"Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their services and products, to national audiences". To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Firstly, media production is dominated by the Big 6 Hollywood studios which consist of 6 huge film conglomerates that include Universal, Warner Brothers, 20^th Century Fox, Paramount, Columbia and Walt Disney Studios. These 6 main media conglomerates produce high budget and usually high quality films that tend to have commercial and critical success. However independent companies tend to fall behind these and are normally forgotten by the film industry.

To a certain extent, I do agree with the statement that media production is dominated by global institutions which sell their services and products to national audiences. This is since the majority of the films that we as an audience see in a cinema are usually produced by the Big 6. Films which are produced by the Big 6 like said in my first point are often very successful films that are watched by millions rather than thousands. This is probably because they spend much more than independent institutions since independent institutions simply do not have the capability to do so. For example, Frozen is the 53^rd animated Disney movie and has become a huge success over the last 4 years since its release in 2013. This is because Disney is able to target its audiences effectively due to the fact that it has the budget to do so. The budget for Frozen was $150M of which half was spent on marketing. This payed off since it grossed $1BN after just one year in the cinemas. This proves Disney has the right marketing strategy…but what is that? Well Disney is both vertically and horizontally integrated which means that it is able to control everything internally and through its subsidiary businesses. This has allowed for a large amount of synergy to take place in that Frozen was heavily marketed within Disney itself. This was effective in that people who watch Disney movies tend to also be interested in Disney as a whole. For instance it was advertised all over the Disney channel, website, in Theme Parks, in their own multiplexes etc. where ever they could really! Furthermore they were able to appeal to a national audience in the UK since they used synergy through product placements from cereal boxes and sweet snacks to advertisements on double decker busses in London where they would be in full sight to children who were the primary target audience for the film.

On the other hand, I think that smaller independent companies have their place in film production as well. Smaller independent films tend to still be largely successful with critics since they are usually not as ‘safe’ as what you may find with a big 6 produced film. However, these smaller institutions may struggle with the marketing for their films since marketing can be extremely expensive. An example of this can be seen with Bridget jones’s baby which was produced by Working Title in a cross Atlantic collaboration with Universal Pictures. Bridget jones’s Baby had already gained a huge hype from fans who had been awaiting its release since the last from the franchise Bridget Jones :  The Edge of Reason over 12 years ago. This means that thankfully for Working Title it didn’t need as much marketing as a film that was not part of a franchise or had already had previous success. However, this didn’t stop them from striking a brand deal with Aero chocolate which targets the national audience of British people and also the type of people who are able to identify with Bridget herself. This exemplifies how the film appeals on a national level since the single narrative story line is quintessentially British and easily identifiable with those who live in the UK however it also strikes international appeal due to the fact it has the American movie star and award winning actress Renee Zellweger playing the main character which not only appeals to audiences but also American. However, without Universal none of this would have been possible and the release may have only made an impact and commercial success in the UK if it weren’t for the collaboration with the US since the money is simply not available to small independent British film Production companies that allow for huge production and distribution budgets unlike Frozen which I discussed earlier. This could pose a threat to the independent film industry since if people are not watching then talent doesn’t get recognised and it doesn’t give others the platform to show off what they can do.

All in all, I do agree with the statement but I do believe that with the help of larger and more influential institutions it would be possible for smaller film producers to flourish and show off their talents too. However there is the question whether in the future large conglomerates like the Big 6 will aid the independent film producers or just become so saturated that independent films fade out of existence all together.