Downton Abbey Two

The clip starts with an establishing shot of the Abbey and a very slight pan to highlight the size and grandeur of the Abbey. From the mise en scene (of the setting) we learn that the people who own and live in the Abbey must be very well off and high class, as it is an impressive and expensive looking setting. This is a typical representation of the higher classes owning big mansions and country estates. Cut editing is then used to move inside the Abbey, where we see the basicness of the servants personal rooms that are very bare and plain. The mise en scene here represents these woman as poorer with less positions and the fact they are waking up as clear from the harsh diegetic sound of the knock and call of "six" and their own conversation which is diegetic and asynchronous sound shows their life revolves around work which is a typical representation of the lower class.

The clip then moves to the kitchen by cut editing where a wide and very slight panning shot follows the ginger older female servant around the kitchen. Here this represents this servant with more power and authority, showing the ranks within the servants. This is a typical representation that the older servant would have control over the younger servant and is commonly used to represent the lower class. It is very clear to see the girl (Daisy) is lower class and has a very low status within the lower class due to the mise en scene of her clothes, they are much scruffier and less expensive and nice than everyone else's. The editing becomes faster paced here which represents the franticness and heticness of the lower class which is a typical stereotype and also fits the stereotype that the lower classes are overworked, stretched and under a lot of pressure from the higher classes.While the older woman is talking to the younger servant shallow focus is used which blurs Daisy, the younger servant out, again this represents Daisy's lack of status and the power the other woman has over her which fits the stereotype of the different ranks in lower class.

A slight panning and following shot is used to follow Daisy up the stairs to the grand main house. This represents the lower class as less than the higher class as they have to literally live below them, which fits the stereotype that the lower class are less important and powerful. The diegetic and synchronous sound of Daisy's footsteps and the clanking of what she is carrying is also used to carry on representation of the business and heticness of the lower class linking in with that they are pushed greatly by the upper class. Once entering the main house the camera continues to follow Daisy and then other characters using great swooping, wide and panning angles to empathise the greatness and affluence of the house and the people who own it; this juxtaposes with the servants highlighting the stark difference in class which is a common stereotype. The camera then changes to following another female servant representing her status above Daisy, before then changing to follow a male servant which represents his status above them both. The male servants mise en scene of his costume also represents this as it far smarter and more expensive looking which shows how he has more authority and a better position and status to them. As he enters the dining room the shot widens to show another male servant and from the first servants harsh and snappy tone which is diegetic and synchronous sound his power and authority is represented.

Cross cut editing is then used to return back to the room with Daisy in. Camera work is used here to represent the different statuses within the lower class, a low angled camera shot is used to show her looking up the other female servants and high angled shot to show them looking down at her. This continues to represent the different levels and positions that create statues within the lower class. The sound here also represents this as when Daisy is talking which is diegetic and synchronous sound her accent is very thick and sound quite common like whereas the other female servants is more pronounced and clear. This represents Daisy as the typical lower class servant girl. Cross cut editing is used again to change to a shallow focus shot of a woman holding keys as she walks down the corridor, from this shot the woman is represented as someone of power and authority and empathise by the camerawork on the keys connotate the power she hold. The diegetic and clear sound of her footsteps also represent this, her footsteps are a lot slower, calmer and less hurried than Daisy which continues to represent her control and calmness. Cross cut editing is used to switch to another scene before then returning to the room Daisy is in. Once the authoritative female servant enters the room the high and low angle shots are used to carry on representing the power she has over Daisy and their stereotypical different statuses.

Cross cut editing then moves the clip on to a tracking shot of a boy on his bike before panning slightly and then no longer tracking to show another establishing shot of the Abbey, which continues to represent the wealth and power of the owners of the house. The use of cross cut editing changes the setting to a woman in a bedroom, who appears to have just woken up. She is not dressed however you can still see she is higher class from the mise en scene as the room is large and spacious, with elegant décor. The shot then moves to a high angle shot of her looking down out of a window at the boy cycling. Immediately from this shot we learn how she is much higher class than him and how he has a much lower status than her as she is looking down at him. This represents the power and authority she has over him and how her higher class enables her to do this. This is also a typical representation as she is quite literally looking down at the lower classes.

Using continuity editing the scene then changes to the servant’s quarters downstairs, where the editing is more fast paced and the music that has been playing throughout the clip increases temo. This non-diegtic and asynchronous sound represents how the servants are lower class as in par with the editing as it is far paces which represents how it is far more chaotic and less controlled. The sharp diegtic sound of the bell also shows how the servants have a lower status as they are subject to serving the woman; the sound is sharp and clear to empathise this. The mise en scene also shows the servants lower status as they are in humbler settings, all eating in and sharing the same room and are all already up. This is a binary contrast to the upper class women who has only just got out of bed and again shows their lower class rolls, of being servants, cooks and maids. Being represented as servants is a typical representation of the lower class especially for the time period this clip is set in and as well as being represented as always busy and serving others.     

Cross cut editing and mise en scene shows how even within the servants there are ranks. When the male servant is getting the paper off the paper boy he is standing on one step slightly higher. There is a slight high angle shot here as the servant looks down at the paper boy which shows how although both their statuses are low, the male servant has more authority over the paper boy. These ranks among the lower status characters are also shown when the older male servant is speaking to the servant who is ironing the papers; here a low angle shot is used from ironers point of view which shows how the older servant has more authority over him. This sequence shows how the status and authority differ slightly between the lower class people in this clip. The mise en scene also shows how this older male servant is slightly higher up as his clothes are more high class and respectful, this shows how is probably in charge of all the others.

  

  

Disney As A Conglomerate

Disney is a conglomerate

A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet. Media conglomerates strive for policies that facilitate their control of the markets across the globe.

Disney owns

• Walt Disney Studios
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment
• Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group:
• Touchstone Pictures
• Pixar Animation Studios
• Lucasfilm
• ESPN
• ABC Entertainment Group
• Marvel Entertainment
• Disney Music Group

The media industry is dominated by 'The Big Six'

Just how dominant are 'The Big Six' studios?

How many independent films can you spot?

Why might conglomerates be seen as a negative?

Global conglomerates can at times have a progressive impact on culture, especially when they enter nations that had been tightly controlled by corrupt crony media systems (as in much of Latin America) or nations that had significant state censorship over media (as in parts of Asia). The global commercial-media system is radical in that it will respect no tradition or custom, on balance, if it stands in the way of profits. But ultimately it is politically conservative, because the media giants are significant beneficiaries of the current social structure around the world, and any upheaval in property or social relations—particularly to the extent that it reduces the power of business—is not in their interest.— 

Robert W. McChesney, The New Global Media; It’s a Small World of Big Conglomerates, The Nation Magazine, November 29, 1999

Piracy Article

Hypothetically, two movies come out on the same day: The Wolf of Wall Street and the new Transformers. You are allowed to see one in an IMAX theater and you will illegally download the other one online. Most people would choose Transformers over The Wolf of Wall Street due to the fact that there are robot dinosaurs and everyone else is going to see it in theaters. Those robot dinosaurs will look a lot cooler in a theater rather than on a laptop. Many people then realized how lacking the movie really was after walking out of their local theater’s showing of Transformers: Age of Extinction. Meanwhile, many of the same people went on to watch The Wolf of Wall Street online to realize that it was actually a really good movie. Most people don’t realize that this is at all a problem, and at first glance it’s not. However, after more in-depth research, the problem soon becomes apparent. Transformers: Age of Extinction only gained an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (Transformers, Rotten Tomatoes), one of the most critical and most trusted film-review sites online. The Wolf of Wall Street, however, gained a 77% rating on the same site (Wolf of Wall Street, Rotten Tomatoes). It was also nominated for five different Academy Awards. The Wolf of Wall Street is clearly the better film. Yet, besides the fact that Transformers was clearly not a great film, it somehow managed to be named the highest grossing film worldwide of 2014 and earned over one billion dollars in the Box Office (2014 Worldwide Grosses). The Wolf of Wall Street went on to be the most pirated film of 2014 with over 30 million illegal downloads (Spangler, 1) and didn’t even gross $117 million, giving the producers and the studio under $17 million after the production cost, which is not a much of a profit at all for such a high-budget film.

Piracy has become more of a problem in the past decade than it ever has before, specifically movie piracy. In fact, a study from Columbia University came out recently that said at least 45% of US citizens pirate movies actively, but that number bumps up to 70% if you include the younger demographics as well (Mick, 2). This act of pirating is growing more and more common every year and most people do it mindlessly, not realizing what it costs. Everyone has seen the text at the beginning of movies saying “Piracy is not a victimless crime,” and this is completely true. Piracy is extremely harmful to the movie industry and its effects are larger than anyone could imagine.

But Where Do These Pirated Movies Come From?

There are many different ways that people pirate movies. One of the most classic ways people pirate is by “leaking” them. This involves a person going into a movie theater with a camera or a phone and recording the movie as it plays. It is usually a poor quality, but many people still download these recordings anyways instead of going to see it in a theater. This usually occurs when it is only in theater since that is the only version most people are able to see. Sometimes these leaks occur before the movie is even premiered, often because it is filmed during a special premier before the opening night. This is referred to as a pre-release, and they tend to result in a 19% decrease in how much the movie makes at the Box Office (Hart, 2). Many people defend pre-releases because it gives a movie more publicity so more people would want to see it, but the facts state otherwise. Leaking a movie that’s in the theaters always tends to decrease how much the movie makes regardless of when it is released and sometimes even leads to the movie not even making as much as there was put into it.

One of the other common ways for a movie to be pirated is for it to be digitally hacked. This one has become more common lately as technology improves. One of the most extreme and recent examples was the Sony hacking. Though some people will claim that Sony faked the hacking, evidence shows that they were legitimately hacked. During this hacking, many of Sony’s movies were released illegally online, such as Annie and Fury (Note: Annie had not even been released yet). A hacking involves someone digitally cracking into the studio or company’s computer system and taking the movie from their files. This logically would actually decrease a movie’s Box Office revenue by even more than someone’s recording of the movie would because it’s a better quality.

There are more ways to watch a pirated movie other than just downloading it online. In fact, some people tend to start their own pirating businesses. It’s very inexpensive and easy for a person to start one of these businesses. More recently, people only need to buy a bunch of blank DVD’s, the same amount of DVD cases and a computer that can burn a DVD. From there, they must find a source to get the pirated movies from. Sometimes they will personally film them in a theater, or find a hacked or leaked version online and download it. After that, all they need to do is download the stolen films onto their blank DVD’s and sell them to anyone who is willing to purchase it. Within a short amount of time, this person has made a great deal of money that should have gone to the movie studios.

What Kind of Effect Does it Have?

Most people would just say that pirating has a small effect on the industry and that the studios already have enough money. They believe watching a movie online isn’t going to hurt anyone. The Motion Picture Association of America looked into this belief and discovered that piracy costs around $20.5 billion annually in the United States alone (Plumer, 2). In fact, a study back in 2005 estimated that a 10% decrease in worldwide piracy, including both film and music, over the course of four years would add 1.5 million jobs, $64 billion in taxes and $400 billion in economic growth (Kai-Lung). That, however, was ten years ago and is outdated. Those numbers are likely to be much higher today due to inflation and an increase in popularity of the film industry. This means that the studios are making much smaller amounts of money than they should be making from their films due to piracy.

Quit Talking Numbers. How Does it Effect My Movie Experience?

The decrease in money from studios will often decrease the quality of other movies and even sequels, but more often it will decrease the quantity. A studio is much more likely to throw all of their money into the next big franchise sequel than give half of it to the franchise and the other half to a movie like Twelve Years a Slave simply because Twelve Years a Slave won’t sell as well in theaters as the franchise movie will. Movie studios and production companies don’t look at reviews and DVD sales nearly as much as they look at the Box Office Revenue, or how much it makes in the theater.

In many cases, piracy of a film will even damage the likeliness of a franchise sequel. For example, the Kick-Ass movies came to an end due to lack of funding from piracy. According to Chloë Grace Moretz who stars as “Hit-Girl” in the series, Kick-Ass 2 was one of the most pirated films of 2013 despite having an extremely low Box Office Revenue (Highfill). Because of this, the plans for the third movie in the series have been cancelled. Whether or not you like the Kick-Ass series, it is clear that piracy has become a serious problem and will only continue to damage the film industry.

What About New Movies That Aren't Franchises Yet?

It is not franchise movies that need to be worried about, though; it is the movies by the independent filmmakers. Due to the increase in film piracy, production companies and movie studios are now much less likely to loan money out to an independent filmmaker with an idea than they are to a team of writers and producers working on a Harry Potter spin-off. When people think of the term ‘independent filmmaker’, they think of a man in his 20’s with an Associates Degree in Theatre that wrote a screenplay in two weeks. Though these people are independent filmmakers, I refer to the higher kind of independent filmmakers that actually make Oscar nominated films, but take out enormous loans to do so. Now, due to piracy, no matter how many Oscars their movie is nominated for, many filmmakers are having to foreclose their houses or take out further loans from a bank to make up for the losses in the Box Office for their film due to piracy. It also means that the studios do not get their money back that they invested with and therefore stop funding films without promises of success like Birdman or The Theory of Everything, both of whom won Oscars this year.

Now Let's Think More Economically...

The loss of money affects more than just the filmmakers and studios, however. It helps the entire economy grow due to tax and job increase. Pirating less films will mean that the studios will get more money, which leads to more movies, which employs people like hairdressers, electricians, actors, costume designers and countless other occupations. This will add more jobs to the United States and will also add more tax money to help the country.

But Is It Really Stealing?

Many people argue that piracy is not illegal because they are not technically stealing anything. Though they are not physically taking away anything from anyone, they are stealing intellectual property. Just because you can’t hold a movie file in your hands does not mean that it is not someone’s property. Downloading a film online is the equivalent of stealing a movie from a movie store. It may not come in the same fancy case as a movie at the store, but it still carries the same contents. By pirating a film, you are stealing the money that should have been paid had you watched the movie legally. You do not have a right to watch whatever movies you want to watch without having to pay for them just as I do not have a right to walk into the local Dollar General and eat their candy bars without paying first. As much as people may argue it, film piracy is stealing. It is not your property, so it is not yours to take without paying for it first.

Going Back to my Original Example at the Beginning of All of This...

The Wolf of Wall Street was 2014’s most pirated movie with over 30 million piracies worldwide. Let’s do the math to see how much money piracy actually robbed this movie of had these people gone to see it in a theater instead. In 2014, the average price of a movie ticket in the United States was $8.17 (Linshi, 1). When a person goes to see a movie in the theater, the money spent on the ticket goes to two different places. It is split between the movie studio and the movie theater, with more going to the theater the longer the movie has been out (Campea). For the purposes of now, let’s average that overall the theater and the studio would each get 50% of the ticket price. Now for the part with the actual math. If each illegal download of The Wolf of Wall Street, which more specifically evens out to around 30,035,000 downloads (Spangler, 1) equals one movie ticket that costs $8.17, and the movie studio only gets half of the amount from each movie ticket, that results in about $122,692,975 that was robbed from Paramount Pictures for just that one movie. That amount stolen was more than the movie actually made in the Box Office, and that is assuming that only one person watched each illegal download. Several of those downloads were most likely copied onto multiple different blank DVD’s and given out to others to watch illegally. That is even more money that was robbed from The Wolf of Wall Street. In the Box Office, the movie barely broke even out of how much they spent making the film. These numbers would have helped the studio, the filmmakers and the crew a lot more in order to make even more Oscar nominated movies. Unfortunately, these thirty million people seemed to overlook that.

Now the Real Question: How Do We Stop Piracy?

It all starts at home, just like it takes a spark to start a fire. Many people argue that “everyone is watching movies illegally online, so why is it different if I do it?” Well the same argument could again go for people that steal candy bars from a store. It may cost more than you like and others may do it, but it is not your property to steal. Like voting, if just one person takes a stand against piracy it will make a difference. Simply quit pirating movies or watching them online. There are many different excuses people use about watching movies online illegally, but it does not override the fact that it is illegal. Even streaming movies online is illegal if it is not authorized by the studio that made the film. If you aren’t willing to pay to watch the film, you aren’t allowed to watch it. This is the way the industry works.

What Can The Theaters Do?

A way for movie theaters to prevent piracy is to change their types of projectors. In the past, the government came up with a way to prevent the filming of a movie in the theaters. They did this by projecting an infrared spectrum over the projected film. This infrared image was not visible to the audience, but it would make the video on the camera someone brought into film the movie into a very low quality that would make the video almost unbearable to watch. Since then technology has improved to attempt to improve the quality of the filmed video regardless of the infrared. Though this has worked to an extent, film pirates have not yet fully recovered from the addition of the infrared. Only more research will be able to help improve the projectors so that this does not happen anymore.

What Happens if Someone gets Caught?!

When it all comes down to it, one of the major reasons you should avoid pirating movies is that its an enormous risk. Since it is illegal, there are certainly punishments for those that choose to break this law. These punishments are severe. For example, if a person is convicted of a misdemeanor in piracy, as in they only downloaded or uploaded a small amount of movies without the owner’s consent, the person would be punished with up to a year of prison time and would have a fine of up to $100,000, depending on the extent of the piracy. That, however, is just for a small offense. For someone that downloads or uploads movies illegally without the owner’s consent in large amounts will be charged with a felony. The punishment of this crime is up to 5 years of imprisonment and up to $250,000 in fines. The fine, though, can be more. In some cases, the fine is set as double what the person gained for pirating the films if they made money off of it, or it set as double the amount of money the person cost the studios he or she stole from (AlanS). In any of these cases, it is clear that movie piracy is not worth the risk.

Piracy is Clearly an Enormous Threat

Filmmakers are in danger of losing their jobs and the movie theaters are in danger of only showing films like Transformers sequels and Terminator reboots. Helping the film industry does not just entail not illegally watching a movie, it also entails going to see those movies in a theater to reverse the mistakes made by those who don’t realize the consequences. Some of the greatest films do not get the proper credibility in the theaters because people are too distracted by other films or because people would think it’s smarter to illegally watch it on their computer than paying to see it in a theater. As stated earlier, this has many more consequences than these people would think, such as taking away jobs, taking over $20.5 billion from the US film industry and decreasing both the quantity and quality of the very movies they are downloading. In addition, is it really worth spending five years of your life in prison just because you didn’t want to pay to watch a movie? It’s time to stop pirating and to stop making excuses for watching a movie illegally online. Film is a form of art. People use it to tell their stories.

Previous Exam Questions

Audience and Institution Questions

January 2010 

“Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to national audiences”. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

June 2010 

What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?

January 2011

Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area?

June 2011

“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices”. To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?

January 2012 

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the area of media you have studied?

June 2012

"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? 

January 2013

What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products available to audiences in the media area you have studied?

June 2013

Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of products in the media are you have studied.

June 2014

The increase in hardware and content in media industries has been significant in recent years. Discuss the effect this has had on institutions and audiences in the media area you have studied.

Theorists

Tessa Perkins:

Tessa Perkins believes that stereotypes are a complicated process and that there are many assumptions that can be challenged.

Perkins believes there are 5 assumptions that could be wrong or challenged:
Stereotypes are not always negative such as English people are polite
That stereotypes are not limited to being about minority groups or those with less status/power such as the stereotype of "Upper class twits" or that "white" people have very little culture
That they can be about the persons own group
That they don't stay the same and can change with the change of culture and time
That they aren't always untrue and can be accurate

Tessa Perkins believes that stereotypes have implications on society such as:
They are normally (not always) incorrect about the group and often negative
They are about a group that society as a whole have limited contact with, which leads to less knowledge and the stereotypes being created.
They are often centered around minority and lower class groups which nearly always creates a negative image, leading to the upper class being viewed with more.
People often link stereotypes to the group and then don't really change their minds, this can lead to a very negative image of the group which causes a self fulling prophecy from the group as they act negatively like how they are believed to act.      
Due to the stereotype of the group, other members of society's behaviour towards this group can be predicted which can cause unfair and harsh treatment of the group members.
Stereotypes must have some truth within them as they are key part of understanding the world and are so influential on understanding society.

Perkins assumptions that can be challenged are definitely challenged in the Hotel Babylon clip; nearly every stereotype in the clip are negative such as ethnic minorities not being very clever and have low status and lower pay jobs like cleaning. The only positive representations in the clip is when the white security guards stand up to the white policemen; however as this is not a stereotype and is a unconventional representation it show how stereotypes are often negative. The Hotel Babylon clip dose show how stereotypes are not just limited to minority groups; although the minority groups were stereotyped in this clip so were the larger groups like white females. In this clip the stereotype of white females having a simple clerical job, who is pretty and can be quite revealing is met as show by the receptionist, who is a white female, dressed to please male audiences (the male gaze) and has a simple basic job.

Leon Festinger:

Leon Festinger believes that we seek to find confirmation of our thoughts and ideas. He believes that we don't like to change or alter our ideas unless there is a lot of proof. This can explain why people like/enjoy Hotel Babylon and other similar TV Drama's so much. They appear to enforce and prove the stereotypes that everyone has grown so comfortable with and offer the reassurance that these ideas are correct. As according to Festinger we find this comforting as we are always looking for confirmation that these ideas are true and accurate, hence why programmes like Hotel Babylon are so popular.

Alvarado's Racial Stereotypes Theory:

Alvarado's theory is that race is represented in four different ways:

1) Pitifully-he believes that some races are represented to make the audience feel pity for those being represented. An example of this when African families/children are represented as starving and dying from poverty. This evokes pity and feeling of wanting to help from the audience.

2) Dangerous- Some races are represented as dangerous such as sometimes Asians in particular men. When one member of the race is represented this way the ideas and representation are often connotated and spread to the rest of the race.

3) Exotic- This is where the race is represented as different due to them being from somewhere so far away and often comes across as sexy. This in particular happens to women and the race of Latino Americans, this is represented by suggestive dancing, flirtatious behavior and racy costumes.

4) Comically- This can often happened when there is only one member of that race in group of members of a different race. This can happen when a Welsh person is a group of English people ect... this carries one to stereotype the rest of the race this way.


Roland Barthes 

Roland Barthes theories are used to understand/explain how texts and media texts are understood by an audience. He explains this by cultural codes which is done by looking at cultural norms and influences. He believes that how each person of the audience understands and views the media texts is massively effected by how they personally understand society and their own views.

Barthes believes there will be a least one of the 5 codes in any text or narrative. He also believes that texts can either be open or closed; open being the text can understood in many different ways and closed being the text can really only be understood one way.

Barthes 5 Codes:

Hermeneutic/Enigma Code- this is where a mystery within the text, clues can be hinted at throughout the text however no real answers are given. These enigmas lead the audience to want to know more and to carry on following the text. If the enigmas are left un-answered at the end of a text it can frustrate as much as excited the audience.

Proairetic/Action Code- this is where the text carries action within it. This can build the tension and suspense for the audience. The action that builds can indicate the next event in the text or narrative, which leads the audience to guess what is happening next.

Semantic Code- this part of the text can hint at or clearly have different meanings. The specific part of the text that dose this called Semes and this can connotate other meanings for the audience, allowing the audience to see past the literal meaning.

Symbolic Code- this about the part of the text that symbolizes and is closely linked to the semantic code. Symbolism covers a wider area of the text to create a broader and more in depth meaning whereas semes are more specific. Symbolism is used to show contrasting and opposite ideas, a deeper meaning, to increase tension and suspense and carry on the character development.

Referential Code- this is intertextuality which refers different areas of knowledge. This creates familiarity for the audience such as using ideas like the foundation of science and history.

Star Wars: Force Awakens& Ex-Machina Marketing Research

Websites:

Star Wars: Star Wars has its own official website (www.starwars.com) where a lot of marketing took place for The Force Awakens. Having already secured a massive fan base, fans knew to check the website for updates and here learnt everything they needed to know for the new film from the release dates to fan exclusives. The trailers were also released onto this website and onto YouTube by the wireless communications company Version. These trailers smashed world records with their viewing figures in 24 hours by being released onto these websites.  
Star Wars also used Google as another website to market allowing users to choose between the "Dark Side and the Light Side" on the search engine.
Force Friday was another marketing campaign which was shown to audiences via the website of YouTube. This 24 hour live streaming event of fans unboxing never before seen merchandise was not only to advertise the products available but to help advertise the film itself.
 
Ex-Machina: Ex-Machina also it own website (www.exmachina-movie.com) where again information about the film was released and marketed on here. The website is very simplistic with the trailer and link to buy the film.

Social Media:

Star Wars: Stars Wars massively used social media to market The Force Awakens. They had their own Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages which massively increased the hype and excitement for the film. Along with the official social media profiles for the film the actors and producing team also their own Instagrams ect.. that also massively promoted the film. Star Wars had interest from different media sites including Tumblr as show by this pie chart. Snapchat and Facebook filters were available for users to use and the Instagram account to date has an massive 5.9 million followers and Twitter with 2.47 million followers.

Ex-Machina: Ex-Machina used the online dating social media app Tinder in a unique way that raised a few eyebrows to market and attract audiences. They created a fake Tinder profile of their main character Ava, who during a conversation with the audience then gave them a link to the official Instagram page. Many people fully believed Ava was real person and had a surprise when they followed the link to the Instagram page to see that is was in fact an marketing campaign for the film. This caused mixed reactions from critics, many phrased the personal technique used and believed it was innovative, different and a successful way to advertise and is acclaimed as one the best marketing campaigns for a film. This marketing was also praised for its incredible and effective links to the film; it really focused in and empathized all the issues the film raises. Other believed this was an deceitful advertising campaign that pushed the boundaries on consent and privacy issues and did not fully approve of this way of advertising. This direct advertising and the slight controversy surrounding it created a lot of interest and intrigue for the film as the debate about the techniques used were also featured in main stream media, allowing the film to marketed even more.

Trailers:

Star Wars: A lot of the advertising and hype for Star Wars was initiated and carried on by the trailers. As this was the first glimpse at the film many fans had been waiting for, for years this really built up excitement for the film. The first trailer was released on the 28th November 2016 in selected cinemas in the USA and Canada as well as being available on YouTube and the iTunes store. On YouTube this first trailer broke records for the amount of views in the first week of 58.2 million. Another teaser trailer was released at the Star Wars Celebration in California on the 16th April 2015 which received an amazing reaction from the crowd there before then being matched when this trailer broke the record for the most viewed film trailer in 24 hours on YouTube hitting 30.65 million views. The third trailer was released in October 2015 during the halftime break of the American show Monday Night Football and was then released online. Using the TV show Monday Night Football to release the trailer allowed Star Wars The Force Awakens to be marketed at many different types of audiences. This trailer also gained a lot of views within 24 hours and with fans loving it on social media. Star Wars The Force Awakens also released a Japanese trailer to ensure that all audience demographics were reached. Overall the trailers for this film were a massive part of the advertising campaign, creating quite possibly the biggest hype and interest as well as reaching the most audiences.

Ex-Machina: Ex-Machina also released a trailer on the 30th October 2014 by Universal Pictures onto YouTube. The trailer was also shown in cinema's.

Posters:

Star Wars: During Disney's D23 Expo in August 2015 (a fan convention) a commemorative poster was released exclusively to the fan attending which was designed by Drew Struzan who also designed the posters for the other Star Wars films that featured Luke Skywalker. In October 2015 another poster was also released, again this was a massive success on social media spreading it to even more audiences.







Ex-Machina: Ex-Machina also released posters many featuring the tag line "There's nothing more human than the will to survive" on the 29th October 2015.


Chat Shows&TV Interviews:

Star Wars: Both the cast mainly Daisy Ridley and John Boyega with Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Lupita Nyong'o, Billy Lourd and J.J. Abram's the director joining in or having solo spots appeared on many different American and British chat shows including: Good Morning America (2nd December 2015), Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon (3rd December 2015), Live With Kelly and Micheal (8th December 2015), The Ellen DeGeneres Show (7th December 2015) and the Daily Show with Trevor Noah (2nd December 2015) and the Graham Norton Show. This massive coverage over TV especially in America would really help to market the film to all audience demographics.

Ex-Machina: While Ex-Machina did not feature on any main stream TV chat shows they did plenty of online interviews with successful YouTube channels and media companies like Screenrant and Beyond The Trailer, successful online blogs like Redbrick Film and We Got This Covered as well as interviews with newspapers such as The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Product Tie Ins&Toys: 

Star Wars: Star Wars had a mass amount of merchandise and toys available which majorly increased the interest in the film. The offical merchandise was available from the Disney Store both online and in store as well as from the offical Star Wars Website. Disney/Star Wars also teamed up with other toy company's like Build A Bear to market the film and sell products. This widely known retail and online store would have helped to market Star Wars The Force Awakens to a wider audience demo-graphic of younger viewers; this is the same idea used for when they teamed up with Lego to create more products aimed at younger audience.
There were also other products other than toys such as the makeup range released by Cover Girl and Max Factor with the probable aim to market to female audiences, the range with Hot Wheels to attract American younger boys and the team up with Tesco to attract families as a whole. This very well recognized and popular brands meant that audiences saw the film being marketed a lot and everywhere. This blanket marketing ensured that audiences couldn't avoid seeing or knowing about the film.

Ex-Machina: Ex-Machina have no official merchandise out however they are some fan made products available. Ex-Machina also have no tie in products.

Ex-Machina Review

Ex-Machina Review

Ex-Machina was directed and written by Alex Garland who is well known for amazing dystopia type screen-writings like Never Let Me Go which Ex-Machina certainly lives up to. This twisting tale, full of dramatic plot twists stars a well credited cast of Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac who perfectly act out their roles to create truly convincing characters that engage the audience.

The producers of the film are Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich, Macdonald who has worked with Garland before; this great team produced a simply stunning film with the aid of the effects from the company Double Negative. Double Negative are a critically acclaimed British special effects company that have won Academy Awards for previous and also gained another for Ex-Machina. This prestige shows just how good these effects were, with Alicia’s incredible acting and the ever realistic effects it was easy to forget the character Ava was a robot just like Caleb did in the film. The production took place in a mere six weeks, with a budget of $15 million although the audience would never even guess this a low budget film. Using gorgeous locations like Norway to shoot the impressive outside scenes and this cleverly added an air of sophistication to the film which hooked audiences. The film score of this film is owed a lot of credit for increasing audience enjoyment and empathises with the characters. Conducted by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow the film score is perfect match to increase the tension and suspense during the film. The special effects used to create Ava such as using rotoscoping and camera and body tracking systems, with the soundtrack and all acted immaculately created a brilliant film.

The ethical and moral questions raised in this film really do hit home to the audience and leave them reeling and wondering after the film. Ex-Machina covers the ethical issues of when a machine/robot is no longer a machine, has consciousness and is human. This is where the film delves into when or if you should give conscious machines human rights, such as not being locked up and allowed freedom which is something Ava suffers from. Due to Ava being brilliantly acted by Alicia Vikander and the audience viewing everything from Caleb’s view point again expertly acted by Domhnall Gleeson the audience quickly begin to feel for Ava and see her as human. The amazing effects must also be credited here as this helps to portray the ethical issues in this film and helping create Ava be seen as a life like human, which allows the audience to really reflect on ethical raised.

Overall I believe this film is a very cleverly written with the plot twists really shocking the audience and well produced and directed. The acting and special effects deserve extra credit for really bringing the film to life allowing the ethical issues to be raised and accurately portrayed. Everything manages to tie in every well in this film from the music to the locations used which leads it hard to believe that film is a low budget production.