How has the Internet had an
impact on the Film Industry?
Aimee Robinson
Section One:
Media In The Online Age
Aimee Robinson
Convergence & Synergy - What are they?
Convergence is the unification of
different platforms or groups that were
originally separate.
Convergence deals with new media
technologies, whereas Synergy deals
with companies.
Both Convergence and Synergy affect
the Film Industry in many different ways
and across many different areas.
Convergence & Synergy in the Film
Industry
+
=
Technological
Synergy
Smart phones are affecting the film industry in the way that
films are being distributed. People are now able to purchase
films online in order to watch them on their smart phones - for
example buying films from iTunes to watch on iPhones.
DisneyPixar is an example of Horizontal Synergy within film.
This is because the companies Disney and Pixar were
originally separate, but have collaborated in order to gain more
money from shared ideas and shared price.
Games Consoles have also come around to the Film way of
thinking - as most consoles such as the X-BOX and PS3 can
stream films online and have the ability to play films on them.
Aardman Productions and DreamWorks is another example
of this. This is because Aardman and DreamWorks are two
companies that collaborated in the same way that DisneyPixar
did in order to create films such as Wallace and Gromit.
The Internet itself has recently been working on film rental
online - as you are now able to watch films online from
subscription - for example LoveFilm.com who charge people to
watch and rent films online.
The Harry Potter Series is another example of Horizontal
synergy. This is because they were originally novels, which
have been adapted into films, hence Bloomsbury (and JK
Rowling) have collaborated with WarnerBros in order to create
the films.
+
=
New Media Technologies
NMT’s (or New Media Technologies) have had a huge
impact on the film industry and how it is distributed.
With new technologies being pumped out at an almost
industrial rate, films have had to adapt to satisfy
viewers needs and wants. Films now can be released
on Blu-Ray, for example, or bought on iTunes for
people to watch on their smart phones or tablets
anywhere and whenever they want to. Also because of
new media technologies such as new disk types,
producers have had to adapt their methods in order to
reach a wider audience and wider amount of playing
methods - which as therefore effected the way that
films have been produced, both in their pre, production
and post production, for example using 3D technology
for your film or formatting it to be compatible with a BluRay disk.
A 2010 study shows that 48% of smartphone users
watch video (including films) on them - and I have
reason to believe that this figure has increased since
then, with the advent of digital copy releases. This is a
disk that is often sold in 3 disk editions of films (DVD,
Blu-Ray and Digital Copy) which enables the buyer to
purchase the film on iTunes for free, as you have
bought the license to own a digital copy when you buy
the 3 disk edition.
The Long Tail Theory
The Long Tail Theory - Anderson (2006),
can be applied to the Film industry. The
theory states that people are moving away
from high street stores and towards niche
markets - specifically online independent
retailers.
It also states that it is better to split up
products into smaller chunks rather than
one big ‘blockbuster’ product.
http://thelongtail.com/about.html
The Long Tail Theory - Applied
This theory can be applied to the Film industry in a
few different ways. The first is films that split
themselves into two parts to be shown at the
cinema. Reasons for this could be for higher
content for a higher quality film, but mainly for a
higher profit gain. This is relevant as splitting the
film into smaller chunks will match or overtake the
popularity and profit of keeping them as one huge
blockbuster - as long as the timing of release is
suitable - within a couple of years of the first.
The Wikinomics Theory
The Wikinomics Theory - Tapscott & Williams (2006), can be applied to the
Film industry. The theory states that five key ideas need to be followed in
order to have the ‘perfect’ business online. These are:
Idea
What does this mean?
Peering
File sharing - Cheap to run as distribution costs are cut - However it is
easy for people to take your material and change it without your
permission.
Free Creativity
You cannot stop people from taking your material and changing it
without giving you credit - unless copyright or subscription/purchase
laws are enforced.
Democracy
Democracy states that anyone can have a say online - ordinary people
as well as professionals.
Thinking Globally
Global communication - target your materials worldwide as well as just
nationwide for a wider audience that can be reached with the internet.
Perfect Storm
Technology (Web 2.0), demographics (young people - technology
natural and instinctive) & economics result in perfect storm. In the
nations difficult economic situation, targeting products online and
worldwide is the best way.
Many people disagree with this theory, however. Most sceptics believe that the
wikinomists have ignored inequality that this theory suggests - that the vast
majority of the world’s population do not have access to broadband and
therefore cannot be connected.
Wikinomics Positives - Applied
In the film industry - these five points can be
applied.
Peering - There are many legal and illegal file sharing sites that allow people to share files - for example
LoveFilm and iTunes, or MegaVideo.
Free Creativity - ‘Prosumers’, a new term which means that the consumers of a product are also
becoming the producers - as they have free creativity to make what they like. An example of this is
when people remix films to make shorts such as ‘Titanic in 5 seconds’. The internet gives people the
freedom to express themselves by interpreting films in their own ways using blogs or social networking
sites - and also they are given the chance to express their thoughts and opinions of films on sites such
as IMDB or RottenTomatoes. This links in with the third point Democracy - Which gives anyone the chance to say whatever they want without worrying about other
people taking it off and respecting everyone else’s opinions.
Global Thinking - The internet is giving people the opportunity to reach out to other cultures - for
example Bollywood or Asian films being marketed to British audiences. This is shown in Manga film
adaptations - as these are very popular in the US and the UK - and the internet gives fans of these the
chance to watch and have these films when and where they want to - and similarly the other way
around British and US films are able to reach audiences in other places.
Perfect Storm - iTunes is an example of this as you can find many different films from many different
countries around the world that have been marketed Globally, with options on these films such as which
language you would like to watch it in or whether or not you would like subtitles, and if so, which
language you would like them in - showing that the film industry has widely marketed online in order to
Wikinomics Negatives - Applied
Peering - A negative that comes with peering in the film industry is that people can take your files and
use them without your permission and/or not credit you for them. This can be applied to film in the form
of Piracy. Piracy is a huge problem for the film industry as it leaves producers asking how much money
they will actually earn from their films - as people continue to illegally download films for free online.
Free Creativity - A negative that comes with Free Creativity in the film industry is people that breech
Copyright laws. People that have the film and distribute it themselves in different places such as
YouTube - without crediting the producers or anyone involved in creating the material comes as a
difficulty to them as it loses them money.
Democracy - A negative that comes with Democracy is that people’s opinions have a big impact on how
well a film does in the Box Office - if one person gives the film a bad rating to their friends, they will not
want to see the film and the opinion will spread, losing the film viewers. Another negative is that
Blockbusters that have high popularity may swamp other films and make them seem unimportant - and
therefore the film will not do very well due to it’s release time.
Thinking Globally - A negative that comes with Thinking Globally in films is that although it is great to get
the largest audience that you can with your product, but it can be difficult, because of social or cultural
differences, for example, to break through and become popular in other countries. For example a smallscale Sweedish film may never take off in America, or similarly a British film may never take off in
China. Also, because of these cultural differences, producers have to be careful when Globally
advertising their film not to offend anyone.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
Part 1
As a case study I
decided to study Harry
Potter and the Deathly
Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
in order to look at how
the
internet
has
effected this film’s
distribution and how
the
internet
has
impacted it’s marketing
methods.
HP.. Part 1
Budget: $150,000,000
Gross: $294,980,434
The first 45 minutes of this film was leaked online
immediately before it’s release, hence creating an
impact on how the film did at the Box Office. This
film benefitted from the leak, as the 45 minutes
proved to be good enough to make the people
watching to go and see the rest at the cinema. Not
all films are this lucky - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
was leaked online two weeks before - and it
suffered at the Box Office.
OnlineMarketing Methods of HP.. Part 1
Amongst other marketing methods, the producers at Harry Potter
used the internet as a way of advertising for the first part of the last
instalment of the series. These are:
The official website was used in order to advertise the film. The trailer
was played as the opening for the website. On the front page, the plot
synopsis was explained. Alongside a list of things the website
contained for the movie were stills and posters, interview videos,
soundtrack downloads, and links to social networks.
Edit yourself posters are also used - websites which allow you to edit
yourself into the Harry Potter Undesirable No. 1 poster.
MuggleHub was used for advertising also - MuggleHub is a
multimedia site for the movie, contains all which the website does,
plus a countdown clock and various skins for social networks and
free online games.
There are also, on these websites, advertisements for Smartphone
applications of games and special features.
And lastly, Social Networking is used to promote and cross-promote
the movie and the website. Twitter and Facebook both have Harry
Potter pages in order for fans to get together and create hype about
the release of the movie.
Summary of my findings
Section Two:
We Media &
Democracy
Aimee Robinson
What is it? We Media
The term ‘We Media’ has been around since the early 2000s. Dan
Gillmor’s book We The Media: Grassroots Journalism by the
people, for the people (2004) - states that audiences are
becoming ‘prosumers’, consumers becoming producers through
means such as the internet using Web 2.0 to create and share.
They also have the power to filter out things that they do not want
- for example Negroponte (1995) predicted that people would
have the power to choose the news they want to read as opposed
to things they do not want. Gillmor also states that in the past, big
media companies controlled who got to produce and share media
- but the internet (specifically broadband) has ensured that
ordinary citizens are using blogs to share news and information.
This is known as Citizen Journalism.
What is it? Democracy
The word Democracy, when split into two
words (Demo Cracy) creates the meaning of
people power, or power to the people. This
sums up democracy’s meaning - that we as
people have the control and power - that our
say counts and that we all have a right to
share our opinions. This links with We Media
as again the consumers have the power to
create and share what they want to.
Timeline
Year
1837
1945
2001
2003
2004
2005
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Event
Invention of the Telegraph
President Franklin Roosevelt’s Death
9/11 Attacks, Wikipedia Launched
Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, Iraq War
Asian Tsunami, MySpace Launched
7/7 London Attacks, Facebook Launched
Barack Obama Elected
Death of Michael Jackson, Swine Flu, Geneva Atom Split
New UK government elected, Haiti Earthquake
The Arab Spring uprisings, Eurozone Crisis and London Riots
London Olympics