Technology timeline

Movie camera development 1894: Black and white, also no sound.

1900 - 1927: Silent black and white films.

1906: Edward A Turner and George Albert Smith, invented colour by drawing on top of film after being filmed.

1926: A Scottish man invented the television.

1927 - 1979: Some synchronised sound appears.

1939: Computers are being invented, however are massive and don't do much.

1970 - 1990: Technology improved.

1970s - 1980s: Home video invented.

1980s: CGI

1990 - 2010: Films are turning non-linear.

1995: DVDs replaced VHCs

Late 1990s-2005: Internet is invented.

Marketing

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

Many factors need to be taken into account, when agreeing or disagreeing with this statement. However I am going to use my two case studies, to help me answer the question and give key points as to how to come to my overall judgement. 

When it comes to marketing a film it can be done in many different ways these include: TV trailers, posters, adverts in the cinema, and even social media. As time has moved on, it now easier than ever to market your film, in the cheapest way possible. However this can depend on certain factors such as, the production value of the film itself, and the cast you have featured in your film. A good example of a film that used a cheap, and efficient way of marketing its film is Fast and Furious 6. Fast and Furious 6 features some of the biggest stars featured in the film. These include Paul Walker, and Vin Diesel, to market the film they uploaded the film on Vin Diesel's social media page. This is a great way of marketing and an effient way of doing it, as it is much cheaper and Vin Diesel's social media accounts have millions of followers, meaning loads of people and fans will see the trailer and encourage them to view the film.

This also applies with one of my case studies, called Harry Brown. The film is about an elderly ex-serviceman who lives in a disadvantaged area in London with gangs and drugs, it's about him getting his revenge as they killed his best mate, and gets rid of the gangs. The film was marketed in many other ways, however one way that is similar to Fast and Furious 6 is that one of the main characters, Plan B, who is a successful rapper collaborated with Chase and Status and famous duo to create a song, about the film. This was a great, and easy way of marketing as it not only provided a new song, but marketed the film at the same time. 

However, the Harry Brown film had a low budget overall, and didn't make a lot of money in the US. The film lacked support, and although it had many big names such as Harry Caine, it didn't have enough push. This could be because it was released by a British distribution company, meaning it wouldn't be shown, or have enough marketing overall.  

If we look at what my other case study, The Notebook, it has a much more bigger and better budget at $29 million. It also made a lot more money that Harry Brown, and was an American film. The Notebook had many famous stars such as Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, meaning it could be easily marketed online, and things such as TV interviews. The film made $115 million in the box office overall. The distribution company for the Notebook is New Line Cinema, a well known and one of most popular distribution companies. Compared to Harry Brown this shows the advantage, American films such as the Notebook have compared to British films that have a much more lower budget.