How does Piracy affect Working Title and how have they tried to stop it?

Piracy is a crime that effects the production, distribution and exhibition of the film industry in the UK. With Hollywood investigators claim that Piracy has increased by 10% each year from the amount of revenue lost to illegal distribution. This is largely due to technological advances in internet speeds and broadbands, allowing for the faster distribution of files online, and increased confidence in computers and torrents en masse, and the fact that the quality of these torrents is improving so that the "consumer" obtains a better quality of the film. Approximately 77.75 Million counterfeit DVDs were sold in 2009, resulting in an effective monetary gain to criminals of £278 Million. This results in a huge loss to the Industry as a whole, £700 Million overall. This means smaller studios have less money to invest in future projects and produce further films, restricting creativity and overall reducing the choice of films that will be available to the consumer.

Companies such as Working Title have endeavoured to prevent piracy from effecting their profits. Working Title have also used the advancements in technology to produce higher definition films, creating a distinction between the legal and illegal copies, through blu-ray discs. Similarly, 3D films are produced, which aren't as readily available for the public to obtain, and create a unique viewing experience that isn't available through torrents, and blu-ray discs are encrypted with passcodes so they cannot be copied. Furthermore, Working Title distributed Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, in an encrypted safe, with a passcode to each individual safe, to combat piracy. They also create educational DVDs that inform people on the effects of Piracy to the filmmakers and the industry in an attempt to persuade and convince people, particularly the younger audiences who view Piracy as acceptable, to stop pirating films. Working Title also make their products available instantly online for rental, in a better quality than the alternative torrent download. It could be argued that piracy did allow for technological developments in film, as unique viewing experiences such as IMAX and 3D would not have been developed as much to combat piracy, benefitting the consumer. However, unless piracy is combatted more widely, it could lead to the decline of the film industry in the UK.

Convergence in a Film Company

An example of a company that has utilised Media and Technological Convergence would be Walt Disney.

Media Convergence: When multiple products come together to form one product with the advantages of all of them.
Digital Convergence: The growing interactive use digital technology in the film industry and media which enables people to share, consume and produce media that was difficult or impossible to do a few years previously.

There are many products produced by Disney that are associated with their films, with most of these being aimed at a young audience, such as plush toys and costumes, and a few products aimed at adults such as ornaments. There are many Disney stores worldwide that sell these products and Disney has spread out to many other medias, such as songs being sold on iTunes from their films, most recently Frozen, as well as a variety of other platforms advertised on their website, such as games, interactive activities, TV programmes and an online store. The financial benefit of this to the company is that it creates extra advertising and marketing for the various products - social networking accounts for respective films to generate interest, and then various products to sell alongside the film means extra profit can be generated.

Convergence in Websites

The Hobbit 

The website for “The Hobbit” uses convergence to increase audience awareness about the film. On the “Features” tab of the website, there are a variety of activities including “A Journey Through Middle Earth” and “Play Barrel Escape”. These verbs allows for audience participation and engagement with the film to sustain interest in the film- the audience that would be attracted to this, a young audience or young adolescents, could play the games and discuss them with friends and then go to see the film. Other forms of convergence have been used: Lego: The Hobbit is to be released on console platforms that will appeal to the target audience. 

The Lego Movie

There is a variety of different integrated games to appeal to the younger audience of the film. There is a feature on the website to create your own Lego character and various other interactive games that are easy to play, and hence will be played by young children and will spread as their friends play it. A PlayStation game for the Lego Movie has also been released, which although gives away the storyline, will help to attract a wider audience and get more people to watch the film.

How does Editing represent Disability in "The Street"?

In the extract from "The Street", editing is used to create a negative representation of disability.

At the start of the scene, the use of shot reverse shot during the exchange between the disabled character and his former co-workers allows for focus on the expressions of the other men when they look at the man's face and answer his questions. The other men seem surprised and shocked that the man will get his job back, and the disabled man is hence represented as inadequate. A focus pull is used at the end of this section to show the man through a barbed wire fence, signifying the physical barriers he must overcome amongst other members of society. In the section where he approaches the woman who has dropped her shopping, a long shot is used to show the man's change in pace as he goes to her aid, contrasting stereotypical negative representations of disability. However the woman's reaction is shown negatively, by using eyeline match alongside an over the shoulder shot. Shot reverse shot is used when they are walking away when he tells her to "stop digging", and a sound bridge builds to represent his anger at the views society has towards his disability when he is trying to assist the public. The editing pace increases for the street segment alongside the diegetic soundtrack to enhance the notion of him being alone in society, and ellipsis between each of the 4 sections creates a representation of the man being an exile and outcast in each one of the four sections, matching the stereotyped representation of disabled persons being a burden and a victim. In the final section, the 180 degree rule of continuity is broken, so the man is shown to be looking in two different directions during the conversation - this is used as a technique for representation as it shows the "two sides" to the man's appearance and character - one side of his face is disfigured, and covered by the shadows in the scene, which connotes a representation of having a split personality. This exchange also shows an angry side to his character, as opposed to the positive side shown in the section with the woman. Eyeline match is also used here to show the reactions of the Sergeant towards the man, and hence the main negative representation in the scene is the views of society towards disabled people.

Evaluation - Question 7

Evaluation - Question 2 (Updated)

Evaluation - Question 5

"How did I attract my target audience?"