Audience and Institution June 2010 essay question

June 2010

"What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?"

Aspects:
Computers- 

• Editing: CGI, improvement of the 4th installment
• Distribution- DVD's, Blu Rays, Netflix- CHEAPER FOR BOTH CONSUMER AND PROVIDER, without it the films wouldn't benefit as people would watch them illegally than pay for a subscription thus adding to the films profit.
• Marketing- Cross media: Mad Max and other companies, social media Ex Mach Tinder, viral marketing Instagram  

Viewpoint-

• The improvement given by the development of technology (rotoscoping), explosions  

Instruction-

• What is the significance of it? How has it effected peoples lives?

Topic-

• Whats the effect on media institutions and audience

structure
production- FILMING (edge arm camera and slow mo camera)
post production- EDITING (rotoscope)
distribution- CINEMA SCREENS ETC
marketing- ADVERTISING

Things of note:

• 2D, 3D, IMAX (mad max)
• EDGE ARM
• More profit is made from the development of technology as it becomes a better quality thus a better experience 
• The way the films are marketed (viral, cross media etc) and how they draw upon the types of digital technology used in the film (avas body and the sfx of MM)
• perhaps technology isn't the most significant thing and other factors have better elements (actors, plotlines, times of release etc)?

"What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?"

The continuing development of digital media technology has had a very positive impact on digital media institutions and audiences thus having a great significance.

Digital media technology has vastly improved over past years and has made the quality and experience of films much better and more enjoyable. Films such as Mad Max: Fury Road and Ex Machina have been able to use effective camera equipment during production and editing techniques in post-production to make their films more interesting and to help fully carry out plotlines. The development of cameras has helped the film industry first off, as they are able to film for longer thus making the shooting process easier for the crew and allowing scenes to be filmed in one long run with less interruptions (this helped both Ex Machina and Fury Road as they both had long filming shots in the films). Fury Road for example used an edge arm to film some scenes in the movie. This edge arm enabled the crew to film the action going on in the moving vehicles and use closer shots on the action without the threat of danger to the cameramen. Fury Road also used a slow-motion camera shot to conclude the film that added a great effect to the ending and seemed very dramatic- it would also look extremely effective in 3D as the guitar being filmed coming forward in slow-motion would seem as though it is really coming out of the screen. This edge arm and slow-motion camera are a development of digital media technology as they are both fairly recent inventions and improve filming practices and add extra interest to the film. Without the development of technology, this film would seem more boring as it would have very similar shots all the way through.

Editing in post-production was very helpful for Ex Machina as it had a major role in carrying out the major plotline of Ava (Alicia Vikander) really being a robot. The editing crew used a technique called ‘rotoscoping’ in which they would film Vikander doing the same action twice and edit parts of her out to seem as though she was partly see through which gave her a more un-humane and robotic sense. Rotoscoping is similar to CGI however isn’t quite ‘animated’. Rotoscoping and advanced CGI has helped the genres of animation and science fiction (mostly) as the techniques have allowed more films of that genre be created at a good quality which have then been able to make a good profit. Ex Machina, fitting into the science fiction category was able to successfully make the audience view Ava as a robot due to the technology development in editing software, consequently helping this innovative film draw in viewers at the box office and taking their screens (in the US) from 4 to 2,000.

The development of digital media technology definitely aids the film in its success, as cinemagoers will go to see a film, usually, for the experience it grants. Without the development over the years in digital media technology, films would not be doing well at the box office and wouldn’t be shown on vast amounts of screens. Fury Road for example was played on 12,000 screens worldwide and Ex Machina was shown on 2,000- which is an impressive number for an independent film. Fury Road was almost guaranteed to do well at the box office as (with it being the fourth installment) it was known to have many explosions and therefore would’ve been expected to make an impact in cinemas and draw viewers in. The Fury Road crew then had to live up to this expectation and the development of digital media technology in editing software and cameras assisted their need to meet a high standard as the development created a great outcome for the film, thus being a large significance to the film institution doing well from this film.  Not only has the development of digital media technology assisted the viewing of films in cinemas; it has also created a new platform of profit on Video On Demand websites and apps. Instead of films being illegally downloaded, these new platforms had meant that the people involved in the film will get a profit from the views it gets due to the subscription people pay for the website account in question. A very popular example of this is Netflix. Ex Machina is currently shown on DVD.com (a Netflix company), which requires a subscription, thus then making profit from the people who watch the film with their paid subscription. Without the development of digital media technology in this online field, films would be more illegally downloaded or streamed and watched with the institution making no money from it and the consumer making an ‘exchange’ for a low quality version of the film in question, therefore getting a worse viewing experience than originally intended by the institution.

The development in digital media technology has had a significant effect on the practices in which films are marketed. Ex Machina was able to grasp viral marketing by using social media to market their film; this was also free for them which is a win-win situation. The development of digital media technology has ensured that social media becomes popular and popular thus becoming a very effective and potentially dependable platform to get the film’s name out there. Ex Machina used instagram and Tinder to market their film, which caused viral marketing. Fury Road used other platforms such as Youtube advertisements and cross-media to get their film noticed. In these advertisements, the crews use the best parts of the film - which in this case are Ava’s intriguing body and Fury Roads insane explosions and these are drawn upon in the marketing as they are the interesting factors of the film, put in thanks to the development of digital media technology.

The significance of the continuing development of digital media technology has meant that both institutions and audiences have benefitted from a great film experience. The institutions have made successful films (Fury Road and Ex Machina both succeeding in the box office and being nominated for plenty of awards) and the audiences have hopefully enjoyed the films and paid to watch them, creating an equal exchange.