THE BIG 5 AND GLOBAL MARKETING/DISTRIBUTION - GANT TEST AND RISE OF CHINA
The big 5 are a group of conglomerates that hold an oligopoly over the film industry, these companies are:
Disney
Paramount
Sony Columbia
Warner Bros
CAST/STARS
A-list celebrities are largely accredited by many for making a film popular, they use the fact that a film has a famous actor on it. actors that come to mind that are used in that way are Matt Damon and Dwayne Johnson. "Green Zone" was a use of Matt Damon to get the viewers of his Bourne series an unrelated movie that just followed the same genre. This is only successful because there is an A-List Celebrity.
GENRE, HYBRIDITY
Hybridity is the mixture of two or more genres this is a fairly common route for tentpole/blockbusters, because in widens the audience that would e interested in the film. A common use of hybridity are rom-coms.
the increase in genres ads potential to appeal to all or more of the four quadrants (Male, Female, Young & Old) The number of films that are now hybrids is increasing.
FRANCHISE, Intellectual Property (IP)
A franchise is large group of films (and other media) that are set in the same universe where a lot of films are built on. Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU) is a well known one and one of the largest. Franchises work around the fact that the business owns the Intellectual property (IP). It has many other aspects to it like games and merchandise.
SOUNDTRACKS/OSTs
Sound tracks are vital in any film for both marketing like in the film yesterday where a large portion of the marketing budget went towards informing the potential audience of the songs in that film. which can generate a lot of money.
DIGITISATION, DISRUPTION, CONVERGENCE ... HAS THE RELEASE WINDOW BEEN SMASHED? PVOD, NETFLIX
Premium Video On Demand (PVOD) from Disney and Universal mainly, is making a massive dent in the cinema industry, as it is showing that the distribution companies don't need to give the films to cinemas and don't have to wait the release window. there has recently been a huge battle between the cinema companies and the distributors around what the are doing, and the dust has not settled yet, but it is looking as though the distribution companies are going to win this battle, which will be a huge amount of disruption for the cinema industry.
Netflix showed the distribution companies that this could be achieved successfully, but now the distributors are going to drown Netflix by each having their own streaming service, which breaks how valuable Netflix used to be since it was one location where all series could be found, now its much harder for the audiences to find what they are looking for, which decrease their popularity.
DIGITISATION, DISRUPTION, CONVERGENCE ... MICROBUDGET MOVIES, SELF-DISTRIBUTION + MY MEDIA EXPERIENCE!
Self-distribution is only a possibility for Indie companies as they sometimes are forced to do that as no other company is willing to distribute for theme, even in the national scale.
This is often only possible if it is also a micro budget movie, otherwise the costs would be too high, and many films never end up getting distributed.
DIGITISATION, DISRUPTION, CONVERGENCE ... VR AND GAMING
Convergence has affected the Gaming and VR industries as well by making the equipment much more accessible, now at a usable price. VR might also completely revolutionise the film industry as you can watch films on it, and there are some cinemas for VR, where you sit in a room just like in a real cinema, but from the comfort of your own home.
AGE RATINGS------I AM HERE------
Age ratings are extremely vital for films and their distribution. The BBFC, (British Board of Film Classification) are in charge of giving films an age rating. For film producers aiming their film at a younger audience, they have to be extremely careful to not cross the guidelines given by the BBFC for age ratings or the intended target audience cannot view the film.
However, the BBFC has shown to be bias when rating film outside the Big 5. A good example is from the film Batman where a head is slammed onto a pencil, and it only got a 15 rating. Indie producers will mostly be hit with an 18 rating regardless of the amount of violence or explicit language they use.
FILM FESTIVALS, CRITICAL ACCLAIM
Film festivals and critical reviews are extremely important for indie producers, as they help with the marketing of films greatly. Producers display these reviews or festivals they won on their posters or websites, which boosts the desire for a potential audience to watch the film as they can see that it did well.
CGI/SFX
Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) & Special Effects (SFX) are mostly used by the big 5 as it is extremely expensive to produce. Some scenes need special equipment for the actors to wear so that in post production, the SFX can be applied. However, if a film has CGI or SFX, it becomes easier to market as the audience wants to watch the film more.
3D/IMAX (3D), 4D
Following on with CGI and SFX, producing a 3D or IMAX film is also very expensive to produce. For 3D You need two or more special cameras for each scene which is difficult to move around and to setup correctly. This requires educated staff to operate which is expensive, which indie producers cannot afford.
IMAX requires a huge cinema screen and special high-resolution cameras to produce, which once again indie producers cannot produce. However these marketing points help with marketing and producing the film, as many people enjoy 3D and IMAX productions.
REPRESENTATION ISSUES: BECHDEL TEST, MALE GAZE, GEENA DAVIS, WHITEWASHING
The Bechdel test is when two women actively talk about something other than men. Laura Mulvey's feminist theory of Male Gaze argues that women are objectified and just used for sexual objectification to boost the male audience. Geena Davis got fired from Marvel's series "Mandalorian" after tweeting that today's political climate in the U.S is similar to Nazi Germany's treatment of Jews. Whitewashing is the act of taking an originally non-white character and replacing them with a white character. An example of this was Tilda Swinton who replaced a Tibetan Monk in Marvel's Dr Strange.
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