The Film Industry

Today we are:Learning and understanding the processes that are taken in order for a film to be shown to the public

Learning the key terms for Institutions and Audiences at every stage of the creation of a film

Scenario: Disney are looking to

release a film in 2021. You have

been asked to be part of the

production team

Task: What are the key things you will need

to consider before making the film?

What Do Film Producers Have To

Consider Before Making A Film?

• Will it make a profit?

• Will it attract Audiences?

MEDIA TRIANGLES

InstitutionTarget

Audience

Media

Text

Who has produced the

media text

What they have

produced

Who it is produced for.

What is Audience?• Mainstream and Niche

• In this case it is the relationship between the audience and the institution.

• Audience = the ways in which people engage with media.

• Institutions are no longer interested in keeping the audience together but in ‘triggering engagement’ in people.

What is Audience?• Media is changing what is known as the audience

• Shift from PUSH media (where producers push media at us and we receive and consume it) to PULL media (where we decide what we want to do with the media and access it in ways that suit us.)

• People are now making and distributing their own videos much more – gone from a VALUE CHAIN (products are made an distributed to audiences) to SOCIAL NETWORK (Complex system where producers and consumers are mixed up)

• HOW IS THIS A PROBLEM FOR FILM PRODUCERS?

Audiences

• Media Producers also consider very carefully how that audience might react to, or engage with, their text. The following are all factors in analysing or predicting this reaction.

• AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT• This describes how an audience interacts with a media text.

Different people react in different ways to the same text.

• AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS• These are the advance ideas an audience may have about a

text. This particularly applies to genre pieces. Don't forget that producers often play with or deliberately shatter audience expectations.

• AUDIENCE FOREKNOWLEDGE• This is the definite information (rather than the vague

expectations) which an audience brings to a media product.

Audience and Media Producers

• AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION• This is the way in which audiences feel themselves connected

to a particular media text, in that they feel it directly expresses their attitude or lifestyle.

• AUDIENCE PLACEMENT• This is the range of strategies media producers use to

directly target a particular audience and make them feel that the media text is specially 'for them'.

• AUDIENCE RESEARCH• Measuring an audience is very important to all media

institutions. Research is done at all stages of production of a media text, and, once produced, audience will be continually monitored.

• Audience reaction to early versions of a media text is closely watched. Hollywood studios routinely show a pre-release version of every movie they make to a test audience, and will often make changes to the movie that are requested by that audience.

Counting Audiences

• Different types of media texts measure their audiences in different ways.

• Film Figures are based on box office receipts and cinema takings, rather than the number of people who have actually seen the movie.

• Subtract the production costs of a movie from the box office receipts to find out how much money it made, and therefore how successful it has been in the profit-driven movie business.

• Be aware that a film which does not cost much to make (eg The Blair Witch Project) and takes even a modest amount at the box office can be considered a greater success than a big action movie which cost more, has a bigger set of box office receipts (i.e. lots more people went to see it) but has a smaller profit margin.

The Jungle Book

How does Disney use its advertising & marketing for the Jungle Book to:

• Engage the audience• How does the audience identify with the film?• What expectations would the audience have?

The Disney Company

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXV8xf

KGpiQ

• Watch the Video

• Discuss the growth of Walt Disney and how it may benefit a films release – make notes in your exam book on the video and this question

The Disney Company

• What type of company is Disney?

- Vertically integrated- Horizontally integrated

Disney - conglomerate that owns companies across the supply chain (production,

distribution, publishing). Also works in different sectors (Broadcast, print, digital,

merchandise)

How Do Disney Guarantee Money Coming In?

• Franchises – groups of films that will promote one another – Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars

• Re-makes – if the formula works, then re-make it!

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9bbLJ9uHaI

How Do Disney Guarantee Money Coming In?

• Franchises – groups of films that will promote one another – Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars

• Re-makes – if the formula works, then re-make it!

Why does Disney do this? What are the advantages?

Synergy

• Synergy is when the interaction of two or more forces working togethercreates a greater effect than the sum of their individual efforts.

• Media synergy is the way in which different elements of a mediaconglomerate work together to promote linked products across differentmedia.

• Synergy works when different elements within a media conglomeratepromote (e.g. film studio, record label, video game division) create linkedproducts (e.g. film, soundtrack, video game).

• Each distinct element promotes the others.

Disney Synergy

The film of ‘High School Musical’ promotes the DVD which promotes

the soundtrack which promotes the advent calendar which promotes

the doll which promotes the sequel which promotes the Disney Store

which promotes the film…

An example of synergy from Disney

CD

Game

DVD

Outlets

Homework….

• Answer the following questions:

• What re-makes have Disney made?

• Which live action re-make is the most successful so far?

• How much money did the most successful re-make get at the box office?

• What brands do Disney own? Find an image to back up your points on this