The Film Industry

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 📽 The Film Industry 📽

The film industry aspect of the exam does not require us to study media language, audience and representation. Just entirely the audience. However, we automatically analyse it so we will account these 3 topics within our answers.
No textual analysis for this topic.

Industry - how something makes money.
The sole function of any media product is to make money.

Media industry can be defined as a varied collection of organisations which share the production, publication and distributions of media texts.

Examples of media industries include:
  • BBC
  • ITV
  • Netflix
  • Disney
  • News Corp
  • Nintendo
  • Marvel
  • The Guardian
Power- industry of the producer over the audience/influence of other people

Curran and Seaton - Power in the Media Industries

Media industries are driven by power and profit.

Disney is the leading company in the film industry. They are a monopoly!

Conglomerate- company which buys out other companies. For example, Disney buying Marvel.

Explain what is meant by conglomeration
Conglomeration is the process of one company buying out another company for the purpose of power and profit. For example, Disney buying Marvel Film Studios.
2 marks
Full marks


FILM IS A SPECIALISED INSTITUATION AND THE FILM INDUSTRY IS A SPECIALISED INDUSTRY.

The film industry does one thing, and does it well.

Vaguely interesting facts about the birth of the film industry:
  • Edison Company in 1891 successfully demonstrated a prototype of a kinetoscope, which allowed one person at a time to view a moving picture
  • at first, films were very short and only a few minutes or less and included subjects such as local scenes and activity, views of foreign land, short comedies and newsworthy events.
  • first feature length film was produced in 1906 
A standardised product operates much like a factory, Hollywood Films were made and still made in warehouses and offices. They are made using the industrialised labour of a variety of specialised production techniques . This occurs on both a narrative and industrial area.

Pre-production - investment, storyboarding/planning, auditions/casting, scriptwriting, rehearsals
Production - the process if making a film (e.g filming/shooting)
Post-production - editing, advertising, interviews, CGI

Distribution - how a media product is put out

David Hesmondhalgh - Cultural Industries

  • Horizontal Integration- where a media company buys other companies in the same sector to reduce competition for audiences (e.g Disney Studios buying Marvel Pictures)
  • Vertical Integration - where a company buys up other companies involved in different stages of the production and circulation (e.g Disney Studios and Disney+)
    • vertical integration is technically ILLEGAL! Laws in place to stop this happening
      • however, as large corporations have so much money, they can afford to win their case

Producer- the company which makes a media product

Distributor- the company that puts a media product out

Distribution- the process where a media product ends up with an audience

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