Implications of media ownership and conglomerates

Discuss the implications of media ownership and conglomerates relating the points we have discussed to film
Media Ownership refers to companies that can own resources that are able to produce media texts.
Conglomerates are the companies that own lots of these. 


The media world is dominated by media conglomerates and the following are the top six and most popular media conglomerates:

• CBS
• Tine Warner
• News Corporation
• Viacom
• Disney
• General Electric

These are the 5 biggest film conglomerates:

• United International Pictures (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol)
• Warner Brothers (Harry Potter/The Dark Knight)
• Buena Vista International (Pooh's Heffalump Movie)
• 20th Century Fox (Avatar/Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
• Sony Pictures (Men in Black/The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

What are the implications of one company owning lots of different mediums (in terms of film)?

• Because they have lots of power (money) so some companies are more successful than others.
• Some of the conglomerates are biased, for example www.rottentomatoes.com because it is owned by Rupert Murdoch and they would make all the films look very good in their reviews when it may be a very bad quality film.
• Some film conglomerates draw customers away from smaller companies so the larger conglomerates get more from it, for example more profit and more public attention.
• Possibly offer similar genres. This can sometimes make people bored of the conglomerates and focus on a different film conglomerate.
• There is less competition because people tend to stick to the same film conglomerate.

What are the implications for audiences in the UK?

• Recognisable brands-People don't like change.
• Less competition-Complacency because people are unaware of some media conglomerates, for example See-saw because they are non-mainstream 

Task for film marketing and distribution

1.) Over one weekend, how many separate screenings are there?
There have been hundreds of separate screenings in the weekend in London, let alone the UK, from premiers of new movies, and film festivals across London.


2.) How many films in total are being exhibited?
There have been many films in total exhibited. The movies that are common and know worldwide is a total of over 30 films. This includes The Adventures of Tintin, The Three Musketeers, Transformers: Dark of  the Moon, Dolphin Tale, The Smurfs, and Final Destination 5, which are all movies in the year 2011.

3.) How many films are being screened several times at the same cinema?
All the films listed above would have been screened several times at the same cinema which is the Odeon

4.) Of these, how many are being screened at more than one cinema at the same time?
Most of the films are filmed at the same time, but with films that are certificate PG and over 12 for example The Adventures of Tintin and Final Desitnation 5 would probably be watched at night so not a lot of children could be able to watch it.


5.) Express the number of unique screenings as a percentage of the total screenings





6.) Express the total number of films in relation to the total number of screenings.

Btitish Cinema research task

• New Year's Eve is classed as American.
• Puss in Boots is classed as American.
• Arthur Christmas is jointly made by both US and UK production companies.
• Hugo is classed as American.
• My Week with Marilyn is jointly made by both US and UK production companies.
• The Thing is a joint film made by USA and Canada.
• Happy Feet Two is classed as Australian.
• 50/50 is classed as American.
• The Adventures of Tintin is a joint production made by USA and New Zealand.

8/9 are produced by American film companies. 2/9 is produced by British film companies.
As you can see from the proportions, most films are produced by Americans. This may be because American films are more popular worldwide.

The films show western culture as positive because they show the happy side to life and the good side to British and American people. The world that is all great, and not reality.

I find that more American films is shown more in cinemas because of the famous actors and American films seem to show the genre in a better way than British films and the acting in American films seem to be better and we find American films more entertaining.

I think New Year's Eve is more popular with the 16+ audience because people that age can relate to the events that happen in it and it is an emotional film as it is a rom-com which young people can enjoy because some young girls like a movie that can make them emotional. Also, it has Zac Efron in it and he is known to do romantic films and his acting is very good in them so the audience feel assured that it is a good film.

The problems that British films might have when targeting British audiences is the fact that British people like American films more than British films and they watch American films more because they are not so serious on the themes and genres of the film and have a comical part to the film even if the film is a horror of thriller film but British films only go through the genres in the film which makes the film quite boring and too serious.

British films might find it hard to target a British audiences, as they feel to make the films popular, they have to "Americanise" the films so that it is a hit and popular in the USA. This can put people off from seeing the film, as if it was set in the UK but then there may be something that looks idiotic in the film as it does not fit in what is happening. Then the British audiences would not particularly see the film because of this, as it does not fit in with British culture.


The most favoured Britishness that is most popular with an American audiences is mainly the accent that and British person has, as the accent is considered to be very posh and very chivalries to have. Furthermore another British trait that many American people like is the long history that the country has, as American has only been around really over 200 years so they don't have in depth history of their own. So they consider the British history to be very interesting and many people find it complicated to understand which some people like in films, for it to be complicated.


There are advantages of putting these stereotypes in films because it can become a hit with the american audiences is that because the film makers have put in these things that american people like, then the film is more likely to do well in cinemas and get a good profit out of it, as many people will want to go watch the film. For example "The king speech" is a British film that involves all these points, as it has the British accents that shows power, the history behind the whole speech is widely known by many people as it was set when England went to into World War 2, and affected many people's lives as relatives died and some houses were destroyed.

The King's Speech and Tintin questions

New media is things like Web 2.0, gaming and mobile phones that can do more than just call people. New media is considered to be a high technological way of getting in touch with people around the world and telling friends about a new film that might be coming out in the film industry. Many films use new media to promote their film. The King's Speech and Tintin have both done the same thing by promoting their films to the general public. They have used new media like Facebook, twitter, tumbler and other networks where people can write about the film and add photos, telling people to go and see the particular film as they feel that it's a really good film and more people should go and see it. Basically, people are recommending the films to their friends

Facebook-The average person on Facebook had about 130 friends, they can post and share links about the film on people's profiles. They can also upload photos to their profile. You could upload YouTube clips on to the Facebook page, for example you can post a trailer of a film that might have just come out or that is coming out in the cinema, then people in their friends list can watch the clip and then post it again on their page, this gets more and more people watching the clip and getting interested in the film.

Twitter- Twitter is where you can type what you are thinking or doing at the time. Many people have it and many famous actors and actresses and other famous people have Twitter. You can follow people who are or not famous. If the person is famous then they can promote their film, post links about the film, and when the day of the film released in cinemas is close. This means that people who are fans of the person can go and watch the film that their favourite actor/actress is in or their favourite director. This can also promote the film.












What are the demographics for New Media outlets?
The demographics for New Media outlets are young people because they tend to use social networking sites more than older people do, for example Facebook, Bebo, Tumbler and Twitter are used widely by young people because they prefer a quick way to communicate with friends and not having to see them physically when it's not possible to and also its the fashion of the 21st century now that most young people have easy access to the New Media especially social networking sites and other sites like Youtube and Blogger.

New media spreads information through....
The internet and social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumbler.





How have The King's Speech and The Adventures of TinTin: The Secret of the Unicorn used new media?
Both The King's Speech and Tintin use the same new media. Web 2.0, which is the internet via Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler and YouTube. These are all sites where people can give feedback on the film by watching the trailer of the film and if they like it they will go and watch it in the cinema. If the film gets a lot of general public interest to the film then it might determine whether they should make the film worldwide so that people across the world can have access to the film. This will promote the film and increase the profit because more people will watch the films.




Name some examples of how TinTin and The King's Speech could use synergy and convergence appropriate to its target audience?
Tintin could use snergy appropriately by keeping the two distbution companies that they had, Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures which was a conglomerate to gain a lot of money which they did and they could have also made sure they used a range of gadets for their target audience to watch the film on, for example MP4 players and PSP, they could have made it easier for people to watch the film by giving a wide range of gadgets they could watch it on, maybe next time what they could do if they have another film out is to create an app where the young children can watch the film without having to go to the cinema. I think that would have increased their profit even more than it was. But I think the reason why The King's Speech was not as successful with using synergy and convergence appopraitely to the target audiences' convenience is that they only had one distribution company, (Weinstein Company) so they did not have a conglomerate which would have helped them get more profit because the films would be more sprea across the country and they could have also done the same thing with the gadgets, they could have offered more gadgets for the audience to watch the film on to give them more profit.

Marketing distribution for the King's Speech

Find out about the marketing campaigns for The King's Speech and your comparison film. (What was the marketing plan?)

The marketing campaign was made by word of mouth that has been generated by the press. The other marketing materials have served to keep those conversations going.

Who distributed the film in the UK and USA and what were the issues associated with the film’s distribution?

Momentum Pictures(US), Aegis Film Fund(UK), Weinstein Company and FilmNation Entertainment were the distributors. The issues associated with the film's distribtuion is the fact that one company is more famous than the other, for example the US company are bound to be more famous than the UK company.

Was the campaign a grass roots or mainstream big event? How was word spread about the film? Virally on the Net? Mass advertising campaign with poster, trailers, etc?

It was mainstream because there were posters, online adverts, trailers on Youtube, and things oniline like recommendations and blogs about the film to make it publicised. The word was spread by word of mouth, for example people telling friends about the film and when it is going to release and the adverts on TV, online adverts and posters also spreaded word about the film.

How was “the talent” used to publicise the film? For instance,
TV and radio interviews with members of the cast, director, etc.

Yes, the Telgraph interviewed the director and Colin Firth and they talked about the film and what it is about and how good it is so that people would be persuaded to watch it. Some of the actors put it up on Facebook and Twitter that they will be in a film and then fans see it and then they want to go and see the film.

Who was the main target audience for the campaign? Why?
The original target audience was the members of the Academy-The people who vote for the nominations in the Oscars. According to the statistics, the average age of Oscars voters is 57 years old. I think this is because most elderly people love the monarchy so it would be right that they would have been the main target audience for the campaign.

What were the release dates for the film in cinemas?
The UK cinema release date was Friday 7th January.


Were there any commercial tie-ins with other companies, i.e. supermarkets, food products, phone-apps., video games, etc.
There were no commercial tie-ins with other companies because the King's Speech would have had to agree with other companies that they would have clashes with them with commercials and adverts.


Find and identify the different types of film poster associated with the film’s campaign: its teaser poster, main theatrical poster, etc.

     This is the teaser poster                                      This is the main theatrical poster



Analyse the film posters for The King's Speech and your comparison film. (See blog post on how to do this on the class blog: as and a2 media studies).
For the teaser poster, the actors Helena Carter, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are the people on the poster which shows that they are the main characters, and they are famous actors, especially Colin Firth is a famous actor because he is in a lot of British films which will persuade people to watch it. The background with the cloud shows that the characters are very aspirational and 'on cloud 9' meaning they are day dreamers. The colour in the poster is important because the costumes the actors are wearing is dark and their faces are light which makes them shine and there is a contrast between the characters' faces and the costumes they are wearing. It makes the audience know that they are the stars of the movie. 


For the main theatrical poster, the picture of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush shows the audience that the two of them are the main characters. The comments on Geoffrey Rush's face is important because the comments make the audience know how great the film is and I think that is the producer's Unique Selling Point (USP). The statement 'God Save the King' is the interesting thing that will persuade people to watch the film because the British and American people love the monarchy and they have put a twist on it because this time it is 'the King' not 'the Queen' which will make the people be interested to watch the film.



Now do the same with various types of trailers for the film. How did they build audience expectations and appeal to audiences? Again there is help on the class blog with how to analyse film trailers.

• The first film trailer built audience expectations and appeal to audiences massively because in the first trailer, the language, for example the language that the king's wife speaks is very posh which elderly and middle aged people relate to because they are very well spoken. The fact that it is based on a true story is something that will persuade the audience to watch the film because the non-diegetic sound in the trailer is sad which makes you feel sad and feel sorry for the King and therefore some people would want to watch the film to see what happens to the King, whether he finally does his speech. 
• The dark setting with the elements of rain and in the background gives the audience the idea that the film has a dark side to it and actors in the film have a dark side to them.
• The fast track non-diegetic music when they showed the King with his brother could show to the audience that there could be tension, jealousy and hatred between the two brothers which could intrigue the audience because some people like a bit of tension in films especially films with the theme of the British royalty that The King's Speech has as it makes the film have a modern twist to it.

• The second trailer built audience expectations and appeal to audiences in a big way because the audience would probably expect the film to be very sad and have sad elements of it an it did because there is a part where the King is watching a film and he almost looks as if he is going to shed tears.
• The non-diegetic hopeful cheery sound when the King says goodnight to his kids is nice for the audience to see because they see that the King has feelings as he is happy every time he is with his kids.
• Also, every time the King is frustrated that he cannot make the speech he is required of, the non-diegetic music is slow and emotive which shows that Colin Firth is feeling nervous and angry as he screams.
• The light background and atmosphere near the end of the trailer is cheery from the dark background and setting of the beginning of the trailer.

How does the official website publicise the film? What is the USP? (unique selling point(s)?
The official website publicises the film because when you open the site, the first thing you see is them telling you what awards The King's Speech has won and what awards the actors have won and what they won it for which is a good information to know if you want to know how popular the film is. The USP (Unique Selling Point) is putting the trailer on the first page on the website so you know about the film especially if you haven't watched the film before. The comments about the film from newspapers also publicises and are a USP the film because they are comments that persuade you to watch the film, for example 'A masterpiece', 'one of the best movies of the year', 'irresistibly entertaining', 'an immense crowd-pleaser' and 'a film that makes your spirit roar'.


Was viral marketing on the Net, or elsewhere (at awards ceremonies, etc.) significant?
Yes, viral marketing on the Net was significant because 





Find out, if you can, about the marketing campaign for the Pay TV, DVD /Blue Ray releases.
How important is digital technology in marketing and distributing the film?

Financing films for The King's Speech

1.)Three companies funded The King's Speech:

Aegis Film Fund-Funding

Molinare Studio-Funding

UK Film Council-Funding


Aegis Film Fund-provides finance to producers and distributors of films. the Aegis Film Fund operates in the worldwide independently structured and financed film entertainment market, which has consistently delivered high rates of growth over the last two decades. Global box office is predicted to grow at 12% over the next 5 years and new markets, distribution platforms and technologies are enhancing growth in the industry.

The Fund aims to be a finance solution for independent films throughout the world. It does so as an alternative to banks and other traditional providers of debt where available liquidity being provided to the film industry has diminished over recent times.

Molinare Studio- Molinare has the largest and only drive-in studio in Soho.


UK Film Council-was set up in 2000 by the Labour Government as a non-departmental public body to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee governed by a board of 15 directors and was funded through sources including the National Lottery. 

2.)Seeing the film produced was in it for them and seeing how many people had liked it and watched it was in it for them as well.

3.)The problems that the British Film had when looking for finanial support is that

• British films are not as watched as American films.
• British films are not as advanced as American films, in terms of editing and sound.
• American actors and more recongised globally than British actors.

Answering the production issues questions for Columbia Pictures-The Adventures of Tintin

1.) Genre – is it a hybrid? Explain why

It is a hybrid because it has more than one genre which are animation, action, adventure, family and mystery.

2.) Who are the target audiences?

The target audience is young children as young as 10 and above because it is an animation which is like a cartoon and animations are created for children around 10 and above.

3.) Play the opening of the film. What important institutional information are you given in the opening credits? Who are the significant personnel? Why?

The significant personnel are Tintin (Jamie Bell) and Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) because they play the biggest parts in the film and the director and producer are significant personnel because they are the people that make the film exist. Without them, the film would have never gone out to so many people.

4.) Was it niche or mainstream film? Did this change?

It is a niche because it can only be seen in theatres and cinemas at the moment. This hasn't changed yet to my knowledge.

5.) Director?

Steven Spielberg

6.)Casting? Decisions, reasons for audiences, budget, genres, etc. 

Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Daniel Craig are the main stars and casting of the film.

7.) Budget? How much did it make?  How much of a risk was this film?

Budget : $130,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend :£6,758,724

Gross: £6,758,724

Weekend gross: £6,758,724

8.) Music?  Cost of tracks?  Record Companies?

Music by John Williams

9.) Was it a joint production?  How and Why? For the King's Speech there are TWO production companies and synergies would have arisen from such a production. What were they?

Yes, The Adventures of Tintin is produced by Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy. 

10.) Special Effects?

The special effects is by Mingzhi Lin who is the lighting technical director and Charles Pottier who

is the motion control technician.

Some of the sound effects was done by Neil Aldridge who is the adr recordist and first assistant sound editor, Buster Flaws who is the mix technician and trainee sound editor (uncredited),  Benoît Hardonniere who is the boom operator: second unit, Dave Whitehead who is the sound designer and by Justin Webster who is the snowy vocals editor. 

Some of the visual effects is by Alberto Abril who is the animator, Marcus Alqueres who is the animator: Weta Digital, Matt Aitken who is the visual effects supervisor: Weta Digital and Brittany Bell who does the visual effects.

11.) Technology – cameras?

Andrew Cooper-Still photographer, Don Easy-Electrician, Paul Farley-Key grip, Ants Farrell-Electrician and Chet Leonard and Tom Leowy-video assists.

12.) Producer?

Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy.

13.) Scriptwriter-      Anything else?

Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish are the screenplay writers and Hergé is the scriptwriter as he writes the comic book series of The Adventures of Tintin.