Watch this clip and make notes in class as to how AI is impacting the filmmaking industry and what ethical concerns or just concerns in general, we should have about the future of this industry with continued AI development
"AI presents some benefits for the film industry but the challenges seemingly outweigh the benefits." Discuss this statement and whether you agree or disagree using examples from the video.
Watch the documentary below by Keanuu Reeves (2012). He explores technological developments in the film world. Make lots of notes, answering the questions below. You will need to be able to write an entire essay on this, at exam time and for homework, soon.
2. Case Study work
- add information to your existing case study documents in relation to technological advancements and also into your homework essay
- Think about the following questions;
- did they include special effects / after effectcs? If so, what? (were they building models like for original Star Wars or using CGI?
What was their budget and in what ways did technology contribute to the budget? (compare big budget Hollywood blockbuster with the Indi film.
What was each budget and how did technology help them in diffrerent ways?
Did the lower-budget Indi film shoot on a digital camera?
Did the blockbuster shoot on film?
Use the following questions to gather the necessary information;
Questions should be filled out below:
1) Note down specific changes in technology below and films that have utilized this change in technology...
2) What has been the exclusive production, distribution and exhibition format for over 100 years?
3) What is going to replace 35mm film?
4) Note down key quotes from directors regarding digital and film production and exhibition:
5) How is digital processed?
6) How does the documentary discuss the production and post production process?
7) How is digital helping or hindering film production, post production and exhibition?
8) Note down key quotes from editors regarding digital post production:
9) What is the impact of digital technology and what does the future hold?
We are going to revisit CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY as a topic today.
Remember we watched Keanu Reeves, "Side by Side" and you made some good notes (everything you'll need for an essay) for writing about the move from film to digital.
Today we are going to explore technological changes and what impact that has on the film indutstry. You need to be able to comment on CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY AND HOW IT IMPACTS EVERY PART OF THE PRODUCTION PROCESS (production / post-production / distribution / exhibition / consumption)
This article from last week has a lot in it in terms of technological advancements / changes in technology that impact the film industry;
The way media re-presents the world — people, places, events and ideas are constructed through choices. Never 'neutral' or 'natural'.
Stereotype
An oversimplified, widely-held image of a group. Stereotypes are ideological — they serve the interests of dominant groups by making constructions appear natural.
Counter-type
A representation that deliberately challenges or subverts a dominant stereotype.
Ideology
A system of values and beliefs presented as common sense. Media texts encode ideological positions through representational choices.
Preferred / Dominant Reading
The meaning a producer intends audiences to take from a text. The technical codes work to anchor this reading.
Signifier / Signified
From semiotics: the signifier is the image/sound; the signified is the concept or meaning it evokes. Useful for analysing mise-en-scène.
Connotation / Denotation
Denotation = what you literally see/hear. Connotation = the cultural meanings and associations it carries.
OBSERVATION GRID
Element
What I noticed (observation) → What it means (analysis)
Camera
Editing
Mise-en-Scène
Sound
✦ ACTIVITY: — Three Statements
1.Students write three statements, each using a different technical element and explaining how it contributes to the representation of a character or group in the extract.
2.Each statement must follow the structure: [Technical choice] + [Specific detail] + [Effect on audience/meaning created] + [Representation constructed].
3.Example: 'The low-angle shot of the detective [camera] creates a sense of authority and dominance, positioning the audience to view him as powerful, constructing a stereotypically heroic masculine identity.'
“Identity is complicated; everyone's got one.” Gauntlett believes that while everyone is an individual, people tend to exist within larger groups who are similar to them. He thinks the media do not create identities, but just reflect them instead
Let's look at this article and clip from David Gauntlett himself
Why is it hard for us to ask the question 'how does this media text construct identity'?
What are some key notions of identity that we should take into consideration?
Use one of the clips from this week's homework assignment and write a paragraph that uses both Stuart Hall, Blumler and Katz (Uses _+ Gratifications theory) and Gauntlett's theory correctly.
I want you to watch it through from 1.36 mins to the end (please note, this will be longer than the average clip you'll get in an exam but for the purposes of practise, it's a great clip).
Task 2:
Create a blog post with the title, "Downton Abbey Representation Practise" with your notes
Questions;
1. Who (out of the 7 core representation areas of society) are being represented in this clip?
(you can choose more than 1 category if you feel it's relevant)
2. How are they represented to us? (what messages are we told about these groups? What are they like? What are their lives like? What are we encouraged / pursuaded to think about them?)
3. Split a planning page up into 4 squares and include your 4 technical elements. Go through the clip from 1.36 and collect EVIDENCE (or examples) of where each technical area created meaning. Use correct terminology AND details of the example you're referring to (you can't just say 'there's lots of close-up's") You will need to watch the clip through 3 - 4 times, like you would in an exam, to get the notes you need.
Task 3:
Watch this video as it goes through each technical element and how you should be taking notes for your essay;
Task 3:
Write an essay over the next 2 lessons in response to the exam question,
'How is meaning created using the four technical elements?"
3. Why is this a good example that illustrates how NZ film is used for a different purpose than the films created for the Big 5? Was this safety video purely for entertainment?
Let's look at this together and make some notes about how marketing is changing with technological advancements to be more interactive. Also, for a marketing essay, let's use this as an example of how movies can create hype/ buzz in creative ways. This was produced by and distributed by Warner Bros. Use this as an example of how big studios have an advantage for this sort of reach, in their marketing.
Audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home thanks to the lower cost of technology. This new audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘prosumer’.
Amateur content made this way has different values to professional media producers, in that it promotes a connection between other amateur producers – they both deeply care about the products they make and can help them work together.
When they work together in this way, audiences can make more content than producers – Wikipedia is a good example of this.
What is the advanced version?
In the ‘old’ media, centralised producers addressed atomised consumers; in the ‘new’ media, every consumer is now a producer. Traditional media producers would ‘filter then publish’; as many ‘new’ media producers are not employees, they ‘publish then filter’.
These amateur producers have different motivations to those of professionals – they value autonomy, competence, membership and generosity. User-generated content creates emotional connection between people who care about something. This can generate a cognitive surplus – for example, Wikipedia can aggregate people’s free time and talent to produce value that no traditional medium could match.
‘The Audience’ as a mass of people with predictable behaviour is gone. Now, behaviour is variable across different sites, with some of the audience creating content, some synthesising content and some consuming content. The ‘old’ media created a mass audience. The ‘new’ media provide a platform for people to provide value for each other.
Research the definition of the following terminology and get examples from the case study above (Avengers Endgame) and/or Avatar, Way of the Water, for each one;
- 360' Marketing / immersive marketing
- viral marketing
- hype/ buzz
- global marketing
Also look up the following;
- Box office for this film, how it was released and how well it did.
Activity #2 - we will work on this during the week
Write an essay in response to the question below, using all the terminology and case study research above...
"How far does cross-media convergence and synergy affect the success of a film?"
Cross Media Convergence This is really a Business Studies term and refers to companies coming together vertically or horizontally (or both). The example often cited in exams is of Working Title making use of its parent company(s) to gain access to bigger stars and a better distribution network for their films. The same theory can be applied to the music industry where small labels are bought up and taken under the wing of larger groups, like Sony and EMI. Sony is a good example where they produce films, TV and music as well as the hardware to view/listen to their products (including smart phones)
Synergy Synergy basically means working together to achieve an objective that couldn’t be achieved independently. Cross-media convergence can help with synergy if companies are wise enough to take advantage of the links they have forged. Disney is an obvious example of a synergistic company from the top down from Film Studio to Kids’ TV Channel (where it further plays and promotes its films) to the Disney Store (in the street and online) where your kids can pester you to buy all the merchandise and DVDs/CDs they’ve seen on the TV/Web or in the cinema.
Today I want you to do some research into MARKETING strategies for your case study films.
I want you to add examples of SYNERGY and CROSS-MEDIA CONVERGENCE for how your films were marketed to their audience.
Did they use any marketing campaigns? Were they global? Were they successful? Did they use vertical integration in any cases?
Write a few bullet points for each case study movie.
ALSO, we are adding Disney to our case study list as an institution we study. I want you to write down a few key examples from our online class as well as add a few of your own to the list on how they successfully use synergy and cross-media convergence in marketing.
Here's the Disney video we checked out the other day if you want to re-watch it to make some notes.
Have a watch of these 2 videos and make notes. Be careful to get stats/ quotes and case study examples that you can use in essays.
You can use the concept of a global audience impacting representation / impacting Hollywood in the following essays;
- Audiences (in relation to how audiences are not just local, consuming local media but Global and the issues that arise with this)
- ownership (in relation to how Hollywood are powerful but with money being their bottom line, they compromise on Western values to gain Chinese audience support)
- technology (in relation to how proliferation of the internet has shifted audiences from local to global and some of the issues that arise with that)
Task 1: In preparation for this week's essay, I want you to watch this video and make some detailed notes (in your own words), explaining what synergy is.
You should also have some examples (like the Black panther examples) of how your case studies used examples of Synergy.
Task 2: Take a look at this slightly tedious but very informative video and make some notes on the difference between Cross-Media-Convergene and Synergy.
Curran and Seaton – power and media industries theory.
Definition from OCR
A political economy approach to the media – arguing that patterns of ownership and control are the most significant factors in how the media operate.
Media industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration of ownership in fewer and fewer hands. This leads to a narrowing of the range of opinions represented and a pursuit of profit at the expense of quality or creativity.
The internet does not represent a rupture with the past in that it does not offer a level playing field for diverse voices to be heard. It is constrained by nationalism and state censorship. News is still controlled by powerful news organisations, who have successfully defended their oligarch.
What is the theory?
Newspapers should reflect the interests of an audience otherwise they will go out business. They should be liberal and anyone should be able to make one. However, this does not happen in practice due to cost and the press can be used as a propaganda tool to influence the audience. Because there are far fewer newspaper owners than their are readers, an audience only receives a small amount of opinions. Whilst many hoped the internet would make this fairer, due to lower costs, Curran and Seaton believe this hasn’t happened in practice as the big news organisations control the majority of online news.
What is the more advanced version?
“The free market makes the press a representative institution…newspapers and magazines are to respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business.”
“The broad shape and nature of the press is ultimately determined by no one but its readers.” (John Whale).
The freedom to publish in a free market ensures the press reflects a wide range of opinions and interests in a society. If a viewpoint is missing in the press, this is because it lacks a sufficient following to sustain it in the market place.
“Some liberal theorists view the market as an analogue of the electoral process. They claim that newspapers submit themselves to public judgement every time they go on sale…consequently, newspapers are closer to the people than are their elected representatives.”
“The press is the people’s watchdog, scrutinizing the actions of government and holding the country’s rulers to account.”
However, since the press has been industrialised, the ‘assumption that ‘anyone is free to start a paper’ is an ‘illusion’.
Since the advent of the internet, entry costs have been lowered. However, “the list of the ten most-visited sites is dominated by large news organisations like BBC News, the Guardian, The Times, The Sun and Telegraph.”
Whilst the press used to be independent of outside financial interests, most British press was bought up in the 1960s and 1970s by conglomerates. The press have become a subsidiary of these companies and harms their independence.
Furthermore, anti-monopoly legislation has been ineffective, allowing the creation of large media monopolies, which allows individual companies a great deal of power when the desire to publicise a message to vast amounts of people is enacted.
Curran found evidence that media owners did interfere and manipulate newspaper content at the expense of the independence of journalists and editors . Rupert Murdoch in 2003 strongly wanted a war with Iraq and its no coincidence that all of his 175 newspapers around the world that he owns supported this view in their articles
Use this theory when explaining the power of media institutions and how monopolies can project ideas and messages to large amounts of people.
This can also be used to explain the illusion of freedom that prosumers and content creators have one the internet as whilst they can create and publish, it is still very difficult to reach an audience.
Media concentration limits diversity.
Ownership influences viewpoints available to audiences.
Write down some examples to do with Disney in both horiztontal and vertical integration.
Activity
Use all your ownership terminology to write an introduction to this question, including definition and examples of horizontal and vertical integration;
"To what extent does media ownership impact the success of a film?"
On your notes on ownership, make a list of issues outlined here that arise from Disney being so massive. Include any recent acquisitions and what this means for the film industry and audiences.
