AS Media Studies

G322 Section B Institutions & Audiences

The Film Industry
Introduction to the Unit
Over the next 7 weeks you will be studying the Film Industry.
This unit isnt about what is in a film the content but a study on HOW films
are made, how they reach audiences, how audiences like to view films, the
types of films they like and the factors that can affect the success or failure of a
film.
This is an examined unit and you will answer ONE question about the film
industry. It will be marked out of 50 and will be worth 25% of your overall
AS grade.

Independent Research
YOU are the key to this unit. We study this unit with a flipped classroom
approach and you will be expected to conduct and complete research for
homework, which will then be the content for the following lesson. The more
detailed and comprehensive your research, the better your exam response
could be.
You need to be on the lookout for the latest film releases and any information
concerning the case study films. You will have to spot posters and marketing
tools used for your case studies as you go about your everyday life. You might
also want to look out for new ways of viewing films and new apps for phones
and other devices. You may also want to identify the films that get the most
press coverage after their West End Premiers, and are therefore more likely to
be successes.

What will you study?

As a class, we will be learning about the Production, Distribution,
Marketing and Exhibition cycle of films. This is known as the film
chain.
You will also focus on at least two case study films that have been recently
released or will be released as we study this unit; one Hollywood big budget
film and one small British independent low budget film. You will need to
research into these films and find out as much as you can about how they are
made and promoted to audiences. You will also be set activities that require
you to compare the films in terms of how they follow the film chain and to find
a number of relevant examples, facts and statistics from each film that you can
use in the exam.

Most importantly, you will have to learn about the NEW TECHNOLOGIES
that are currently affecting the film industry. Issues around convergence,
digital cinema, home surround sound cinema systems and the current trend in
3D, will all come up for critical discussion in the unit.

What will the exam question be?

There are 7 key areas that you could be examined on. They are:

The ways in which the candidates own experience of media

consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience
behaviour

The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media

practice

The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the

level of production, distribution, marketing and exchange

The

he significance of hardware and content

for institutions and audiences

he

raised in the targeting of national and local

audiences (specifically British) by international or global
institutions
issues

cross
media
convergence and synergy in production,
importance

of

distribution and marketing

importance
of
technological
convergence for institutions and audiences
he

Zoe Saldana in Avatar: The revolutionary new Performance Capture process

Despicab
le Me 2
Most
popular
film in
the UK in
2013

Star Wars
The
Force
Awakens
Most
popular
film
globally
in 2015