1. AS Media Studies 2010
Study Notes
Unit G322 Section B
Audiences and Institutions
The Film Industry
Part 1
Convergence

2. General Introduction
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For the exam you should be prepared to
understand and write about the processes
of film production, distribution, marketing
and exhibition and…
The changing way audiences consume
films and the changing relationships
between audiences and the film industry.

3. General Introduction
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In addition, you need to know about:
issues raised by ownership in the contemporary film industry;
the importance of convergence and synergy in the making of
films;
the new technologies that have been introduced in recent years
at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;
the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for film
institutions & audiences;
the importance of technological convergence for film institutions
and audiences;
the issues raised in the targeting of national and British
audiences by international or global film institutions;
the ways in which your own experiences of media consumption
illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.

4. General Questions
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How do different films get produced and what is the
‘production process’? How do films get distributed
and what does film distribution involve? What does
the exhibition of films involve?
How do audiences ‘consume’ films and how has this
changed? How does the film industry, and particular
film production companies more specifically, attempt
to develop the relationship between institutions and
audiences?

5. How to approach this exam Case Studies
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These will involve the study of a specific studio or production
company within the contemporary film industry that targets a
British audience.
These might be based in the US (Hollywood) or in Britain (Film4,
BBC Films, Working Title), or part of World Cinema (Bollywood).
They will include the study of a studios patterns of production,
distribution, exhibition and consumption by audiences.
They will also be accompanied by study of how contemporary
films are distributed (digital cinemas, DVD, Blu-Ray, downloads,
etc) and how this has changed the production, marketing and
consumption of films.

6. Specimen Exam Question
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Discuss the issues raised by the need for
institutions to target specific audiences
within a media industry which you have
studied.
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By institutions the question is asking for you to write
about a particular studio/production or distribution
company specifically.
By specific audience the question is asking you to
write about a cross section of the potential film going
audience – you might like to think of the typical
target audience for most mainstream films.
And naturally, you are focussing on the film industry.
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7. Anticipated for almost as long as the second
coming, the digital media era is finally upon us and
that much misused word 'convergence' has become
meaningful. From Murdoch's deal to buy MySpace
to the selling of YouTube for more than a billion
dollars after 18 months of trading, we are slap back
in the middle of the second dot.com boom.
Gibson (2007)
Digital media has changed the way the
film industry works.

8. Introduction
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Media Studies is all about the contemporary, so while it is useful
to have a sense of the history of the film industry in Britain (so we
know how successful the industry is at present relative to other
time periods) we are much more concerned with how films are
currently being produced and distributed and how this is
changing.
The key agent of change is convergence. This is because it
makes little sense these days to talk about the film industry
without referring to Internet distribution.
This topic involves an understanding of media as business, the
relationship between film producers, distributors and exhibitors
and the public or audience.

9. The question that needs to be answered is: do new
media forms produce both distinctively different
‘content’ and 'audiences' when compared with their
predecessors? The answer to this question is a
qualified yes.
Marshall (2004)
Digital media have changed the kinds of
films we make and want to see

10. What is Convergence?
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First, technologies coming together, for example, a mobile
phone you can use as a still and moving image camera,
download and watch moving images on, use as an MP3 player
and recorder and access the internet with.
Second, media industries are diversifying so they produce and
distribute across several media—for example, a newspaper
with an online version and audio podcasts or the coming
together of videogames with films e.g. Quantum of Solace
(2008) or Avatar (2009).
We no longer live in a media world where television,
videogames, films, newspapers, radio, magazines and music
exist separately. For this reason it is essential that we study
the impact of convergence on the film industry - the focus here
is on the contemporary nature of film production, distribution
and exhibition.

14. http://www.skyfall-movie.com/site/

15. http://www.universalstudiosentertainment.com/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world/

17. What is Convergence?
 Go
to two film websites. Use ‘Skyfall’ or
‘Looper’ or a more recent film if you like…
 Find as many examples of ‘convergence’ as
you can. Or, put another way…
 Q. How many different ways can you
‘consume’a film on the internet?

18. Why is convergence important
for consumers?
For consumers, convergence helps to ensure
greater price transparency and makes accessing
those films more convenient.
 Convergence also presents us with the potential
to choose from and access a far wider and more
diverse range of films in different media.
 Convergence is also an aesthetic choice by
filmmakers to create films that look like
videogames - 300 (2006), Sin City (2005) Avatar
(2009) and videogames that resemble films.


20. Why is convergence important
for the economy?
o
o
For the UK economy convergence represents
an opportunity to build on its competitive
strengths internationally in respect of creative
talent and content creation and to enhance
growth and productivity and to develop skills.
For the film industry it presents opportunities
to reach wider audiences. But it also presents
large challenges in respect of copyright and
distribution windows, most particularly for
independently-produced British films.

21. Why is convergence important
for the economy?
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Creative employment provides around two million jobs. Employment
in the sector has grown at double the rate of the economy as a
whole.
The OEDC estimated that the UK's creative industries make up 6%
of its GDP, twice the figure of the US.
Creative industries contributed 2.9% of the UK’s Gross Value Added
in 2009.
5.1% of the UK’s workers are employed in the creative industries or
in creative roles in other industries.
Exports of services by the creative industries accounted for 10.6%
of the UK’s exports of services.
There were an estimated 106,700 businesses in the creative
industries on the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) in
2011, this represents 5.1% of all companies.
DCMS (December 2011)

22. How does the UK compare
internationally?
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The UK is well placed to seize the opportunities
presented by convergence provided it addresses the
challenges.
A rapid transition to the next generation of
broadband access networks is critical if we are to
remain competitive with other economies such as
those of Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore
which have invested very significant resources in
advanced broadband networks.
In Hong Kong speeds of 1GB are already available,
while the highest speed on general offer in the UK at
the moment is 50Mbs.

23. What are the key opportunities
convergence presents?
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The ability to create and distribute content in a much
larger variety of ways will accelerate the
segmentation of the film industry such that there
will be many more different business and cultural
models, each based on different sets of aims and
objectives.
Just as the audience’s ability to choose between
different ways of consuming TV programmes is
greatly enhanced by digital technology (e.g. the
emergence of BBC’s iPlayer), so too is the ability of
institutions to create different ways to make films
and to deliver them to audiences.

24. What are the key challenges
convergence presents?
 The
now defunct UK Film Council
consistently argued that film theft and online
copyright infringement represent a major
threat to all elements of the UK film industry
and to film culture.
 Some 5% of UK adults have downloaded a
film and/or a TV show and the quantity of
titles illegally downloaded has risen to an
average of between 7-15 per year.

28. Film Piracy
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Q. What might happen in the UK if broadband internet
access spreads rapidly and offers greatly increased
download speeds?
A. The very rapid take-up of broadband in the UK could
increase copyright infringement by means of file-sharing.

29. Film Piracy
 HWQ.
What are the cons (for institutions) and
the pros (for the audience) of digital film
piracy?
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http://www.launchingfilms.com/who-gains
http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/10022?page=1&step=10&viewby=categor
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/4968765/Tackling-film-pira