Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Disney Timeline
Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Minecraft Factsheet
KEY TERMS...
- Digitally convergent media- video games consoles are an excellent example of digitally convergent device, you can not only play games but access social media, surf the internet, streams films and TV content and upload content into cloud based servers. Cross-media content helps maximise profits and also improve reach to new customers.
- Production- this refers to all phrases of designing, developing and making the media product.
- Distribution- this refers to all processes linked to delivering the media product to audiences both through tangible (disc) and digitally (cloud based) media.
- Consumption- explores the way in which the media text is used by audiences for pleasure but also explores the rise of user generated content across several platforms.
Minecraft...
- Minecraft is a sandbox game, created and developed by Swedish based Mojang Studios.
- The game has been described as a virtual world of Lego that involves following simple instructions in order to play it : explore, mine and build.
- Users only have to log in and proceed to create a world full of textured 3D cubes.
- There are predominantly two game modes: Creative or Survival, although more recent additions include Adventure, Spectator and also Multi-Player Modes.
- In November 2011, prior to the game's official release, Minecraft had over 16 million registered and 4 million purchases.
- Due to it's popularity, Minecraft was released across multiple platforms becoming a commercially viable franchise with increased interactivity.
- Minecraft: Pocket Edition was released on Sony Xperia Play, available on Sony Xperia smartphones. Minecraft also became on Android and iOS devices shortly after.
- Modern versions of the game, notably Minecraft: Story Mode, follow more of the recognisable institutional conventions of game development including tutorials on how to play the game, something the original Minecraft series never had.
- In a global context, the purchase of Mojang by Microsoft studios for US$2.5 Billion is a testament to lucrative industry and global appeal of such a game across different platforms.
The relationship of recent technological change and media, production, distribution and circulation.
- Due to the original nature of the game, most players simply logged in to play Minecraft and did not need a physical copy of the game.
- When the Xbox and PlayStation versions were created there was often a chance to offer digital versions of the same game across the Windows 10 operating system to promote the Microsoft bran across home computers, a form of synergy.
- Users were often encouraged to download the game through the cloud servers rather than a physical copy of the game which would incur more of a cost for the institution.
- The pattern of release for Minecraft shows that physical copies are often released six months after the downloadable version, most likely as a way to limit the impact of piracy, hacking and file sharing.
The significant of patterns of ownership and control, including conglomerate ownership, vertical integration and diversification.
- Mojang Studios, which is now owned by Microsoft Studios, a division of the parent company, Microsoft.
- Mojang Studios is their only first-party studio in Europe.
- Given the nature of the parent company and the loyal fan base of PC gamers, it was in the company's interest to invest US$2.5 Billion to purchase Mojang for long term revenue.
- Other collaboration with gamers developers include Telltale Games who helped develop the Minecraft: Story Mode in 2015.
- The PlayStation versions were developed by 4J Studios.
- Formats- by 2012, Minecraft was available for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. In 2013, Minecraft: Pi Edition, meant for educational purposes for novice programmes and players, was also released. In 2014, Microsoft acquired Minecraft intellectual property for $2.5 billion. In 2015, it reached 30 million copies sold. To date, over 121 official copies of the game have been sold across a variety of formats and platforms.
- Distribution- versions of the game can be purchased over the internet using such outlets the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live Arcade. Recent additions include the Nintendo platform which was excluded from the initial Minecraft releases; available to download for December 2015 with physical copies from June 2016 and most recently for Nintendo Switch (May 2017) and Nintendo 3DS (download only from September 2017). The Minecraft: Story Mode- A Telltale Games series is also available via Steam.
- Critical Reception- on it's release, the game won five awards at three conferences, including an Innovation Award, Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, Audience Award and Seumas McNally Grand Prize.
- Genre- Sandbox Game- a game free of structure and constraint; players are free to roam and make choices about how they use available content. Sandbox games are often described as having open world settings. Minecraft later created a hybrid genre with the story versions and is sometimes categorised as sandbox, survival.
- UK's share of the market is just over $4 billion. China, the fastest growing sector, currently enjoys US$24.4 billion versus America US$23.6 billion.
Monday, 12 November 2018
Jungle Book 2016
Production...
- JB 2016 was produced by Walt Disney Pictures.
- Directed and co-produced by Jon Favreau.
- Written by Justin Marks.
- Partly based on Disney's original version.
- Drew on Kipling's original books, giving a rather darker tone.
- Disney's on-going policy to create live action versions of it's earlier animated classics.
- The largest part of what is seen on screen was produced using CGI.
- Its considered as live action.
- Favreau wanted the film to be part homage-tribute.
- A dreamy pull-back through undergrowth that slowly fades from hand-drawn into CGI.
- Multi plane camera.
- British digital effects house MPC.
- Realistic look-not in a cute and cuddly cartoon-style.
- Target older movie goers.
- That humour would have been too broad for a live action.
- Disney were quite open to Favreau's new approach in handling their characters.
- Narrative structure- saw what Kipling did.
- To focus on the images that Favreau remembered from it.
- Behind the scenes-
- book open like the original film there was men- reinvention.
- mixed with old Disney films such as Bambi.
- Cast representing a modern audience.
- Orangutan - avoiding racial stereotypes.
- Concepts art .
- Voice influenced the animation process - the voice came first.
- Location scouting (India) to take pictures for a realistic representation of the jungle.
- Bigger crew than JB original.
- Worldwide production - different backgrounds and gender.
- Representation of Mowgli- more accurate.
- JB 16 included some of the original music.
- Disney's huge archives.
- Original songwriter Richard Sherman - people from the original film are part of the JB 16 production.
Ownership, Marketing and Distribution...
- Disney leads the world in the production and distribution of popular culture.
- To have this incredible vault of content that they can go back to and re-imagine, re-tool and recreate for today's audience just gives them a depth and breadth of films that is almost unparalleled.
- Walt Disney Studios Chairman, Alan Horn, as one of a series of remakes of their classic properties.
- They revive classic characters for a new generation of kids, and their smitten parents may be especially willing to shell out for related merchandise.
- Sean Bailey created the division's escalating success rate to the SILO SYSTEM, instituted by Disney Chairman Bob Iger and managed by Alan Horn.
- SILO SYSTEM- it is a program where which each division says in its own lane and isn't pressured to make more movies than it's marketing machine can handle, while maintaining quality controls.
- The production process of JB 16 was highly dependent on other companies, such as MPC.
- JB 16 was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
- Warner Brothers had been producing their own adaption of Kipling's The Jungle Book Favreau (director) was aware of the technological inter-relationship between the making of the film and its promotion.
- What's interesting about the film is we are telling an old story with new technology and that's bled over into other aspects of film and promotion.
- JB 16 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram accounts.
- Convergence.
- Traditional marketing devices (theatrical trailers and print-based posters).
- Disney uploaded as interactive movie poster on Snapchat and users could apply a framed 'Jungle Book' lens.
- JB 16 was produced in 3D (as well as 2D) and was one of the first films to be released in Dolby Vision 3D (but only a handful of cinemas were equipped to show it in that form).
- It has subsequently been released on DVD and Blu Ray and JB has also been released by Disney as digital downloads via iTunes, Disney Movies Anywhere etc.
- Walt Disney Records has released a soundtrack album.
- Merchandise was, of course, another money spinner for Disney with the Disney Store, selling toys, clothing and home ware.
Regulation...
- Sex&Nudity- throughout the movie, the only thing the main character (Mowgli) wear is a loincloth.
- Violence- there are scenes of fighting depicted between various animals in the film, where they are seen attacking and biting one another. Although these scenes are intense, they are depicted without any details of injury or bloodletting.
- Alcohol, Drugs&Smoking- Mowgli looks at a human village from a distance. Against a background of blazing flames, people seem to be celebrating something. There are drinks in their hands but nothing is clearly visible.
- Frightening&Intense Scenes- the film contains several scenes where characters face threatening situations and/or engage in fighting. For instance, there are scenes where the protagonist is being pursued or cornered by animals such as a tiger or a giant gigantopithecus.
- The Jungle Book 2016 is a live-action/CGI update of Kipling's classic book of short stories that has many scary/intense scenes involving menacing wild animals.
Technology...
- The Jungle Book 2016 was both a marvel of technology-driven cinematic storytelling and a box office smash.
- JB 16 is the result of cutting edge CGI- he animals were created digitally post-production and the one actor in the film (playing Mowgli) acted against a blue screen.
Economics/Funding...
- JB16 costs an estimated $175 million to produce but opened with $103.6 million in North America.
- Biggest April debuts
- Grossed over $966 million
- 35th highest grossing film of all time
- $2.58 billion globally
- The studios- top-four grossing films of the year.
- Released in 70 countries- depending on competition and school holiday dates
- Strong in terms of 3D ticket- sales
- Successful in India and China
- A sequel is planned
Maintaining audiences...
- Highly developed corporate synergy
- Disney products are themselves advertisements for Disney
- Appeal to a wide range of age groups
- 49% over 25 years of age
- 51% under 25 years of age
- 18-24 lead to 33% of tickets sales
- Widely over-performed
- The movie is playing to not just the converted Disney female audiences, but to all demos
- 97% of the audience gave the film an A or B
Tuesday, 6 November 2018
Jungle Book 1967
Production and Technology...
Ownership, Distribution and Marketing...
25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published.
- The Jungle Book (hereafter JB) was released in 1967 by Walt Disney Productions. It was created at the Walt Disney Studios in California.
- Disney's animation studio had been responsible for developing many of the techniques and ways of working that became standard practices and developing the use of the multi plane to create an early 3-D like effect.
Ownership, Distribution and Marketing...
- Walt Disney was personally at the centre of most of the decision making of The Jungle Book.
- All stages of production and distribution
- Developing theme parks (Disney World), television series and live action films.
- Disney's own politics were rather conservative right-wing and undoubtedly this affected the representations constructed within the film.
- Equating of black Jazz music with the apish behaviour of the orang-utan.
- Reinforcing racial stereotypes, this was something the makes of the 2016 version were keen to avoid.
- JB was released in the US in October 1967.
- Re-released in the US in 1978.
- 1984 and 1990 and in Europe throughout the 1980's.
- Floyd Norman- 'we never thought in terms of making the Jungle Book a box office smash. Today everyone thinks about the opening weekend box number. If the picture was a flob and Walt was happy, then we were happy'.
- The budget was $4 million but JB has now made $141 million gross in the US. (29th highest grossing film of all time in the US).
- $205 million worldwide.
- Germany's highest grossing film of all time.
- Walt Disney Home Entertainment released it on VHS in 1991 (and the UK in 1993) and on DVD in 2007.
- Re-released several time on DVD and on Blu-ray with extra or different packaging in order to pick up how.
- Occasionally Disney films are 'VAULTED' meaning they are not available for purchase, which pushes up the demand the Diamond edition of JB disappeared to the vault in January 2017.
- Vinyl soundtrack.
- Gold status.
- Digital downloads.
- Live action version 1994.
- An animated sequel, The Jungle Book 2, in 2013.
- Direct to video.
- Promoted the original films.
- Disney produced films at its own studios and distributed them via, its own wholly owned Buena Vista Distribution Company.
- VERTICALLY INTEGRATED- an arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or (market-specific) service, and the products combine to satisfy a common need.
- It handled theoretical distribution, marketing and promotion for films produced and released by Walt Disney.
- Diversified into theme parks, creating Disneyland, television (Disney Channel), and Disney had been aware of the value of merchandising from the very beginning
- Walt Disney even helped find the California Institution of Art.
Regulation...
- The main regulatory issues relating to JB are Copyright and Classification or Certification.
- The film, music,script,character design, performance, Disney logo, DVD cover design etc are all affected by the copyright in one way or another. The US Copyright Amendment Act of 1998 gave protection for works published before January 1, 1998 gave protection for works published before January 1, 1978, increasing coverage works of 'Corporate authorship' by 20 years to a total of 95 years from the publication date. This amendment to the copyright law had been actively lobbied for by Walt Disney Company since 1990 and his extension of copyright delayed the entry into the public domain of the earliest Mickey Mouse movies, hence the Act's nickname, 'The Mickey Mouse Protection Act'.
- In the UK copyright is covered by the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1998.
Why is Copyright Law essential?
- It gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artists works the right to control the ways in which their material may be used.
What does it cover?
It covers:
- broadcast and public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public. In many cases, the creator will also have the right to be identified as the author and to object to distortions of his work.
How long does copyright usually last?
For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works
70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies, or the work is made available to the public, by authorised performance, broadcast, exhibition, etc. The Copyright (Computer Programs) Regulations 1992 extended the rules covering literary works to include computer programs.
Sound Recordings and broadcasts
50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies, or the work is made available to the public, by authorised release, performance, broadcast, etc.
Films
70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last principal director, author or composer dies, or the work is made available to the public, by authorised performance, broadcast, exhibition, etc.
Typographical arrangement of published editions
25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published.
Certification...
- Certification and classification varies around the world according to differing regulation and cultural sensibilities.
- Rated G: General Audiences – all ages admitted.
- Sex and nudity-mild
- Violence and gore- mild
- Frightening and Intense scenes- mild
Maintaining Audiences...
- Disney was highly aware of how to build and maintain audiences nationally and globally, from the shaping of the original product to appeal more to a family audience, the marketing and distribution by it's own company, merchandising etc. Disney was an early master of synergy, persuading companies to tie in with their film's release, running a character merchandising department.
- In addition to running a character merchandising beginning pioneering synergy, branding and merchandising beginning in the 1930's, Walt Disney also developed the idea of synergy between media consumption and theme park visits in the 1950's.
Friday, 2 November 2018
Monday, 29 October 2018
Statement of Intent
For my website, I will use elements of the media theoretical framework for the website that I am going to create for example, I will add a homepage that will include the music video that I will produce, and information about the new single. I will also have a gallery, which will have some images of the artist, in a variety of camera shots and angles. Also I will add a merch page, which will have merchandises that have the logo on them, for example hoodies, phone cases and t-shirts in various sizes. The last page will be the about page, the artist will be represented as someone who loves dance and art, especially street art (graffiti). The about page will allow the audience to discover more about the artist, including where she grew up, childhood and education. I will add the codes and conventions of dance music, such as technical codes and conventions and dancing. I will add a range of different colours (bright colours), to establish a clear link between both the website and the dance music video. The fonts that I will use for my website will relate to the font that I will use for my logo, this will make the target audience know that the website and logo are linked together. To make the website and music link, I will take screenshots of the video and add them on the website. The website will be one that will fit the 16-25 AB demographic as it will entice the audience to learn more about the artist. The images that will be used will have specific mise en scene. Some of the images will be taken from the music video, especially the ones with a bright background. The majority of the shots will be taken outside with natural lighting in front of a wall covered in graffiti. I will use a projector to project a moving image in a dark room, in front of a white wall, which will give a club/ party scene effect. I will take the main image outside with my artist. She will be in front of some green scenery and she will be wearing a coral turtle neck top with high waisted light blue jeans that are ripped at the knee. The camera angle will be a mid-shot. The website layout steers away from the traditional dance music artist's page, as it uses white, black and a marble background. I have chosen this as i think that the colours work really well together and creates a plain background that will help the dance music video and the images to stand out.
For my dance music video, I will have to make sure that I add all the different conventions, this will include doing a performance when there is no narrative. In my dance music video, I will follow the codes of conventions by having a wide range of different camera shots and movements in the video, this will create a specific pace and idea of the music video. I will make sure that the editing fits with the music, so that the video looks well edited. Since the target audience is 16-25 AB demographic, I will represent the idea of freedom and identity, I will do this by making a performance. The ages of the target audiences are the ages where people have freedom and when people start to discover their identities, such as who they are and what they want to do with their lives. I will make sure that I apply knowledge and understanding to construct representations that portray events, issues, individuals and social groups as appropriate to the brief. I will also try to add a wide range of different ages and races, so that there is not just one specific age or race. I will try to use different camera shots, such as jumping between long shots, close-ups and extreme close ups, I will also try to use tracking shots and whip pans. I believe using these shots will make the audience more engaged, and if a tracking shot is added in a moving image then the audience will become more attentive as they were before. For editing, I will use montage editing, which is a series of short shots which are edited into a sequence to condense space, time and information, I will also make sure that the beats of the song match the editing, and also that the lip syncing matches the lyrics.
For my dance music video, I will have to make sure that I add all the different conventions, this will include doing a performance when there is no narrative. In my dance music video, I will follow the codes of conventions by having a wide range of different camera shots and movements in the video, this will create a specific pace and idea of the music video. I will make sure that the editing fits with the music, so that the video looks well edited. Since the target audience is 16-25 AB demographic, I will represent the idea of freedom and identity, I will do this by making a performance. The ages of the target audiences are the ages where people have freedom and when people start to discover their identities, such as who they are and what they want to do with their lives. I will make sure that I apply knowledge and understanding to construct representations that portray events, issues, individuals and social groups as appropriate to the brief. I will also try to add a wide range of different ages and races, so that there is not just one specific age or race. I will try to use different camera shots, such as jumping between long shots, close-ups and extreme close ups, I will also try to use tracking shots and whip pans. I believe using these shots will make the audience more engaged, and if a tracking shot is added in a moving image then the audience will become more attentive as they were before. For editing, I will use montage editing, which is a series of short shots which are edited into a sequence to condense space, time and information, I will also make sure that the beats of the song match the editing, and also that the lip syncing matches the lyrics.
In my cross-media production I will be creating a music video and music video for a dance music band/artist for 16-25 AB demographic target audience. I will do this by applying knowledge and understating of the theoretical framework of media to communicate meaning. The website will have the band/artists logo on it. I will also add the logo either at the start or end of the music video to show that they are linked together. For the website I will add some links, such as the band/artist’s social media so that the 16-25 AB demographic target audience can interact with them. I will also add different tour dates and the locations of the tours that the band/artist will be having. Since the target audience is 16-25 AB demographic, I will have to make sure the website and the dance music video are suited for the target audience. In order for my website and music video to look professional, I will have to research professionally produced websites and dance music videos, that are similar in genre and form to my cross-media products. I will also have to plan what I will do in order to successfully produce this music marketing campaign. I will also use the same colour scheme, so that the website and the dance music video are both linked together. This will create some form of visual link for the audience which can make the video and website more effective to the target audience who are viewing the products.
Monday, 14 May 2018
History of Dance Music
Disco is a musical style that emerged in the early 1970's from American urban nightlife scene, where it originated in house parties. Its initial audience in the U.S. where club-goers, both male and female, from African-American, Italian-American, Latino, gay and psychedelic communities in Philadelphia and New York City during the late 1960's and early 1970's. Disco music is made up of parts of different musical traditions, including soul, funk, Motown, Salsa and meringue. R&B musicians and audiences from different communities adopted several traits from the hippie and psychedelic subcultures. They included using music venues with a loud, overwhelming sound, free-form dancing, trippy lighting, colourful costumes and the use of hallucinogenic drugs.
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, in the United States during the mid-to-late 1980's. The first recorded use of the word techno in reference to a specific genre of music was in 1988. Many styles of techno now exist, but Detroit techno is seen as the foundation upon which a number of sub genres has been built. The original techno sound drew heavily from it's punk and soul music roots to create characteristically intense grooves and percussive basslines.
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