All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace - BBC2 Monday, 9pm

A series of films about how humans have been colonised by the machines they have built. Although we don't realise it, the way we see everything in the world today is through the eyes of the computers.

This is the story of the dream that rose up in the 1990s that computers could create a new kind of stable world. They would bring about a new kind global capitalism free of all risk and without the boom and bust of the past. They would also abolish political power and create a new kind of democracy through the internet where millions of individuals would be connected as nodes in cybernetic systems - without hierarchy.

The film tells the story of two perfect worlds. One is the small group of disciples around the novelist Ayn Rand in the 1950s. They saw themselves as a prototype for a future society where everyone could follow their own selfish desires. The other is the global utopia that digital entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley set out to create in the 1990s. Many of them were also disciples of Ayn Rand. They believed that the new computer networks would allow the creation of a society where everyone could follow their own desires, yet there would not be anarchy. They were joined by Alan Greenspan who had also been a disciple of Ayn Rand. He became convinced that the computers were creating a new kind of stable capitalism - "Like a New Planet", he said.

But the dream of stability in both worlds would be torn apart by the two dynamic human forces - love and power.

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BAFTA Awards Tonight on BBC1 8PM

If you don't have any Sunday night revision to do, then please watch the BAFTAs on BBC1 at 8pm tonight.

Charlie Brooker's How to Report the News - Newswipe - BBC Four

If you don't already read Charlie Brooker's articles or watch his shows (Newswipe, How TV Ruined Your Life) then please start over the next few weeks. We will be using him for the Postmodern unit.

Sex & the Sitcom

Go to BBC iPlayer to watch this brilliant documentary about how the representation of sex has developed in sitcoms over the decades.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/zwnt0/

Great films all great media students should watch

Here are ultimate film recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
2. Withnail & I
3. Blade Runner (1982)
4. Apocalypse Now (1979)
5. Easy Rider (1969)
6. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
7. Citizen Kane (1941) - ANY Orson Welles film
8. Dr. Strangelove (1964) - ANY Stanley Kubrick film
9. Pulp Fiction (1964)- ANY Quentin Tarantino film
10. Psycho(1960) - ANY Alfred Hitchcock film
11. Some Like It Hot (1959)
12. Breakfast At Tiffany's (19
13. Taxi Driver
14. Alien
15. Brazil
16. Donnie Darko
17. Monty Python's Life of Brian
18. Raider's of the Lost Arc
19. Reservoir Dogs
20. This is Spinal Tap
21. Frankenstein
22. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
23. Volver (ANY PEDRO ALMODOVER film)
24. Being John Malkovich
25. Minority Film
26. Let the Right One in
27. 12 Angry Men
28. Blazing Saddles
29. Stir Crazy (ANY MEL BROOKS FILM)
30. The Graduate
31. Groundhog Day
32. The Usual Suspects
33. Fight Club
34. Trainspotting (ANY DANNY BOYLE FILM)

That's all I can think of for the time being! Any additions are welcomed.

Congratulations Year 12!

Well done Year 12. You have all now completed your AS Media course. Here's hoping you achieve your target grades.

Good luck in the rest of your exams and see you in a few weeks.

Keep an eye on my blog for film recommendations and other media related snippets to keep you busy until we begin the A2 bridging unit & Postmodernism exam unit.

DIGIDAY:DAILY - Movie Marketing 2.0?

DIGIDAY:DAILY - Movie Marketing 2.0?

Section B: Practice Exam Questions

For each question give yourself 45 minutes to answer.

For realism purposes, answer by hand without using your notes.

I am more than happy to mark anything you give me.

1. Discuss the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing.


2. How are institutions and audiences affected by technologies that have been introduced recently at the level of production, distribution, marketing and exchange?


3. Discuss the significance in the proliferation of hardware and content for institutions and audiences


4. Discuss the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences


5. What are the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences by international or global institutions?

Section B - Specification broken down

Section B: Institutions and Audiences
Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and institutions. In addition, candidates should be familiar with:

• the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary (current) media practice
The depth and range of ownership across a range of media and the consequences of this ownership for audiences in terms of the genres and budgets for films. How for instance, can BBC Films and Optimum Releasing survive in the British market place against the high concept, big-budget films made by Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros, Disney, Universal, etc.? What kinds of niche audiences are left for BBC Films to attract? Are mass audiences out of reach given the genres of films BBC Films have the budgets to make? How successful have they been in reaching mass audiences with their films? How healthy is it that just a few mega media groups can own such a range of media and can decide what the public may see, and, perhaps, shape audience's tastes?


• the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing
Digital technology is enabling various media to converge in hubs, platforms and devices. For instance, mobiles phones do a lot more than act as hand held telephones: you can download and watch films and TV programmes, use them as alarm clocks, watches, play music on them, take photos and short films, text, go online, use GPS functions, a range of apps, and a whole lot more. New HD TVs, Playstations, X-Boxes, I-Pads, Notebooks, MacBooks, etc. are also examples of hubs which in which a variety of media technologies can converge for convenience for users. Media convergence is having an enormous impact on the film industry because of the ways in which institutions can produce and market for audiences/users on a widening range of platforms, capable of receiving their films. Synergies can come out of an organisation's size; smaller media organisations such as BBC Films can-cross promote their films, etc. but the scale of cross-media promotion is nowhere near as great as that which can be gained by massive media organisations. BBC Films is therefore unable to promote their lower budget films on a level playing field.


• the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange
The audience's ability to interact with films by, for instance, using digital technology to put extracts on You Tube and overlay new sound tracks on them, etc. and make answering videos has been greatly enhanced by Web 2.0; Film studios can make films using CGI, greenscreen and other special effects that were impossible to make only a few years ago. The ways of filming and editing films have changed, too, with the introduction of digital film and film cameras, editing software, laptops, digital projectors, etc. Distributors market films using the latest software for designing high-concept film posters and trailers. They can use phone apps., online marketing, Face Book, etc. File-sharing and piracy are growing issues because the software exists to take the protective encryption of DVDs, etc and WEB 2.0 enables people to make and share copies of films easily. One way in which film companies are trying to get around this is by releasing films soon after theatrical release by selling them on video-on-demand, premium TV channels and downloads. US and UK cinemas chains are not happy about this, especially after all the investment some have made on digital equipment, projectors, etc. which unfortunately quickly goes very quickly out of date!


• the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences
This means the increase of something: i.e. digital cameras, software, CGI, 3D films, film genres, etc. which are part of current trends; how significant is this for BBC Films? Or are they still able to be successful without it by making films with genres that do not need the latest breakthroughs in digital technology? Research the film company's use of cameras, special effects, software, posters, digital distribution of films, etc.


• the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences
This is a WEB 2.0 issue and how technology is coming together in hubs like laptops is one of the features of our age; the mobile phone in your pocket is a great example of technological convergence: it can do so much more than a simple phone call; think how this is affecting film making at the production, marketing and exhibition stages? The Internet is acting as a hub for many aspects of film: you will find film posters, You Tube videos on films, interviews, trailers, official film and blog websites, etc. on it. Audiences can also remake their own films by creating extracts and running new scores over them and then posting them on You Tube. This often leads to answering videos, never mind the comments, etc. that people make on such sites. The internet, film and videos games seems to be converging in so many ways. People can watch films in a range of ways, using an astonishing range of hardware and software. They can also find audiences of their own. This amounts to free publicity for film institutions for their films and "A Long Tail" sales into the future through endless exchange.

• the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions
British film makers often make social realism films and aim them at local and regional audiences whereas this would never be enough for the major media players who tend to make high budget, high concept films.

• the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour
How you consume films whether it is as a social activity after visiting a shopping centre or on an MP4 player or Playstation, is what is at issue here. Visit Pearl and Dean to see how multiplex cinemas are adapting the experience of cinema-going to gain audiences. In an age of falling DVD sales, home cinema and an increase in downloading for both music and film audiences are changing in how they want to consume film. Identify trends and consider where the audience trends are going in the near future.

A break from revision

If you're getting a bit tired from all the revising you are doing then take a 15 minute break to watch one of my favourite short films, 'Logorama'. How many logos can you spot?

Extra Mise en scene terminology!

Check out this website: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/htmfiles/mise-en-scene.htm

Midsomer Murders: Ethnicity row

Read here for a recent article about Midsomer Murders and its lack of racial diversity: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12741847

Media Ownership

http://www.globalissues.org/article/159/media-conglomerates-mergers-concentration-of-ownership

Amazon takes control of LoveFilm

Extra reading for issues to do with distribution and exhibition.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/20/amazon-buys-lovefilm

Revision Booklet

Check out this revision booklet I found for Section B.
Obviously they have different case studies, but some of the key term definitions will be useful.

AS G322 revision booklet pt1 (Film Industry)

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