Media Studies OCR Exam Blog - Kate Ovington

SYNERGY: // where two or more compatible organisations/products sell each other. e.g. The Jungle Book 67+16, Disney theme parks. 1967 MARKETING: Disney handled it's own marketing and promotion for films produced and released by Walt Disney. The company had diversified into theme parks, creating Disneyland, and television, and Disney had been aware of the value of merchandising  from the very beginning (a visit to a famous online auction site will often show examples of early JB merchandise. CROSS-MEDIA CONVERGENCE: Disney builds brands around it's characters and intellectual properties, and it monetizes those brands via multiple platforms at the same time. A successful movie means more business opportunities for Disney in areas such as live shows,toys and merchandise, video games,  and theme park attractions, among others. This is called cross-media convergence. Media Convergence - Where films like JB16 are available/consumed and can be marketed on a number of cross-m...

KEY IDEAS: // Media regulation serves a variety of purposes and must balance a range of consumer/citizen needs. // Regulation is needed to ensure that media promotes public interests. // Traditional forms of media regulation are being challenged by the online and globalised media culture resulting from technological developments such as the internet. ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY: Media regulation is necessary to protect consumers and make sure media industries act in the public interest, however this is being undermined by the development of a global online media culture. THE IDEA THAT UK REGULATION POLICY (BBFC) IS DRIVEN BY CONFLICT - TO 'PROTECT' FROM HARM BUT ALSO ALLOW DIVERSITY/CHOICE... // Desensitisation and deregulation are core concepts here - Disney knew audiences would accept the 2016 film would be darker - hence hoping for the PG classification. // Linking to Curran and Seaton - theatrical release wanted to target a wide demographic to maximise box office takings...

THE IDEA THAT THE MEDIA IS CONTROLLED BY A SMALL NUMBER OF COMPANIES WHICH CAN INHIBIT CREATIVITY (DRIVEN BY PROFIT)... // The Jungle Book is distributed by one of the Big Six, Disney - critics have suggested that there were racial and political messages in the 1967 film diluted to make an entertaining animated film, exploiting synergy and targeting pass audiences. // Mainstream films tend to offer a lack of diversity with the primary objective being commercial success and profit - both films offer escapist narratives without challenging stereotypes.

KEY IDEAS: // Media ownership is the most significant factor in the way media industries work. // The concentration of media ownership means the media industry is dominated by a small number of conglomerates, which limits the viewpoints represented. // Despite the development of online media, the established major media organisations continue to be dominant. ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY: Media ownership is the most important influence on the media, with a small number of major conglomerates continuing to dominate the industry despite the emergence of the internet.

IN THE FILM INDUSTRY, TO ENSURE COMMERCIAL SUCCESS YOU NEED A SUCCESSFUL MARKETING CAMPAIGN - THIS COSTS MONEY AND IS FUNDED BY THE DISTRIBUTOR. // The distributor chooses which films to distribute - often from seeing the film at a film festival for example. // They decide on the number of digital copies and pay for each. // Negotiate the release date and site of exhibition - when/where // Agree on a budget and sequence a campaign across a range of online, audio-visual and print platforms. // Online platforms include a website as a central marketing hub with convergent links to trailers on YouTube and social networking platforms. Distribution  - getting your movie out to the mass audience so they can buy a ticket to watch it. Exhibition - Film industry word for circulation MEASURING A FILM'S SUCCESS: // Distributors charge distribution fees to the cinemas. Each week that the film is in distribution, the studio makes less per ticket (that's why opening weekend is so i...

JB16 - MAINSTREAM FILM: // High production values including CGI and soundtrack // Star Appeal - Scarlett Johansson voice over // Wide/saturated distribution by one of the Big Six (not always)  // Synergy with other Disney blockbusters // Commercial success - homage to 1967 film // Safe genre, simplistic emotive narrative - focus on entertainment values e.g. IMAX, 3D availability THE BIG SIX: 1// Disney 2// 20th Century Fox 3// Warner Bros. 4// Universal Studios 5// Columbia Pictures/Sony 6// Paramount CONGLOMERATE: Apart from Disney who are  the conglomerate, each studio is owned by a multinational organisation. // Warner Bros is owned by Warner Media/AT&T // Paramount Pictures is owned by VIACOM // 20th Century Fox is owned by the 21st Century Fox (formerly the News Corporation) // Disney is it's own conglomerate. Ownership includes Lucasfilm, Pixar Animations, Marvel Entertainment, Theme Parks... // Columbia Pictures/MGM are owned by Sony // Univer...

KEY IDEAS: // Cultural companies try to minimize risks and maximize audience through vertical and horizontal integration (pattern of ownership theory) and operate cross-media. //Vertical integration - The Jungle Book is produced/funded/distributed (Buena Vista ownership) by Disney in 1967 and 2016. //Horizontal integration - Disney owns several companies in the same sector e.g Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios. //Minimising risk - safe genre, established audience

KEY IDEAS: // Hesmondhalgh sees media industries as being dominated by a small number of conglomerates. // The high production costs and ease of reproduction and sharing of media products means media industries use a number of method to reduce risk.  // These include VERTICAL INTEGRATION, reliance on ESTABLISHED GENRES, STARS and NARRATIVES. // Risk is particularly high in cultural industries because their is a difficulty to predict success, high production costs, low reproduction costs and the fact that media products are 'public goods' - they are not destroyed on consumption but can be further reproduced // This means that cultural industries rely on 'big hits' to cover the cost of failure. ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY: Media industries are dominated by a small number of media conglomerates, who rely on the repetition of popular genres, stars and narratives to reduce risk. Stranger things - fits perfectly into the idea of a star/genre/big hit approach to success. ...

In my version of THE SUN (above) I have adhered to the conventions of the tabloid genre. To start with, I have used a red-top masthead alongside a class-appropriate puff (targeted towards C2DE readers). Below the logo, I have included a typical secondary story which is a common theme I found when looking through previous covers, with it's headline below it in a red typewriter font, smaller than the main headline, but still noticeable as celebrity gossip in the paper' house style red. For the main headline, I used the same font as the sun with a simile and wordplay adhering to the Sun's usual style. The subheading is underlines also, typical of their covers. The large main image covering the cover paired with a short stand-first appeals to the lower class readership, focusing in more on the photo and intertextual Snapchat graphic than the actual story. I have altered the headline to the typical news story, almost twisting politics into gossip to reduce a boredom factor of...

1967 BOX OFFICE STATISTICS: Budget - $4 million Gross - $141 million gross in the US (29th highest grossing film of all time in the US) and $205 million worldwide. An estimated $6.8 million came from Germany alone , making it Germany's highest grossing film of all time. 2016 BOX OFFICE STATISTICS: Budget - $175 million Gross - $364 million in the US and Canada and $602.5 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $966.6 million. The film became a huge financial success. It briefly held the record for the biggest remake of all time until the studio's own Beauty and the Beast surpassed it in the following year. WALT DISNEY: // 1901 - 1967 // Born in Chicago. // He took art classes as a child and became a comical illustrator at 18. // Moved to CA in the 1920's and set up Disney Brothers Studios with his brother Roy. // He developed the character of Mickey Mouse in 1928, a big success. // As the studio grew, Disney became more adventurous, including sy...

SOURCES A AND B ARE FRONT COVERS OF TWO GENRES OF NEWSPAPERS COVERING THE SAME STORY. HOW FAR HAS GENRE INFLUENCED THE MEDIA LANGUAGE USED? 10/15 AREAS TO IMPROVE: // Developing and incorporating theory into my assessment. // Exploring how ownership affects the papers. REDRAFT: The copies however do appeal to specific conventions of genre in both papers, the Express only having a few lines for one of their articles, appealing to their C1C2 audience, and the Telegraph having primarily only copy beyond it's fold for both main articles, appealing to a more highly educated ABC1 audience. This helps aid the papers in getting a dominant readership rather than oppositional ones (Stuart Hall), catering to their known demographics.

AUDIENCE PROFILE: C - C2DE A - 10-20 (average of 23) G - 75% male, 24% female, 1% non-binary E - International O - 72% core gamers, 11% casual gamers, 16% hardcore gamers. Most interested in Community (69%), Discovery and Design (both 56%) Least interested in Story (40% and Challenge (41%) Majority play it 6-7 days of the week (53%) COMPARISON TO BASELINE GAMERS: // Higher proportion of women // Younger than average // Similar gamer types // Players play it more often in the week OWNERSHIP: // When ownership changed from Mojang to Microsoft, Minecraft could synergise with large companies, like Nintendo, so the game is accessible on more platforms for a wider audience. // Diversification means that there are new ways of playing the game to enlarge audiences to those who like other aspects of games like storytelling  TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE: // Due to the original nature of the game, most players simply logged in to play Minecraft and didn't need a physical c...

IPSO: // IPSO is funded by the daily newspapers it represents. // About 1500 newspapers and 1100 websites are signed up, the Guardian significantly, have opted out. // IPSO members include, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, the Sun, Metro, The Times, the Daily Express, the Daily Star, the Daily Mirror. // IPSO on IMPRESS - "Impress is a state-sponsored funded almost entirely by one wealthy individual, Max Mosley, and headed by a chief executive who has admitted to holing biases against leading newspapers and journalists." "Impress cannot and never will be a regulator of the UK newspaper industry." IMPRESS: // IMPRESS is an independent press regulator in the UK, it was the first the be recognised by the press recognition panel as the result of Leveson. Unlike IPSO, IMPRESS is fully compliant with the terms of the Leveson inquiry. // It is independent from the news industry and therefore not compromised by its funding system. // "We provide journalists and...

FRONT COVER TERMINOLOGY: EDITING :  Typography -  Font sizes and styles affect how we read the words o the page and are used to identify which are most important: // Serif fonts are traditional in newspapers and are designed to allow readers to digest large sections of content more easily // Sans Serif fonts have impact and can be read quickly. Masthead, Heading, Sub-heading, Skyline, Byline, Sell-line, Cover-line, Jump-line, Caption, Stand first, Copy, Bar-code, Pull-quote, Date-line. Layout -  The placement and positioning of the content on the front page.  Layout helps organise the content to establish what is most relevant on the page.  Layout guides the reader's eyes to the main points of coverage. Columns, Cropping, Re-sizing, Plugs or Ears, Anchors, Lead story or Splash, Ratio of text to image, Page furniture, Gutter, Page numbers. Mode of Address -  The way in which language in a newspaper addresses an audience.  Mode of Address can...

KEY IDEAS: // Genres are not fixed but CONSTANTLY EVOLVING . // Genres INFLUENCE EACH OTHER sometimes to form HYBRID genres. // Products which link to the genre share the genre conventions creating an INTERTEXTUAL RELAY .