Film Research

Film ResearchHarry Potter: The Deathly Hallows part 2

The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;

Harry potter is owned by Warner Bros studios after they bought the rights to the books in 1999, they bought the rights from J.K Rowling who wrote the books and so owned the rights to them. Warner Bros payed an estimated one million pounds for the rights. Warner Bros could really pay what they wanted as they have huge financial backing being one of the biggest production companies around. Warner Bros then owned all the rights to the Harry Potter franchise including the universe within Harry Potter. This means in order to create and sell a Harry Potter toy or game Warner Bros has to give the thumbs up and get paid royalties. One of the biggest examples of this is the Harry Potter Diagon Alley and Hogsmead attractions at Universal Orlando Studios. This means that Warner Bros will continue raking in huge royalty payments long after they have finished with the movies. This is a classic example of how big business cant fail, they have the money to buy licences and then prevent smaller companies from getting them. From that license they can then make huge profits and get even bigger it just goes round in a cycle pushing the smaller players out of the game all together. That's why there is only a few big players rather than a variety of specialist film producers. This can benefit the audience but also hinder them. For example you could have many smaller producers and media owners that have there specialist qualities for genres such as one that specialises in horror and another that works hard on comedy this would create a less saturated market and allow each genre to have fantastic well made and focused on movies with actors that suit the rolls. Instead however there is production companies that make all sorts of movies from action to comedy this can lead it the feel of the movies being very automated as if they were made in a factory and are just being churned off one by one with each following the same basic pattern no matter what genre move they are. Some of the smaller well known players are that of channel fours film four who have produces the inbetweeners movies and the four lions. The audiences for producers such as film four are very small, The Inbetweeners movie didn't play at any big screens in the US as it was primarily created for a small UK audience who were fans of the TV series. The fans spread the word of the Inbetweeners and carry on generating interest for new viewers to this day, that is how the smaller movie producers survive by creating something that will keep on growing on people for manny years to come and eventually reach cult status among the small masses. Film 4 had a 3.5 million pound budget creating the inbetweeners movie and on its opening weekend it took 35,000 dollars in the US being shown on 10 screens however in the UK it took 13.2 million pounds and was shown on 475 screens, showing that film four had a specific audience in the UK and was in no way trying to make it a block buster that will break the states. The fact that only a few mega media groups control the media (films) could easily be said that it is not great as they decide what we can and cant watch but people seem to be happy with that and even knowing this they still lap up films that they release. It would only be bad if people didn't want to see the films but had no other choice, as of yet that still isn't the case and so it cant really be argued that is is happening.

The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing

In the world we live in today many people would rather wait a few months for a movie to be released online than go out spend money and time getting to the cinema to see it, exceptions are made for films such as star wars. With illegal downloads killing the film industry companies need to make leaps forward to promote digital purchase a lot sooner after the release maybe 1-2 months so people can buy it legally and are still paying the production companies without resorting to pirating the movies. The new digital era also benefits the film producers already with the likes of netflix being the biggest streaming platform out there, every film played netflix pays a small amount to the film producers so even years after a film is released the production company will be getting a steady stream of income from really doing nothing. Apps on smart phones allow for cinema viewing times and ticket booking this prevents hassle when getting to the cinema, you can just walk in show your phone instead of queuing and then finding out there is no tickets available. The same goes for online you can view trailers and showing times on the distributers website then if you like the look of the film you can buy the tickets online. digital media is becoming a much more popular way of building hype for a film even when it is still in production for example JJ Abrams build up the excitement for the new star wars film by uploading small videos of the set and crew to youtube, this cost nothing to do and intact the adverts on the videos paid the production company money. Youtube is a free video hosting service so the conventional way of showing trailers on TV is practically dead as people can go online and see it for free and it cost nothing to put on there online paying for a prime time TV advertising slot. Online adverts are also a very popular newish way of advertising films whilst online there are pop up adverts that can show anything, film companies use this form of advertising due to the cost effectiveness as hundreds of thousands of people see the advert a day and with adverts with google AdSence starting at as little as seventy five pounds it is a very cheap effective way of getting across the movie. One highly unusual way of marketing was with Ex_Machinas tinder account for ava who was an account pretending to be the robot from the film however this was only used t then get media coverage about an unusual way of marketing but it did work with the likes of abc news arts and entertainment doing an article on it. Places like Netflix have exclusive films as they now have a huge market pull and can hire film producers to work with them to have a netflix exclusive meaning you don't even have to go to the cinema to see the film. Everyone pretty much has a smart phone and a way to get people interested in a move is by creating games and apps for it a great example of this is the minions movie which has the minions run game, it is simple and great for the age audience it is targeting. A very new film feature is 4K and with 4K TV’s becoming cheaper and more accessible to the masses film producers are beginning to release there films with a 4K option. The modern digital media platforms are great for smaller companies such as Film 4 as advertising cost a lot less meaning they can have a bigger budget on the film making it better. And the digital release can give them continuous income for a long time after release like on netflix or iTunes.

The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange

In the recent years CGI has become cheaper to implement well into movies, this if executed properly creates an enchanting experience like that of harry potter which nearly all of the shots used green screen in some way or another, even scenes where they are at a lake granted it was shot at a lake but there was an entire surrounding green screen to put trees in and create a black sky. All of the effects created by the wands was of course CGI. The scenes in the castle were done at Alnwick Castle but each scene still had effects in it such as the moving paintings and ghosts, the flying stairs heck even some of the torches on the walls were green screen because if health and safety issues with doing the real thing. Granted in the harry potter series the green screen was pretty impeccable and looked amazing but that is down to the reputation it has to uphold and the budget it had but even some great movies have been ruined by CGI. For example the original star wars trilogy was mocked by anyone and everyone due to the crude CGI effects put in by Lucas himself on the digital releases in the 2000’s, the playdough like womp rats and stupid looking jaba who looks like something anyone can do on there computer. CGI may be great and improving all the time but it needs to be used with reason as it can ruin the authentic feel for a movie. Web 2.0 gives the people involved with the movies interact with the audience on a whole new scale for example movies have web pages that have Q and A’s on them so the audience get to know not just the movie but the crew and actors more giving them an inside feel on what it was like making a movie and a francise. Harry Potter has a youtube account and posts interviews and mini documentary to it that give the audience another angle on the Movie and in turn it give the movie more respect. The editing process has become simpler as more and more production companies are making the switch from film reel to digital storage such as SD cards or the more expensive SSD’s which can hold hundreds of hours worth of footage on them enabling the editors to get the footage on to there screens instantly instead of converting film reel to a digital format, this means that the editors can edit the film as they go along making the precess shorter and adding sound and effects easier. The editing software used however is very expensive and needs good hardware to run on but that is really a small disadvantage in what is really a big step forward in editing. The hardware is still extremely expensive however and it isn't worth purchasing it as in a few years it will be old technology so film companies choose to rent cameras instead. Web 2.0 is fantastic for the film industry but also a huge financial drain as Web 2.0 allows people to share pirated films easily this means one dvd purchase could end up online and prevent 100,000 people from actually buying the film as there is no longer any need to. One way of getting around this is lowering there prices for a digital download purchase not long after the film has been released this will stop people downloading a screen recorded copy of the film straight after release. That is another big problem with the technology industry advancing the cameras can be smaller and better quality so it has become easier to record the screen in the cinema and not even be able to tell that it was taken of a camcorder because the quality is that good. However cinemas are not happy that the film companies have started to release there digital copy soon after the theatrical version because the film companies are still getting there money but people will be going to the cinemas and so the cinemas are loosing money in some cases, paired with already falling numbers of people this could be the end for cinemas. 

The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences

The leap forward in technology is fantastic as it can help create a world beyond what we could physically do with our hands with props and scenery, the places in film that is has helped the most is by far the sci-fi genre with films like Gravity harnessing every aspect of what computer generated  graphics can do for example the flights in the space shuttles 20 years ago we would have laughed at what gravity was trying to do but now it is perfect believable. Another film that executed the technology at hand well was the Harry Potter series using both high tech animatronics for that of the door into the chamber of secrets and the blend of real and cgi backdrops brings an almost indistinguishable blend of scenery that flows perfectly through out the scenes, however no matter how hard you try to use the new technology well there will always be mistakes and glitches. Such as in harry potter at his uncle and aunts house a brick wall that look real enough moves position and changes shape as the camera moves. Movies such as the original star wars trilogy was amazing without all the CGI in todays modern scenes at times it looked a little sloppy but others the actual practicality and effort put in by the designers was amazing and it truly made the film a spectacle. In the modern film industry production companies have slipped away from that due to cost, time and it is a lot of effort to make it look good. There may be hope however as star wars episode 7 is sticking to its original guns and has created the film using as little digital imagery and CGI as possible with all the droids being real and working and the locations real with no huge Green Screen back drop. Both methods are still expensive and that can out film production companies that are smaller behind the competition such as Film 4 as they don't have the budget to rent 4K cameras for an entire film or the money to put together a 20 man CGI crew that have to paid all the time as crating CGI is very time consuming. Harry potter and the death hallows changed the way they filmed it as previously they shot a lot of the action from a crane to on a track however this time to bring a more close and personal feel to the movie a majority if it was shot on hand held cameras. 

Camera systems used: Arricam Studio (film), Arricam Lite (film), Arriflex 235 (film), shot in Super 35

Theater presentation formats: 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 35mm anamorphic and D-Cinema, 2D and 3D (via post conversion), Real-D 3D, IMAX 3D, IMAX 3D DMR 70mm.

The Potter VFX team produced its most complex work in the series, for the first time creating a completely CG-rendered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"This film required us to build the environment for Hogwarts and all of the staged action in the majority of the film: the battle for Hogwarts and the film's showdown between Voldemort and Harry. There was huge R&D -- over a year -- to build this virtual world where we could stage all of this fantastic action, as if we really were able to go to the world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts and film there.”

The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences

If anybody wants any information about an upcoming movie they can simply dig into there pockets and pull out there phone which has all the information and trailers on it they could want. No longer do people have to see a poster at a bus stop or advertised at the cinema it can be being advertised everywhere they go on there phone. If someone wants to see a movie that isn't brand new then the same applies, its right in there pocked for them to stream any movie wether that be illegal or legally using an app such as Netfilx. People who are fans of movies also have the tools to create a hub of information and extended universes about the movie such as harry potter it has its own fan created wiki with over twelve thousand articles on anything you could think of, these new hubs are keeping interest in movies alive and give fans a creative outlet to post there theories and knowledge about it online for others to see.

The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions