"Cross media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences." To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your media area?

I agree with this statement in some aspects because cross media convergence and synergy are both very vital processes of which have to take place in order for particular films to become successful for the audiences that they are aimed at and marketed for. Cross media convergence is the way in which films and other different products are produced and distributed to other marketing platforms. An example of this would be how trailers for films have leaked onto the internet by accident to websites like Facebook and YouTube resulting in them being further marketed by accident to more people. Another example would be the marketing and distribution on iPhones and iPad apps and how people can access the marketing for films and things through this example of the media. Synergy on the other hand is the interaction and cooperation that two or more organisations have on particular products. This meaning that agents can produce better marketing techniques of which can then be seen by more audiences marketing the products in a more effective and greater way.

The two processes mentioned are important to the success of media products as without them, certain trailers for films or different advertising techniques might not be as accessible to the audience. An example of how cross media convergence affects the success of marketing a media product includes the use of YouTube. YouTube can almost be seen as a streamer for trailers and adverts for films and they quite commonly are found on there from different distributers. What I mean by this is that, members of the public can access film clips and then upload them to YouTube for further audiences to see. These audiences may not have originally seen the trailer and because the leak of the particular marketing techniques, films can become more available and open to more audiences. All this is done by accident and without the help of the film industries distributors. Another example of cross media convergence is how Facebook becomes a marketing technique. People post comments about what they have done and if someone was to go and see a new film, people might see that and become interested therefore watch the trailer of which another person may have shared from YouTube. This would also be an example of synergy. It is an example of synergy because it represents both Facebook and YouTube working together with the film companies and industries in order to advertise a film. It could be advertising the film through many different techniques such as a trailer or a film review. 

Relating directly back to the statement of, "Cross media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences," I feel that without the use of the internet film marketing is a lot more difficult as the synergy between film industries and other companies within the internet are strong and are seen as reliant when it comes to films becoming successful or not.

My next example of cross media convergence is how film marketing can fall accidently into newspapers and magazines like the Guardian. Many reviews and adverts can be found in magazines and these are read by different audiences to who would go on the internet in some cases. What I mean by this is that if your target audience of a film was older people around 50, those people are more likely to read a newspaper than they are going on Facebook. This means that any film companies and distributers would benefit from the marketing in magazines. The reason why this is cross media convergence is because if a critic was to and see a film and then write about in a newspaper, he would be indirectly advertising the film to another audience.

Films themselves are made to attract particular audiences to go and watch them. Marketing techniques includes thinks like; posters, trailers, promotions, merchandise and events. In some way or another most film marketing techniques can relate to convergence and synergy and how that can be dependant of the success of films. The spread and release of trailers can be related to cross media convergence as only one person needs to see the trailer for it to then be shared on social media websites and YouTube for it to then be seen by millions of people. Synergy is used in this respect by the bigger companies who can promote to two at the time that then market each other. In my opinion an example of this is The Avengers. At the end of the film there is a clip of which shows the leading story of the next film. This would be an example of advertisement. Therefore the film is advertising itself and its merchandise and then the next film that people will then want to go and see to see what happens next. Another example of synergy is vital to the success of a film is the film company Eon Productions. Eon Productions made the film Skyfall and Skyfall advertised all the James Bond films, which then advertised the soundtracks, which then advertised the games which then advertised the further merchandise and so on and so on. This would be a continuous marketing cycle that most film companies would benefit from. Another example would be Disney’, High School Musical. This film advertised the other films, the games, the company and all the outlet shops as people after seeing the film then went and bought products relating to the film which then encouraged more people to go and watch it.

Overall I feel that the cross media convergence and synergy are relied upon in terms of the success of a film and how it is marketed because without the use of it, films and its marketing may potentially not be as open and accessible to all audiences.

“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices”.

A films success relies upon how well it is advertised to its target audience and how easy it is for that audience to access, rather than whether it is regarded by critics as a 'good' film.

There are some industries that base their retail prices on the cost of the production, however the film industry due to advances in digital production does not follow this as digital film allows for potentially infinite numbers of films to be distributed.

The pricing structure for films at the big multiplex cinemas is designed to benefit the big studios. Blockbuster films cost a lot more money than independent UK films do and if a cinema had 10 screens they wont want to waste space by putting on a cheaper film that no one will want to go and see. However if the cheaper films were put on at the cinema for a lower price people are more likely to see the film. This is then counteracted by the fact that the multiplex cinemas might not make the money back so don't pay for the independent films anyway. Critics say that all people should be able to go and see UK films priced cheaper at around £4 rather than £10 and then blockbusters at £10 because this would make the pricing to see the films more adequate in terms of people actually wanting to spend money to see the film of their choice.

The Lionsgate UK CEO, Mr Kamasa as told people that he has spoken to some of the UK exhibitors and found that they are going to be more realistic and flexible with the pricing to see films as they have realised that something needed to be done to slow down the halt in the admissions. Overall this will result in the significantly lower admission price in 2014 than it has in previous years. In previous years the admission prices to get to see films were generally overpriced and inappropriate. In the next year or so, admission prices are supposed to be improving further and this is because of the amount of blockbusters that have been made. These films include; The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron and also Jurassic World. The three films mentioned here are predicted to be very good films that will become very popular with a range of different audiences. Lionsgate, the British film company have released this year eight different films and these include: The Invisible Woman, Locke and things like that. These films will be continuing to support British films in 2015 which are going to be released. A film that the British are going to be producing for 2015 includes the film, Absolutely Anything. Again Kamasa is promising that the film company will invest in British content further hoping that it will move forward.

In my opinion I think that British films and then blockbuster films are both distributed and marketed for many different audiences and not just specific ones.  I think that the production practices that allow texts like films to be distributed and marketed includes being able to stream films off websites like Netflix, NowTV and downloadable websites like that. By putting new films and programmes also onto these sources would help advertising as the films won’t be on there all the time therefore people might get encouraged to go and buy the films on DVD or BluRay and this means that the companies will make more money from sales rather than just getting money from admission fees at the cinemas. Other ways that films are marketed to target specific audiences is the long trailers that are played before other films made by the same company. An example of this would be when you go and see a Disney film; there are normally adverts for another Disney film that is maybe coming out later in that year or in the following year. Other trailers could be for films of a similar genre from other companies. This would result in people becoming interested in other films, therefore wanting to go to the cinema again to go and see a different film as well as the one they have already paid to watch. This won’t only make the film industries more money from box office sales but also the cinemas as well.

In terms of access to see a film there are again I mention a variety of different sources of which can be used that are all marketed at different audiences. I begin by taking about Netflix, Netflix is a multinational used site and streamer that people can use on different devices like; phones, tablets, games consoles and also televisions. This is a reliability that some film industries use as these companies pay for the films and the rights for it to be shown. Another point about Netflix is that it is full off films for all different types of people and also all different genres and ages as well. The distribution and marketing of specific products like films or the types of products that they produce may change as a result to the change in cinemas. Cinemas are constantly changing and adapting to suit the needs of new audiences and all the different demands they have of a film. This then makes cinema companies not only change what they show but they are also making improvements on how your experience will be when watching a film itself. An example of how some cinemas are changing includes Cineworld and how they have introduced an optional monthly fee for customers who can pay and watch unlimited films for that month. As well as this, some cinemas are considering a re-release of certain films that did well during Blu-ray and DVD release. This is a certain type of engagement for audiences as having film be put back onto cinema screens could be an example of another marketing strategy. I think this because more people will go and see the film on its second release and maybe some people would go and see it again, this would gain some film industries more money therefore higher box office figures.

Depending on what marketing a film company use or how they distribute it to an audience will then depend on how much attention it gains from an audience. For example if a film was to have poor advertising, people would generally not go and see it when compared to a film that is advertised in many different ways. A similar effect would happen if the distribution was also poor. People won’t know how to access the film and it might not be available for some people e.g. people with less money to spend, going to the cinema.

An institutions success does highly rely on its advertising to its target market as if there was no marketing to see it wouldn’t gain people’s attention in the first place. However, if critics were to do an article about a particular film being good or bad that could discourage or encourage an audience to go and see the film. This would be though, marketing in itself as people would see the article and go and see the film due to something that they have seen like a trailer or an advert. Another example of why marketing and distribution is relied on for a film’s success is because for example; a trailer or a poster isn’t based on an opinion of another audience member. If a critic was to say a film was bad or good, that would be their own choice of words and might be different to someone else. This meaning that looking at a trailer yourself is also more reliable than making a decision based on someone else’s.

So, overall I do feel that a film’s success does relies on how well it is advertised to its target audience in some ways and also how easy it is for that audience to access, rather than whether it is regarded by critics as a 'good' film. Critics making comments can have an impact on people’s opinions but in my opinion it would be the marketing and distribution on a whole that would make the target audiences decisions.
 

The Grand Budapest Task 3 Secrets

For The Grand Budapest Hotel the producers used 5 secrets that gained the film more success. These included:

1) They sold merchandise on eBay. This included sales of products like fake moustaches, wax and bow ties that related to the film.

2)  They also got involved with different unique promotions. What they did was they toured a large scale model of the hotel to theatres around the world that made audiences more interested in what the film was all about.


3) Another secret technique that they used was the making of videos and recipes so people that had watched the film, you could bake your own Mendls cakes like the ones from the film.

4) Because Moon Rise Kingdom was so successful, younger audiences were attracted and encouraged by the whole idea of The Grand Budapest Hotel.

5) The final secret was that they made the film accessible to different audiences and didn’t just have a target audience of perhaps a particular age group. They muddled it around a bit.

The Grand Budapest Task 2 Comprehension

Adrien Bordy - Dimitri 
Ralph Feinnes - M.Gustav H 
Tony Revolori - Zero 
Jeff Goldbloom - Deputy Kovacs
Tilda Swinton - Madam D
Mattieu Amalric - Serge X
Tom wilkison - Author 
Edward Norton - Henckles 
Owen Wilsion - M.Chuck 
Lee Seydoux - Clotilde  
Bill Murray - M.Ivan 
Saoirse Ronan - Agatha
Jason Schwarzman - M jean 
Willem Dafoe - Jopling 
F.Murray Abraham - Mr Moustafa 
Bob Balaban - M.Martin 
Harvey Keiitel – Ludwig

Where did scouting for a hotel take place?
The scouting for a hotel for The Grand Budapest Hotel took place in Central Europe.

Which location did the production team eventually use?
Eventually the production team decided to use, Gorlitz.

Did they film on location or on a sound stage?
They actually filmed on location rather than on a sound stage.

Where were the production offices located?
The offices were on the top floor of the hotel/set itself.

How did they film the 60's and 30's hotel?
What they did was they actually made the 60’s set first and then they peeled away at it so that it revealed the 30’s set.

Where did inspiration for the hotel's interior come from?
The inspiration for the hotel came from what he saw in a library of Congaree and some different European hotels.

How many extras did it take to fill the lobby?
Overall there was 150 extras that filled the lobby for the scenes.