media in the online age : independent film distribution

media in the online age : independent film distribution

Film Industry and Fandom

Fandom - A Fandom is a group of people who share a specific interest such as a film franchise or tv show.  They socialise with other fans so that they can discuss and share their views or knowledge.

• Fans use Youtube to create videos responding to the films they like.  This links to the idea of 'cultural production', fans producing their own media products based on films.  One example is the YouTube channel HISHEdotcom which redoes film endings in comical ways:

• 'Transmedia' is when media texts are shown in different forms.  An example of this is Marvels Avengers which started as a comic book and has now become a film.

• Fans can follow actors and films on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter:

We the Media

Dredd (3D)

Poster:

Official Trailer:

• Director - Pete Travis
• Writer - John Wagner
• Starring - Karl Urban (Star Trek, Doom) and Olivia Thirlby (The Darkest Hour, Juno)

• Genre - Action, sci-fi
• Release date - 21 september 2012 (USA)
• Budget - $35,000,000
• Production companies - DNA Films, IM Global
• Distributors - Lionsgate (USA), Entertainment Film Distributors (UK)
• Available in 3D
• Official Website: http://www.dreddthemovie.com/index.html

• Links to Lionsgate twitter page: https://twitter.com/lionsgatemedia

• Links to Facebook
• Trailer
• Blu-ray special features info
• Link to buy the movie: http://www.lionsgateshop.com/product.asp?Id=28059&TitleParentId=8031

• Promotional website (non-official): http://www.judgementiscoming.com/

• Lionsgate movies YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/LionsgateMovies

• http://www.youtube.com/lionsgatelive

• TV Spots:

• Official Soundtrack:

• Motion Poster

• Movie clips, behind the scenes and interviews:

Essay Plan

The impact of the Internet on the media industry is revolutionary:

- Web 2.0 sites such as YouTube and sound cloud allow people to share their music without needing a record label. Bands can use these sites as well as social networking ones such as Facebook and Twitter to promote themselves and reach a wider audience.

- consumers can listen to music online through online radio, streaming sites such as We7 and YouTube. This gives them more choice in what they can listen to and allows them to bypass the large conglomerates or gatekeepers for the industry

- individual's can become prosumers, producers and consumers by interacting online and making their own music on sites such as StudioPros. This means they can be more creative and social, as they have the ability to collaborate globally with other people.

- piracy has become a problem because it is easy for people to share songs online. The problem existed before but on a much smaller scale because copying CDs was harder. It is a problem because it takes away profits from the music industry.

- there are now more ways for people to purchase music. As well as just going to a high street store such as HMV they can now buy online. Sites such as iTunes and Amazon have much more music choice as they have larger music libraries, allowing for more diversity within the industry.
- Most of these points can be seen as revolutionary because they allow people to do more and interact more.  However piracy is not revolutionary and can be a big problem for profit making in the media industry.

Music Industry Review

1. How has online media developed? - Online media has developed by becoming more social and collaborative.  Web 2.0 sites such as YouTube and Sound cloud have allowed people to share their music globally without the need for large amounts of money.  However it has also lead to an all time high in music piracy because the internet has made it a lot easier to do.  This has lead to the music industry having to rethink how they control usage of their music.  The music industry is now less dominated by the media gods and gatekeepers because more people can have their say in what music is produced and distributed.
2. What has been the impact of the internet on media production? - It is now possible to produce your music over the internet at a much lower cost than going to a record labels recording studio.  You can collaborate with other people who have different talents to make the parts of your music that you cannot do yourself.
3. How is consumer behaviour and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past? - Consumers used to have to listen to what the media gods and gatekeepers, media conglomerates, allowed into the industry.  Now we have a society with Prosumers, consumers who also produce their own music and are a more active audience.  We can get our voices heard on social networking sites such as Twitter and websites such as iTunes have a large variety of music choice.  We can also download music illegally, bypassing the media gods altogether.
4. To what extent has convergence transformed the media? - Smart phones allow you to listen to a large library of music, thousands of songs rather than a single album.  You can also watch music videos on youtube, view artists twitter pages and record your own sounds.  This allows consumers more choice in how they consume their media, rather than having to wait for songs to be broadcast on the radio or for music videos to be shown on tv. 

Wikinomics

Dan Tapscott and Anthony Williams published Wikinomics in 2006.  Wikinomics is the economics of collaboration, how through sharing we can make money.  It's about harnessing mass collaboration.

Peering:

• The free sharing of material on the internet.
• Good for cutting distribution costs, bad for people who want to protect their creativity and intellectual property
• Illegally it is classed as piracy and happens in the music industry on many illegal websites
• On iTunes they have a free single of the week where an artist gives their song away for free which helps with publicity, for example this week it is Palma Violets - Tom the Drum

Democratised:

• Democracy, free creativity by ordinary people
• Everyone has a voice
• Youtube allows people to do this, anyone can have an account

The Perfect Storm:

• A combination of technology, demographics and economics
• Media operating without these three things will not be able to compete 
• Youtube is an example of this, artists such as Esmee Denters who was discovered by Justin Timberlake in 2008 who signed her up to his record label Tennman Records. The title single from her album 'Outta Here' reached the top 10 in several european countries

Free creativity:   

• Natural and positive outcome of the free market
• The happy medium is achieved by a service such as Creative Commons, which provides licenses, which protect intellectual property.
• Allows others to remix your material within limits
• Sites like sound cloud allow you to contribute to the site with your own music.

Thinking globally:

• Web 2.0 makes thinking globally inevitable
• The internet is described as ‘the worlds biggest coffee house’
• Instantly the global communication sphere, nation and cultural boundaries are inevitably reduced
• YouTube- the Harlem shake is an example of this as it is something that people recreated via mash ups.  There are 295,000 results for the mash up on YouTube