Tuesday 4 September 2018
Friday 4 May 2018
Monday 23 April 2018
Tuesday 17 April 2018
Tuesday 27 March 2018
Thursday 22 March 2018
Institutional Factors and Marketing
Institutional Factors and Marketing
First published in
1991 The Big Issue has gone from strength to strength
to become the world’s most widely circulated street newspaper. It
officially belongs to the hybrid genre of entertainment and
social business and as such, runs regular reviews on films, book releases,
theatre, music and art but no television listings – the entertainment aspect
attracts advertising revenue while the editorial
content is often critical of big business, banking and commerce and
champions the political cause and role of the individual within society. David
v Goliath narratives are common as downtrodden groups and disparate individuals
fight corporate giants but the magazine has come under some criticism for its
‘flashy style’ as a street newspaper and as being overly commercial.
When John
Bird and Gordon Roddick founded the magazine their aim was to offer homeless
people, or people at risk of homelessness the opportunity to earn a legitimate
income by selling the magazine – the cost of the magazine is £2-50 with £1-25
going to the trader. This was the primary objective of the magazine as an independent
publication to offer a public service and to try and improve a social
problem which they saw as endemic – John Bird MBE remains the Editor-in-Chief
and still writes a regular column at the back of the magazine. Recently
(January 2013) he appeared on BBC1’s discussion panel show Question
Time surprising some viewers with his admission that he is a ‘working
class Tory’. Other writers in the magazine Bird works with include professional
journalists and new and established writers.
Bird’s own
background was pivotal to launching The Big Issue – he
was homeless at the age of 5, residing in an orphanage between 7 and 10 and had
a spell in prison as a teenager. After leaving prison he slept rough on the
streets of London before returning to prison in his late 20s. Four years after
founding the magazine in 1995 he launched The Big Issue Foundation,
a registered charity to further help the homeless. The Foundation provides
magazine vendors with information, advice, guidance and support on a range of
issues.
As an
independent publication (published by The Big Issue Company Ltd.)
it needed, and received £25,000 start up capital, donated by The
Body Shop (the founder of the Body Shop, Anita Roddick was the
wife of co Big Issue founder Gordon Roddick). At its
peak The Big Issue sold 300,000 copies in 2001 but as
sales declined over the decade (along with the circulation of
all print media) it re-launched with a new look and new columnists including
controversial Premier League footballer Joey Barton. Weekly circulation (every
Monday) has improved to around 58,000 and presently there are 6000 registered
sellers all over the UK with acknowledgement that there are also rogue traders
(without large red jackets and clear id badges) who have ‘acquired’ copies of
the magazine illegally. Most of the vendors conform to the male (85%)
homeless stereotype, are 18-46 with broken relationships and
subsequent problems given and the major reason for their homelessness
Audience Appeals
Undoubtedly there is an element of emotional fulfilment in
buying a copy of The Big Issue – this feel good factor
associated with charity giving has to be identified as one of the key appeals
of the magazine. In making a purchase you may feel better ideologically knowing
you are helping rough sleepers and the homeless. This is why ‘carers’ using
psychographic research are targeted by the magazine. Using a different model of
audience, the Uses and Gratifications model Surveillance very
much applies as one of audience pleasures gained from reading the magazine.
Information is available on socio political issues but also the entertainment
aspect in that you can read about a current issue but then indulge in reviews
and analysis of culture.
The target audience of The Big Issue also
enjoy the fact that it speaks to them, in terms of modes of address ‘in
their own language’ using an elaborated language code assuming
a level of intelligence and cultural capital. This balanced
approach cloaks up to a point any encoded ideology and
massages carefully the readers’ understanding of key issues. Articles and
stories assume some prior knowledge e.g. in the edition October 8th 2012 a
piece on the American Presidential Debate required some knowledge of the
American constitution and political history. Shared ideological beliefs is also
a key appeal for the audience as notions of personal relationships apply – in
the same edition an ironic advert for ‘Dick Sapphire’ lectures on how to make
money targets the audience’s left wing, liberal leanings as they are aware the
lectures are written and performed by comedian Rory Bremner, known for his
strong political opinions on issues ranging from Health Care to Education and Politics.
These are all areas audiences would expect The Big Issue to
cover.
The reader is made to feel
‘independent’ by the reactionary, sometimes controversial approach the magazine
has, against dominant mainstream culture. Even the adverts do not
follow mainstream conventions with copy including National Book Tokens, ‘Let’s
Trek for Children’ and Safer Medicines. There is an
element of the alternative here with the caring, liberal audience appreciating
the lack of adverts for high street brands whose primary objective is
commercial gain. Along with this, even the celebrities found within the
magazine are associated with more realist human interest stories while at the
same time remaining aspirational as figures the target
audience can identify with and relate to. The central story, “What’s your
Revolution?” is a rhetorical question challenging the target
audience making clear linking to the Communist Russian Revolution – this is an
attempt by the magazine to return to left wing political values.
• The
connotations of the Russian Revolution are evidenced by intertextual reference
to Constructivist art which references the cultural capital of
an ABC1 demographic – the fist, stars and design are common to this art
movement.
• “Time
to make a change” has a double meaning by referencing a need for political
change but also by referring directly to new writers – Alex Salmond as leader
of the SNP has obvious credentials to write for a politically motivated
magazine, Bob Crow is the reactionary, left wing General Secretary of the RMT
known for bringing railway workers out on strike while the Archbishop of York
is an outspoken block cleric on issues of multiculturalism and homosexuality.
The controversial Premier League footballer Joey Barton is included as a
controversial figure who has been subject to considerable criticism and media
speculation.
• Dame
Stephanie Shirley is the only female writer on the front cover which anchors
the male dominated narratives and viewpoints contained within the magazine –
Dame ‘Steve’ Shirley (adopting the name Steve to help her in the male dominated
business world) is a businesswoman and philanthropist whose work has focussed
on creating work opportunities for women with dependents.
Genre
• As
a hybrid magazine of
entertainment and social business key entertainment conventions include reviews on
television, film, book releases, theatre, music, the arts (see some display
adverts). As identified before these entertainment aspects draw in advertising
revenue as this is one of the key appeals of the magazine (see above). Front
covers are nearly always entertainment based with frequent use of celebrity to
anchor a narrative –
see front page deconstruction below. The Big Issue remains an unusual hybrid as entertainment
magazines are rarely hybridised with social business and as such this positions
the magazine as having a USP.
• In
terms of social business, the magazine runs so called ‘serious stories’ –
social issues e.g. AIDS in Africa, Wikileaks, liberal politics, ‘David and
Goliath’ stories which commonly focus on individuals and their struggle against
corporations in classic binary
opposition. Definitions of social business are businesses that are
associated with working for the benefit of the people e.g. Charities,
Education, Healthcare, Housing…This is clearly identifiable as a key convention
of The Big Issue as
it places this as an ideological imperative. Businesses foregrounded often
associated with a more caring approach include Virgin, Innocent
Smoothie, Co-op Bank, Organic Milk, National Book Tokens, Skillset and the University of the Arts. Critical of
big business, banking and commerce the articles are often anti-government,
state control and use of power. Despite the unusual hybrid The Big Issue retains some of its
generic features including regular articles at the back of the magazine by John
Bird and a guarantee of a ‘big splash’, colour cover that is challenging and
provoking.
Representation
• Pluralistic representations
reflect the fact that the magazine is independent – it offers a diverse range
of representations but a key focus on minority groups e.g. the homeless which
positions it as a media text that like The Guardian,
foregrounds narratives about minority groups. Connotations of
being politically liberal and socially aware and against mainstream
representations are written into the magazine despite the prior admission as
identified earlier of John Bird’s Conservative political sympathies. The
Big Issue wants however to be seem as the antithesis of
right wing political ideology and this is evident from front covers
and content analysis.
• In
relation to gender the magazine has a male dominated narrative despite
the alleged 59% readership (according to The Big Issue). I
personally rarely see the magazine purchased by female consumers and the
content seems to stereotypically target ‘male issues’. This is a problem
for The Big Issue as it wants to appeal to both
genders. The magazine is sold not exclusively but commonly by male vendors and
homelessness in terms of statistics is a ‘male problem’. As difficult as these
statistics are to interpret there are many, many more homeless males in the UK
than female and as a result ABC1, educated male consumers are more likely to be
aware of this.
• Representations
of Age is interesting - The Big Issue allegedly has a
younger target audience according to the magazine’s own demographic analysis
but many articles suggest a need for cultural capital associated with an older
demographic e.g. one article on William Shatner as James T Kirk would present
‘problems’ for a younger reader. In this regard however statistics indicate
that homeless people in the UK are more under 45 than over 45 with a
significant percentage under 35. Representation of art and culture are
preferred to mainstream entertainment which again would stereotypically attract
an older audience with a positive focus on representations of working class
culture despite the middle class readership.
• Compared
to any genre of magazine The Big Issue has low
production values but compared to most other so called Street
Magazines has higher production values. Again, as with most magazines The
Big Issue is sustained by advertising revenue and
by The Big Issue Foundation and supported by www.bigissue.com. The cover is often
flamboyant, revealing a high level of cultural and political awareness (see
above covers which use intertextual links to an Alfred
Hitchcock film to link to budget cuts and debate on the power of
television) but also understanding the cover is the main point of sale. The
Big Issue is sold (points of distribution) in city
centres, built up urban areas, train stations and shopping centres with the
bulk in London where there is a high percentage of Romanian vendors. The
magazine, although dealing with national issues is up to a point globally
published being available in Australia, Japan, South Africa, South
Korea, Namibia, Kenya, Taiwan and Malawi where content is bespoke to country
and culture.
Tuesday 20 March 2018
Circulation of Minecraft
Audiences have been part of the feedback process for the
game since its creation. This has allowed the game to improve and also gain a
wider audience. This is because with feedback, the developers are able to take
this and use it to their advantage. They can change and tweak the game to
satisfy the negative feedback and can also understand the success from positive
feedback. Minecraft was created in 2009, therefore people’s needs would have
changed and different technology would allow the creators to change the game.
This would also allow the audience to give feedback on new features to the
game.
Reasons why Minecraft is successful
Why is Minecraft a Success?
- Easy to access
- creative
- Wide audience
- mass marketing
- continuous game (there is no limit)
- Original, little competition
- A Strong community
- Forging relationships
- Infinate replayability
- Platform agnostic
- Co-opted by children
- Not limited by gender
- Fulfils human instincts
Jungle Book Essay
Disney is a conglomerate and one of the largest. A
conglomerate is a mixture of two or corporations which come under one main
firm. Disneys conglomerate consists of : Disney, ABC, ESPN, Lucas film, marvel.
Disney is part of the BIG 6. The Big 6 are an oligopoly. They are the 6 main
companies that produce media.
Jon
Favreau introduced the film via social media and also introduced it by
promoting it at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. They also released three teaser trailers
in the lead up to the releasing of the film in cinemas. Disney
have steered away from using animation and into more real life films so older
audiences would be more interested as they may find animations childish. For
example, Disney has done this with Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. Also with films like
Pirates and the Caribbean use more violent themes to attract older audiences.Disney
circulated photographs of paired actors with their onscreen characters, ESPN,
Snapchat to create a living poster, Kenzo.
The differences with the length of the trailer are
that the new one is longer as it has to fill the advert space on tv. Then the
atmosphere is strangly different with mood a lot tenser and every thing more viscous
and wanting to attract more varied audience. Back
in 1967, the ‘old’ jungle book used famous jazz singers to promote the film.
This was because the Jazz singers produced the soundtrack in Jungle Book.
However, for the new Jungle Book, they used actors to promote because if people
saw a famous actor they liked in the trailer, they would most likely go and see
the film. Comparing the posters between the
two productions of the jungle book you can see better technology to create the
posters, making them more realistic and emotive. Also, there are a range of
posters created in 2016, where as in 1967 there was only 1 poster of poor
quality. The new posters show all the different characters, however, if you put
them together in the correct order they all fit together to make one larger
poster.In the 1967 film, Walt Disney wanted
swinging sixties bands such as the Beatles to play the characters of the
vultures which is who they based the characters off of for the 1967 jungle book
film. Disney Vault. The "Disney Vault" is the term used by Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment for its policy of putting many of its most
popular home video releases of Walt Disney Animation Studios's animated
features on moratorium.The re-release of the
Jungle book in 2016 after the 2 previous release help to create the extreme
success that has been surrounded the film as Disney itself. The film was also
released onto VHS to appeal to the older audience.
Conclusion
To conclude, marketing has obviously changed. You could argue
that with its licensing deals with Kenzo and its focus on aggressively
targeting a secondary audience to build profits on the back of a family
audience who always turn out for Disney films you could argue that Disney have
grown smarter and more precise with their planning, however we must also not
forget that there are still lots of similarities between the two eras, for
example the use of stars and red carpet premieres to promote a film remains in
place as does the creation of character posters and trailers as the fundamental
basics of Disney marketing so to me what
is forgotten is that Disney as a
conglomerate have always been a master at marketing, it is why they are the
number one entertainment conglomerate in the world and yes some of the practices have changed but
the whole reason why there was new version of The Jungle Book in the first
place was because of the success of the first film, a success driven by an
effective marketing campaign.
Friday 16 March 2018
Monday 26 February 2018
Minecraft Essay
Minecraft is a sandbox mini game created by Marcus ‘Notch’
Persson. A sandbox game is
one where players roam virtual worlds and approach objectives
freely, as opposed to games with more linear gameplay. Players in sandbox games
are free to explore an environment and can choose what tasks they do and allows
the player to express themselves creatively within the game. The game was fully
developed and published by Mojang in May 2009, which is their most popular
independent game.
Minecraft is set in a 3D world and has no specific
goals to complete. This gives the game freedom and allows creativity to each
player. A player can either play in a first person perspective or a third
person one. The world is made up of textured blocks which represent materials
such as dirt, sand, water, trees and lava as well as others. Players can also encounter non-player
characters known as mobs such as animals, villagers and hostile creatures.
Minecraft has several types of mode. Survival mode
is where players have to gather natural resources to craft certain blocks and
items. These natural resources may include wood and stone. This mode has a
health bar goes down when the
character gets attacked by monsters, falls, drowning, falling into lava,
suffocation, starvation, and other events. Players also have a hunger bar which
must be occasionally refilled by eating food in the game. Players acquire
resources to craft tools, such as axes, shovels, or pickaxes, used to chop down
trees, dig soil, and mine ores.
Other modes
include creative where players have access to all resources and items in the
game through the inventory menu, and can place or remove them instantly. Players
can toggle the ability to fly freely around the game world at will, and their
characters do not take any damage and are not affected by hunger. The game mode
helps players focus on building and creating large projects. Another mode is adventure. It was designed specifically so that players could
experience user-crafted custom maps and adventures. Gameplay is similar to
survival mode but introduces various player restrictions, which can be applied
to the game world by the creator of the map. This forces players to obtain the
required items and experience adventures in the way that the map maker
intended. Adventure mode was added to version 1.3.
Minecraft was
first released in May 2009. Since then, many new versions and updates have been
added to make Minecraft better for the player’s benefit. There are still updates
to this present day and at this point of development, the game was considered
"complete", both having an "ending" and being ready for
ratings and reviews. The game's price also increased from what it was in Beta,
but users who previously bought the game were not charged extra.
Minecraft
surpassed over a million purchases less than a month after entering its beta
phase in early 2011. At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and
has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth, and
various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic. By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft
had made €23 million in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version
of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version. In 2014, Mojang sold
Minecraft to Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion (£1.9 billion). Since this
deal, Minecraft has been spread onto many different platforms. Some of these
include Microsoft’s own Xbox, Windows 10 and Window phones, as well as Nintendo
Wii U, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Android phones. As well as this,
spin-off games have been used in education facilities global. In 2019, a
Minecraft movie is set to appear in cinemas.
Social media
sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit played a significant role in
popularizing Minecraft.
Research conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of
Communication showed that one-third of Minecraft players learned about
the game via Internet videos. In 2010, Minecraft-related
videos began to gain influence on YouTube, often made by commentators.
Friday 23 February 2018
Timeline of Minecraft
2009
May
17th- First release of game.
21st- Accounts can now be registered.
24th May- Official Minecraft forum is opened.
June
8th- Mulitplayer release.
October
Beginning of survival test.
2010
January
29th – Introducing of the crafting system
June
17th- Minecraft passes 20,000 sales.
July
22nd- First over internet test of survival mode
multiplayer.
October
16th- Mojang is founded.
December
22nd- Minecraft beta version is released.
2011
January
12th- Minecraft reaches 1 million sales.
July
Minecraft passes 10 million registered users.
August
16th- Minecraft pocket edition released for
Xperia play only.
November
17th- Pocket edition released on IOS
2012
May
Released on Xbox 360.
2013
October
25th- Java update 1.7.2 released ‘the update that
changed the world.’
December
13th- Minecraft for Java surpasses 13 million
sales
2014
September
4th- PlayStation 4 edition released.
5th- Minecraft Xbox one edition released.
December
10th- pocket edition released for windows phone.
2015
June
30th Minecraft for Java surpasses 20 million
sales
October
13th- Minecraft story mode released.
December
Minecraft WiiU edition released.
2016
June
2nd- Minecraft sold over 100 million times across
all platforms, and makes second bestselling games.
27th- Minecraft announces release of minecraft
the movie for May 24 2019
November
Minecraft education edition released.
December
19th- Minecraft pocket edition released on Amazon
Fire tv an Apple tv
2017
May
11th- Minecraft Nintendo switch edition released.
September
13th- Minecraft released on Nintendo 3DS
December
Minecraft hits 74 million active players and 144 million
total sales.
Tuesday 20 February 2018
Radio Stations
Popular radio Stations & their audiences:
- Heart FM- middle age
- Smooth- senior citizen
- Capital- youth
- Absolute 80s- middle age
- Kiss FM- youth
- Radio 1- youth (15-29)
- Radio 5- serious & sports
- Classical FM- senior citizen
- Gaydio
- BBC Asian
- Encore- musical lovers
- Capital Xtra- more urban & dance
- Talksport- football, rugby, cricket
Introduction to Radio
Notes:
- 90% of adults tune in, 71% of these adults tune in live.
- 24% of 16-24 year olds tune in.
- 26% listen on personal digital radio.
- 25% listen on audio streaming services.
- In 2015, over 40% of all reported radio listening was through a digital device.
- A 2nd national DAB network of transmitters were switched in 2016, bringing 15 unique radio services.
- The BBC's USP is the ability to find new music, such as BTS and K-Pop.
-
Task 1:
- Go online and have a look at the BBC radio programmes on offer today - Look at Radio 1 through to Radio 6:
- Which programmes are most clearly fulfilling their PSB remit?
- What range of programmes are offered?
- Which audiences are being targeted?
- Which one of the 3 principles are most in evidence in which programmes:
Radio 1: Their remit is to entertain a broad range of listeners who are young by playing chart music and relatable chat that engage a young audience. They do this by offering shows such as; Breakfast show, Official chart with Greg James, Newsbeat etc. Playing a mix of new music and artists who are emerging. Their target audience is 15 - 29 including youths and young adults.
Radio 2: Their remit is to be distinctive in their music and their speech. They offer shows such as; The Chris Evans breakfast show, Simon Mayo drive time, sounds of the 80's etc. They offer entertaining popular music and more speech based content focussing on news, current affairs, religion, documentaries etc. They target a broader audience appealing to over 35s
Radio 3: Their remit is to play music and cultural programs that engage its audience. They play shows such as; Essential classics, lunchtime concert etc. Showing that they focus more on classic music and their chat which both informs and entertains its audience. This radio appeals to an audience that prefer listening to radio that will educate, mainly an older audience.
Radio 4: Their remit is to inform, educate and entertain listeners through speech programmes appealing to audiences that prefer intellectual chat. They play shows such as; Woman's hour, Book of the week etc. Showing more mature chat on news and current affairs.
Radio 5: Their remit is to cover live news and sport that bring stories that have just happened. They provide shows such as; The Friday's sport panel, 5 live breakfast etc. Showing that they focus more on discussion and analysis of sport and news rather than music. Their audiences targets sports fans and mostly an older audience as it is just chat.
Radio 6: Their remit is to entertain listeners with popular and alternative music. They provide shows such as; Iggy pop, Tom Ravenscroft etc. They play songs outside the mainstream market supported with live music and new artists. They target all ages music lovers.
Task 2:
Who was the first Breakfast show presenter on Radio 1?
Tony Blackburn
Other DJ's who have presented the show:
Nick Grimshaw, Simon Mayo, Chris Moyles, Mike Read
Biographical information on Nick Grimshaw:
He is best known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1 and has been host of The Radio 1 Breakfast Show since 2012, Grimshaw grew up in the town of Oldham, Greater Manchester. He is now known for his roles in T4 and The Album Chart Show and being a judge on the twelfth series of X Factor.
What are the current listening figures for the Breakfast Show?
The show recorded 4.93 million weekly listeners between July and September - down from 5.5 million last quarter.
Who is the controller of BBC Radio1?
Ben Cooper
How is Radio 1 funded?
Principally by an annual television license fee which is charged to all British households, Companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts and iPlayer catch up.
How does Radio 1 try to be distinctive?
Radio 1 plays nearly 10 times as many different tracks in a month as its commercial rival, Capital. This is because as well as playing chart music, they also play music by emerging artists which would not be played on other commercial radio.
What is the difference between BBC Radio & Commercial stations?
Commercial stations including Capital, Kiss and Heart play chart music to keep their listeners happy and up to date with new music whereas BBC plays a wide variety of music and discussion. BBC radio spread different content between their stations which means they can reach a broader audience whereas commercial stations tend to only focus on current affairs and music.
Monday 29 January 2018
Industry Vocab List
- Barb- The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board
- Webcasting License - Offered to those wishing to carry out Internet broadcasting using copyrighted material.
- Web 3.0 or Semantic Web- A proposed development of the World Wide Web in which data in web pages is structured and tagged in such a way that it can be read directly by computers.
- Internet of things- A network of internet-connected objects able to collect and exchange data using embedded sensors.
- Binge Watching- watch multiple episodes of (a television programme) in rapid succession, typically by means of DVDs or digital streaming.
- DAB - Digital audio broadcasting
- Traditional Media- refers to conventional means of mass communication practiced by various communities and cultures, or embodied in local custom or lore.
- Google Analytics- A freemium web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic.
- RAJAR- Radio Joint Audience Research
- NRS- A system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom.
- MIDAS-
- Cultural Imperialism- Comprises the cultural aspects of imperialism
- Democratisation of the mass media-
- Effects of Piracy- Decrease in Sales of Legal Copies, Retail Price Effects of Piracy, Estimating the Amount of Piracy, expectation of Piracy, non- profit loss
- Horizontal Integration- The process of a company increasing production of goods or services at the same part of the supply chain.
- Vertical integration- The combination in one firm of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate firms.
- Diversification- The process of a company enlarging or varying its range of products or field of operation.
- Alternative Media- Are media that differ from established or dominant types of media in terms of their content, production, or distribution.
- Independent Media- Refers to any form of media, such as radio, television, newspapers or the Internet, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests.
- Conglomerate- A company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet.
- GRA- Graphic Arts
- PEGI- Pan European Game Information, a European video game content rating system established to help European consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content descriptors.
- MediaWatch UK - Formerly known as the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (National VALA or NVLA), is a pressure group in the United Kingdom, which campaigns against the publication and broadcast of media content that it views as harmful and offensive, such as violence, profanity, sex and homosexuality.
- IPSO- The Independent Press Standards Organisation is the independent regulator for the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK.
- WaterShed- An event or period marking a turning point in a situation.
- OFCOM- The Office of Communications is the UK government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
- Media Watch-
- BBC Charter- Established the BBC. An accompanying Agreement recognises its editorial independence and sets out its public obligations in detail.
- Synergy- The interaction or cooperation of two or more organisations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
- PSB- Public Service Broadcasting
- Broadcast Code- required under the Communications Act 2003 and the Broadcasting Act 1996 to draw up a code for television and radio, covering standards in programmes, sponsorship, product placement in television programmes, fairness and privacy.
- IWF -Internet Watch Foundation
Friday 19 January 2018
Jungle Book Essays
Essay on
Marketing/Circulation
Disney is a conglomerate and one of the largest. A
conglomerate is a mixture of two or corporations which come under one main
firm. Disneys conglomerate consists of : Disney, ABC, ESPN, Lucas film, marvel.
Disney is part of the BIG 6. The Big 6 are an oligopoly. They are the 6 main
companies that produce media.
Jon Favreau introduced the film via social media and also
introduced it by promoting it at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. They also released
three teaser trailers in the lead up to the releasing of the film in cinemas. Disney
have steered away from using animation and into more real life films so older
audiences would be more interested as they may find animations childish. For
example, Disney has done this with Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. Also with films like
Pirates and the Caribbean use more violent themes to attract older audiences.Disney
circulated photographs of paired actors with their onscreen characters, ESPN,
Snapchat to create a living poster, Kenzo.
The differences with the length of the trailer are
that the new one is longer as it has to fill the advert space on tv. Then the
atmosphere is strangly different with mood a lot tenser and every thing more viscous
and wanting to attract more varied audience. Back
in 1967, the ‘old’ jungle book used famous jazz singers to promote the film.
This was because the Jazz singers produced the soundtrack in Jungle Book.
However, for the new Jungle Book, they used actors to promote because if people
saw a famous actor they liked in the trailer, they would most likely go and see
the film. Comparing the posters between the
two productions of the jungle book you can see better technology to create the
posters, making them more realistic and emotive. Also, there are a range of
posters created in 2016, where as in 1967 there was only 1 poster of poor
quality. The new posters show all the different characters, however, if you put
them together in the correct order they all fit together to make one larger
poster.In the 1967 film, Walt Disney wanted
swinging sixties bands such as the Beatles to play the characters of the
vultures which is who they based the characters off of for the 1967 jungle book
film. Disney Vault. The "Disney Vault" is the term used by Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment for its policy of putting many of its most
popular home video releases of Walt Disney Animation Studios's animated
features on moratorium.The re-release of the
Jungle book in 2016 after the 2 previous release help to create the extreme
success that has been surrounded the film as Disney itself. The film was also
released onto VHS to appeal to the older audience.
Conclusion
To conclude, marketing has obviously changed. You could argue
that with its licensing deals with Kenzo and its focus on aggressively
targeting a secondary audience to build profits on the back of a family
audience who always turn out for Disney films you could argue that Disney have
grown smarter and more precise with their planning, however we must also not
forget that there are still lots of similarities between the two eras, for
example the use of stars and red carpet premieres to promote a film remains in
place as does the creation of character posters and trailers as the fundamental
basics of Disney marketing so to me what
is forgotten is that Disney as a
conglomerate have always been a master at marketing, it is why they are the
number one entertainment conglomerate in the world and yes some of the practices have changed but
the whole reason why there was new version of The Jungle Book in the first
place was because of the success of the first film, a success driven by an
effective marketing campaign.
Distribution
Disney is the world’s 2nd largest conglomerate (a combination of two or more corporations) following Comcast who are Disney’s biggest competition at the moment. The company control film makers such as marvel, Pixar, and Walt Disney productions. Distribution is very important part of modern day media as it will have a huge factor on what type of audience and how many people will be available to watch it, for example Disney sell licenses on Netflix and sky. This helps distribute the film around and make everything easy to watch. Distribution is changing the world because people are more likely to go online and watch a film instead of buy it because there are so many options on how to watch it. It’s very important because without it your film wouldn’t sell. As media has changed over the years, distribution has gotten easier, for example we have social media which is a popular choice for adverts and advertising upcoming films. They wouldn’t have had this luxury in the 20th century which would make it harder to distribute. McDonalds was one of Disney’s sponsors. Disney collaborated with McDonalds and so Disney themed toys were put into happy meals in conjunction to the latest film release from Disney. This advertised Disney’s latest films and encouraged children to want to go and see the film that is coming out. McDonald’s would also benefit as some children will encourage their parents to buy a happy meal purely for the toy inside. Disney distributed their films through posters and billboards, a lot of posters would have been sent around the country to attract everyone. Also they would have shown Disney films in cinemas across the Country as it would have not been on DVD or the internet yet. The new releases of old films bring and invites new audiences together. The film is now the 39th to reach the $900 million milestone. “The Jungle Book” blew past forecasts in its opening weekend, grossing $103.6 million in the U.S. during April 15-17. Advantages of these are that it means it targets a wider audience.
Conclusion
To conclude it is important to stress the importance of distribution to a conglomerate like Disney. Without effective distribution patterns films could easily underachieve profit wise for example but it must be remembered that distribution cannot be seen in isolation because it can quite easily be linked to the principle of synergy, as one business theorist states ‘industries rely on repetition through use of stars, genres, franchises, repeatable narratives and so on to sell formats to audiences, then industries try to impose scarcity to keep demand high.’ This is very true of Disney who with the original Jungle Book 1967 found himself with limited avenues of distribution – namely TV and film, thus to keep The Jungle Book characters fresh in the minds of audiences the company created other programmes and ancillary products from 1967 to the early 2000’s to keep alive the idea of the characters so that in the future there could be a potential remake or reboot of the original film, these other programmes included Talespin, a cartoon starring many of the characters from the original film and Jungle Cubs – another cartoon which explored Baloo, Shere Khan and other characters’ lives as children, the aim of these products were to not only to keep audiences entertained but to keep the Jungle Book franchise fresh and active although more importantly , a means by which one media product can promote another media product by the same company, a term called synergy `and one which will only improve with the creation of Disney’s new streaming service in 2019.
Wednesday 17 January 2018
Tuesday 2 January 2018
Representation Of Front Pages
The representations in this front page are of youth. This is from the outfit of the person on the front, he is wearing a tracksuit which is usually associated with young adults/ teenagers with lower classed backgrounds. It emphasises the idea that youth and people that wear tracksuits cause danger, suggested by the fire behind the person. Also, the figure in the article is covered up with gloves and a mask, which gives the idea all people the dress like that are the same and do similar things. The use of the word 'spread' goes with the image of the fire, as fire spreads quickly just like the riots.
In this article, the representation is of Britain. In the image is the Mayor of London Borris Johnson, who is not being presented in the best way. Britain is being represented by Borris, and as this image is quite comedic, it (in a way) embarrasses the public. The language used is an apology which emphasises the idea Britain may be ashamed. Also, there are little words and only a small body of text to the side which suggests there is not a lot of positive things to say about this article. The audience would be the British public who may find this either funny or humiliating.
Being represented in this article is Nelson Mandela. It is a stereotypical representation because his body language is strong and powerful, just like the way people know him for. The image is in black and white with no colours to show respect to Mandela. The use of the word 'Warrior' reflects how Mandela was seen as. Also, it is contrast with the phrase 'loses his final battle' as warriors are usually strong in battle but in this case, he died. The biggest text is 'Mandela Dead' which is not actually an actual sentence but is short and gets straight to the point. The Sun usually do this to main headlines.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Front Cover
This source was different to other Daily Mail covers which stood out for me whilst I was recreating it. The thing I found most difficult was trying to find similar fonts. The Daily Mail uses different fonts for their titles and articles and this I found hard to replicate. Once I had finished, others thought my front cover matched well with the real one, overall I think it was successful. Although the layout was very close to the real one, I think my work could have been improved if the fonts were even more similar. By completing this task, I have learnt that each aspect of the paper has to be done carefully in order to make it as similar to a paper as possible for a full effect.
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