MARKETING / DISTRIBUTION, SPECIFIC AUDIENCES & PRODUCTION PRACTICES

EXAM PRACTICE ESSAY
'Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices.'
To what extent would you agree with this statement within the media area you have studied?

Here, FIRST UNPACK THE TERMS: ‘By production practices, I understand production values, digital distribution and production, CGI, choice of genre, casting, choice of film techniques and so on. I intend to discuss this question with reference to Hollywood blockbusters which target global audiences, British film with national and international target audiences and, finally, micro budget films with niche audiences. 

As case studies, I plan to use The Hobbit, Avengers Assemble, Skyfall and Iron Man 3 to illustrate the Hollywood 4S mega franchise model and how global audiences are targeted through synergetic distribution methods. I will discuss how Iron Man 3 used a range of methods to target the Chinese market, the second largest in the world, and why the success of Western production practices looks like slowing down in this market.


Next, I intend to refer to Working Title, The King’s Speech and World’s End as examples of British production practices and the needs of national cinema to serve national audiences with a diverse range of film genres. I will also cover micro budget films with niche audiences, such as Tortoise In Love.

Finally, I will consider what trends indicate about future practices in the film industry, based on my own film viewing preferences and that of my peers, as well as what I have noticed in the press about the platforms like YouTube, Netflix and LoveFilm as well as the interesting reasons given by Peter Jackson for his choice of using 48 fps for The Hobbit to lure younger audiences away from handheld devices and back into cinemas.’