How is media convergence important for audience & institution? Media convergence is very important in the lm industry.

Although lms can form a media industry by themselves it would be nearly impossible to succeed. The lm industry is heavily reliant on media convergence when marketing, exhibiting and distributing a lm, more so recently. Being able to make an audience aware of what is going on during production allows the movie to become more popular. This is only done through media convergence. During the production of the movie Kick Ass media convergence was very signicant, rstly during the marketing stage. An example of this would be the rst trailer which was released (this trailer introduced the aspect of being a a superhero with no powers). This where lmed because this would grab the attention of there target audience before the lm had even nished being lmed. These trailers got comic book fans exited and the word of Kick Ass around the world, on both forums and social network sites. More trailers where gradually added, these trailers included more clips from the movie and a chance to discover the different characters. The lm later beneted from these because the audience did not forget about the lm at the time of release. As this lm was based on a comic book, a vast amount of fans where available straight away. This level of audience helped increase sales of both comics and toys/gures. Another method of promotion which was available was the use of an interactive website. This website allowed fans to view each character, explore the details of that character, watch clips of the character and view different plot lines. Interactive websites have become very common recently, they especially benet this lm because the selected target audience was teenagers. Teenagers spend half there life on the internet so would benet whereas adults would struggle to operate such features. In contrast to this The Kings Speech only supplied minimal pictures and few videos on there website. The Kings Speech again different to Kick Ass did not release a trailer until just before release and there was a minimal amount of them. I believe these differences are the reason that this certain lm was not heard off until just before the release. The set target audience of The Kings Speech would generically be older. This would mean that less of them would either have the time or knowledge to be able to access the websites available to explore lms which are to be released in the future. Although this is the case The Kings Speech did manage to advertise the lm in a variety of ways. There was coverage in newspapers (no red top papers) and the Guardian online released information of Helena Bonham Carters role in the plot, this did therefore create some level of speculation. During the production of The Kings Speech there was a lack of advertising, one of the reasons for this is that at that specic time of lming the UK was undergoing a rather large economic crisis. Another reason was the lack of interested nanciers at the pre production stage. Both BBC and Film4 rejected the lm. I believe that both the Producers and Actors wanted to concentrate on creating an aesthetically pleasing movie rather than waste time advertising and promoting before production had even been completed. This is again the direct opposite to Kick Ass. The condence of the worldwide mainstream lm, and the independence of a feeble poorly backed individual british lm where completely different.

Mid production marketing is now very popular in the lm industry due to the high level of media technology and the new ways that people can connect to one and other. New technology has the ability of keeping an audience interested in a lm all the way through production to its exhibition. This would be very rare to see more than 3 years ago. Synergy marketing is also used in the lm industry. A synergy is where two or more agents institutions/companies interact to ensure a larger effect than if they would when they act independently. This is benecial for both companies because it makes the situation more efcient as well as there being the possibility of a higher level of expertise and fewer costs. Synergy marketing is used for lms to promote the lm and promote a product in return. An example of this would be Batman The Dark Knight Rises and the milk retailer Body by Milk, there where a series of advertisements for Body by Milk which included an image of batman sponsoring the famous milk mustache. This type of marketing is important because it is a different and original way of making the lm more well known to a range of different audiences. When marketing The Dark Knight Body by Milk would have been a very obvious choice of company to collaborate with in the view of the fact that they aim the products at children. Aiming these adverts at children would immediately engage the young quadrant of the audience before the lm is even released. As previously discussed another useful method of advertising is social networking. This method is very modern and has only started to appear in recent years. Even though this is the case it is denitely one of the most effective methods available to the lm industry. An example of this method would be The Kings Speech and Kick Ass s use of Facebook pages and twitter accounts. Although there was no trace of a Kings Speech page or account in the build up to the release one appeared at release and was very useful. These pages allow fans to be able to spread opinion on the lms through viral marketing. Another way that The Kings Speech gained promotion time was by using the TV. A vast amount of Kings Speech interviews appeared on popular TV programs like the BBC where actors such as Helen Bonham Carter, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush where interviewed, this is called below the line marketing. This type of marketing of the lm allows people who are more indulged in it to learn more, while at the same time still gaining a chance to involve new people who may not have heard about the lm. Another key bonus to this is that the audience available during a prime time TV program will be far greater than would be reached through a page of a select newspaper or magazine. Similar to the above method YouTube is also a great tool used to market lms. This online video sharing website allows the lm companies themselves or others to upload things such as interviews, trailers, parodies and personal events that link to and benet the lm.The use of lm webpages like Wikipedia and IMBD are also used, sites like these allow readers to view information on actors, similar lms, view trailers as well as being linked to sites that provide lm reviews and cinema showing times. All this information in one place makes it even easier for the modern day customers to ensure he/she nds the right lm that they want to watch.

LEGO Batman the video game was released in 2008 following the release of Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight. The producers of the game at Warner Bros felt that many of the fans of the lm, as well as any younger batman fans that couldnt see the lm, would be interested in playing a video game that followed a similar narrative and read further in to the story and background of Batman and other characters. This game was made for PS3, PS2, PC, XBOX and the Nintendo Wii. This was done because Warner Bros wanted the product to be available to as many people as possible. Overall i believe that media convergence is key to a lms success because if it was not there the target audience would not be made aware of the lms available. It is also apparent after studying and comparing lms such as This is England, The Dark Knight, The Kings Speech and Kick Ass there is a much wider variation of media convergence than ever before. To summarise this point, more lms are now thrown in to the public domain in modern society and this results in more people both seeing and spending more money on watching lms.