Section 1 - Ms Begum

Disney VS. Time Warner 

Disney - 

• The walt disney company was founded on October 16 1923, Los Angeles, California, US.
• Disney was founded by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney who were known as the Disney brothers cartoon studio.
• Disneys leadership team manages the worlds largest media company and have some of the most respected and beloved brands around the globe.  
• The walt disney company focused on generating the best creative content possible.
• Disney has built itself up from its historical start in movies to become a huge media conglomerate, including TV, cinema, theme parks, retail outlets, and interactive entertainment.
• Disneys much loved characters from its foundation still remain popular.

Disney consumer products and interactive media - 

From toys, apps, books and games Disney consumer products and interactive media brings the stories and characters to life through engaging physical products and digital experiences, that inspires the young imaginations.

Disneys stories and characters reach consumers and guests from every corner of the world. With operations in more than 40 countries, their employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences. Disney has worked hard to buy up sources of new content with companies like Pixar, Marvel and Lucas film.

Disneys Media networks - 

Disney - ABC television group, disney channel worldwide, disney junior, disney XD, radio Disney, Disney Cinemagic, ESPN inc, Disney game(club penguin), disney mobile

What does the company own? what kind of media does it produce?

The company also operate under the named The Walt Disney Studio then Walt Disney productions. It expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, music, publishing and online media.

Walt disney own many assets such as The Walt disney studios, Motion Pictures, Walt disney animation studios, Disney Toon studios, Pixar animation studios, Walt disney records, hollywood records and many more.

How much is Disney worth?

Disney currently has about 1.61 billion shares outstanding. With a share price of around $94 per share, that puts Disney's market capitalisation at roughly $150 billion. Enterprise value looks only at the value of the actual business assets that go toward bringing in revenue and net income for a company. In Disney's case, when you take into account the cash on its balance sheet and its outstanding dept, you'll get an enterprise value that puts disney worth at $165b billion

How much does Disney make annually?
At the end of 2013, the Walt Disney company reported taking in total of $11.57 billion in the fourth quarter for an overall profit of $.39 billion. As may of 2014 the Walt Disney company was worth $143 billion

Who is the audience?
Disney's target audience may appear to be just children, however the main focus is on the whole of the family. Disney's target audience varies from children, to teenagers and adults.
You can see the multi-generational focus if you watch the commercials for their theme parks or by watching one of their animated movies some are aimed at adults and parents, and some are aimed at children, and most have something that appeals to both

How is the company perceived by the world? Reputation?
Walt Disney world/land is an extremely popular tourist destination that attracts millions of visitors each year. Since so many Disney films are based on fairy tales or myths, women were traditionally the generally accepted view of a princess. They were usually women who found themselves in trouble and are usually rescued by a man (prince) at some point in the story. Recent people have discussed the notion that these characters and their respective films may actually have a negative impact on the younger viewers, male and female. Should women like snow white or sleeping beauty be role models for future generations? People have claimed films like Cinderella or the little merain are anti-feminist in some regard. In recent decades, Disney has moved their attention and created more well rounded stories and complex characters. This has been the portrayal of female leads. The next few films would feature female leads who were more independent, free thinking and presented on equal footing with their male partners. Belle from Beauty and the beast showed straight away that she was intelligent and educated and not really interested in men. Belle didn't give away to the beasts aggressive attentions. Belle only becomes a 'princess' by circumstance. Even though she is a beautiful young women the theme of the film suggests the importance of inner beauty.

How does Disney use synergy?
Disney uses synergy across many markets, many relating to films they release. These films are marketed before launce through partners, agencies and competitors, often promoting the films through advertisement on the television channels that Disney own. When the film is launched, the company continues to gain marketing synergies, often by franchising consumer products to other companies and generating more profit. More popular films are often used in the Disney theme parks as attractions for visitors, where the names and features of the attractions relate to the films content. Disney also advertises all of is products on the internet, where information is available to worldwide audience, as well as fans and critics creating their own publications about Disney's products.

Does Disney have any political involvement?
Walt Disney was a conservative, right wing, possibly a Nazi, and very anti-communism. There are many rumours that Disney was anti-Semitic. Some of these rumours stem from Disney cartoon shorts featuring Jewish characters in a less than flattering light, whilst some of it stems from his association with various anti-Semites of the time. Its hard to believe that the man whose greatest success was entertaining children could be a Nazi but it may be true.

What job roles are their in the Disney company?
There are many job roles within Disney especially in Disney world such as Character performer, concierge, costuming, culinary, front desk, full service food and beverage, lifeguard, merchandise, operations, quick service restaurant, vacation planner. People can also work in broadcast and production, corporate, creative and content, entertainment, operations and travel, retail and stores, sales and marketing, technology and digital media.

Time Warner

When/where was time warner established?
Time warner was founded on January 10th, 1990

Who established the company and who owns it now?
Time warner is an American multinational media and entertainment conglomerate which is in the Time warner centre in New York city. It was founded by Stephen Jay Ross.

What does the company own?
Time warner is currently the worlds third largest television networks and filmed TV. The current company consists largely of the assets of the former Warner communications as well as HBO and the assets of Turner broadcasting. Time warner has major operations in film and television with a limited amount of publishing operations. Its assets are home box office, turner broadcasting system, the CW television network, warner brothers, CNN, DC comics and only recently owns 10% of Hulu. In the past time warner has worked with other major divisions including Time Inc, AOL, Time warner cable, Warner brooks, and warner music group.

How much is Time warner worth?
On October 22nd 2016, AT&T announced its intent to acquire Time Warner for $85 billion.

How much money does Time Warner take annually?

According to UBS research estimates, Time warner cable will bring in an additional $360 million to $370 million in annual revenues for the next few years, thanks to these new cable modern fees. UBS thinks that Time warner cable will make about $3 per subscriber per month in incremental data. ARPU (average revenue per subscriber)

Who is the audience?

Time warner is a global leader in media and entertainment with businesses in TV networks and film and TV entertainment. They use  they're industry leading operating scale and brands to create package and they deliver high quality content worldwide on a multinational platform basis.

Time warner believes that in an increasingly multicultural world, people must expand our efforts to reach and understand the diverse people and cultures we serve. A key to there success is hiring and retaining staff that is diverse as our audience. They think about diversity, ethnicity, and gender to include all the things that make them unique, including life experiences, geographic backgrounds, sexual orientation, skills and talents.


WARP -
Warp is an English independent record label, founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store workers Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon. It is based in London.

Section 3: Film editing (Post Production Editing) - Ms Frost

Film Editing

The post production editing stage, is also known as film editing. It is the process of making a movie image text, by the selection and ordering of a range of shot into a continuous sequence to make the movie, TV show or any other type of moving picture.

Editing can bring in sound effects, dialogue, titles and still images. Editing can help to enforce a theme, narrative or atmosphere due to the pace and combination of elements selected. This can be done by using montage, continuity editing, timing of music combined with the footage to create a mixture of emotive responses in the audience. (happy to sad).

If editing is done well, you normally would not realise it has been edited at all. Editing has been called the 'invisible art'.

Editing can include:
visual mock-ups
Sound effects by a foley artist
musical score
range of footage
credits/titles

Its effect can be to:
Create a montage - A short selection of footage compressed to illustrated time passing or to represent different narratives happening simultaneously.
-Illustrating the pace and timing of an event - speeding things up or slow them down
-Exaggerate the emotion of an actors performance
-illustrating the pace and timing of an event to speeds things up or to slow them down
-To help the director highlight messages and values to the audience they may not have seen
-Act as another point of view
-To help contrast scenes of different subject matter/locations
Just experiment with the medium as an art form

Understanding the 180 degree rule!
Two subjects in the same scene should always be shot within the same axis of 180 degrees.
This gives the illusion that the two characters that are in the scene (if this is what is happening) are either travelling towards or away from each other as they are heading in different directions.

Different areas of sound theory-
Sound: 
Rhythm - A strong regular repeated pattern of movement or sound

Fidelity - A closed match between perceived sound and it supposed again e.g. cat barking = not highly fidelity)

Parallel - The sound goes with the images on the screen

Contrapuntal - Choice of music doesn't match what is being seen on the screen E.g. using a nursery rhyme for dramatic affect

Time sync +A sync - The speech or music is in time with the scene and the actors and async is the opposite

Diegetic sound - Sound whose source is visible on the screen. Everything you would genuinely heard in a scene e.g. teacher talking in a classroom

Non diegetic sound- Sound effects, music or narration which is added afterwards e.g. soundtracks

volume - Quantity or power of sound, the degree of loudness

Mise-en scene- 
This refers to all the things that are 'put in the scene', as well as the way that we are shown them or, put more technically, it means the arrangement of visual weights and movement within a given space.
In movies, it is defined by the edge of the picture - the frame that encloses the images 

Cinematic Mise-en-scene encompasses both the staging of the action and the way its photographed

• Set design 
• Costume
• Props
• Composition 
• Lighting
• And the general visual environment, as well as camera placement and movement, placement of actors and what they say and do.

In fact, everything that takes place on the set prior to the editing process.

Framing - 
Refers to the relationship of the objects in the shot to the frame

Tight framing -  
Is usually used for close shots 
the composition is so carefully balanced and harmonised that the people photographed have little or no freedom of movement.

Loose framing - 
Usually in long shots
The composition id looser and freer within the confines of the frames so that the people photographed have considerable freedom of movement.


The rule of thirds - 
Divides the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically.
For centuries, artists have followed this rule of composition, and photographers and cinematographers have follow suit.
The points  where the vertical and horizontal lines cross are nice to look at and pleasing spots to place subjects or to have prospective lines converge.

Film Still -

Set design-
Is in a farm/hotel which is where the film is set. The bright green plants show that it may be a good season for plants to grow. The focus is mainly on the two characters and the set is quite blurred out. The main focus in the background is the green plants and the big green doors.

Costume-
The mother is wearing a long blue pattern dress which you can not see the whole of as it gets cut out from the knee down. The daughter is wearing a white patterned outfit. Both of the characters have long blonde curly hair, which tells us that they may be related and are most likely mother and daughter.

Props- In he background you can see plants and a big blue door. There aren't many props in this film still as it may be an intimate moment of the film. It shows that they may be having a serious conversation.

Composition- Everyone that is needed is seen in the shot. The two most important characters are seen clearly in the shot. The background is quite blurred out and the focus is on the two characters in the picture.

Lighting - The whole picture is very bright which comes from the blue sky in the background. This tells the audience that it is a nice day.
general visual environment.

Camera Placement -  The camera is placed infront of both characters so we see their full side view and bodies. This makes us feel like we are actually watching two people holding hands in real life. The cameras main focus is the two characters as most of the background is quite blurred out.

Section 3 - Cinematography / Ms Frost

Camera Shots and Angles - 

Extreme Wide shot - Establishes where the scene is set. Provides a lot of information, but not a lot of detail

Wide shot - shows all or most of the subject, leaving room in the shot for some background to be included. This shot allows actors room to move around the frame without the camera having to follow the action.

Medium shot - Shows no more than half of a subject. In the case of a person, for example the shot would be from the waist up

close up - Shows the subject filling most of the shot. Provides a lot of detail, for example, an actors emotions, but does not provide background information. 

Extreme close up - Shows a small part of the subject. In the case of a person, for example, the shot would be of just an eye or of a smile. Provides a lot of detail.

High angle - Makes the subject look small and powerless. The camera is above eye level. 

Low angle - Makes the subject look large and powerful. The camera is below eye level.
Why use a low angle shot? - A low angle shot makes the character or scene look big and powerful.

Over the shoulder - Frames the shot with another person. Makes the audience feel as if they are watching the action.

Point of view - Shows what a character would see. Draws the audience into the action.

22nd september 2016 

Cinematography: camera and shot angles/movement                                                 

Why use a high angle shot? 
A high angle shot is used to make the character or scene look small and powerless. This is a contradiction of a low angle shot.

Why use a low angle shot?
A low angle shot makes the character or scene look big and powerful.

Aerial shots - are taken from planes and helicopters. They are usually used to establish the location and setting.

Focus is the quality - the 'sharpness' of an object it is registered in the image

Focus refers to the degree of the images outlines and distinct textures.

Depth of field - is directly connected, but not to be confused with focus
It refers to the extent to which the space represented is focus.

Deep focus -
makes appallingly clear the number of people collected for transportation to the concentration camps in 'The Pianist'

Shallow focus - The camera focuses on objects in the foreground, so the background is blurry.
It is often used to separate character from their surroundings, perhaps emphasising loneliness or isolation, emotional or real.

Differential or selective focus-
Used to describe those shots where the focus is neither deep nor shallow but on a chosen plane or object.
The focus is on the magnificent stag the queen sees extraordinary close: it is her POV and she is merely a blur on the picture plane as she looks at it.

Rack or pull focus
Focus can change from one object to another, by lens movement rather than by a CUT.
It forces the viewers eye to travel with those areas of an image that remain in sharp focus

Camera Movement

Dolly sharp - Tracks are laid on the set to permit a smooth movement of the camera, which can then follow a moving person or object.

Tracking/trucking shot - A shot taken from a moving vehicle, that follows a moving person, animal, vehicle or other object.

Steadi-cam - Dollies are used less than they used to be since the invention of the Steadicam, which gives a smoother, less jerky results than a hand-held camera, but has a flexibility a stationary camera (or even one on tracks) can't have 

Reverse tracking - Tracking shots are usually made on a slight angle from the side of the subject; occasionally a following shot will be shot from behind.

Following shots are not common because faces cannot be seen. 

Reverse tracking is used when the director wants to focus on the face of the character being tracked, or wants the audience to share the characters experience.

Pan - this describes how the camera is swivelled from side to side (usually left to right) on the tripod to scan across a scene. The speed,direction of the pan can affect the mood/meaning of the shot. 'whip' or 'zip'

Track - the camera moves alongside/ in towards or away from its subject. This is not the same as zooming in with the lens but is done physically by running the camera along , often on a track and, or dolly. Cranes can also be used.

Zoom in and zoom out - This is when the camera focuses in or out of a subject. Zooming in can create tension, and zooming out can reveal something previously unseen.

Secion 3 - Definitions

Find Definitions of:

form -

institution  - A formal organisation (with its own set of rules and behaviour) that creates and distributes media texts

representation - The way in which the media 'represents' the world around us in the form of signs and codes for audiences to read.

audience - The recipients of a media text, or the people who are intended to read or watch, play or listen to it. A lot of media studies work is concerned with the effects a text may have on an audience.

denotation - Way in which meaning is created DENOTE= literal or surface meaning e.g. red is the colour of a flower

Connotation - the way in which meaning is created CONNOTE = the deeper meaning
(e.g red connotes love,romance,danger,anger,passion)

sound -
The power of sound is part of the production process but mostly with the post -production process, like good editing, it is invisible.

camera - A camera is a device for recording visual images in the form of photographs, film or video signals.

editing - 

Mise-en-scene - The arrangement of scenery and stage properties in the play
Mise-en-scene includes set design, costume, probs, environmental background and

Section 1 - Miss Begum

Friday 16th September

Unit 1 - media products and audiences

1. understand the ownership models of media institutions

2. understand how media products are advertised + distributed

3. understand how meaning is created in media products

4. understand the target audiences of media products

5. be able to evaluate research data used by media institutions

6. be able to evaluate legal, ethical and regulatory issues associated with media products.

instituions - who is creating the media product.

Definitions 

COMMERCIAL - 

A commercial is related to buying and selling things. It is intended to make a profit. It is usually a television or radio advertisement which promotes things that need to be sold.

E.G supermarkets like tescos have an advert to promote there supermarket

          

VERTICAL INTEGRATION -

Vertical integration is the process which a media instituion owns several companies at different stages of the production or the supply chain. 

E.G. Warner bros is owned by Time warner, which is a huge multi-national media conglomerate.

HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION -

Horizontal integration is when there is a situation with two firms in the same industry and at the same stage of production come together.
It is where an organisation develops by buying up competitors in the same section of the market E.G. one music publisher buys out other small music publishers.
E.G. BBC/Dragons Den

PRODUCTION PROCESS- 

In any film, there are a number of stages to go through in order to get the film to an audience. The stages very depending on what the project is, however in every production process there are similiar steps. 

The stages:

• development or negotiating a brief
• pre-production 
• production 
• post-production
• distribution
• exhibition 

Section 1: understanding the Ownership Models of institution

You will learn:

• the different types of contemporary media ownership and operating models
• different types of media industries and specialist providers within these industries (i.e. magazines, newspapers, television, film, web, radio, computer games)
• compare the difference between private congolomerate structures, independent companies and public service model (i.e commercial objectives, purpose, audience)
• how media companies operate (i.e different parts of a company that contribute to wider production processes, vertical and horizontal integration)
• use of synergy and cross-media promotion of media products 
• different types of job roles in media organisations (e.g. for film- director, camera operator, editor, MUA.)
• production processes behind media products.

Indépendant VS. conglomerate 

Conglomerate - a large company that owns other companies in different industries (disney owns pixar animation, disney resorts and many more)

Independant - Small production company that does not have any subsidiary products (e.g. Warp films, vertigo films)

Cross media Ownership - The ownership of multiple media businesses by a person or corporation

Public service broadcaster-  broadcasting media for the benefit of the people (e.g. BBC, news)

Joint venture- A business arrangement which two or more parties agree to pool their resources together for the purpose of accomplishing a task

Synergy - When two or more entities work together for a final outcome that is advantageous for all.

Conglomerate Companies

• A conglomerate company is the combination between two or more corporations.
• The Walt Disney company is the third largest global media conglomerate. It was found in 1923 by Walt Disney and his brother Roy 
• It owns Walt Disney internet group, Walt Disney pictures, including Pixar animation studios, Disney publishing worldwide, 11 theme parks, a cruise line and so much more.
• Walt Disney has many production companies such as Disney nature and walt Disney studios motion pictures.

     Advantages of a conglomerate companies

• Conglomerate can reduce their investment risk 
• These structures can create a capital market within the group to allow growth of the conglomerate
• a conglomerate can grow by acquiring companies.

    Disadvantages of conglomerate companies

• Management costs increases due to size the group
• focus is lost, and it is difficult to manage unrelated and well diversified business effectively
• Due to multinational business, conglomerates often contact cultural difference due to which values are destroyed

        Independent companies

• An independent company is a company that is free from outside control. It usually means a private owned establishment.
• independent companies refer to any form of media, such as radio, TV, newspapers and the internet which is free influence by government or corporate interests.