Media Studies OCR Exam Blog - Kate Ovington

KEY IDEAS: // To create a realistic world through an inherently unrealistic medium. // A detachment from the real world that appeals to the human need for escapism. // It was never animation's task to emulate real life exactly, instead an imaginary world adjacent to and reminiscent of our own but not necessarily identical. // To achieve immersive realism, there must be underlying familiarity within the characters. // Minute details make the story immersive and establish the untold stories unfolding in the background (world building). // This creates depth and richness to the world, feeling like it extends beyond the frame. // Ordinary, inconsequential and seemingly unimportant actions and elements of the background are conscious choices. With animation, everything is on the screen for a reason, creating meaning. // Animation is a medium, not a novelty, valuable not only for it's vivid expression of fantastical worlds and magic, but for communicating univers...

EXPLAIN HOW CHANGES IN PRODUCTION AND/OR DISTRIBUTION METHODS HAVE AFFECTED THE FILM INDUSTRY. REFER TO DISNEY'S 1967 AND 2016 VERSIONS OF THE JUNGLE BOOK TO SUPPORT YOU ANSWER  [15]   Changes in  film  production have  affected  the film industry greatly over the past fifty years in order to adapt to new audiences, ideologies and technologies  in modern day contexts.    Being the multinational conglomerate that Walt Disney Studios is, their feature films, along with smaller productions, have a great outreach and overall world influence within the film in dustry.  With JB67, Walt Disney was  personally  at the  centre  of all decision making ,  scrapping the  darker  first draft of the film  for on with a more light-hearted tonal value .  After a decade of diversification into theme parks, TV series and live action films, Disney had   become less hands-on with animated films, which had le...

EXPLAIN HOW THE PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF MAJOR HOLLYWOOD FILMS HAS CHANGED SINCE THE 1960S. 10/15 Good. Clear argument and good knowledge of the industry and product. Just not yet comprehensive, precise or detailed.

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...

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...

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...