Section B - Audiences and Institutions

To what extent has the internet played a significant role in the marketing and exchange of media products in the area you have studied?

To a large extent marketing plays a key role in the exchange of film. When we talk about marketing we are referring to how film is distributed to it audience and how the audience gains awareness of it. There are 6 main film distributors 20th century fox, Columbia, Universal, Disney, Paramount and and Warner Brothers (These are usually referred to as 'The Big 6'). These companies are the leading distribution companies in the world and control how the film industry markets films. Most importantly, these companies are so big that they're able to distribute their films all across the globe which almost guarantees the success of the movie. However, in return for distributing a movie the, these distribution companies have the rights to the film for around 10 years whilst the movie is still current and relevant meaning that the producers of the movie do not immediately make any money out of the movie. This means that after 10 years of the film being out, the producers start making money which of the movie is not a global success such as 'Star Wars' the producers are likely to make very little out of the production of the movie which can be a huge issue for the producers as distributors take advantage of the producers ideas in order to make money. on the flip side of this if the production company decides to go independent and not use a mainstream distributor then they may find it extremely hard to promote and market their movie as they will simply not haver the resources not the stretch of a big 6 distributor like universal which distributes movies across the globe.

Furthermore, what is meant by exchange of media is the way in which people access the film. People can access a film in a number of ways however the first way that people can access a movie is by visiting a cinema. This is then followed up closely by people pirating movies which get put online for anyone to see. Film pirating is a huge issue for both producers and distributors as it means that people are not spending money on the film which will decrease the amount of profit they end up making as people do not need to spend money to visit a cinema or to buy a physical copy. After this the movie will then be released to the public in the forms of DVDs, On Demand (e.g. Sky Cinema) and then subscription services and online streaming services such as Netflix. All of these exchanges of media cost the audience money to view (except pirating which is free and also illegal). Once the movie has lost its 'spark' then the movie will be released to TV on programmes like Film 4, Movies 4 Men and Horror Channel where they are viewed at no charge to the audience.

Marketing of a movie through the internet is vital to the film industry as the internet plays such a large role in our day to day lives in the modern world. One reason for this is because the internet is unbelievably versatile which makes it a perfect medium of communication between distributor and audience. The internet has been used by film distributors in recent years through You Tube as You Tube allows producers to advertise and market their movies for free and also even allows them to make money out of the amounts of views which their Trailers, Sneak Peeks, Extras and interviews get. This is extremely relevant in the case of frozen which heavily utilised youtube to promote its movie which was successful as they targeted a younger audience who had an interest in watching youtube and whom had been bought up in the modern day world which is so internet savvy. Videos which Disney released to promote frozen such as the 'Let it go' music video , went viral within hours of their release on youtube with the 'Let it go' music video today having over 1 billion views! This has allowed Disney to make money even before the movie was released and they are even still making money from it today as more and more people watch it. However, the idea that over 1 billion people viewed just that one video and disney released multiple other videos related to frozen, each with over 1 million views puts into perspective as to how powerful the internet has been in the success of Frozen with a world population of 7 billion this means that 1 in 7 people across the globe have watched that one music video! Additionally, Disney has benefited from Synergy in that as soon as the movie was released Disney bought out tonnes of merchandise which relate to Frozen. This allowed people to get hyped up about the movie and also prolongs people interest in the movie. For instance if someone buys a Frozen plush toy they're much less likely to loose interest in the movie.  

On the other hand, this contrast, other movies such as Bridget Jones's Baby which is a cheaper, British made film compared to Frozen which is an expensive Hollywood movie are less likely to have as much exposure.