Media Ownership

• Concentration of media ownership: when a smaller number of companies owns most media outlets/ the media industry e.g disney 
• Cross media ownership: when a company produces two or more types of media e.g. sony with Skyfall 
• Conglomerate: A parent company owns a range of smaller companies e.g. disney owns abc entertainment 
• Subsidisary: The smaller company which is owned by the parent company e.g. abc entertainment is owned by disney 
• Oligopoly: when a few firms dominate a market e.g the five major distribution companies own hollywood, like a game of monopoly

ADVANTAGES OF CONGLOMERATES IN PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION

1. take risks in the production of the film
2. big enough to not have collaborate with other companies through the production process in order to raise funds (already have enough money)
3. can produce bigger and better films which are more likely to do well at box office e.g. use more famous stars, use special effect such as 3d and green screen, travel to unique locations to attract more of an audience in exhibition stage 
4. they can use synergy and cross media convergence throughout the marketing of the film e.g. create games/music/merchandise in relation with the film 

DISADVANTAGES OF CONGLOMERATES IN PRODUCTION AND EXHIBITION

1. the films usually have to please a mass market so they cannot be creative films such as fish tank, they have to appeal to a large audience of the entire world, otherwise the budget is wasted and the company creates a bad rep 
2. it is necessary for the film to do well at box office otherwise they have wasted a lot of money through the production, distribution and exhibition of the film, which the company usually spends a lot of money on, however they most likely have another film coming up which will most likely be a success 

DISADVANTAGES OF AN INDEPENDENT COMPANY 

1. the film cannot be very ambitious with stars and effects as they have less of a budget to work with as opposed to conglomerates 
2. they usually have to collaborate with other companies in order to raise funs to produce, distribute and exhibit the film 
3. the film has to have a target audience and cannot appeal to the entire world like a conglomerate as they do not have as much funs to spend on distribution campaigns 
4. it is automatically expected to earn less at the box office because of the point above 
5. it cant afford to lose money at the box office as it is an independent film and it can't rely on a next hit 

APPLYING TO CASE STUDIES 

Skyfall: 

• Skyfall was created by conglomerate company and oligoplist of hollywood, sony and used big stars such as daniel craig and judi dench which was promotion itself as fans anticipated their acting in the film as they are such big names, also sony had the money to produce synergy and cross media convergence such as creating fragrances and trailers shown on tv constantly, this is a form of blanket advertising.  Skyfall also had the funds to involve the large company of Coke (however it was coke zero used) to promote their film, as coke had a bond themed advert and real life clips of people passing obstacles (like bond) to get to the coke machine, in a mere few days this video reached over 3.5 million views. Also with this advert, if the people did the task in under 60 seconds they got to go to the premiere, creating even more buzz for the upcoming movie. 

Ill Manors: 

• Ill Manors which was financed by various companies such as BBC Film London and UK film council and created by an independent companies couldn't afford to lose at box office even though they had a little a budget as £100,000 however made just under £500,000. With such a small budget their main marketing strategy was releasing a single (a form of cross media ownership) prior to the release of the film in the cinema to ignite a buzz for the film. The marketing of the trailer of the film couldn't be shown globally as it would not succeed globally (and would lose money) therefore ill manors had a target audience and the trailer was only showed to such audiences through certain channels like Comedy Central, also the film was advertised through radio channels such as kiss fm, who often play plan B (which was the director of the film) and therefore appealed to the audience.