Ownership and Control

1) What is a conglomerate in the media industries? 

A conglomerate is a media company that owns lots of smaller media companies. These smaller companies are called subsidiaries. Most of the global media industry is now dominated by a small number of massive conglomerates.

2) What is a subsidiary?

A company within a conglomerate that has many smaller companies working underneath them.

3) What are the benefits for media companies of vertical integration?

• greater economies of scale

• lower variable production costs

• decreased logistics costs

• quality concerns

• increased profitability.

• What are the benefits for media companies of horizontal integration?

Allows companies to gain market share and market power, eliminate their competition, acquire new products and services, a larger customer base, and increase their revenue. 

5) Give three examples of media companies or brands that have used synergy to maximise their profits. There are examples in the notes above to help you.

 

• Disney makes movies but then also has related stage shows, theme parks, merchandise, soundtracks and events all linked to the same brand or characters.

• Facebook acquired Instagram (at a cost of $1 billion) so that they could cancel out the competition by making money from both. 

• Marvel has merchandise such as clothing, backpack, pencil case, toys or costumes for the Black Widow movie.

6) What is convergence and what device has changed the relationship between audiences and producers? 

Convergence is the fact that we can now access all different types of media on one device. For example, the growth of smartphones has completely changed the relationship between industries and audiences. Industries like newspapers are now moving into video or online content and audiences can now create their own user-generated content.

7) Why did Facebook buy Instagram for $1bn? Answer in as much detail as possible

Facebook bought Instagram for $1bn because it's the first time they've ever acquired a product and company with so many users. After launching on Android and adding one million users a day, it became obvious that this wasn't just a photo sharing app - it was a competitive social network, and they were concerned that their rivals might bid for it as well.

8) What is the name of the media billionaire who used to own Fox? 

Rupert Murdoch

9) List 10 companies that are part of the Disney media empire. The graphic below will help you. 

• Marvel entertainment

• Walt Disney studios

• Fox entertainment group

• Disney corporate

• Disney music group

• ESP Inc

• Marvel Studios

• Disney junior

• Lucasfilm

• Disney comics

10) Why did Disney buy Fox - what are the benefits? These benefits are particularly discussed towards the end of the article. 

So that they could allow marvel studios a greater degree of creative freedom and control the marvel universe on films and Tv.

Audience Effects Theory

1) Write a definition of a passive audience: 

A passive audience are audience who just accept the messages encoded in a media text without challenge.

2) Write a definition of an active audience: 

An active audience are audience who engages, interprets and responds to a media text in different ways and is capable of challenging the ideas encoded in it.

3) Write a definition of the hypodermic needle theory: 

The Hypodermic Needle Theory is a linear communication theory which suggests that media messages are injected directly into the brains of a passive audience.

4) Write down a media product (e.g. TV show, newspaper or videogame) for each category of Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory and WHY it fits that particular audience use/gratification. The first one is done for you: 

INFORMATION/SURVEILLANCE: Media text - The Times newspaper
 > Why: It tells audiences important information about politics, the world and more.

PERSONAL IDENTITY: YouTube
 > Why:  There are videos in YouTube which the audience can relate to in their lives.

DIVERSION/ENTERTAINMENT:  Netflix
 > Why: It entertains the audience away from their normal lives as they watch movies for hours

RELATIONSHIPS: Episodes for a TV shows/movies
 > Why: As more episodes come out, the audience start to make certain relationship with certain long standing characters in the shows/movies.

5) Re-watch the clip from Blue Planet above and write a paragraph analysing how elements of the clip offer the audience pleasures or gratifications (use media terminology from Uses and Gratifications theory and the 3 Vs - notes outlined above). 

The elements of Blue Planet offers the audience pleasures or gratifications by communicating with the audience with commentary/narration and nice, settling and calm music in the background (Diversion/Entertainment). This helps the audience understand what the video is about and what is going on in the video and also makes it more entertaining to watch as there is high quality clips, good music and a calm and exquisite commentary in the background. (Diversion/Entertainment) Another way it offers the audience pleasures or gratification is by showing landscapes or creatures that are newly discovered and never seen before. This makes the audience more curious to keep watching as it is interesting to learn and discover more about newly discovered species and places (Information/surveillance).

Reception theory

 1) What is the preferred reading of a media text?

Preferred reading is when the producer picks and chooses how they want their audience to view the media text.

2) What is the oppositional reading of a media text?

Oppositional reading is when the audience create their own meaning for the text and ignore the preferred reading that the producer is trying to portray.

3) How does the Harry Brown trailer position the audience to respond to the teenage characters in the film?

That the teenage characters are violent, abusive, relentless and rebellious as they do pro-active actions towards the society

4) Why might young people reject this reading and construct an oppositional reading of the trailer?

It is because they think that young people are often misunderstood in many stories and many ways as they see the young people as the actual victims in the story.

5) Write a 150+ word analysis of the McDonald's advert using preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings.

 

The preferred reading of the Harry Brown trailer is that young people are often abusive, violent, relentless and rebellious as they do many pro-active actions towards the society. Another preferred reading of the Harry Brown trailer is that Harry is the victim as his friend was killed by young people and he is looking for revenge. The negotiated reading for the Harry Brown trailer is that young people are protecting themselves from harm as they live in a society of danger meanwhile others may think they are relentlessly aggressive and violent. Lastly, the oppositional reading for the Harry Brown trailer is that young people have a lot of opportunities and they are misunderstood quite often and they are also honest people and are real victims in thy story and the old people are not the actual victims as they can be misunderstood for being nice, helpless and innocent as well.