media consumption

 How far does media ownership affect consumption in the media area you have studied? 

• If it is a big or small company ( a company owned by more companies) 

• If it is well known or not e.g. Warner Brothers and Belstone 

• Vertical and horizontal integration

• World wide spread dependent on contacts 

• More material capital in bigger companies 

• Less distribution with less material capital 

• More online streaming access with bigger companies as they can afford it 

• Companies like Belstone pictures are more likely to sell on DVD to a more niche audience 

Introduction:

The film industry is dominated by the Hollywood film studios whose global products reach mass audiences and make huge profits. Companies such as Disney. Warner Bros Pictures and Sony release generic, franchise movies target a mass audience,often cashing in on the pre-sold elements of existing texts and characters. However, this is only a segment of film industry output and as there are many small, independent film companies also fighting for a place in the market. 

Warner Brothers:

Warner Brothers Pictures are a major,Hollywood film production and distribution company, who make 20-30 movies a year. They release very high budget films to make a large income. Warner Brothers are a subsidiary. AT&T own Time Warner who own Warner Brothers, they are the biggest media conglomerate. Warner Brothers Pictures released Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 84 as examples of the type of high concept ,tentpole movie they make, these types of films allow them to make huge profits which therefore enables them to afford the other films they decide to make that year. Warner Brothers Picture have taken Wonder Woman from the comic books and adapted it.

Warner Bros Pictures is a film production and distribution company owned by AT&T is an American multinational telecommunication conglomerate,making warner Brothers part of a powerful network of media companies that can work together to achieve synergy.For example,AT&T who are now one of the biggest Synergies in film. For WonderWoman, Warner Brothers had a budget of 300million which included the marketisation. As they are a big well know company Warner Brothers Pictures also received profits from their pre-sold elements as copyrights had to be paid in order for toy companies to use their version of WonderWoman. Warner Brothers pictures turned WonderWoman into one of their tentpole movies, meaning they have invested a lot of money into it with the knowledge that Wonder Woman has a pre-existing fan base therefore will do very well in terms of profit in the film industry, this strategy is done to gain money for other films they would like to release that year. As Warner Bros pictures is world renowned company they can afford to get actors that have a big title meaning fans of these actors will watch the film as they will entice a, to wider audience.Warner Bros pictures can afford to pay top cameramen,stunt directors,CGI experts ,set building designers and access multiple locations globally ,therefore spending a lot of money developing a singular film, the fact that Warner Bros  Pictures    

have the money to spend on one film also means that they are more likely to get a better reaction from the audience as viewers are enticed by how that budget has been spent. 

Warner Brothers Pictures, for WonderWoman spent half of their budget towards marketing this included youtube adverts,social media (Dalgados instagram and other medias using the WonderWoman filter),Snapchat and Facebook filters, postercampains, behind the scenes as they allow the audience to feel as though they are apart of the process and much much more. Within their marketing they did product tie ins with Dr Pepper in America and sponsored a female nascar driver, this catches the attention of an even wider audience as well as develops a ripple effect, when the driver takes interviews her suit will be eye catching like the car therefore bringing in a wider audience, by doing all these different forms of marketisation Warner Brothers Pictures are hooking the next generation of Wonder Woman fans as they are constantly being exposed to her. Wonder Woman because of all these factors ended up making a profit that has gone far beyond box office takings.

-Then bring in belstone pictures to the argument 

Linking paragraph: 

However,not all film production companies operate at the same level as Warner Bros Pictures and its Hollywood counterparts.The film industry also includes vast number of small,independent producers and each country has its own national industry.Companies such as this often produce more targeted,niche products for a specific audience.One such British independent is belstone pictures.

Introduce belstone:

Belstone pictures is a small scale production company that have created films on small budgets. Belstones, unlike Warner Brothers Pictures, gets its funding from individuals ,examples would include Cosmo and Richard who have invested into Belstone Pictures therefore making them investors. As Belstone pictures do not have the same amount of material capital as Warner Brothers Pictures they produce more controlled shoots, with a small cast, an example of this would be Tank 432 as it was done in one location (a tank) in one country which allowed them to keep their spending to a minimum. They did not have the same benefits in marketisation as they were not well known, therefore there was not a lot of discussion on the film. Belstone pictures did not have the ability to cast highly regarded actors so Tank432 did not gather the hype that WonderWoman had. Belstone pictures did not have any pre sold elements for any of their films so far. Tank432 allowed Belstone pictures to be established as a filming company.

Scale of production small budget 

Funding from individuals 

Cosmo and richard would be investors 

Controlled shoot one country one tank,small cast 

Conclusion:

In conclusion ownership massively influences consumption, without the material capital and pre-existing fan base, the consumption of the product will not be as high as it would with these factors, this is strongly demonstrated in a comparison between Belstone pictures which is an uprising film production company and WarnerBrothers which is a globally renowned film production company. Having more connections allows for a wider spread of a film, which is what Warner Brothers has and what Belstone pictures are currently lacking.  

The scale and the scope of the company is important to how many people will see it as they will have the finances to do it (get the film wide spread).