an immersive environment for audiences because they can saturated their followers will marketing messages about a piece of media. Hype can also be used in the media world by getting the fans of a film or franchise excited for the release of a film, hype is creating a buzz for a media product saturating the internet and immersing the market/audiences by bombarding them with the film/product. 

We can see that Disney have increased their scope to a wider audience over the years by buying out other film companies which give them the right to produce films that those film companies had rights to. Over the year Disney bought, Miramax (for $660 Billion) Marvel ($4.24 billion) LucasFilm/Starwars ($4.05 billion) Capital Cities, ($19 billion) Fox Families, ($71.3 billion) The Muppets ($200 million) Pixar, ($7.4 billion) These purchases from Disney have allowed them to make film with the rights from these companies which span across many different franchises. Having this many rights to films has made Disney the biggest to date film company in the world. 

An example of a film that has used audience trends to promote the film would be Chris Nolan's "The Dark Knight" which was release in 2008 and spanned across 75 countries and had over 10 million participants, this campaign helped the film gross over 1.005 billion USD and win people's favorite movie choice in 2009. The film has the most pre sales in film history and then can be credited to the campaign than ran before the release. On the opening day of the film, it topped the most grossing film of the year earning it $158,411,483 in the first weekend of its release, this would be the perfect example of a film that used an audience trend and got their fans involved with the film before it had even been released and this therefore created hype which overall boosted the opening weekend sales. 

   

Audiences and Institutions essay

How does your own experience of media consumption illustrate a wider pattern and trend of audience behaviour?

My own experience of media consumption shows a pattern and trend as all the media outlets I used are all extremely popular and are used my the masses. Netflix and other streaming services are a way in which I consume media and they are also the popular choice of many others that consume media. By knowing what I use to consume media I can also find out what others use as it is the most popular option. Other way in which I can find out what the audience is using to consume media would be "word of mouth" This tells me what the masses are watching and what they are using to watch, In today's society many people start up a conversation based around what they are watching at the current moment and see if who they are talking to knows what they are watching, or if both of them are watching the same media and therefore a conversation starts. 

In my survey that I conducted I saw that the most popular streaming service for media consumption was "Netflix" This tells me that many people are using Netflix instead of regular linear TV for media consumption. The cinemas are still in use and the most popular in my area being "Events" Cinemas are still operating well however many people in society use the cinema as a "treat" or a social gathering with their friends and family, rather than a way to watch films. Many people would rather watch films and TV at home on Netflix where everything is accessible to them. Another thing that can keep people at home to watch Netflix would be the price, just one movie ticket at the cinema is the same price as a whole month subscription to Netflix, and that isn't counting the ridiculous pricing of snacks, popcorn, and drinks at the cinema. 

I have found that web 2.0 has drastically impacted my own media consumption and this is evident in a greater, global audience trend of consumption too. Web 2.0 has allowed the spread of streaming services and audience trends to grow online. The use of the internet and social influences have shaped how the common person views media and the habits that the common person may have when it comes to media consumption. Many social influencers can also have an affect on what the common person may watch. If an actor or celebrity that someone really likes tells their followers to watch a show then that may influence their followers decision as to whether or not they should watch the show.    

Media Homework

Global and NZ 

   Digitization Trends 

1. 4.388 billion 
2. 4.484 billion
3. Facebook, Youtube, Whats App, FB messenger, WeChat, 
4. 18-24 and 25-34
5. Internet = 4.22 million, Active Social Media Users = 3.40 million
6.  Mobile Phone, any type (92%) Smart Phone (81%) Laptop or PC (84%)
7. 2HRS 42MINS
8. Watch Videos Online = (94%) Stream Content via the internet = (57%)
9.  Youtube, Facebook, FB messenger, Instagram, Pinterest 

Trends within NZ media Consumption

1.  The iGens are the generation of people born from about the mid1990s to the mid-2000s.
2.  iGens are the first generation to spend their entire lives growing up with iPads, iPods and iPhones etc. iGen spend all day connected online.
3.  iGens are concerned with social issues like climate change, social inequality and gender roles. Though they like to be entertained, they are also curious about the world and are eager to be confronted and educated about a wide range of serious social issues. They also want to see content that inspires them to enjoy the ‘little things in life’ and to be reminded to chill out and not to take life too seriously. 
4.  New Zealand films contribute to the iGeneration learning about our country and people. They feel it’s important to share our stories. iGens take pride in New Zealand’s cultural diversity and recognise the social, cultural and economic value of our film industry. New Zealand films can reflect their own lives or give them insights into the lives of others.
5. 
   

• Chilled: escaping for a couple of hours, relaxing and chilling out with no interruptions.

 

• Intimate: being intimate with others through social connection and shared experiences with partners, friends, colleagues and families.

• Hyped: experiencing heightened emotions including being hyped and excited (action movies), shocked and terrified (horror), sad (dramas), and laughing (comedy).

• In the know: feeling that by watching the latest movies you are a leader – that you are at the forefront of the culture and leading social media commentary and opinion.

• Creative: becoming a ‘film buff’ and being creative by following directors and other creative artists involved in filmmaking. 

• Socially conscious: thinking and being curious about the issues raised in the film and using the film to help shape discussion, opinions, views and beliefs

6. Although iGens say they like going to the cinema, watching films online and at home has very high appeal. In-home viewing is easy, convenient, safe, comfortable and costs very little. It can be sociable or equally enjoyable alone. 

7. The cost and ‘administration’ involved with the cinema experience is somewhat out of step with iGens. It is expensive, inflexible and inconvenient compared to watching a movie at home. The lack of flexibility, lining up for tickets and limited food and drink options can all add up to too much bother. iGens are used to accessing films at home, online and often for free. The cost of attending the cinema means that for many iGens, it is only seen as a special treat.

Audience Consumption 

Survey

• What is your age?:

• Out of these 3 movie genres, which is your favourite?

1. Action Films
2. Romantic Films
3. Comedy Films

•  Out of these 3 options, how many movies would you say you watch per year?

1. 10-20
2. 30-40
3. 50+

• Based on the last question, how many of those films would you watch at the cinema?

1. A quarter of them.
2. Half of them.
3. All of them.
4. Barely any of them.

• Name the top three most established cinemas in your area.

• What was the last film you watched?

• If you watch films at home, do you?

1. Watch the film from start to finish?
2. Watch the film with short breaks? (get water/snacks, answer the door, or go to the bathroom etc)
3. Watch film with longer breaks? (Please specify break length and reason here = 

• Out of these Streaming Services, which do you used the most?

1. Netflix
2. LightBox
3. Hulu
4. Other