Revision piracy, ownership, the digital age, proliferation of hardware
1. piracy, the digital age, Media
ownership and proliferation of
hardware
Institutions and Audiences
3. Key Issues
Piracy would come up on most questions. Eg on “media
ownership” you will need to write about the following key
areas:
Piracy
The dominance of Hollywood over the industry
How low budget films are funded.
It would be useful to discuss the destruction of the UK Film
Council - abolished by the government.
4. Dominance of Hollywood
What does this mean for audiences?
Limited choice in cinemas
Endless sequels
Poor quality films
A dying British industry
5. Tackling Hollywood
The number of America films shown at Odeon
or VUE is always far greater than the number of
British independent films beings shown.
Organisations like BBC Films, Film London
Microwave and UK Film Council have been
forced to act in recent years to challenge this
problem.
6. Piracy will be part of an answer on media
ownership......
All “media” whether it is film, music, or
print is owned by a company.
They hold the “rights” to
publish, distribute and manipulate their
work.
For example: Warner Bros own DC
Comics and therefore own the “rights” to
all of the characters in the “DC universe”
7. Film Rights - important for Ill Manors
Establishing who has
the “rights” to make
a film offer results in
long legal battles and
the delay of a film being
made.
Case Study: Ill Manors
Sold the rights of the film
to raise money.
8. Piracy
Piracy – the illegal distribution of media without
the permission of its owner. E.g. Downloading,
Pirate DVDs
Advances in digital technology have made
piracy easier, cheaper and has improved the
quality of the content.
Electronic files can be leaked in advance of a
films release.
The internet allows pirate material to be
distributed all over the world very quickly.
9. Piracy
Digital cameras and sound equipment used in
cinemas to record pirate copies of a film have
improved greatly in quality
This technology is now far cheaper and easier to
use.
It would dent profits more strongly for smaller
companies who need profits.
Overall however, piracy will take a larger amount of
revenue from bigger institutions.
10. Combating Piracy
Digital technology has allowed films to be released
simultaneously across the world. Previously the
delay in films reaching the UK from America meant
that piracy was a more common.
Digital encryption means that films can be securely
distributed.
The rise in digital film production and exhibition has
paved the way for 3D cinema.
11. Combating Piracy
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3D cinema is currently more difficult to
“pirate”.
It can not be filmed effectively in cinemas.
The cost of watching good quality 3D
material at home currently means mass
audiences aren‟t yet interested.
12. Summarise in 3 teams:
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How does piracy work and how it is a problem
for large and small film institutions?
13. A Q on „Technological convergence and the
proliferation of hardware‟.
• Piracy is crucial in this essay‟s
argument too!
14. Proliferation (through technology)
• Downloading – itunes, ipod, apple TV
• Digital Piracy – DVD‟s, filesharing
• Social Networking Sites – marketing and buzz
• Accessibility – everywhere???
• Control – industry/audiences
15. Proliferation and negative
distribution and exhibition
• Downloading from unofficial sources i.e. Limewire, Youtube
grabber and also other digital piracy including file sharing and
technology to rip DVDs use new technology to do this.
• Accessibility – anyone has ability to do this because of
convergence of technology and affordability of this.
• Control – moves from institution to the audience. But it is the
smaller companies that are effected more why?
• In what ways have institutions tried to stop or halt this?
Think of ways they have used technology to stop this or
initatives i.e cheap downloads.
• Piracy is major concern for industry
17. Lets think about the digital age &piracy:
production, distribution and marketing and
exchange
• The digital age has shaped:
• Film‟s production using green screens and graphic effects.
• Film‟s distribution - the promotion of films using online advertising,
viral games etc. Digital technology has made life better for low
budget film makers and distributors because films now are cheaper
and easier to distribute.
• Exhibition - receiving films from downloading, piracy, file sharing
• For the major studios and distributors in the digital age, piracy is a
threat, as now you can download films online, taking the power
away from the companies technology.
• Some believe digital technology will stop piracy because there will
be a simultaneous distribution of the film rather than it being a time
gap in countries where it is being shown.
• Some argue digital technology will give viewers a better viewing
quality.
18. Digital cinemas
• The movie we used to see at out local multiplex may have been shown many
times over and the wear and tear on it will be considerable: scratches, dust and
fading-as a result, it will reduce the quality of the presentation.
• Now in the UK 72% of cinemas are digital.
• Benefits are that prints were bulky and their manufacture ,distribution and
exhibition was expensive.
• This could lead to an increase in the number of UK films shown in the world.
• These often go out on smaller print runs than many US titles because of the cost
of making prints.
• The future?
• Film extras maybe replaced by digital generated synthespians.
• Consider the changes to the digital remastered version of star wars.
• By 2013, most if not all will be digital.
19. Digital Screen Network
• The average Hollywood blockbuster opens on 300-plus screens across
the UK; most independent films, and foreign language films still struggle to
reach over ten per cent of those screens
• Digital screening cuts the cost of releasing films (a digital copy costs
around one tenth of a 35mm print). That's why UK Film Council and the
Arts Council England created the Digital Screen Network – a £12 million
investment to equip 240 screens in 210 cinemas across the UK with digital
projection technology to give UK audiences much greater choice and it is
hoped (but by no means guaranteed) that more small-scale independent
films will get seen this way.
• Cinemas in the network have already screened non-mainstream films
including My Week With Marilyn, The Guard, Submarine, Brighton Rock,
and the Oscar®-winner In A Better World, as well as classics like Meet me
in St Louis, The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca.
• PLUS British classics such as Goldfinger, Brief Encounter, Billy Liar,
Henry V, The Wicker Man, The Dam Busters and Withnail and I.
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20. Digital Film
• Digital technology offers new opportunities partly because film
distribution is now cheaper.
• With online media i.e. social networking, TV on demand, video
games, means that the internet will play a role in the film
distribution. This convergence of media through digital technology
creates new opportunities for distributing and exhibition.
• Where power was once held by the major studios, as short films
can now be shown on the internet, and as ordinary people have
phones now having HD video cameras with the ability to upload to
the internet, digital technology has transformed the film industry.
• However, cinema has survived both TV and VCR by remodelling
itself as a social experience, and offering the opportunity to watch
blockbusters. The question is will cinema survive the digital
revolution, because digital technology has transformed the
distribution of film, but will it transform the way we view films as
most people go to the cinema because of the big screen.
23. Film Exhibition
• Independent cinema
•
• Mainstream Cinema
•
• DVD/Bluray
•
• Internet downloading
• Film festivals.
• Are these the same audiences?
• How many of these involve new technology or
convergence do you think?
24. Independent
• Owned by independent or small companies i.e
lighthouse cinema Wolverhampton and the Electric in
Birmingham.
• Do exhibit some mainstream films, but also offer
different USP they focus on niche films independent art
house films and have different cliental.
• Not the same about of choice as multiplexes this is
because exhibitors rent the films.
• These cinemas generally in old building.
• Who are the types people that go to these places?
25. IMAX
• IMAX is a system using film with more than
ten times the frame size of a 35 mm film to
produce image quality far superior to
conventional film.
• IMAX theatres use an oversized screen as
well as special projectors.
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26. Web 2.0
• Describes new phase of the internet where
users can generate, distribute their own
content. Examples:
• Youtube-created by former PayPal
employees.
• Myspace-Tom
• Second Life-online world?
27. Exchange
• Exchange: How has the audience exchanged
information about this film consider the important of
web2.0.
• Due to the proliferation of new media with more
options to communicate and specifically web 2.0
where there is more user generated content people
can now exchange info about films. Think about
YouTube clips of films fans have made, reviews on
Amazon, Twitter.
• Avatar is a good example as this was the most
talked about film before it was even released. This
exchange helped it to be a success.
28. YouTube
• As the name says this is about the audience
interacting and generating their own content.
YouTube is believed to be one of the first port of
calls for amateurs to upload their work, blog and
share idea.
• With its simple interface, YouTube made it
possible for anyone with an Internet connection
to post a video that a worldwide audience could
watch within a few minutes. The wide range of
topics covered by YouTube has turned video
sharing into one of the most important parts of
Internet culture.
• But interestingly, YouTube is owned by Google.
29. Summary Proliferation hardware and
impact of web 2.0
• Proliferation of hardware and web 2.0 is important for the industry as
it means that not only can users generate their own content, but also
can also distribute it. This can be seen with Youtube, Facebook,
Twitter etc.
• The audience are not having to rely just on the media institutions for
production, distribution and exhibition, as users can exhibit online.
• BUT it is the institutions that own most of these companies i.e.
YouTube owned by Google, Myspace owned by News Corps.
• So although there is a proliferation of content i.e more choice, which
is aided by convergence in technology making it more possible for
users to generate their own content and distribute content, the
hardware is still owned by these companies.
30. Summary Proliferation hardware and
impact of web 2.0
• Although corporations are concerned about new
technologies causing piracy, the media companies also
are fighting back to stop this. Look at how „Lost‟ was
simultaneously released to stop piracy. And little
companies are the ones who suffer most.
• Finally , with the advent of web. 2.0 whether you do or do
not agree, it is clear Facebook , Youtube and other user
generated content gives the audience the opportunity to
exchange information about films and promote or
destroy films. How the industry can fight back we will
have to wait and see.
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