Star Wars

This is the second teaser trailer released to much fan-fare and discussion on the internet last week.
We will de-construct the teaser trailers.

This one was released first in November 2015

This one was released in April 2015

Who is the institution behind the film?

Lucas Film was set up by George Lucas in 1971 and was sold to Walt Disney in 2012.  Disney is a global media conglomerate with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive. It is worth £45 billion.

What is the film?

Star Wars is a franchise started in 1977 and after 3 classic films the franchise was relaunched with the first chronological Star Wars film 'Enemy of the Clones'.This will be the seventh film in the franchise.

Who is the audience for the film?

It has a huge cult following and this is the seventh film and is almost a guaranteed financial success due to the global profile of the Star Wars franchise.  The film is aimed primarily at a young audience but it is popular with age groups who have grown with the films and also fans of science fiction. Therefore several audiences can be identified. the key is that its characters and the narrative appel to a global audience.

How might Disney market this film?

Merchandise, trailers online, conventions, television interviews...

How will audiences consume this film?

Digital distribution will allow simultaneous global release
CHristmas 2015 will allow it to be the family blockbuster
It will be made in prints for IMAX 3D and 3D exhibition and traditional cinema projection
It will be available on DVD two months after release
Available to download and then stream on Disney subscription services
Cyber-security will be tight to avoid leakage and piracy and increase expectation and online discussion


You can choose this film or create a presentation for your own film answering these five key questions

The Dark Net (Morozov)

Key points in his argument include

• There is too much information
• We are being monitored
• Big Media companies are not neccessarily benevolent and have a lot of information about us these comapnies are 'nudging' or manipulating our lifetsyle and cultural choices
• Cyber security is an concern as Western intelligences trade in cyber intelligence with rogue states
• The Arab Spring and revolutions cannot be attributed solely to the pwere of the internet
• The idea of a sharing economy is flawed as everyone is out to make money even if it is free to begin with. Human nature means we all have an angle or an ulterior purpose..
• In creating an internet identity or persona we are becoming increasingly narcissistic and obsessed with the cult of the self

You can balance your essay by structuring a response with an opposition.

Remember Levi - Strauss and his theory of binary oppositions theory of  narrative..

Utopia  vs Dystopia

Make a list of reasons why 'media in the online age' could be described as either of these.

We came up with these for the dystopian vision of the internet;

• Sharing can lead to fanatics building support and influencingyoug people
• Self-esteem can be damaged by the cult of the self developed by a narcissistic web
• Piracy
• Scamming
• Anonymity can allow users to escape accountability
• Trolling
• Pornography
• Snooping\Stalking
• Cyber bullying
• Digital footprints cannot be erased
• Surveillance
• Hacking
• Censorship still operates
• Big Media still have hegemony they may just be new companies
• Celebrity driven culture
• Technology does not set us free it enslaves us
• The internet makes us stupid
• Virality also means viruses
• Culture is dumbed down into 140 characters
• Propaganda is used in more sophisticated ways

The Future - streaming services and subsciption services

This link will take you to an article in the Guardian which outlines Apple's latest venture to react to the threat of streaming services such as Spotify.

This link will take you to an article in The Guardian about a new subscription service launched by Jay Z TIDAL.

This article will allow an insight into the success of SPOTIFY  and the comments are worth reading for the opinions of a range of people.

For instance, this comment is pertinent for us, 'Exactly but I'll even include Katie Perry in the equation. Sell direct as musicians. F**k off talentless middlemen gobshites. It really is that simple if you actually have musical talent. How much should a video, promotion, production & distribution cost in these internet days?'

How easy is this and isn't the problem that consumers will go to these streaming sites rather than the artists own site?  How will artists make money in the future? Is live music and a closer relationship to the fan-base the answer? What will happen to the 'gatekeepers' the behemoths of the muisc industry like Universal, Time Warner and Sony?

Conduct wider research and use these sources to discuss the future of the music industry.  

With all the election coverage you will probably be exhausted with all the messages selling you things but here are a few for TIDAL.  Try to work out what they are suggesting about their music service and their unique selling points.

 The second video explains the new service.

Prezi for the Online Age

Games History and Educational Minecraft

This link will take you to an excellent resource about the history of games development with a range of resources showing how it is an industry that has become bigger than the film industry.

Case studies on Grand Theft Auto, for example, are invaluable.

Another story that will help outline media in the onine age is the provision of Minecraft in schools in Northern Ireland. Minecraft is being used as an eduactional tool to develop learning about reources, and architecture amongst other things.

Ga Ga

This week the singer formerly known as Cheryl Cole has offered her view on the dangers of overly sexualised representations of women in music videos.  

She points out;

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• male dominated industry dictating what women wear
• women shouldn't have to sexualise themselves to sell music
• explicit lyrics

 We are going to analyse the music video for the song 'Bad Romance' to see the messages in the video about the way the industry operates. Has Lady Ga Ga got something to say or is she re-inforcing and exploiting the status quo?

Lady Ga GA has a platform to make comment and this makes her a star of the internet age. We are goning to use her as the text in exploring the music industry and the wider media in the online age.

Through music videos she is directly addressing any criticisms she may face and interacting and communicating with fans in a way that is opening a dialogue for the internet to continue the debate...

Firstly we will look at how Lady GA Ga crosses traditional boundaries between mediums and platforms. Term such as convergence and synergy can be used. Find examples for each.

Start with the video for Applause looking at all the influences from differing art forms and mediums and listen to the lyrics

• Fashion
• Film
• Music
• Art
• Dance
• Experimental Media
• Live Performance
• Theatre
• Digital Art
• Performance Art

 Lady Ga Ga is a skilful manipulator of the media in the online age.  One could argue that there are purely commercial reasons for this. Begin with the Video for 'Paparazzi' which opens a narrative that is continued in 'Telephone'



Identify income streams;

• Music video advertising
• Concerts 
• Recordings
• Merchandise
• Magazine and press features
• Image rights
• Appearances
• Product placement

No publicity is bad publicity in the age of the internet and we could say that Lady Ga Ga is exploiting the appetite for celebrity gossip and using shock tactics to draw audiences in.

Research ways in which Lady Ga GA has exploited the media in the online age by pushing boundaries and challenging convention. Find examples of the following;

• Overt sexuality
• Androgyny
• Outlandish dress
• Bad language
• Nudity
• Sexualisation
• Intertextuality

Can you identify these in the video for 'Telephone'




 How has Lady Ga Ga appealed to audiences in the online age?
How have audience responses and consumer behaviour  been transformed by online media?

Fan sites
Little monsters
Role model

What comment does Lady Ga Ga make about the music industry?

How do audiences engage with her material?

How does Lady Ga Ga use the internet to promote her work effectively?

What messages can you read in her music videos about;

• Sexuality
• Feminism
• Postmodernism
• Power
• Fame obsessed celebrity culture
• Celebrity behavior
• Representation of men and women
• Androgyny

Apply media theory to her work such as We Media and the Longtail theory.

The Boat That Rocked

Exploring Audiences and Institutions

• De-constructing a text using the toolkit for analysis
• Analysing marketing techniques used in the promotional campaign
• Identifying the key features of an archetypal 'Working Title' film
• Identifying an audience for a Working Title film 

Using the film education resource about the film 'the Boat that Rocked'  you will conduct research into the marketing of the film by exploring a range of film posters and film trailers.   Click on the link to the resource below and work your way through the tasks in your own time as an extended learning activity.

www.filmeducation.org/theboatthatrocked

We will start by looking at the teaser trailer and de-constructing messages and meanings

We will then de-construct the teaser poster

What is the purpose of the teaser campaign?

We will then analyse the full trailer and the American trailer focusing on the audience for the film.

Explore the trailer and identify why this is typical 'Working Title' film

Consider;

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• British humour
• Characters
• Comic actors
• Soundtrack
• Audience
• Richard Curtis
• UK as historical theme park
• Narrative
• American lead

Explore how the film is marketed toward an American audience by analysing this trailer

In pairs you will then analyse the poster campaign for the film focusing on a specific character

Present back to the group offering some ideas that you have about the representation of your character

Finally discuss the full poster as a group answering some furtehr questions about audinec and representation such as ;

• are these representations less palatable in 2015 than they were in 2009?
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• why would Universal finance this film?

In pairs you will pitch your idea for the film as if the group are Universal representatives.  in less than 100 words you will outline the plot and convince us that this film will be a commercial success by identifying an audience.