Practise essay 2

"Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to national audiences."
To what extent do you agree with this statement.

According to this statement media production is dominated by global institutions, in some ways is true as British production companies such as Film 4 brand there services to national audiences, for example film 4 is one of the largest British production companies that focuses on specific audiences. Channel 4 has widened their audiences by buying rights to TV channels such as Film4, Channel4 is on every British television set even without resources like Sky or Free view which enables televisions to gain extra channels, they also on music channels such as 4music. Since film4 produces its own movies it has the ability to exploit its resources by promoting there new films, when they made ‘slumdog millionaire’ they had a low budget but still was made very successful as film4 played that movie on channel 4 regularly so audiences would get interested and watch it, the movie also had a hit US group band that made a successful soundtrack called ‘jai hoe’ this track was continuously played on film4’s music channel 4music.

Also such productions like in the US where companies such as Time Warner who are one of the biggest production companies around benefit from synergy as they own smaller media companies which broaden their circulation and assists their domination, they also have a range of media arms in production, from advertising trailers to merchandise deals. Time Warner own Warner bros entertainment which own industries with TV shows, music stations, internet and even comic books. They also appeal to a range of audiences as the US production companies have a basic story line with a beginning, middle and end, which attracts also the British audiences, in addition to this they also have bankable stars to star in their movies which attract many audiences, something the UK industry can rarely do on a small budget, and usually needs to aquire co-producers sometimes from abroad to fund the movie.

The US advancements in the industry and large budget means that they do not have to sell their products unlike the UK, this makes their dominance in media production solid. The UK also has had many disadvantages as the British Film Council was shut down due to expensive costs; this makes the US dominancy transparent. The other disadvantages the UK faces are that in one movie there are co-producers which mean that two or more companies are financing the movie; this can be a strain as the movie could be changed by co-producers, making the release of the movie delayed. One of the major disadvantages the UK face is that they have to sell distribution rights to other companies in order to get the movie out in the cinemas, sometimes this means over to America. For example Warner Bros decided to hedge its relatively small bet (around $5 million) on Slumdog Millionaire by handing over 50 per cent of the US distribution rights to Fox Searchlight, part of News Corporation, parent company of The Times. (source Times Online)

Also Hollywood are known for there basic storylines, big budget, but they are know known for producing 3D hit movies, the production companies in Hollywood are on top because they know how to keep their audience interested, which the rise in new technology they have the resources to test them on new movies, such as Avatar. The movie was released in 2009, and directed by James Cameron, a director who has released box breaking hits like Titanic, this movie was specifically made for 3D as Cameron waited for new technology to emerge before releasing the movie. The sky high budget allowed Hollywood to turn the animation into a realistic movie, which targeted a mass audience going global. The gross profit of the movie was $2,039,472,387 (Worldwide). Since the genre of the movie was fantasy/adventure, everyone would enjoy it, in contrast to British audiences the production companies only target a small group of the population thus making them less gross profit. Ever since the Avatar movie hit, Hollywood companies have been attempting to use 3D since, especially Disney as they discovered that there animation movies fit perfectly with 3D and they would target a reliable audience such as families, Hollywood production companies are also trying to use 3D because it not only gives them a reason to boost cinema ticket prices, but also gives them extra profit, as creating a 3D movie doesn’t cost them much more money.

Hollywood companies such as Fox are now so interested in the advancement in 3D that they are going to invest is previous movies that made a good gross profit like Dirty Dancing and Terminator. These movies would attract older generations of audiences as they would have most likely seen the movie and would like to see it again, and since it would be in 3D it would give them a new different experience in the cinema. Also since the movie would just be turned into 3D it would not cost the production companies much more money, it would certainly cost them less then making another movie and this would be another easy way of achieving profit and testing out new technology. This proves that Hollywood is dominant in the film industry.

Film4 however does not produce movies that would need to be made in 3D , as it is not fit with the genre, audiences would not go to see a 3D movie if it was a horror. This then limits Film4’s attempts to get into that industry of new technology, Film4 is known for making realistic films that target a certain audience, like Slumdog millionaire, it had torture, poverty and murder, this would not only not target a family audience or an older generation audience but would not be successful in 3D as this new technology is to create a fantasy, and the realistic themes shown in this kind of movie would not suit 3D.

Also the new 2.0 technology used in the film industry such as the internet, digital screens and Red cameras, gives an advancement for the UK as 2.0 gives a digital picture so there are no more need for reel pictures that cost hugely to be sent to cinemas, this then opens a door for smaller independent film companies in the UK who are tying to break into the industry without a big budget. This is a success for the UK as they now have a jump start in rivaling with Hollywood, however with the new advancement in web 2.0 there have been limitations, such as piracy. Piracy has been exposed to the film industry as the new technology released to the public has given people the ability to film movies and download them from the internet, this then puts a strain on the gross profit to both Hollywood and the UK. This strain in my opinion can be battled by Hollywood as they have the budget but the UK would not succeed.

In conclusion I agree with the above statement in terms of the British industry as they face many other aspects to producing a film than the US does, like selling distribution rights, and only being able to produce 10 movies a year with little budget.