Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Part 1 - General Introduction Questions

Q1. Why is convergence both a blessing and a curse for the UK film industry?
Convergence presents many benefits for the UK film industry. First off it can greatly increase the amount of money that a film makes by making a film accessible to a larger audience. For example, a film based on a book already has an audience of all the fans of the book. Likewise when a film is based on a comic such as Spider-Man, any fans of the comic are likely to go and watch it. This also means that there will be more word of mouth for the film even before people have seen it as it already interests a great number of people regardless of the end product. Video games based on films are also common such as Quantum of Solace, a video game made based on a British film. This means that there's an even bigger audience consuming the film.

However, convergence also means a huge rise in popularity of digital media and the downloading of media. This means it is very easy to download any film you might want to see illegally over the Internet. Thus, UK films don't make as much money in DVD sales etc. and less money gets circulated back into the UK film industry.

Q2. How has the Internet allowed film-makers to find and attract audiences in different ways?
Popular Internet institutions such Youtube and Facebook allow film-makers to reach out to specific audiences. For instance, many Youtube videos have adverts these days, and if a film studio wishes to reach out to a younger audience then they can purchase ad space on the videos most popular with youths. Google also helps out film studios as it will monitor your searching and then provide adverts related to your searches. For example, if you were to search "action movies", a Die Hard advert may come up.

Q3. Summarise how you think sites like YouTube, Spotify and Facebook are good for film audiences. What do they let us do that we couldn't before?
Sites like YouTube, Spotify and Facebook allow users to share and indulge their interests instantly. If one wants to view a trailer for a film, they can go straight onto YouTube and watch it. They can then share it with their friends on Facebook, while listening to their favourite film soundtrack on Spotify. This means we can find what we want and are interested in very easily and have much more choice in our selection of media we choose to consume.

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