Question about 20th Century Fox

Why is Paramount Pictures considered a major film studio?

Paramount Pictures is generally considered a major film studio due to the fact that majors will most likely always have a much higher budget for marketing, distribution and production in comparison to independent film studies such as Film 4. With more money, majors have the opportunity to create their films to a much higher quality and make it aware to a wider variety of people. All majors are located in America and there are only six.

What genres, styles, and types of films does Paramount Pictures typically produce?

Big budget blockbuster comedies or action movies typically however they do also make other ones such as romance (Titanic in this case).

How successful are 20th Century Fox as a major film studio?

Very successful as major film studio since they make a portion of the big blockbuster films these days that are constantly seen advertised everywhere and have been in production for many years. According to BoxOfficeMojo they own 15.2% of the market share between these studios where they are ranked 2nd behind Warner Bros. and have grossed hundreds of millions of dollars.

Give some examples of Media Convergence shown by 20th Century Fox (This means examples of them producing content, co-operating with, and using other media industries than Film)

Creating apps based on movies for people to play/interact with, create attractive and interactive websites for people to discover more about the product and alternatively be more intrigued

How do 20th Century Fox distribute their films?

Through today's evolving digital distribution platforms and through digital distribution sites.

What, for you, are the major differences between 20th Century Fox and Film4 Productions? 

20th Century Fox has  a much a higher budget for marketing, production and distribution than Film4 because it's an major studio while Film4 is an independent one. 20th Century Fox is also located in America while Film4 Productions is located in England and America also contains the largest film industry between countries while China lies 2nd and England aren't even in the top ten. Similarly, 20th Century Fox is a part of the "Big Six" major studies within America while Film4 is independent.

Research for 20th Century Fox

Films of 2014:

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• X-Men: Days of Future Past
• The Maze Runner

Film coming out later this year:

• Hitman: Agent 47

A production company owned or that had a deal with 20th Century Fox and a film they have produced:

• The Wolverine (Marvel Entertainment)

Top grossing 20th Century Fox film of all time:

• Avatar

Film distributed by 20th Century Fox:

• Home Alone

Non film producing/distributing company owned by 20th Century Fox:

• DreamWorks

Other companies owned by VIACOM:

• BET
• CMT
• Comedy Central
• Logo
• MTV
• MTV2
• Nickelodeon
• Nicktoons
• Palladia
• Spike
• TeenNick

Practical Task - Identifying Target Audience

Demographically: Age, Gender, Sexuality, Where you live, Income, Social Class, Race

Pyschographically: Why a movie appeals to you (examples listed beneath)

- Escapism
- Relatable e.g. if a movie is about a gang or group of friends you can often relate it to yourself through you and your friends

By using SurveyMonkey we were able to conduct our own survey to discover what kind of audience would be viewing our piece. From this research we were able to discover that the audience would predominently be males aged from 16 to 25 without race, sexuality, income, social class and address making a difference as in those areas the answers differed and weren't relevant to the movie at hand.

Representation of Age in ER

In this extract of ER age represented in a number of stereotypical and counter stereotypical ways. This is achieved through the use of the sound and editing. For example a cross cut is shown between the two boys at the beginning, one of which is on the brink of death and seems wise as he knows that his disease is going to kill him anyway.  The dialogue underlines this when he says: "invariably, this disease is fatal". His intelligence is also seen from the formal language he uses and the scientific terms he knows how to use. This counter stereotypes against age as it shows that for such a young person he seems to be wise and intelligent knowing the seriousness of his disease and not wanting to tell him mother as opposed to a child who would stereotypically be crying or screaming and asking for their parents. The other child (which we see through an abrupt cut to the waiting area) is the exact opposite as the sequence reveals that his mother is clearly with him to help him through a minor injury from which he was bitten by a Gerbil and can simply be treated through antibiotics while he sits their squeamishly screaming. His tone of voice is much more stereotypical - whiney and high pitched. As you can see, youth is represented in completely different, stereotypical and counter stereotypical ways because both children's characteristics are completely different one of which you would not normally see in a child.

Ten examples of ten stereotypes about disabled people - Paul Hunt

Pitiable and pathetic - Walter White Jr. (Breaking Bad)

An object of curiosity or violence - The Elephant Man

Sinister or evil - Dr. No (James Bond)

Super cripple - Professor X

Atmosphere - Frankenstein
Laughable - Tyrion Lannister (Game Of Thrones)
Their own worst enemy - Lieutenant Dan (Forrest Gump)
A burden - Phillipe (The Intouchables)
Non sexual - Lieutenant Dan (Forrest Gump) 
Unable to participate in daily life - Brooks (The Shawshank Redemption)

Practise on Disability - Coming Down The Mountain

Stereotypes: 

• Down Syndrome person has no boundaries
• Wide angle shot used to show that brother with Disability is smaller and hunched
• Ill fitting clothes for boy with Down Syndrome (not aware of his appearance)
• Says childish things, "I eat a bag of Crisps and watch Star Wars"
• Framing shows that older brother is protective of younger brother
• Older brother in some cases tries to act more parent-like
• Down Syndrome boy can be seen as helpless and defensive

Counter Stereotypes:

• Disabled person is sexualised
• In some cases the boy with Down Syndrome possesses more maturity than his older brother who is not disabled
• Older brother is open about conversation over sex

• Shot reverse show shows older brother is in shock from inappropriate question
• Wide angles show shows older brother is bigger and more protective while the younger brother with Down Syndrome is smaller and his gait is hunched
• Disabled brother is portrayed in a brighter light 
• Combination of close up and older brother opening his eyes shows that the power shift has been changed and the older brother has been found out for lying

Questions about Paramount

Why is Paramount Pictures considered a major film studio?

Paramount Pictures is generally considered a major film studio due to the fact that majors will most likely always have a much higher budget for marketing, distribution and production in comparison to independent film studies such as Film 4. With more money, majors have the opportunity to create their films to a much higher quality and make it aware to a wider variety of people. All majors are located in America and there are only six.

What genres, styles, and types of films does Paramount Pictures typically produce?

Big budget blockbuster comedies or action movies typically however they do also make other ones such as romance (Titanic in this case).

How successful are Paramount as a major film studio?

Very successful as major film studio since they make a portion of the big blockbuster films these days that are constantly seen advertised everywhere and have been in production for over 100 years.

Give some examples of Media Convergence shown by Paramount (This means examples of them producing content, co-operating with, and using other media industries than Film)

MTV, Nickelodeon, creating apps based on movies for people to play

How do Paramount distribute their films?

Through today's evolving digital distribution platforms and through digital distribtuion sites.

What, for you, are the major differences between Paramount and Film4 Productions? 

Paramount has  a much a higher budget for marketing, production and distribution that Film4 because it's an independent studio. Paramount is also located in America while Film4 Productions is located in England. Similarly, Paramount is a part of the "Big Six" major studies within America while Film4 is independent.

Research for Paramount

Films of 2014:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• The Gambler
• Top Five

Film coming out later this year:

• Terminator Genisys

A production company owned or that had a deal with Paramount, and a film they have produced:

• Intersteller (Warner Bros.)

Top grossing Paramount film of all time:

• Titanic

Film distributed by Paramount:

• The Wolf of Wall Street

Non film producing/distributing company owned by Paramount:

• Paramount Parks

Other companies owned by VIACOM:

• BET
• CMT
• Comedy Central
• Logo
• MTV
• MTV2
• Nickelodeon
• Nicktoons
• Palladia
• Spike
• TeenNick

Disabilities seen in TV Dramas

Game of Thrones:

Tyrion Lannister - Dwarfism

Brandon Stark - Paraplegic

Breaking Bad: 

Walter White Jr. - Cerebral Palsy

Hank Schrader - Paraplegic (Not permanent)

 

Skins: 

JJ Jones - Asperges Syndrome

Tony Stonem - Subdural Hematoma

How digital technologies are used in marketing and consumption (Film 4 and non Film 4)

Film 4:

Marketed a lot through the internet and various digital technologies, uses social media such as Twitter or Facebook and websites presenting special features as an effective form of marketing their Media product. The website is interactive and may contain a interesting factor within it. For example, for the film "Spirit of '45" contains a mini quiz where you fill out some information and it tells you what your life would've been like in 1945 during the war. The use of Twitter is so that cast members are able to personally communicate and/or interact with the audience or viewers to further their cause and alternatively allow the film to gain more publicity, increasing the likelihood of more people going to see it. They are generally consumed on all platforms so that the viewer has free range of how they would like to view the product, again increasing it's popularity by allowing its audience to view the film however they wish.

Non Film 4:

When speaking about a movie that isn't made by Film 4, I'm taking about films with higher budgets that were made by a major studio in America. The example I chose was "The Dark Knight Rises" which was released in 2012. Movies such as this use the same marketing techniques as independant films made by Film 4 e.g. Social Media, Twitter, Facebook. but along with their much higher budget it means that they could expand their marketing even further by increasing it's publicity through things such as adverts and bill boards which cost money. Twitter and Facebook on the other hand are free where you can choose to make the page more famous if wish to which would cost money. Adding on to that, it presents you with the option to follow them on Twitter or Facebook which if people do with publicise their product even further. On their website, the same factors are contained within it but it is much more interactive as it doesn't only contain special features but also a gallery, the soundtrack, things you can download and many more. So they've quite clearly created this marketing campaign to the best of their ability because they have more range to do so than Film 4. With consumption, majors usually work like this. The first platform that the product is released on is the cinema. And then after the film has stopped being watched by everyone and not had as much publicity as it used it is eventually released onto DVD and VOD and in some cases TV where viewers can view it for free.

Practical Task - Camera/Editing techniques we intend to use

American Beauty

Having spoken to our group, we have decided that at the start we will use the technique of 'outside-in' editing. This is where the camera will be slowly zooming in onto the person who is about to commit suicide. An example of this is in the film 'American Beauty'.

Representation of Age

Youth

• All youths believe that the police have it in for them
• Negative stereotypes as hoodie wearing criminals
• Young people are portrayed the media as alcoholics and drug abusers, criminals, lazy, complaining and aggressive
• A common misconception for parents is that every middle school kid of this generation is concealed, gossip ridden, hormone raging and naive. This is a stereotype. The irony of labelling children with stereotypes is not just hypocritical, but a huge over generalisation.

Old

• Pensioners stereotype as being grumpy
• The elderly are stereotyped as being frail and lonely
• They are not wanted and a burden to the family
• The image of old people as childlike has been with us for a long time, there was a high level of agreement that old people are unproductive, have to go to bed early, need a nap everyday and in the happiest period of their lives, cannot manage their own affairs and are in their second childhood
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