Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audience, within the film Industry
Film: Avatar and Ice Age The Meltdown
What are examples of media products within the film industry? (Do film products differ according to Genre or format?)
To find a definition of a media product I used this website : http://ondemandmedia.typepad.com/odm/2005/08/what_is_a_produ.html
From this website I found that a media product is essentially a practice or something that you can use in other words. this would include Websites, Television programmes, Books, Games, and Toys.
For Avatar the media products that are available are the internet as it has an official website. This has also branched off to having facebook applications, a twitter and Myspace page this would a secondary purpose aiding the advertising process of the film so that a larger profit can be made off of its cinema sales. These products are targeted to its an older audience as they are on social networking sites that mainly are used my 13+ . Another Media product that this film has are games that are made for games consoles that are by the older audience such as playstation 3, XBOX, and PSP, this is all relevent as the film has a rating of 12 so the media products will have to be targeted to this audience. In addition their is film merchandise such as Pack lunch box, clothing, and figurines.
For Ice Age The Meltdown There are the same media products but they differ as they are targeted at a younger audience as this was a more child friendly and orientated movie, so the media products needed to be suitable for a wider audience of all ages but more focused on children. An example of this would be that the merchandise of figurines would be made suitable for younger children by using bigger parts and not a choking hazard as the Avartar ones would be as they would be made for adults and be more of an collectors item for display not for play as the Ice Age merchandise would be.
Find out about film producers. Which are the major studios/film industries around the world?
James Cameron was the producer of Avartar as well as The Terminator(1984), Aliens(1986), The Abyss(1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day(1991), True Lies(1994), and Titanic(1997).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron
David Heyman who produced the Harry Potter Series which caused a major increase in cinema viewing numbers.
George Lucas who produced the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.
Ted Field who produced the Late Samurai, Runaway Bride, What dreams May Come, Jumanji, Revenge of the Nerds, and The Amitityville Horror.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_producers
Major Film Studios include:
20th Century Fox
Columbia Pictures
Dreamworks
MGM Motion Pictures
New Line Cinema
Paramount Motion Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment
United Artists
Universal Studios
Walt Disney Studios
Warner Brothers Movies
http://www.mainstwebdesign.com/link_library/film-studios.htm
Who are the primary audience for these industries?
Walt Disney would have its primary audience of being young children as they would only produce movies to this audience as they focus on children however 20th Century Fox would produce movies with an age range of PG and above.
Are these Successful/Unsuccessful?
Disney even though cinema viewing numbers are appearing to experince an increase with the release of new 3D movies the disney film industry are not also benefiting from the increase with them still experiencing a loss in revenue.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/business/media/06disney.html
20th Century Fox is owned by News Corp and they are expecting a decrease in profit in the future for the film industry.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2TURulJ9TAo&pos=6
