Mad Max: Fury Road

1. The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice.

Mark Kermode said that there are four rules and that if every production company follows there film will have great success in the box office and cannot lose money. Bigger film productions usually produce the bigger films. The four rules are that it has a newsworthy budget, spectacular visuals, NOT a comedy and include a ‘A-list’ star. The big film companies have a big budget for the film this then allows for the money to be spent on the four aspects to make the film successful. Mad Max: Fury Road has a budget of €150 million which is a small budget compared to big blockbuster films. It contains a few A-List stars like Tom Hardy, and Charlize Theron. The film is not a comedy, it is a mixture of action, adventure and Sci-Fi. Mad Max contains 2,000 visual effects shots. Illoura delivered more than 1,500 effects shots for the film. Miller recruited his wife Margaret Sixel to edit the film as he felt she could make it stand out from other action films. The added effects included altering the lighting and time of day, weather effects and plate composition. Production companies are Kennedy Miller Mitchell, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures. Warner Bros. Pictures distributed the film. The budget from big companies has access to a good location, actors, marketing and special effects. For smaller companies for example Lionsgate that produced films that are no as well-known these are films that have not been popular meaning thay have made no profit and have not done well at the box office. Smaller budget films produced by smaller production companies to do well at the box office have to be unique and individual ideas.

Mad Max: Fury Road was produced by Kennedy Miller Mitchell, RatPac-Dune Entertainment and Village Roadshow Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film had a budget of €150 million and box office figure of €374.7 million.

The Big Six:

Warner Bros Pictures- 19.7 percent of the US/Canadian market share, Warner Bros. Pictures is the biggest player in the film industry. Securing the right of major films like Harry Potter, Superman, Batman, The Matrix and Star Wars.Paramount Pictures- With 15.5 percent of the US/Canadian market share, Paramount Pictures continues to be one of the most successful film production companies in the world. Star Trek, War of the Worlds, the Mission Impossible series, Transformers and Tropic Thunder are just a few of the popular films produced by Paramount Pictures.Walt Disney- One of the most renowned film production companies in the history of business, Walt Disney now holds 15.3 percent of the US/Canadian market share. With highy successful movies like the Pirates of Caribbean, National Treasure, Meet the Robinsons and Enchanted, there’s no doubt that Disney will continue to play a key role in the industry for years to come. Columbia Pictures- Comprising 12.9 percent of the US/Candian market share, Columbia Pictures remains a big player in the business. Some of this company’s recent successes include Casiona Royale, The da Vinci Code, the Spider-Man series and Step Brothers.Universal Studios- 12.2 percent of the Us/Canadian market share belongs to Universal Studios, which continues to make millions for the film industry. With major hits like the Bourne series, the American Pie series, Knocked Up, American gangster and the Incredible Hulk, it is very clear that Universal Studios knows what it takes to make money in this industry. 20th Century Fox- Also known as “Twentieth Century Fox”, this highly successful movie production company makes up 11.9 percent of the US/Canadian market share. Some of the biggest and most successful movies from this empire include the X-Men series, Mr and Mrs Smith, Star Wars Episodes ll and lll and the Fantastic Four. (Ezinearticles.com)

2. The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing.

Mad Max: Fury Road is 2015 action film and is the fourth instalent in the mad Max franchise. It was distributed by Warner Bros. which is one of the big six production companies. If two production companies join together on a film at least one of them will be a big six company if it has a big budget, unless it had other factors to the film that allowed it to do well at the box office. We have new technology which allows watching, sharing and downloading films on tablets / phones in a matter of seconds rather than going to the cinema. New technology allows the film industry to be marketed and promoted the film through ads, pop ups and trailers. Digital technology enables a varied media coverage in different hubs and devices e.g. IPad and IPhone. This allows the audience to receive the films in many different ways and view them on any device.

3. The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution and marketing and exchange.

Mad Max: Fury Road was in development for many years with pre-production starting in 1997. Its world premiere on 7th May 2015 and released on 14th May 2015. It had an out-of-competition screening at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in 2D, 3D, IMAX 3D and 4DX. It received acclaim from critics for praise in acting, direction, screenplay, visual storytelling, score, practical effects, stunts, and action. It is the highest grossing film in the Mad Max franchise. Internet Streaming seen as becoming much more popular way of watching movies than going to the cinema. This allows the public to play/watch the chosen film before the content is fully downloaded.There are many issues with all this new technology in the film industry and is a problem that has not yet to be solved. Things like file sharing and illegal downloads. Through these problems production companies lose money and this is then hard to control. This can affect the marketing of the film and also the overall success of the film itself.

4. The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences.

This is an increase in hardware and content, watching, showing and making the films. It is shown in new ways, there are cheaper cameras, more availability, more special effects and software available to use. Film companies always have to change the way that there audience view their film. Common ways due to vast change in technology is on demand, DVD’s/Blu ray’s, online streaming, downloads and going to the cinema. It will be more cheaper to watch the film online then making a trip to the cinema they can simply watch it on Netflix or Lovefilm. There is just more option which allows the audience to choose the ways in which they wish

to view films. Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides was released in 2D only and later released on DVD/Blu-ray and was one of the first films to be released on Disney Digital 3D and 2D and now is accessible through Netflix and available on demand on TV.

The importance of technological convergence for audiences is that there has been an increase in technology for digital cameras, CGI, 3D films, film genres which are all due to new technology and is a big part of the film industry. For this new technology becoming more and more advanced older technology will be disappearing. If the films do not follow the current technology there film will suffer.

5. The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences.Having your laptop and your mobile phone with you 24/7 allows you to access the film easily. It allows you to view film posters, trailers, interviews and websites. This then can be shared through social media e.g. Twitter to allow more people to view the film and this is a way of the marketing that gets spread over the Internet to whole range of institutions and audiences.Other smaller companies that are involved with big companies are not credited as much as they are not as well known. They may distribute the movie and help with marketing but they may not get full credit. On the other hand if the film had a small budget and made its money back in the box office and the production company were small they will get a lot of credit and will be better known. New technology is coming together in hubs like laptops is one of the features of our age; it affects the three production stages which are production, marketing and exhibition stages. The internet is acting is a

hub for many aspects of film: you can find film posters, You Tube videos on films, interviews, trailers, official film, blog and websites. Audiences can also remake the film by creating extracts and posting them on You Tube, people can watch films in a series of ways

6. The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions.

Marketing and promoting the film is very important as you are competing against films that are being released at the same time as yours. Film promotion usually includes press releases, advertising campaigns, merchandise, interviews, trailers, teaser trailers and opening weekend. Promotion was used through trailers, posters and a teaser trailer. They also had a Sydney room Stunt in the Opera House.

7. The ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of the media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience’s behaviour.

Firstly I think that the big companies the ‘big six’ do influence the type of film and the success it has. Mad Max: Fury Road was released at the same time as Pitch Perfect 2 and other small budget films. So Mad Max did not have that many films to compete with at the box office that may be one of the reasons that Mad Max: Fury Road did so well at the box office. Pitch Perfect 2 had a budget of €29 million and budget of €285.2 million. Big companies can invest in large amounts for the budgets if they follow the four rules set by Mark Kermode. He believes that big budget films will be successful and never fail if they have the following: a newsworthy budget, A-list stars, not to be a comedy and spectacular visuals. Whereas smaller production companies that will have a smaller budget has to have an original idea to ensure success against big budget films.

Not everyone will agree that going to the cinema is the best way to watch films, they just wait until it comes out on DVD or stream it on the internet. Not all people have access to a 3D TV and the visuals may ne much better if you viewed at the cinema. Not necessary the DVD release will be same year as it came out in the cinema.