PrimeEvil Exam question

http://www.slideshare.net/marymedranag321/primeval-clip-analysis This is a response to the prime evil clip it is fairly detailed and provides good information on details such as camera and editing

Synergy and Convergence in my case studies

This shows how synergy and convergence is used in my case studies and also provides definitions for them both.

Integration

Horizontal Integration: it's a complementary business. In relation to film this means one large company owning several other companies in different types of media (a film production company and a magazine owned by one company) Verticle Integration: When a company own's all stages of the production, distribution and sale. Or in the case of cinema, exhibition of it's product.

Representation issue of gender research

http://www.etfo.ca/Resources/ForTeachers/Documents/Gender%20Issues%20in%20The%20Media.aspx
  This article explains alot of issues involved in the represention of gender which is displayed in the media.
 http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/RDOVER/MED-STUD/represen.htm
This articles explians why we think of men as men and why we think women as women and what steretypically we associate with the different genders.

http://www.slideshare.net/smcmediastudies/the-representation-of-women-in-the-media
Again this slideshare blog shows all of the stereotypical things expected to surround a women when used in the media, for example it shows women are seen throught the male gaze and how this sells a product more than if a man or a masculin women was advertising it http://www.slideshare.net/smcmediastudies/the-representation-of-men-in-the-media This slideshare explains all the stereotypical things expected to surround men when in the media, mainly films. http://www.slideshare.net/fleckneymike/the-male-gaze-laura-mulvey This slideshare explains the male gaze and the theorys behind it

Warner bros (Lego Movie) and BBC Films (mrs brown) essay improved

The two production companies I am going to be talking about are Warner Bros animation and BBC films. First of all Warner bros animation produced the animated film The Lego Movie and furthermore BBC films produced the British film Mrs Browns Boys D’Movie. I will also be comparing the production, distribution such as marketing, synergy and convergence and the exhibition of a low budget British film and the high budget American film.

Warner bros animation is the animated section of the major producer Warner Brothers. Warner bros animation is the successor to Warner bros cartoons which created many famous cartoon series such as The Looney Toons. It now focuses purely on the production of television and feature animation. The founder of Warner bros animation is Hal Geer, who is a American producer and filmmaker who most famously worked on Warner bros cartoon’s The Loony Toons. Warner bros most famous and successful film that they have ever produced is the series of Harry Potter films. Warner bros animation films usually have a budget of around $40 million to $90 million depending on the profile of the film. These expensive films usually make a gross profit of around $10 million to $30 million. However there has been the odd exception, for example The Lego Movie made around $468 million gross profit and the film Space Jam made around $230 million gross profit.

This is the feature film making part of the British Broadcasting Co-operation. BBC films have produced some of the most successful British films of recent years; this includes films such as Billy Elliot. It also co-produces around eight films a year by working with major international and UK distributors. The head of BBC films is Christine Langan, she is responsible for the development and production of the company. BBC films are based at the broadcasting house in London.  BBC films produce films on a fairly small budget which is usually around £2 million to £10 million and they very rarely produce a film which produces such a gigantic profit they way Warner bros do.

First of all The Lego Movie is a huge profile American blockbuster film produced by Warner bros animation this particular film raised over $468 million at the box office. The film it’s self was a basic idea by the directors to connect audiences together, the way actual Lego does. In February 2014 Warner Bros animation released their first animated film, which was more of a trial to see how they would compete against giants such as Disney Pixar. The Lego Movie became a box office success because of its large variety in target audiences. The context of the film was to show how Lego can connect parents and children together during play time. Ideology was presented by the directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were they said in an interview that connecting people through Lego was the main aim of the film. Because The Lego Movie had a wide target audience of anyone with a connection to Lego a huge variety of comedy and stereotypes had to be used to engage the large target audience.

Next BBC films Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie was high profile British film which followed on form the television series meaning a huge fan base was already built. It was a idea developed by the main character Brendan O’Carroll back in the early 1990’s. The character Agnes Brown appeared in stage plays, radio plays and books before the film was released. Around £9.2 million was made at the UK box office on this film. This film had a target audience of mainly British people meaning a lot more British comedy and stereotypes were used to help sell the film. The idea of the main characters appearing on stage is very common because many BBC Films become successful on stage.

During the production phase of the film there were many similarities and differences between the two production companies, first of all BBC Films Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie cast were all family related and because they had previously all worked together on the television series they all felt comfortable around each other and could act to their best abilities. This high degree of realism was a huge unique selling point for the film, whereas in my other film BBC Films The Lego Movie the ‘star system’ was used to sell the film, huge household names such as Morgan Freeman and Will Ferrell were added to the cast list to sell the film in a complete different way. This shows the vast different ways in which American producers try to sell the film compared to British ones. However using the family cast was a lot cheaper to do compared to using the star system to sell the film. Furthermore The Lego Movie was a animated film which meant virtual sets had to be built. This was done using 3,863,484 actual Lego bricks on the computer program Lego digital designer. Around 11 sets were built but they can help boost the films synergy as it can help promote the film in different ways. In contrast Mrs Browns Boys D’Movie was filmed in Dublin the capital of Ireland on one main set to keep costs down, this shows the huge contrast between the high budget animated American film and low budget British films.

BBC Films Mrs Browns Boys had a budget of around £3.4 million this is nothing compared to Warner bros animation The Lego Movie’s $60 million budget. This shows how the American film industry are more willing to spend more on films and take more of a risk compared to British films. For Mrs Browns Boys this produced many different challenges, for example the amount of extras which were used had to be limited to keep costs down whereas The Lego Movie could afford to do anything they wanted, a good example of this was when the script had to be completely re written and as a result some of the plot was changed which if the budget was lower could had caused many problems. As a result of Warner Bros animation having more funding in this particular film compared to BBC Films the director would have more control in the American film compared to the British film.

Lastly the amount of CGI that had to be used in Warner bros animation The Lego Movie was far greater than Mrs Browns Boys mainly because The Lego Movie was a animated film however production time and costs were a lot greater which was a challenge which Warner bros animation had to meet which they did. Also the fact Warner Bros animation is the animated section of Warner bros this shows it’s more advanced and specialised in CGI and technology, whereas BBC Films are a general production company which means they aren’t specialist and are basically average at everything involved in producing and distributing a film which is exactly the case in my two case studies.

Both The Lego Movie and Mrs Browns Boys D’Movie had huge marketing and advertising campaigns.  First of all BBC Films didn’t have to spend as much on Mrs Browns Boys marketing campaign mainly due to the fact that they already had a huge fan base extending back from the original TV series and plays in the early 1990’s this meant that advertising had to be done only to raise awareness of the film compared to most new films were the production company usually have to advertise to raise awareness and to persuade the target audience to go and see it, so as a result only basic forms of advertising were needed this included: TV adverts, trailers, radio adverts, billboards, posters and newspaper articles but as I said  producers BBC Films gambled on the already existing fans of the already popular sitcom Mrs Browns Boys going to see the film. In contrast Warner Bros animation’s The Lego Movie had a huge advertising and marketing campaign because the producers had to combine: synergy, convergence, exhibition, distribution and exchange a lot more compared to Mrs Brown’s boys. For example many products were released simultaneously to promote the film a good example of this was when McDonalds released eight limited edition Lego Movie cups with every Happy Meal that was sold. Furthermore one similarity between The Lego Movie and Mrs Browns Boys D’Movie was the care to detail that was involved in the trailers for the films. They were both released to help outline the basic aspects of the film and try and sell it to their target audiences however because their iconography was very different, first of all in The Lego Movie there was more of a action/adventure feel in the trailer because the more action events which occurred in the film were shown compared to the many other elements in the in it. Whereas Mrs Brown used the comedy aspect to help sell the film because this was made the TV series so popular so was a huge selling point for the film. Furthermore the trailer for The Lego Movie used a lot more diegetic and non-diegetic sounds such as the over emphasis on elements such as fire in an explosion and the use of music to help tell the story of the film. For example it was a fast paced beat to show the action/adventure clips as more dramatic than what they are, this is compared to Mrs Browns boys which predominantly used a narrative which helped explain the story of the film a lot more. Both the film trailers used mise-en-scene in roughly the same way. What I mean by this is that they both showed and explained the main characters as much as possible to sell the film. For example The Lego Movie used the star system a lot and the trailer was built around this because they knew actors such as Morgan Freeman and Will Ferrell would sell the film as the audiences would know what sort of film to expect.

The Lego Movie had two main distributors these were: Warner bros pictures and Roadshow Entertainment. Warner bros pictures are an American producer of film they have been very successful over the years and have distributed many famous films such as Harry Potter and Sesame Street. Furthermore Roadshow Entertainment is part of the Australian media company Village Roadshow; they have helped distribute many films such as the terminator and First Blood.  Mrs Browns Boys D’Movie had one main distributor Universal Pictures this is classed as one of Hollywood’s big six distributors. They have distributed many famous films including Jaws and E.T.

Next is distribution this is about how the film gets to the target audience. For The Lego Movie this has been done in many different ways, first of all synergy was used in a very creative way. This means simultaneous products were released to boost the film. So in this particular case Lego themed events were held in many different shops across the globe to raise awareness of the film and promote the brand of Lego. Next McDonalds released eight limited edition cups which came with every happy meal to also help raise awareness of the film and its characters. The next aspect of distribution is convergence; this includes combining two or mediums to promote the film. Because more technologies have been released in recent years many different aspects can be used to help sell the film. In the case of The Lego Movie a video game was released to help the audience understand the story of the music better, also many different videos on YouTube were released of the main cast talking about their particular characters to help the audience gain a better understanding of them, lastly a theme song was released this is called ‘Everything is Awesome’ this helps show the ethics of the film and that you should think positive on life no matter what the circumstances. The next aspect of distribution is exchange this is the unintended use of institutions media text by other people, this has been unintentionally done by The Lego Movie because many copies of their theme song ‘Everything is Awesome’  have been released which helps raise awareness of the film. The last part of the distribution cycle is distribution its self, this is getting the film to the audiences and having a good marketing campaign. In the case of The Lego Movie this was done very well for example of the 6^th of February they had their release date and the film was screened in millions of countries around the world, however there was still more to come because other countries couldn’t use the subtitles they needed the whole script to be read done by new actors speaking their native language. Also over $400 million was made on the film which shows how successful it was at box office.  To keep distribution costs down they didn’t give the target audience actual Lego pieces for free, instead they made sets of the film up and these are sold separately which is good because the film is actually staying to it’s roots of actually building Lego compared to exaggerating the use of digital technologies which could had been done by Warner bros animation which would have ruined the brand image of Lego.

Furthermore the type of distribution used by BBC Films Mrs Browns Boys D’Movie is really different however also have many similarities. First of all synergy was used in a very creative way. This means simultaneous products were released to boost the film. In the case of Mrs Brown products such as a calendar of actions shots from the film has been released, a fancy dress costume of the main character Agnes Brown has been released and lastly many T-shirts with the Mrs Browns logo or picture have been released to promote the film and is a good of synergy by the producers and distributors BBC Films. The next aspect of distribution is convergence; this includes combining two or mediums to promote the film. Mrs Browns Boys have released a soundtrack of the film this includes all the hit songs which were played during the film to promote the particular film. Also an autobiography of the main character involved in the film ‘Brendan O’Carroll’ was released shortly after the film was made and released this helped promote the film because the people reading the book will find things out about the film and then hopefully will be persuaded to go and watch it. The next aspect of distribution is exchange this is the unintended use of institutions media text by other people, this has again been unintentionally done by Mrs Brown fairly similar to The Lego Movie because they have a famous catchphrase of ‘That’s Nice’ which has been released on many different platforms of media such as videos on the internet of people saying it in humours ways and on products such as T-shirts which all helped sell the film in its particular genre of comedy.  BBC Films used these types of products to distribute the film because it attracted the target audience a lot more than other types would have done, for example if they had released something which could have been built this wouldn’t have attracted Mrs Browns target audience because they are a lot older compared to my other case study The Lego Movie. Both production companies identified their films target audience and really recognized this and found it important for the films distribution, synergy, exhibition and exchange to be successful.

The premiers of the films helped the exhibition aspect of the two films I have been researching, first of all Mrs Browns Boys had the premier for the film in the Savoy cinema in the capital of Ireland Dublin, this was done to show that it hadn’t forgotten its original Irish roots which is a huge unique selling point for the film. In contrast the high budget American film of The Lego Movie was first released in Copenhagen were the premier was held, this is because of the history of Lego and Denmark. The first pieces of Lego were first made in Denmark so the film about of Lego would more than defiantly first be shown there.

In conclusion I feel that Warner bros animation’s The Lego Movie were a lot better at using distribution to engage the films target audience and help sell the film, however due to the fact Warner Bros animation is a lot bigger company compared to BBC Films it’s not surprising because they are able to afford to trial things and can bring out more and more things because the generally the American film industry have a lot higher budgets for their films compared to the British industry, which is the exact case for my two case studies. For example Warner bros animation had the budget to produce their own song and video game meaning the exhibition phase for The Lego Movie was a lot grater compared to BBC films and their film Mrs Browns Boys. However they also have many similarities, for example the television trailer was similar in the sense of mise-en-scene and ideology however the more finer aspects such as editing and iconography was very different due to the fact they different genre of films. Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie is a comedy and the trailer had to portray this also The Lego Movie is an action/adventure film which had to be portrayed but in a complete different way. However the biggest difference in the two films are the actual cast which were used, in The Lego Movie the star system was used to help sell the film, however Mrs Browns Boys D’Movie used a more low profile cast which produced a more realistic feel to the film compared to if they had used the star system. Due to the fact the Lego Movie is an animated film they are able to use the famous actors whereas because Mrs Browns Boys is more of a sitcom, using these famous actors wouldn’t have the same appeal and if less well known actors were used in The Lego Movie no one may be interested in going to see it, so for both films the right actors have been chosen. This again also backs my point up about the huge significant difference between American and British films because again in this case the American production company for the film had a lot more money to spend on more high profile actors compared to the low budget British film.  Lastly because Warner Bros animation is a global and international film the films they produce have to be aimed at such a enormous target audience because if they weren’t only the areas were Warner Bros is based would understand the comedy and stereotypes in the films meaning sales would be lower as none of the target audience areas the films are being distributed and exhibited too would be interested in them. Whereas in the case of the BBC films it is a more national institution meaning the films it produces can be more iconic and specific to certain areas because the area their films are being produced in are the areas the films are being distributed and exhibited to.