Audiences and Institutions

ACTIVITY #1

1. What are the two different financial models that distribution agreements are based on?

• Leasing
• Profit sharing

2. Describe what they both entail. 

• Leasing is when the distributor agrees to pay a fixed amount for the rights to distribute the film.  
• Profit sharing is when the distributor gets a percentage of the films profits e.g. 10-15% 

3. What are ancillary rights? 

• Ancillary rights are the rights the film has to everything put in the movie or series such as soundtrack rights, stage play rights etc.

4. What is the definition of the film's 'opening' and what factors are taken into account when making decisions about a film's opening?

• Opening is the first or ‘official’ debut of the film. Factors include studio, target audience, star power, buzz and season.

5. What does it mean if a film has 'legs'? What factors might determine this?

• If a film has “legs” it means the film has big actors and is doing well but if it doesn't then it means the film has no legs and wont last long in popularity. Factors affecting this include, the amount of buzz created around the film, its target audience, may be the wrong time of year (season).

6. At the time of this article, how many theatres were there across USA and where are they mostly located?

• There were around 37,000 screens (theatres) in the United States at the time of the article, typically located in urban areas.

7. What role does a 'buyer' play and what are some of the terms they negotiate?

• Buyers are used in representing theatres in negotiating with distribution companies

8. What is meant by a 'loss leader'?

• It means that the theatre makes most of its profits from selling household items such as popcorn or drinks rather than the actual movie tickets.

ACTIVITY #2

- who distributed the films?

• Suicide Squad: Warner Bros. Pictures 
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople: Piki Films (N.Z.) Madman Entertainment (N.Z./Australia)
• Moonlight: A24 Plan B Entertainment Pastel Productions
• The Interview: Sony Pictures Releasing 

- how were they distributed?

• Suicide Squad: Strong release with box office records, seen in imax, REALD and 3D.
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople: Premiered at the Sundance Film festival
• Moonlight: Premiered at the Telluride Film Festival
• The interview:

- Where were they released and when?

• Suicide Squad: Beacon theatre, New York. 1st of August, 2016 
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople: Sundance festival, New Zealand. 31st of March 2016
• Moonlight: Released in the USA. 2nd of September, 2016
• The Interview: Premiered in Las Angeles. 11th of December, 2014

- What type of release did they have?

• Suicide squad: Cinema premiere 
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople: Film festival release
• Moonlight: Film festival release 
• The interview: Theatre (cinema) release 

Technology changes essay

Media

Essay

Changes to film

Essay question: "Technology has been rapidly evolving and this has meant significant changes to the film production process at every level. Outline these changes and discuss their impact on the film industry and what it means for audiences consuming the media produced."

The evolution of technology has had a gargantuan effect on the film production process, including how we consume and distribute media. Film was introduced in the late eighteen hundreds, where one roll of film would only last around 10 minutes before having to be replaced. This was a costly step in the production process, people would say that the cast and crew would take the job seriously when you could hear the hustle and bustle of the camera filming. “You could hear the money rolling through the camera as we filmed”, said by one of the cinematographers in the factual film ‘Side by Side’.

Filming has come a long way in terms of how the movie is made. Before, trying to make a ‘blockbuster’ film was one of the most time consuming professions. Instead of being able to see the full image as you are shooting, cinematographers, producers and directors would have to wait till the next day. This allowed time for the film to develop overnight in a film lab, after this had been done only then can the roll go onto be printed. Printing was done when they placed the clear image over a light box which was then manually cut out and pasted onto each other in order to create their “edit”. This was the manipulation of the art in order to create an imagery masterpiece. It is a popular opinion between many older and widely known film artists that the true authenticity of original film added an extra grain that gave you a wider opportunity in how your film was released or the avenues it could go down. “Digital didn’t look anywhere near as authentic as film”. The directors of photography were known as the “genies on set” ; it was described as “painting with the lights off”. A good example of a ‘grainy’ film would be West side story, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robins. This film was released on the 18th of October in 1961, the film earned a total of $44.1 million dollars US in the box office. This is a colossal amount considering they only had a budget of $6 million US dollars.

Digital camera filming wasn't introduced until the late 1900s/early 2000s; this stands now-a-days as one of the first steps in the production process. A digital camera doesn't use film but instead the image is created by light streaming through the lens which then hits the pixels inside the camera, “it is a very finite and accurate thing”. Sony introduced one of the first ‘hand-held’ cameras. Through this revolutionary invention, producers and other key crew members were able to see the picture immediately as the movie was being filmed. This was a huge time saver as they no longer had to wait more than 24 hours just to see the one scene that was shot. CCD chips ( charged-coupled devices) were made so that it could create a movement of electrical charge throughout the camera. The emotional movement through a ‘hand-held’ camera was able to be used to create a masterpiece that affected the audience in a different way. Even though this new way of producing media was an effective and time efficient way of doing things, it made people unaware of time as it just seemed to fly by. They were on a non-stop schedule as there were no anticipated breaks where the crew had to replace the film or readjust the camera. Actors were worn out by the end of the day because they had no time to regroup and gather their thoughts once again. This was a clear upset and abuse of power. Robert Downey Jr who has starred in many blockbuster films such as most marvel movies including Iron man and The Avengers film series. Marvel alone is worth an estimate of $5 billion USD, which is owned by the Disney corporation. As he is such an A-list actor, he had the influential status to create an almost protest against the conditions they were made to work in. He would go to the bathroom in mason jars and leave them on set as a protest saying how they were never stopping frankly because they didn't need to.

The Editdroid was introduced in 1984. The EditDroid pioneered the use of the graphical display for editing, introducing the timeline as well as digital picture icons to identify raw source clips. This changed the face of film and derailed the ways in which manual labour was enticed when it came to physically cutting and pasting together the images to create a full picture sequence.

Media fragmentation has taken away the experience of a full frontal cinema viewing. People would come as a social interaction to get the whole vibe of a movie. Hype was created around a film release to draw in ticket sales through the box office earning the film more money. Streaming platforms are such a large part of the way we consume movies and tv shows. Widely known media websites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime made it that much easier for us to get access to whatever we want with the touch of a button or flick of a finger. Video on demand was introduced causing CDs and hard copy movies to enter a rapid decline. Disk sales have gone down more than 86% in the last 13 years. A lot of professionals say that online movie watching takes away from the true experience of a movie, compared to back when you had to go to the cinema in order to watch the latest released film.

Web 2.0 acted as a game changer for media consumption, people are now able to have interactive access to the internet, decreasing hard copy information such as newspapers or posters. With the mix of this and major conglomerates that have been introduced it was inevitable in the changes of media consumption. Disney owns more than 36% of the total media that is released yearly. By owning such a large portion of the market share, they are able to advertise their films with ease without costing them thousands to find a specific advertising avenue. Whilst the industry has had an immense growth, this has only increased the amount of competition between Hollywood blockbuster movies such as Avatar, released in 2009, and small indie films like Hunt for the Wilderpeople, released in 2016. It has made the rise for small time filmmakers harder as costs such as advertising and editing have skyrocketed with websites such as investopedia.com claiming that on average producers of a film will spend more the 100 million dollars trying to create a fully lengthened movie sequence.

In conclusion this shows how not only has the process of filmmaking evolved but it has also impacted other aspects of how we live and consume our information. Costs are going to slowly increase making the profession of supposedly being a “independent artist” almost impossible when it comes to releasing and producing your own film.

Technology Essay question planning

"Technology has been rapidly evolving and this has meant significant changes to the film production process at every level. Outline these changes and discuss their impact on the film industry and what it means for audiences consuming the media produced."

You will need to use Side by Side as well as our class blog links to craft an essay outlining key changes to the film production process, including the following stages;

- production
- distribution
- marketing
- consumption


Planning 


Opening sentence: The evolution of technology has had a gargantuan effect on the film production process, including how it is distributed and how we consume it.


Before invention of electronic cameras 

Having grain in olden day films gives you a wider variety of opportunities when it comes to where you want your film to go.

Every roll of film only lasts for about 10 minutes of shooting and has to be replaced, this gives the cast and crew a short break and re-group.

Physical film has to be left overnight to develop in a film lab then and only then can it go on to be printed

cinematographers/director of photography were “genies on set”

“It's like painting with the lights off”

“Digital did not look anywhere near as authentic as film”

“People took filming a bit more seriously when you could hear the ‘money’ rolling through the camera”.

Editing ‘film’ meant cutting and piecing them together by hand. “The art form is the manipulation of art to create an image”

Very noisy and bustling atmosphere with film


After the invention of portable electronic cameras 



Capturing the images on camera (one of the first steps in the production process)

The camera measures photons of light through silver halide crystals; it creates an image when the light hits the grain.

Digital camera doesn't use film but instead the light comes through the lens and hits the pixels “very finite and accurate thing”

You are able to see exactly what you are filming compared to physical film which had to be left overnight and go through a certain process before you could even see the image you have created.

Mid 1980’s is when Sony produced its first hand held cameras

CCD chips are introduced ( used for the movement of electrical charge )

Emotional movement of the camera was able to be used to create a masterpiece that affected the audience in a different way.


Example:

Robert Downey Jr would go to the bathroom in mason jars and leave them on set as a protest saying how they were never stopping frankly because they didn't need to.

Editdroid was introduced in 1984. The EditDroid pioneered the use of the graphical display for editing—introducing the timeline as well as digital picture icons to identify raw source clips. 

Change in experience 


Video on demand was introduced causing CDs and hard copy movies to enter a rapid decline. Disk sales have gone down more than 86% in the last 13 years.

Online streaming platforms such as netflix and Disney plus have changed the way movies are purchased and viewed
A lot of professionals say that online movie watching takes away from the true experience of a movie, from back when you had to go to the cinema in order to watch the latest released film.

Synergy and Cross media convergence

Media
Essay
Synergy and cross media convergence

Media question: How do companies use cross-media-convergence and synergy to promote media products and to what extent does that cause a film to be successful?

The use of synergy and cross media convergence used throughout numerous companies allow many films to reach its greatest potential. Big media producers such as Disney or Warner Brothers have some of the highest rated movies in the box office.

Disney has composed some of the highest rating movies historically. Avengers End Game grossed a total of $2.796 billion dollars in 2019 box office sales. Marvel studios spent an estimate of around $200 million dollars on advertising the film. This is a ridiculously absurd amount compared to a New Zealand film such as ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’, released in 2016, directed by Taika Waititi. This small indie film earned $12 million in box office sales and only had a budget of $2.5 million thus including the cost of advertising. This small indie film had a lower budget than most but still made a record breaking amount of sales compared to colossal global media companies.

The media's market share is largely owned by Disney subsidiaries. In 2019 Disney as a whole company accounted for more than 38% of the total U.S.’s media consumption. Through vertical integration, Disney now has ownership of companies in the same phase of production . They have now gained businesses that edit and produce all of their movies. An example of one of their vertical integration businesses is ‘FOX’ media which Disney purchased in 2019 for a whoping $52.4 billion dollars in order to merge the two companies. One of Disney's largest synergy markets is Disneyland; this is one of the largest tangible uses of vertical integration and helps to not only promote a large amount of Disney films but also generates a large sum of capital per year. According to Disney’s 2017 annual report the Disney parks brought in an $18.4 billion dollar revenue. By having such a generous range of subsidiaries this makes marketing for films owned by Disney a lot easier as it can be viewed on numerous streaming platforms. Through Disney plus this has been one of the largest cross media convergence to occur for Disney. This is a new and innovative way of reaching different audience types whilst also maintaining their big budget name. A monthly subscription for this streaming platform is $9.99. Already this version of cross-media-convergence has earned Disney over $28.6 billion dollars. This is a large sum of money considering that it was only released on the 12th of November, 2019 (less than a year ago).

Disney infinity was an online/multi platform game that could be used on multiple gaming consoles, e.g. Xbox, Playstation. A $1 billion dollar revenue was accumulated from this small game which intrigued the public and had glowing recommendations. IGN reviews says “incredible they're not poseable but they are well-crafted colorful models with a distinctive style that really succeeds in uniting the diverse characters”. Music from films have made billboard charts for example ‘Let it Go’ from Disney's Frozen released on the 26th of December, 2013, made it onto the top 100 global chart toppers. Spotify recorded that the song ‘Let it Go’ is Disney's highest streamed song ever with 298 listens, followed by ‘How far i'll go’ from Disney's Moana, released in 2016. Dwayne Johnson starred in Moana as the character of Maui. This attracted a lot of attention as he is an a-list actor starring in an animated ‘princess’ spin off. This sparked many reviews from critics as they saw this high rated movie star in an alternative type of film compared to a lot of the action based movies that he usually stars in like Hercules, released in 2014.

Smaller companies / indie filmmakers have a limitation to the availability of advertising that large conglomerates such as Disney have. Their lower budget films only allow a certain amount of synergy and cross media convergence to take place. ‘What we do in the shadows’ was a lower budget movie directed by Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clements, released on the 27th of March, 2019. This film had a budget of $1.6 million USD but earned over $6.9 million dollars in the box office. Since having a smaller budget than other big time movies they had to improvise when it came to advertising. Using free platforms such as facebook and tinder were a sole focus in getting the name of their movie out to people. A free art competition was held to generate publicity for the film enticing kids. In order to target the older generation, they created fake tinder accounts being the characters seen in the film. Crowd funding was given the green light in order to create this film but it had to be done with Jermaine Clements fan base since Taika Waititi failed to deliver promises that he made during the last film he made that was generated through crowdfunding, ‘Boy’ released in 2010. In order to create hype for the movie not only did they use immersive marketing to a high extent but they also changed the ‘Wellington’ sign to ‘Vellington’ this caught the eye of not only locals but many tourists, breaking out on news feeds and other tv channels.

Through the internet, films are able to advertise their content a lot easier compared to having to physically promote the movie themselves. Social media is one of the largest platforms for media consumption. An estimate of over 2.59 billion people used or owned social media. In 2019 Disney launched a viral Twitter and Facebook campaign that allowed fans to become loyal subjects of the red queen, the white queen, or a disloyal subject of the mad hatter. The group with the largest congregation of followers would then be awarded with special accesses to an exclusive trailer that no one else could view. It was an immediate viral sensation and to this day the facebook page still has up to 10 million fans. This was the same as ‘The Dark Knight’, this was one of the largest viral campaigns ever made. The crusade had an estimate of 11 million participants that spanned over 70 countries. The movie had the highest amount of pre sales recorded yet earning $25 million in pre sales alone then made an amazing revenue of $1.006 billion US dollars in the box office worldwide. Youtube helped blow up the film's trailer and generated more than 12.5 million views within the first 24 hours. Alone the film has been pirated (illegally downloaded) 19 million times, and is easy to be made available on demand, specially seen on streaming platforms like DIRECTV and Hulu.

Hobbiton is a big tourism attraction for New Zealand. This would be one of the largest examples of direct synergy that New Zealand owns / is home too. The hobbit is a film that put New Zealand on the map and opened the country up to new filming opportunities. The hobbit had a total budget of $180 million US dollars and was released in 2012, with sequels, The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The battle of five armies. The first Hobbit movie made $1.021 billion USD. This was a change for normal New Zealand movies. Having a big budget, the renowned director definitely helped with the publicity of the film and set the quality, making the audience assume that it would be a decent film based on Peter Jackson's past film and books. Audiences of New Zealand compared to big countries like the US or China is minimal. According to some 2018 studies, 3.5 million Kiwis are active media users and they spend an average of 1 hour and 53 minutes on social media networks each day. This is a miniscule amount compared to the U.S. who have a mass scale of nearly more than 80% of their population being active media consumers, this is out of their current population which is 328.2 million.

Big Hollywood blockbusters have large amounts to spend on advertising, but does this necessarily determine the success of the film? Many people today are basing their movie preferences on big budget movies that are seen advertised on tv channels and across multiple social media platforms and often big billboards will be placed in busy areas to generate hype for the film. Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a good example of a small town film with a small budget that ended up doing really well. Its availability on tvnz on demand helped to increase the streaming rates of the film, a downside is that kiwi residents may be able to access the film with ease but internationally the film is unrecognised and is deprived from the comedic journey that takes place. Even though the film more than quadrupled its original budget it still came no where close to big budget films like Suicide Sqaud. This movie was released on the 1st of August 2016 and had a budget of $175 million US dollars, it then went on and grossed $746 million dollars worldwide. Although this film had a much larger budget than the small “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” movie, it was still had a higher rating on google with 94% liking the film compared to the big budget “Suicide sqaud” with only 83% of users liking the film. Medium.com says “The visuals — trailer, posters, casting, etc. — compensated for a terrible film, to be blunt”, posters and online advertising blew the public away creating mass amounts of hype for the film. Big A-list actors such as Margot Robbie and Will Smith were active roles in the film, but even still audiences were let down with the narrative and overall storyline, disappointing many fans.

Web 2.0 had a global impact on the way the world consumed media. This was the second phase of the internet, there was no way of social interaction or leaving something so simple as a comment on a post or article. The second stage of development of the internet was characterised by the change from static web pages to dynamic or user generated content and growth of social media. Slowly, on demand videos were made available on tvs, laptops and smartphones. The introduction of technological convergence changed the ways in which we consume media. Before people would rely on a small box radio that came on maybe once or twice a week in order to get their dose of information. In 2011, 86% of New Zealand were online in some way or another whether it may be through smart tvs or laptops. Globally 4.57 billion people were recorded to be ‘online’ users. Films such as Paramounts ‘Paranormal Activity’, released in 2010 made the film for just over $15000, yet still grossed more than $150 million in box office sales. This is because they generated a facebook colony challenging fan requests asking the public to see how high they could get the numbers. The freedom of sharing media is so simple where at the touch of a button an entire film can be sent from one person to another. From this advancement in technology it has allowed snippets of films advertisements to be largely advertised by the public alone as they do most of the ‘sharing’ between each other, relieving media companies of some of the hassle.

Media Ownership

Media

 
Ownership essay
Opening sentence:

Media ownership plays a big part in the overall success and ascendancy of a film. Media ownership is structured in a way that big conglomerates, like the big 5, Disney, MGM, Paramount, Columbia and Warner brothers have possession of big Hollywood blockbusters. These multi million dollar companies produce films in order to gain a profit and add to their business. Many of them own/acquire subsidiaries. One of the Warner Brothers largest subsidiaries are DC comics. Aquaman alone has a net worth of over $150 trillion dollars, making it one of the largest grossing ‘comic’ characters ever. Whilst this sum may interrogate some, Disney has matched Warners Bros with Marvel comics/studios. Marvel characters were first introduced on paper pages that had been made accessible on the internet, reaching a larger number of people, generating publicity. In order to reach a new branch of media consumers, Marvel did a crossover with the Avengers VS. X-Men, publishing it in order to create hype for the new Avengers film. A blogpost by Edward Haynes quotes, “This broadens the audience that the Marvel films can appeal to as more mature people may find Agents of SHIELD a bit light and fluffy to keep them engaged.”. He was referring to the fact that not only did Marvel make comics and films that were targeted at younger viewers, but they also created a cornucopia of adulistic tv shows and films to bolster their media consumers. Examples of this includes series like, Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Marvel’s Luke Cage and Marvel’s Iron Fist.

Disney is the second largest media conglomerate in the world. It is one of the biggest companies in the world and is estimated to have a total of more than $130 billion dollars. Disney alone has an estimate of 84 subsidiaries, most of them being million dollar companies like Pixar and ESPN. Disney has created a name for themselves through the many cross media convergence that has taken place where they have advertised their big budget films on various different platforms. A big one that occured was Disney Infinity, this was a downloadable game for many pieces of software which allowed them to not over take over the film industry but aos the gaming. Disney does not have vertical or horizontal integration with other companies meaning that all the publicity that is carried out for their films is done by them. In 2018 Disney took the top 3 spots for the highest grossing films domestically. Coming in at number one was Black Panther generating around a $700 million dollar profit, in second place was Avengers Infinity War coming in with $679 million and in third place was Incredibles 2 making $609 million dollars. Disney currently accounts for an average of around 40% of the box office sales in the U.S. alone.

Hollywood is widely known for producing the biggest films hence why some are called hollywood blockbusters. It is home to oversized conglomerates such as Walt Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount pictures and other big named media producers. Hollywood alone produces an estimate of 600 movies per year according to Quora who states that "According to the Motion Picture Association of America, the number fluctuates, but the average seems to be around 600 movies created in the US every year. This doesn't account for every movie made in the USA - many independent films and documentaries don't go through the MPAA, but it probably represents most movies bound for general release.". This is a monstrous release compared to a country like New Zealand where its average film release per year is around 25. This is disregarding private or small films created by local directors/screenwriters. Most of the big named movies or series produced from New Zealand are somewhat funded by the New Zealand film commission. One of their highest accomplishment films was Hunt for the Wilderpeople, starring Taika Waititi,Julian Dennison, Rhys Darby. This had a budget of 2.5 million dollars USD and almost quintupled their original amount. This led to the film becoming the highest grossing film that New Zealand’s box office has ever seen earning a whopping $12.18 million dollars. NZFC’s main aim is to empower the creation of impactful screen stories, compared to the likes of big businesses who are in it for nothing more than the money.

Money is a massive influencer when it comes to any part of a film. By having the right amount of funding it can make steps like cross-media convergence and synergy opportunities easier to occur. This does not necessarily mean that it determines the successfulness of a film or series. The New Zealand film series ‘What we do in the shadows’ directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi was given the greenlight to become a crowdfunded film series. With a budget of only $1.6 million USD this TV show generated over $6.9 million dollars. Due to Taika Waititi’s bad reputation with delivering on promises from a previous film this caused bad publicity and forced Jemaine Clement to step in and relied on his crowd followers to fund this show. In order to market the film they did little low budget moves to create hype amongst the public, examples of their publicity stunts were holding a free art competition, colouring the films characters as well as changing New Zealand's capital sign from Wellington to Vellington, something that generated an unprecedented amount of chatter. Horizontal and Vertical integration can be very beneficial to the success of a film where by having it advertised on different streaming platforms can broaden the amount of publicity examples of this is how Disney has become such a big multi billion dollar industry. They own companies such as editing industries in order to produce their film saving them money when it comes to the production process.

By having a sufficient amount of funding to invest in all the stages of production this can help ensure that the film has the infinite potential for success but this isn't the case for all. ‘The Interview’ was directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and had many A-list celebrities starring in it like James Franco, Seth Rogen, Rob Lowe and Nicki Minaj. The film had a $44 million dollar budget and was expected to have a big sales revenue in the box office but only ended up generating $12.3 million USD. This is because of the controversial message that it was portraying which disturbied higher powers including the population of North Korea who threatened the film if it was not taken down. Whereas While Rider, a New Zealand produced film had a budget of $6 million NZD and grossed over $41.4 million dollars USD. No large actors made an appearance in this movie nor did it have the funding for high tech equipment but it still grossed a massive amount considering the production process that was used.

In this day in age there are so many streaming platforms for media consumption some of them including but not limiting, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, Spotify, Apple Music, Disney+, Apple TV+, Quibi, CrunchyRoll, the Criterion Channel, YouTube Red. Netflix is currently one of the top websites for media consumption, it is worth $189.92 billion dollars. With such a big company offering movies on demand you would think that it would decrease the levels of piracy… wrong. The downside to these companies is that all of them require some type of subscription or monthly payment. This is what is deterring media consumers as they dont want to have to pay for the films when they could just download them illegally. These streaming platforms are always updating new content to keep customers interested but they are also removing content just as fast. The hit comedy TV series ‘the office’ is being taken off netflix causing disruption amongst viewers and generating bad publicity. Whilst pirating is illegal and losing media streaming platforms money hamilton says, and I quote, "People know there are multiple sites where it is possible to download illegal material. They also know that blocking the most popular ones simply means you'll get pirated material elsewhere”. Suicide sqaud, although being a high budget film it has one of the biggest anit-piracy policy in order to stop illegal downloads.

Audience trends essay

Media
"How does your own experience of media consumption illustrate a wider pattern and trend of audience behaviour?"

My own consumption of media, in many ways, demonstrates and mirrors the current trends in today's audience behaviour. Society has had a gargantuan influx in the amount of media being consumed through various streaming platforms. I myself have conformed to the meticulous ways in which I consume media. Social networking and other main streaming websites/platforms are the soul apparatus I use. For example Instagram and Netflix would be my top for media consumption. I have a screen time of 8 hours and 25 minutes, yet almost 35% of that is taken up by Instagram alone. Netflix is now a big part of my media consumption instead of going to the movies on a regular basis all you have to do is watch a movie within the comfort of your own home. Cinemas are on the slow decline but myself as well as a small circle of friends still enjoy the social and cinematic aspect of going to see a movie in the likes of somewhere like Hoyts or Event cinemas.

Netflix had a total net income of over 1.86 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, whilst the company's annual revenue reached 20.15 billion U.S. dollars. Alone, the widely known streaming platform has more than 125 million subscribers worldwide. 1.2 million of those viewers are from New Zealander. Many influential and prominent filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan have joined the chorus in a protest against netflix saying, “Netflix has a bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical films. They have this mindless policy of everything having to be simultaneously streamed and released, which is obviously an untenable model for theatrical presentation.”. This is all to defend the honour and tradition of seeing a high class film/blockbuster in a theatre(cinema). The Box Office helps to make a films main revenue and sell the majority of the ‘tickets’ but without having to sell tickets and just stream the film from an online platform it takes away the cinematic and tangible experience that you get when seeing a film. This is where fragmentation between audiences has taken the biggest toll, through the easy access of different films and videos. There is where the biggest separation between generations comes into play. Ages like the silent gen and baby boomers are cable TV’s biggest viewer range, with channels like TV 2 and Bravo being a high demanded broadcaster.

Social media is a more recent and upcoming streaming platform. It has a popular usage rate with an estimate of 3.484 billion active users worldwide. The top 5 social media sites being used globally are, Facebook, Youtube, Whatsapp, FB Messenger and Webxin/Webchat. The estimated gross age range of users that have the largest utilisation contingent are between, 18-24 year-olds and 25-34 year olds. Millennials and Gen Z would be the most target audience for this method of media intake. This can also correlate with my generation, also known as the iGens and how myself included will spend hours scrolling through different social networking feeds rather than going out and purchasing something such as a DVD.

Disk sales have gone down more than 86% in the last 13 years, because people are no longer interested in hard copy pieces of information or sourced media. Audiences are now interested in on-demand and digital copies of films. The percentage is only increasing as new streaming services such as Disney+ or Youtube Red are being introduced, thousands of videos/movies can be offered within seconds yet it costs the same amount for an average subscription as it would to purchase a film on hard copy. This is one of the main factors in which younger generations are spending most of their time on the ‘internet’ because it is cost effective for a student with a budget. There are over 4.388 billion internet users internationally and 4.22 million of them are New Zealand users alone. Around 95% of New Zealand's population accesses or uses the internet everyday. This can contrast between the different age groups where elderly people may find it harder to ‘get online’ whereas generations like the iGens have grown up with this technology and over time many technological convergents have taken place where in the past you had to try and look for a signal in order to listen to someone speaking on a box radio, that was how people received the vast majority of their information. Whereas nowadays you can get a smartphone that has radio stations alongside the streaming of movies,music and even mobile gaming.

From the information of a survey that I recently conducted nearly half of the ages were between the ages of 15-20 and out of those over 65% of people watch more than an estimate of 250+ per year. This is because of how accessible film and media streaming is in this day and age. 40% of those were claimed to be watched at a cinema, which then contradicts the research done by other websites who claim that cinemas may be entering extinction. People prefer to watch a film without breaks unless they are small insignificant moments e.g. going to the bathroom or getting a drink/snacks. This is the perfect example of how a cinema works in how you are unable to pause the film so you have no other choice than to watch the film to its fullest extent otherwise you may waste your money.

Audience research

Global and NZ digitisation trends
Questions;

1. How many of the world's population are currently connected to the internet? (slide 6)

4.388 billion with a penetration of 57%

2. How many of the world's population are active social media users? (slide 6)

3.484 billion with a penetration of 45%

3. What are the top 5 social media sites used globally? (slide 10)

Facebook, Youtube, Whats App, FB Messenger, Webxin/Webchat

4. What two age-groups have the largest contingent of social media users? (slide 12)

18-24 yr olds and 25-34 yr olds

5. What percentage of NZ's population are connected to the internet and what percentage have social media? (slide 15)

4.22 million of New Zealand's population are connected to the internet with a 88% penetration. 3.40 million are active social media users with a 71% penetration.

6. What are the top 3 devices used to consume media in NZ? (slide 18)

Mobile phone (any type) 92%, Smart phone 81%, Laptop or desktop computer 84%.

7. How many hours a day are NZ's watching/ streaming online TV services? (slide 19)

2 hours and 42 minutes

8. What percentage of internet users in NZ watch videos online and what percentage stream content via the internet? (slide 28)

94% watch videos online and 57% stream via the internet

9. What are NZ's top 5 social media sites? (slide 33)

Youtube, Facebook, FB Messenger, Instagram, Pinterest.

Trends within NZ for media consumption

Questions;

1. Who are considered 'i-gens' (page 3 )
The iGens are the generation of people born from about the mid1990s to the mid-2000s.

2. In what ways are i-gens connected and using digital technology? (pg 4)
iGens are the first generation to spend their entire lives growing up with iPads, iPods and iPhones etc. iGen spend all day connected online.

3. How would you describe the relationship with i-gens with the content of the media they are consuming? (Summarise page 5)
iGens consider things that affect a persons well-being as very important or informative. Films influence iGens’ opinions on a whole variety of social, political and environmental issues, and act as a catalyst for discussion with friends and family.

4. In what way does social media play a part in influencing i-gens activity in whether they watch a film or not? (p7)

Social media plays a huge part in iGen lives. It is an under-utilised opportunity for cinemas, film distributors and filmmakers to reach out and directly engage with the iGeneration in their world and in their way.

5. List the emotional motivations that drive i-gens to watch movies at the cinemas and what in general do they like about it? (p8 & 10)
Chilled: escaping for a couple of hours, relaxing and chilling out with no interruptions. Intimate: being intimate with others through social connection and shared experiences with partners, friends, colleagues and families. Hyped: experiencing heightened emotions including being hyped and excited (action movies), shocked and terrified (horror), sad (dramas), and laughing (comedy). In the know: feeling that by watching the latest movies you are a leader – that you are at the forefront of the culture and leading social media commentary and opinion. Creative: becoming a ‘film buff’ and being creative by following directors and other creative artists involved in filmmaking. Socially conscious: thinking and being curious about the issues raised in the film and using the film to help shape discussion, opinions, views and beliefs. The iGeneration values the immersive, state-of-the-art, sight and sound technology of cinemas that they cannot access at home.

6. Comment on why i-gens opt to watch movies online at home (p 9)
In-home viewing is easy, convenient, safe, comfortable and costs very little. It can be sociable or equally enjoyable alone.

7. What do the i-gens say is negative about the cinema experience? (p11)
The cost and ‘administration’ involved with the cinema experience is somewhat out of step with iGens. It is expensive, inflexible and inconvenient compared to watching a movie at home. The lack of flexibility, lining up for tickets and limited food and drink options can all add up to too much bother.

8. Use page 13 to write a few sentences about how i-gens should be marketed to if you are trying to get them to watch your film
The iGeneration need more than trailers and posters to engage them with cinema. They need to feel that cinema-going is a ‘must go’ social event. The best place to attract their interest is where they spend a lot of time – on social media. They enjoy the customised approach of platforms like Netflix which say ‘if you enjoyed movie X then you would probably love movies Y and Z’. With a more targeted approach to social media that isn’t just trailers.

9. Use pages 14 - 19 to write a few points about the way i-gens prefer to engage with media and what they want out of a media consumption experience
Use apps to make booking, tickets and food and drink ordering more streamlined and convenient. Dedicated spaces at the cinema where they can hang out with their friends. The iGeneration want cinemas to be immersive, super-comfortable, well designed, and incorporate the latest technologies such as surround sound and virtual reality (VR). would also like to be able to view other forms of entertainment such as live sports, e-sports (competitive gaming) and ‘binge-watch’ entire TV series. They are also interested in outdoor and drive-in cinema, and being able to select or vote for what they view and when they view it.

Survey

...Survey Questions...

Age:

Preferred Genre:

Movies watched per year:

Number of films watched at a cinema:

Three most frequent cinemas:

Preferred film watching style:                                             Amount:

• Watch film from start to finish with no breaks     =  8
• Watch film with short breaks (get water, etc)      =  12
• Watch film with long breaks                          =  2

( the first person's reason was that they would go watch something else then come back to the movie/film. The second person's reason was that they would start watching a film before school and then finish it later when they returned home.)

In conclusion:

From the data presented it shows how younger people have more time to watch films on different streaming platforms whereas older generations are not so aware of these different websites/apps.There is a slow decline in the use of cinemas nowadays where most movies that are older can be accessed online, but a lot of new modern day films have to be viewed in the cinema when it is first released. 

Audience Trends Research

New Zealand on Air:

• N=1,002 interviews were completed by telephone using random digit dialling, and n=412 interviews were completed online using Consumer Link’s Flybuys research panel.
• Most popular channels, sites and stations. (streaming platforms)

• Youtube and Facebook easily reach the biggest audiences among lower socio-economic New Zealanders in terms of online video. Stuff and NZ Herald are significantly less popular among this group and significantly fewer lower socio-economic New Zealanders use NZ Herald than the overall NZ population.

New Zealand Herald:

• With a reach of 67 per cent, broadcast TV remains the media channel reaching the most people on a daily basis. However, based on the trend showing a decline from 83 per cent in 2014, this could well be the last time TV retains the spot on the top of the pile.
• New Zealanders continue to spend over two and a half hours watching linear TV each day, and over an hour and a half listening to radio each day.
• Online videos streamed via Facebook and YouTube now reach 52 per cent of Kiwis on a daily basis, while newspapers (including online) only reach 41 per cent.

Flicks.co.nz:

• Netflix and other main streaming platforms are trying to compete with each other and usually offer trial periods or free plans for a certain period of time to entice customers. e.g. netflix plans .... The Cost – Basic Plan $9.99 per month (no HD) / Standard Plan is $12.99 per month (HD) / Premium Plan $15.99 per month (Ultra HD) Number of Useable Devices – one / two / four at the same time. Trial benefits – first month free.
• Lightbox is still a TV-dominated domain “focused on bringing the best new and exclusive TV shows to Kiwi households” says Lightbox CEO Kym Niblock.
• However, Video Ezy On Demand is dead. The PPV service ended its trade barely halfway past 2015, unable to keep up with the VOD herd.In its place is a new competitor waiting on the horizon: YouTube Red.

The University of Auckland:

• Netflix alone has more than 125 million subscribers worldwide, with 1.2 million of them in New Zealand, while cinema attendance in the United States last year dropped to its lowest level since 1995.
• Dr Karina Aveyard of the University of Sydney doubts that streaming services on their own are going to significantly disrupt theatres, or the traditional ways of experiencing film
• This new intervention by streaming services into the production and distribution side of the film business “changes the dynamics,” Aveyard claims, “in the sense that the films that didn’t get a cinema release and had the kind of money that those films did, that was somehow a continuation of their cultural value and certainly their economic value.”.