3. Section B: Institutions and Audiences
From OCR spec
• Candidates should be prepared to
understand and discuss the processes of
production, distribution, marketing and
exchange as they relate to contemporary
media institutions, as well as the nature of
audience consumption and the relationships
between audiences and institutions.
4. In addition, candidates
should be familiar with:
• •the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;
• • the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution
and marketing;
• • the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of
production, distribution, marketing and exchange;
• • the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and
audiences;
• • the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;
• • the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically,
British) by international or global institutions;
• • the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption
illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.
5. Section B: Institutions and Audiences
From OCR spec
This unit should be approached through contemporary examples in the form
of case studies based upon one of the specified media areas.
Examples may include the following:
Film
A study of a specific studio or production company within a contemporary
film industry that targets a British audience (eg Hollywood, Bollywood, UK
film), including its patterns of production, distribution, exhibition and
consumption by audiences. This should be accompanied by study of
contemporary film distribution practices (digital cinemas, DVD, HD-DVD,
downloads, etc) and their impact upon production, marketing and
consumption.
6. 1. The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary
(current) media practice
• You need to discuss the depth and range of ownership across a range of media
and the consequences of this ownership for audiences in terms of the genres
and budgets for films.
• How for instance, can Big Talk Pictures / Film4 survive in the British market
place against the high concept, big-budget films made by Sony, Disney, Universal,
etc.?
• What kinds of niche audiences are left for Big Talk Pics / Film4 to attract?
• Are mass audiences out of reach given the genres of films these companies have
the budgets to make? How successful have they been in reaching mass
audiences with their films?
• How healthy is it that just a few mega media groups can own such a range of
media and can decide what the public may see, and, perhaps, shape audience's
tastes?
7. • 2. The importance of cross media convergence and
synergy in production, distribution and marketing
You need to discuss how digital technology is enabling various media to
converge in hubs, platforms and devices.
For instance, mobiles phones do a lot more than act as hand held telephones:
you can download and watch films and TV programmes, play music on them,
take photos and short films, text, go online, use GPS functions, a range of apps,
and a whole lot more. How does that affect the way we view films and the
production / distribution and exhibition of films?
New HD TVs, Playstations, X-Boxes, I-Pads, Notebooks, MacBooks, etc. are
also examples of hubs which in which a variety of media technologies can
converge for convenience for users.
Media convergence is having an enormous impact on the film industry because
of the ways in which institutions can produce and market for audiences/users
on a widening range of platforms, capable of receiving their films.
8. Synergy
• Synergies can come out of an organisation's size
• Smaller media organisations such as Big Talk
Pictures can-cross promote their films, etc. but the
scale of cross-media promotion is nowhere near as
great as that which can be gained by massive
media organisations.
• Big Talk Pictures / Film4 is therefore unable to
promote their lower budget films on a level playing
field.
9. 3. The technologies that have been introduced in
recent years at the levels of production, distribution,
marketing and exchange
The audience's ability to interact with films by, for instance, using digital technology to put
extracts on You Tube and overlay new sound tracks on them, etc. and make answering
videos has been greatly enhanced by Web 2.0;
Film studios can make films using CGI, greenscreen and other special effects that were
impossible to make only a few years ago. The ways of filming and editing films have changed,
too, with the introduction of digital film and film cameras, editing software, laptops, digital
projectors, etc.
Distributors market films using the latest software for designing high-concept film posters and
trailers. They can use phone apps., online marketing, Face Book, etc.
File-sharing and piracy are growing issues because the software exists to take the protective
encryption of DVDs, etc and WEB 2.0 enables people to make and share copies of films easily.
One way in which film companies are trying to get around this is by releasing films soon after
theatrical release by selling them on video-on-demand, premium TV channels and downloads.
US and UK cinemas chains are not happy about this, especially after all the investment some
have made on digital equipment, projectors, etc. which unfortunately quickly goes very quickly
out of date!
10. 3. The technologies that have been introduced in
recent years at the levels of production, distribution,
marketing and exchange
• Distributors market films using the latest software for designing
high-concept film posters and trailers. They can use phone apps.,
online marketing, Face Book, etc.
File-sharing and piracy are growing issues because the software exists
to take the protective encryption of DVDs, etc and WEB 2.0 enables
people to make and share copies of films easily. One way in which film
companies are trying to get around this is by releasing films soon after
theatrical release by selling them on video-on-demand, premium TV
channels and downloads.
US and UK cinemas chains are not happy about this, especially after all
the investment some have made on digital equipment, projectors, etc.
which unfortunately quickly goes very quickly out of date!
11. 4. The significance of proliferation in
hardware and content for institutions and
audiences
This means the rapid increase of something: i.e. digital
cameras, software, CGI, 3D films, film genres, etc.
which are part of current trends;
How significant is this for Big Talk Pictures or Film4? Or are
they still able to be successful without it by making films
with genres that do not need the latest breakthroughs in
digital technology?
How did Big Talk Pictures use cameras, special effects,
software, posters, digital distribution of films, etc.
12. 5. The importance of technological
convergence for institutions and audiences
This is about how technology is coming together in hubs like laptops, eg. the
mobile phone in your pocket is a great example of technological convergence: it
can do so much more than a simple phone call; think how this is affecting film
making at the production, marketing and exhibition stages?
The Internet is acting as a hub for many aspects of film: you will find film posters, You
Tube videos on films, interviews, trailers, official film and blog websites, etc. on it.
Audiences can also remake their own films by creating extracts and running new
scores over them and then posting them on You Tube.
This often leads to answering videos, never mind the comments, etc. that people
make on such sites. The internet, film and videos games seems to be converging in
so many ways. People can watch films in a range of ways, using an astonishing
range of hardware and software. They can also find audiences of their own. This
amounts to free publicity for film institutions for their films and "A Long Tail" sales into
the future through endless exchange.
13. 6. The issues raised in the targeting of national
and local audiences (specifically, British) by
international or global institutions
"Attack the Block" was originally aimed at British audiences and
also at Nick Frost fans.
British film makers often make social realism films and aim them at local
and regional audiences whereas this would never be enough for the
major media players who tend to make high budget, high concept films
distributed to a mass international audience.
‘Attack’ had an acquisistion company who sold the film to Screen Gems
who distributed this film - releasing the film to select cinemas probably
in New York and Los Angeles only - the cream of intellectual American
society.
14. 7. The ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media
consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience
behaviour
• How you consume films whether it is as a social activity
after visiting a shopping centre or on an MP4 player or
Playstation, is what is at issue here.
• Visit Pearl and Dean to see how multiplex cinemas are
adapting the experience of cinema-going to gain audiences.
• In an age of falling DVD sales, stagnant home cinema figures
and an increase in downloading for both music and film
audiences are changing in how they want to consume film.
Identify trends and consider where the audience trends are
going in the near future.
