Film Industries
By Harry Burdon
The Big 5
Audiences & Media
Audience Engagement
Audience Expectations
Audience Foreknowledge
Audience Identification
Audience Placement
Audience Research
Disney video notes
Disney
Disney divisions:
Disney has four individual business segments within Disney- Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, Studio Entertainment, Consumer products.
What are the 2024/2025 Disney releases and how many are remakes or sequels?
1.Inside out 2-June 14th 2024
2. Deadpool & Wolverine-July 26th 2024
3. Moana 2-November 27th 2024
The most lucrative Disney films of all time
1.Avatar-Disney via 20th century fox
2.Avengers Endgame-Disney via marble studios
3.Avatar the way of water-Disney via 20th century fox
4. Titanic-Disney via 20th century fox
5. Star Wars:Episode VII-Disney
In the last 3 months of 2024, the number of global Disney+ subscribers amounted to 158.6 million.
The biggest show on Disney+ is The Mandalorian. 2019-2024
Vertical & Horizontal Integration
Vertical Integration
When a company buys out/takes over another company
If a company have done this more than once they are known as ‘Vertically Integrated’.
Horizontal Integration
Horizontal integration happens when one firm acquires another firm operating in the same industry or producing the same line of products.
The 4 stages of a film
Production
Distribution
Marketing
Exhibition/Exchange
Production
Development- The script is written as the blueprint of the film
Pre Production- Preparations for the film are made including cast and crew are hired, locations are selected and sets are built
Production- The filming takes place
Post Production- Film & sound is edited, music is composed, performed and recorded and sound effects are designed and recorded.
Distribution
Everything between production and how the film gets an audience, the film is screened for potential buyers, distributors pick it up and a marketing and release plan is developed. The business for getting an audience by booking them for runs in cinemas & getting them there etc. This also includes getting all financial deals done to get films shown and promoted.
Marketing
Creating campaigns for the promotion of the film: posters, apps, TV interviews etc. Press kits, posters and other advertising materials are published and the film is advertised. Films are usually released with a launch party, press releases, interviews with the press, press preview screening and film festival screenings.
Exhibition/Exchange
The way people watch films: Screening in cinemas, renting/buying DVD’S, downloading films or piracy. About how the audience sees the film, box office intake, reviews, awards etc.
The film gets released to cinemas for exhibition, in order to reach its cinema and/or its home media audience. The films is released in selected cinemas and the DVD is typically released a few months later.
Snow White video & Notes
Pre Classical cinema
Features of German Expressionism
The Golden Age of Hollywood
Walt & Roy Disney started the company in hollywood, hiring Lilian Bounds whom Walt Disney married.
Snow white first full feature film made by Disney.
Disneyland opened on sunday, July 17 1955 with 200,000 visitors on opening day.
Walt Disney died in 1966- Lung Cancer
Why is Snow White so successful?
Snow white and the seven dwarves funded the beginning of disney as being an animated feature film producer when the American film industry was dominated by the hollywood studio system of the 1930’s.
Shang chi portrays the importance of blockbuster film making aimed at global audiences. These films act as high level content used by multi million dollar companies such as The Walt Disney Company who use exclusivity (Disney+) to drive subscribers into buying/paying for streaming services.
Estimates vary, but it ended up costing between 6 and 10 times as much as the original budget at about $1.5m, which was a huge sum in 1937. Commonly referred to as ‘Disney’s folly’ given that it cost around $200 per foot to create as opposed to their previous $50/75 per foot due to Walt’s perfectionism. Walt’s interest in German expressionism is illustrated in Snow White, and his genius by originally taking an anarchic for animation and commercialized with narrative, humour, romance, and musical numbers
Shang chi was created by marvel studios whom DIsney bought for $4 billion in 2009. The decision to produce an Asian-focused film within the MCU will be promoted due to the success of black panther. The Chinese-American Dave Callaghan and The Japanese-American Destin Daniel Crettin were hired for the production of the film
Snow white was produced by a major studio RKO, premiering in LA in late december of 1937, showing in 2 cinemas in New York and Miami when RKO finally deciding on a general release in February 1938
Since the 1970s, Hollywood has been dominated by blockbusters: large budget films with accessible pleasures designed to appeal to mass global audiences, which flood the market with saturation distribution and huge marketing efforts selling the opening of the film as a cultural event. Shang chi was produced in august 2021, with a full trailer in april and early teaser trailers in 2019
Word of mouth was a major feature of marketing films to audiences in the 1930s, however marketability was still crucial to film promotion especially for Snow white in 1937.Walt Disney also has a segment during the promotion of the film discussing each dwarf’s character trait. For international distribution, Disney produced seven foreign versions of the film: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish and Dutch.
Global distribution was much easier in 2021, given the speed and economy of digital distribution, this was also made easier due to the wide variety of culture and ethnicity shown in Shang Chi. Trailers are also a huge part of promotion and maintaining audiences highlighting Marvel's brand power, focusing on universal appeal with action, spectacle, and hero narratives, while also including deeper MCU references for dedicated fans.
Originally, Snow white’s release in 1937 was rated an A for adult audiences, even after cuts were made however later, after its re release in 1964, its cut version was rated a U. ‘Lustful kissing’, homosexuality, nudity, drug use, adultery, ‘miscegenation’, vulgarity, and ridiculing the clergy were all banned as a result of the Hays code although snow white was not a part of this
Shang chi was rated a 12 by the BBFC due to moderate violence, fantasy threat, bloody images, and infrequent moderate ‘bad language’.
Explain how film producers guarantee their success and maintain audiences. Use Disney’s Snow White and Shang-chi in your answer. .