Impact Of Technology

Production 

 “A broader version of conventional literacy, which enables all visual, aural and digital forms, seeking to enable people to become thoughtful producers and interpreters of media” (Peter Fraser) “By looking at how culture is used and transformed by social groups, cultural studies see people not simply as consumers, but as potential producers of new social values and cultural language” (Toby Miller 2006) new media such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger etc. is a classic example of consumers becoming producers and, as Miller says, ‘potential producers of new social values and cultural language’ because any individual can reach as mass audience. Gauntlett (2007) goes as far as to say that new media (and new media technologies) erodes the boundary between producer and audience to the extent that it makes little sense to talk about media audiences at all anymore: “Conventional research methods are replaced—or at least supplemented by new methods which recognise and make use of people's own creativity, and brush aside the outmoded notions of 'receiver' audiences and elite 'producers' (Gauntlett, 2007)

Distribution/Exhibition

  “A new generation of UK media power players are ditching the traditional gatekeepers and going straight to their audience via the web” (Plunkett 2008)


“The view that the internet and new digital media as an optional extra is replaced with the recognition that they have fundamentally changed the ways we engage with all media” (David Gauntlett 2007)


“As people individually and collectively progress the web, they’re increasingly in command…this is the new consumer power. It’s not the ability to swap suppliers at the click of a mouse…It’s the power to become the supplier – in effect to become an economic power themselves” (Tapscott and Williams 2006).
And, it isn’t just the web that is giving people this power, though it is critical in terms of exhibition and reaching a wide audience, it is also advances in digital cameras, editing software etc that narrows the gap and makes it possible for consumers to become producers.

The Internet

Although the internet was slowly developed from the 1960s, the early 1990s was when it really began to gain momentum and have an impact on film distribution and exhibition. By the mid/late 1990s more and more people in the USA and UK started to have home internet access which meant distributors could use the internet to target their audiences and audiences could watch films on their computers changing the face of exhibition.
As the technology has developed it has become more and more useful (as we saw last week in terms of marketing) for the British film industry because it can dramatically cut the costs of marketing and let any film maker reach an international audience.

It is arguable the case that the internet has had the biggest impact on the industry, in terms of distribution, because now anyone can promote a film and reach a global audience.

VHS

From 1995 onwards VHS was replaced by DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs - developed by Philips, Sony and Panasonic). This development had much the same impact on the British film industry as VHS - DVDs are still an important source of revenue for British and American films. Although some people claim videos are better than DVDs, the majority of people feel DVDs are superior (hence why you rarely see videos anywhere apart from car boots now) because; the image quality is better, tapes are linear DVDs are digital - meaning they are interactive, they do not wear out as quickly as tapes and they take up less space.

Exam Question

"Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices." -

My chosen two films are 'Real Steel' (2011) and 'Attack The Block' (2011) *I will be referring to the these films as 'RS' and 'ATB'* the budgets for these films differ massively and really demonstrates the difference between the Hollywood conglomerates and British film companies. RS had a huge marketing budget at an estimated $80,000,000 and as far as Hollywood marketing budgets go these kind of figures seem to appear on the majority of films that they release. These marketing budgets dwarf what British budgets which are usually around 5,000 - 10,000, however, For ATB They're may have been a slightly higher budget but the exact number is unknown. Nick Frost, the science fiction genre elements and ‘from the producers of Shaun of the Dead’ are all highlighted in much of the marketing.  But the distinctive British location, language and characters are also emphasised.  Film festivals are often essential for spreading word of mouth about smaller films. They can win competitions, awards and gain valuable attention from film fans and the press.

The director of RS wanted everyone to notice every aspect of his film as it fits in to many genres like: action, sports, drama and Sci-Fi. Therefor it has a broad target audience of 9-15 and then 18-30 as it has fighting robots for the younger audience and an uncomplicated plot for the adults to engage with. Although this film has a broad audience I believe the makers targeted mainly White Middle Class Boys as the main star vehicle is and independent white man who bonds with his son, which these kids can relate to and therefor get into.

ATB is a Sci-Fi Action film that i would say has a target audience of both ethnicities of a slightly lower social grade and male. Nick Frost, the science fiction genre elements and ‘from the producers of Shaun of the Dead’ are all highlighted in much of the marketing.  But the distinctive British location, language and characters are also emphasised.  Film festivals are often essential for spreading word of mouth about smaller films.  They can win competitions, awards and gain valuable attention from film fans and the press. 

Marketing