Section B: Media Ownership Essay

June 2015: “To what extent does media ownership have an impact on the successful distribution of media products in the media area that you have studied?”

Plan: 

Introduction- What is the Big Six?

• List the Big Six conglomerates
• How large they are and what they do
• What they own and why they are so successful
• They are so big and powerful and do things with their money that can make them successful because they book big events and red carpet events and they can lobby exhibitors. Smaller companies have to find interesting release strategies to get their film noticed because they don’t have the money like the big six to be successful.

Paragraph 1- Tentpole release, The Hobbit.

• Production company: New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer
• Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
• PlayStation and Lego had a symbiotic relationship with The Hobbit as they released games and also the film promoted the book.
• The world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey took place on 28 November 2012 at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand, with a full theatrical release in New Zealand on 12 December which suggests that the film company can afford to buy the largest theatres to have their film shown in.
• Synergy with the film and the soundtrack being released.

Paragraph 2- Prometheus

• On April 29, 2012, the international launch trailer debuted in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 during the first advertisement break of the TV show Homeland.
• 20th Century Fox gave Ridley Scott $130,000,000 and they distributed the film.
• Prometheus‘ marketing campaign began on July 21, 2011 at the San Diego Comic Con International, where images and footage from the film were presented by Lindelof and Theron; Scott and Rapace participated via satellite contribution which says that they could afford to promote the film at such a big event.
• On April 10, 2012, media outlets were shown a 13-minute montage of scenes in 3D from the film’s opening at the Vue Cinema in Leicester Square, London.
• The film attracted several promotional partners including Coors, Amazon, and Verizon FiOS, which were estimated to have spent $30 million in marketing support.
• 20th Century Fox helped to make the website and it attracted a large audience to play the games they created to make it seem like the film was more realistic.

Paragraph 3- A Field In England

• Film4: Film4OD helped with the marketing and distribution of the film because they are fans of Wheatley’s previous work and the film’s creative day-and-date release fit their innovative Film4.0 model.
• Film4 showed the trailers and promoted the film on their channel to attract the viewers to see the film on TV as well as being sold on DVD/Blu Ray.
• Film4 and Channel4 were the main parties and built a degree of loyalty and expectation that they would produce a film of quality and innovative content.
•  Picturehouse: Picturehouse Cinemas removed one of the key obstacles to any day-and-date release in the form of a cinema boycott; they are a smaller distribution company so they are not competing for showing their film in cinemas so they can afford to show them in independent cinemas.
• Picturehouse, as both exhibitor and distributor helped devise, refine and execute the strategy and shared all the risks with Film4 on the release.
• Picturehouse has local loyalties around the UK and Picturehouse Entertainment already had an existing relationships with Film4 and Channel 4.
• Channel 4: There was one potential obstacle regarding Channel 4 operating within the guidelines set by Ofcom about cross-promoting content. The film however was able to comply to the regulations as it was fully funded by Channel 4 and Film4’s promotional trailers which pushed people towards their own TV screens to watch the film.
• Importantly, the marketing department of Channel 4 were interested in the idea of the film and therefore improved the profile and reach into the market place and were able to tap into the 23 million people that watched Channel 4.
• Other facts: in the week leading up to the film’s release, there was information about the film and it’s release strategy on BBC programmes including leading items on BBC News Online, Radio 4s Loose Ends, Front Row, Film Programme and on the Radio 4 Channel itself.

Paragraph 4- conclusion

• Overall, the Big Six are the most successful with their marketing and distributing films for people to watch. However, there isn’t just one specific release model that is used and it isn’t just the big six that are successful; smaller companies are also successful but in a more creative way with their release strategy rather than spending money on large venues and big screenings.

June 2015: “To what extent does media ownership have an impact on the successful distribution of media products in the media area that you have studied?”

Essay- Version 1.

Large conglomerates such as the  “Big Six” have a large impact on the successful distribution of their films. The Big Six consists of the six largest film distributors and they are Universal Pictures, Colombia Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros Studios. They buy films that they believe will be successful and they will distribute them. Within these six conglomerates, they split into other brands and divisions that make the companies more money in other areas of media/technology. The Big Six are so powerful and they take over the media market with their big films. Because they are so big, they can lobby exhibitors into showing their films and they can afford the best venues to show screenings which then attracts more people to see their films.

An example of a successful film, distributed by one of the Big Six, is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This was distributed by Warner Bros and within production, New Line Cinema and Metro Goldwyn Meyer were involved. The film is an example of horizontal integration as the production of it expanded into other different companies which made the film more of a bigger release and more successful. The film was extremely well received as it was a tentpole release (a film made with a large budget and is gambled with to make the same amount back as there was spent on it) and it had a budget of $200-315 million with an incredible box office of $1.021 billion. The marketing of the film was so successfully done and there were many different ways that other companies helped to promote the film. For example, PlayStation and Lego both made a game for The Hobbit. This led to PlayStation/Lego and Warner Bros having a symbiotic relationship as they both promoted each other in a mutually beneficial way. The world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey took place on 28 November 2012 at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand, with a full theatrical release in New Zealand on 12 December. This tells us that the film company can afford to buy the largest theatres to have their film shown in and so it was advertised more as well as it would have been written about in news articles. In the UK, the film was screened at the 65th Royal Film Performance in London on 12 December 2012 and competed against Skyfall for this showing.  The release of the Soundtrack was a day prior to the actual film release date and both, similar to the video games, promoted each other. This was an example of synergy but also an example of a symbiotic relationship, which made the film even more successful as the film promoted the soundtrack but the soundtrack also promoted the film to be watched back.

Another example of a large film release, released by one of the Big Six, is Prometheus. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox. The company gave Ridley Scott, the director, $130,000,000 to make the film. Prometheus’ marketing campaign began on July 21, 2011 at the San Diego Comic Con International, where images and footage from the film were presented by Lindelof and Theron. Scott and Rapace participated via satellite contribution. The advertising of the film in this way attracted people and the San Diego Comic Con International is a large event and so more people will have been there already and decided to see what the film was going to involve. On April 29, 2012, the international launch trailer debuted in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 during the first advertisement break of the TV show Homeland and so people watching TV would have seen the trailer for this and have been interested in seeing it when the film came out of they enjoyed it. On April 10 2012, media outlets were showing 13 minute montages of the some scenes in 3D from the film’s opening at the Vue Cinema in Leicester Square, London, which again attracted a lot of people and promoted the film even more by people spreading the word about the film. The film attracted several promotional partners including Coors, Amazon, and Verizon FiOS, which were estimated to have spent $30 million in marketing support. A lot of the money went into marketing the film online and there was a website made for the film with different activities that the public could take part in which made the film seem more realistic and if they enjoyed the game, it would push them towards seeing the film as well.

The Big Six are very successful in distributing films. However, smaller and more independent companies are just as successful in distributing their films. An example of this would be A Field In England, directed by Ben Wheatley. The strategy that Wheatley used to distribute his film came in the form of a day-and-date release which meant that the film would be shown for the public to watch in cinemas, on VOD, on DVD/Blu Ray etc. The BFI Distribution Fund supported the release of the project with £56,701. All of this funding money contributed to P&A (producing and advertising) where £112,000 was spent. The total budget for the film was £316,879. The film and it’s unique release was supported by Film4, Picturehouse Cinemas/Entertainment and Channel 4. Film4 showed the trailers and promoted the film on their channel to be seen on TV as well as being sold on DVD/Blu Ray which promoted the film more and the viewers that watch Film 4 are informed about it. Film4OD helped with the marketing and distribution of the film because they are fans of Wheatley’s previous work and the film’s creative day-and-date release fit their innovative Film4.0 model. Film4 and Channel4 were the main parties and built a degree of loyalty and expectation that they would produce a film of quality and innovative content and so they worked especially hard in making the film a success. Picturehouse Entertainment as a distributor was largely involved and removed one of the key obstacles to any day-and-date release in the form of a cinema boycott; because it is a smaller distribution company distributing the film, they are not competing against larger conglomerates such as the Big Six for showing their film in cinemas, so they can afford to show them in more independent cinemas. Picturehouse has local loyalties around the UK and Picturehouse Entertainment already had an existing relationships with Film4 and Channel 4 which meant that it was a familiar name to a lot of people and so people who have experienced a film distributed by Picturehouse Entertainment may want to see another one of the films they helped produce. The marketing department of Channel 4 was interested in the idea of the film and therefore improved the profile and reach into the market place and were able to tap into the 23 million people that watched Channel 4, thus advertising the film even more and influencing people to watch it.

Overall, media ownership has a large impact on the successful distribution of films and the Big Six are the most successful with this area. However, there isn’t just one specific release model that is used and it isn’t just the Big Six that are successful; smaller companies are also successful but in a more creative way with their release strategy rather than spending money on large venues and big screenings, just like A Field In England was as it was the first film to be released with a day-and-date strategy by smaller, independent companies.