Study Break Essay #2 - Ownership

 Hi guys

In the break, we are tackling an essay on OWNERSHIP.

I want you to answer the following essay question, using the points of interest below;

"To what extent does Media Ownership impact the success of a film."


Please(!!!) plan your essay like we discussed, before attempting to write it.

In your plan:

• write a killer, clear, easy to understand opening sentence that sums up your position on the question.
• write 4 - 5 solid points that you will expand on in each paragraph
• write bullet points for case studies / facts / figures / quotes that you have for each paragraph to back up your points
• use case study and research ALL THE WAY THROUGH
• use terminology from class notes / glossary ALL THE WAY THROUGH

In your essay, cover the following

BASIC IDEAS

1. Hollywood's DOMINANCE over media industry
2 NZ's film industry situation - NZFC (compare & contrast issues for NZ film production competing with Hollywood)
3. Piracy as an issue for all

• how is media ownership structured (conglomerates / Hollywood big 5 - who are they?  / subsidiaries / Disney case study - what does Disney own? What are they worth? how much of our media are they actually making? )
• contrast Hollywood with NZ film (who are NZFC? What films have they made in last year? What are NZFC driven by (what is their end goal) / what types of films are being made and why? )
• How does the $ of ownership influence cross-media convergence / synergy opportunities? Does it influence how successfully a film is marketed?? (CASE STUDIES to back this up / 'What we do in the shadows' / Hollywood Blockbuster case study marketing strategies / Dark Knight Why So Serious marketing campaign / Cases that contrast how indi films struggle or NZ funded films struggle in comparison? maybe they don'y struggle? Maybe the internet has levelled the playing field?  / Horizontal Integration & Vertical Integration  - how does this benefit a film's success and give examples of both types of integration
• benefits of big $ to spend in ALL stages of production? (use your brainstorm from Monday - e.g. being able to hire big stars which also helps in promoting film (give EXAMPLES), benefits of technical equipment and bigger budgets for things like sounds / special effects etc
• impact of a big company vs indi film in things  like distribution - how does big $ make a difference in distribution process? Think integration of companies and how that may affect a film being distributed. How much harder is it for a small indi film to get distributed vS. your Hollywood blockbuster?
• Impact of big conglomerate on the TYPES of movies being made. What are top grossing movies of last year? Who made them? What types of movies are being produced and re-produced because they're popular? What happens to the original storyteller and stories that need to be told? How does Hollywood's domination of the market affect independent films or international films who want to get work out there?
• Piracy - how does this affect people who own the media? Use case study examples and research you've done to talk about this