Ownership Essay

The big 5 have got a lot of different platforms to engage with the audience. The big 5 are conglomerates that are the parents companies in the film industry world. The big 5 are Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures. Subsidiaries are companies held by conglomerates. For example Disney has got subsidiaries of Marvel Entertainment, Pixar, and Hulu. Horizontal Integration is when grows by acquiring a similar company in their industry at the some point of the supply chain, this is a great example with Disney as they wanted to expand their business and create a new target market which would give them more profit. Disney produced it in their studios, marketed on their Disney channel and ABC News by interviewing the cast. Vertical Integration is when the combination in one firm of two or more stages of production. Another example of this would be with Disney as it is the largest vertical integrator, Disney owns and creates the companies that create and produce movie film and television films, which are then marketed and distributed by Disney throughout the world.

COVID-19 would be a great way to talk about how different media platforms can engage with the audience, Because of COVID-19 the SVoD and many other streaming platform subscripitions have gone up during lockdown as no one could go out and do anything but everyone was stuck at home with nothing to do but watch movies on either Netflix, Disney plus, and other streaming services. This also means that the Theatre attendance has gone down because no one could go out and enjoy a movie at the cinemas, either because the cinemas were closed or because it was compulsry for everyone to stay home. 

Web 2.0 is one of the ways that audiences can engage with the different platforms like social media as teenagers and a variety of adults in the 21st century has got access to a smartphone or any other digital device they can get. Audiences normally watch clips or films on YouTube (which has also gone up) as it is a way of social media because people can interact with each other and share more active thoughts. There was on Theorist named Shirky who came up with the End of Audience Theory, he basically believed that audiences behavior has changed due to the internet or also known was Web 2.0 and they ability for audiences to create their own content at home, because of the lower cost of technology. For Example people at home trying to make content normally reply on YouTube as there is a vast audience on their that will like the video(s). Shirky came up with a term called "Prosumers" it is defined as individuals who consume and produce content, this means it promotes a connection between other Amateur producers and Professional producers. Shirky believed that there is no such thing as passive audiences, but there is such thing as active audiences, because everyone reacts and interacts with people on web 2.0 whether they are liking a video(s), commenting, and even sharing. Audiences like to communicate or speak back to the producers.

A Theory created by Harold Lasswell is the "Hypodermic needle theory" this means that video creators can inject their message straight into the audiences mind, which means that the audience is being passive by not reacting nor interacting with the producer (they have got a passive mind). And another Theory created by Paul Lazarsfeld is the "Two step flow Theory" which means that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leader, who in turn are influences by the mass media. Ideas flow from the mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretation of information in addition to actual media content. These thoeries engage with audiences through different platforms because it brings the point across whether or not they have got active and passive minds when watching YouTube, Netflix, or any other platforms that people can connect on.

Cross media convergence is displayed throughout many ways whether it be by A-List actors who go on social media to promote a movie or Netflix series and talk about it to get fans of that actor to watch that series. Or maybe it may even be through a soundtrack that that movies make or ask for rights to use it in their movie which will get fans to watch the movie. For Example, the producers of James Bond asked Adele to create a song that matches the James Bond theme and so she wrote Skyfall which is now in the movie. The soundtracks may be on YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud, etc.

On the 17th of December 2009, there was a Hollywood Blockbuster called AVATAR that was released which had a budget of $273 Million USD in the first opening weekends of the release the film mad up to $77 Million USD. The synergy that was used to promote the film for more to see was the power of word-of-mouth, the Director who made the film AVATAR attended a lot of movie conferences and talked about how we was made a new film, this got the audience buzzing and they told their family and friends which helped the movie become successful.

Another promotion method of synergy was celerity charm, in the movie there are a bunch of A-List actors who have already promoted the film before the release date, all of the Actors fans love to watch the movies that there favorite celerity is in, as they watch the film it increases either increases the Theatre attendance on the release date or increases the SVoD attendance on the Web. The overall earnings of the movie AVATAR got up to $3,286,000,000 Billion USD from the release date in 2009 till now in 2021.

An NZ film called What we do in the Shadows was a crowdfunded film by the public. The Cross-Media-Convergence that was use in what we do in the shadows to promote more of the film was, making dating profiles for themselves while in costume to make more people watch the film, they also dressed up as their own characters in the film and went to a cinema where their movie was being released, this helped to create more of a variety of people to watch their film as they are interacting with the audience to get publicity.