Scott Weavers
Media Production
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P1 Institution research
Ownership: The company was founded on the 10th January 1990 and isn't owned by any other company as it's the third largest entertainment company in terms of revenue. When founded it merged with two other companies; Time inc and Warner communications. The current company consists largely of the assets of the former Warner Communications (as well as HBO a Time Inc. subsidiary prior to the merger) and the assets of Turner Broadcasting (which was acquired by the company in 1996). Approximately 25,000 people work for the company (2016), with its employees spread around various countries such as China, UK and America which is where there main operating divisions are. The ownership structure of Time Warner is conglomerate which means it owns several companies that provide products/services in the media industry. The advantage of a conglomerate structure is that it helps the company to expand, therefore it is less vulnerable to losses however the disadvantage is that Time Warner are taking over these companies without having any experience about the industry and because of this chances of mismanagement increases.
Operating model: Time Warner has three premier brands and franchises; HBO which consists of premium pay television and streaming services domestically and premium pay, basic tier television and streaming services internationally, Turner which consists of cable network and digital properties, Warner Bros which consists of tevevision, feature film and home video. These have three different offices in America, one in Atlanta, New York and Burbank (California). HBO and Turner generate there money from subscription revenue and content revenue where as Warner Bros generates its profits from theatrical product revenues, television product revenues and video games. Turner also makes money through advertisement. Time Warner is a horizontal company which is where an organisation develops by buying up competitors in the same section of the market.
Products: Time Warner is an entertainment and media based company distributing various products from films to comics books to network tv. Other products can come from mercerise for example action figures from the recently released Justice League film which was produced by Warner bros. Time Warner also uses apps to promote their products, these apps can either be games such as The Lego Batman Movie Game and Scribblenauts Remix. Alternately they have apps for each of their streaming services such as HBO GO and Adult Swim or they could be news related apps such as DC All Access or CNNgo. A list of popular movies Time Warner has produced are Harry Potter, Dunkirk and Paddington. Tv shows that Time Warner has produced are The Flash, Game of Thrones and Last week Tonight with John Oliver.
Market position: Time Warner has the third largest revenue with $12.6 B (behind Comcast and The Walt Disney Company) of any entertainment company, with 25,000 employees. They are a large conglomerate company with subsidiaries and brands such as CW, New Line Cinema and Fortune. Time Warner's cable (spectrum) prices are $64.99 per month including 125+ channels, $84.99 per month for 175+ channels or $ 104.99 per month for 200+ channels.
Competitors: Time Warner are competing against the likes of Comcast, Walt Disney and Viacom.
P2.1 Analysis
Time Warner Cable 2016- space Girl Commercial
Purpose: Its purpose is to sell the product which is the cable service and also to inform the viewer of what the product can do.
Genre: This commercial mixes fiction with non-fiction by playing on the girls imagination by making her think you can watch tv in space, however in reality you can't watch it space but the message is that you can watch tv where ever you want. It also adds some si-fi elements with the whole space theme and the outfit. The relationship between the narrator and the space girls creates a little bit of humour by the narrator playing off the girls imagination.
Form and style: This is a 30 seconds tv advert for a Time Warnner's Cable service (spectrum) and would have be seen on various channels contracted to Time Warner.
Content and meaning: The commercial structure and narrative is very easy to follow. It starts off with a wide shot of the girls bedroom which sets the scene and eases the audience in into the commercial. The start is also very relatable to parent, seeing their child in their room playing with toys, which makes the product that there selling feel kid friendly; so parents would be more likely to buy the cable service. Then we hear the voice of the narrator who has a calm, soft and slow voice making the audience feel relaxed and comfortable as they watch the commercial. The shot changes to medium/close up of the girls face and is used to show the different expressions of the girls face as the conversation between the girl and the narrator carries on. The expressions create a comical scene as the mixture between cute and confused on the girls face makes the audience smile accomplishing a fun and warm atmosphere. The commercial ends as it starts with the wide shot of the girls bedroom bringing the commercial to a satisfying conclusion. The use of only two shot types keep the commercial simple so that the audience could concentrate on what what being said and the girls cute expressions. The space theme gives the idea that with this cable service that you, the customer, has unlimited freedom watching tv where ever you want. This is subtle but clever way too promote their product. In addition the space helmet that the girl is wearing could be because she has aspirations to go to space and as the narrator says you can go where ever you want with the cable service which gives the impression to parents that the cable service will be good for children as well. The narrator at one point mentions the words grocery store which mums will instantly relate to and therefor make them pay attention to the commercial.
Production Process: The production process of any tv commercial is relatively straight forward. It starts off with the creative consultation where the advertising company or production company talks to the client about what the client wants to say with the television commercial. The next step is post-product which involvesscriptwriting, location scouting, prop collection, hiring actors, equipment renting and creating shot-lists. When thats all done they can start filming. The director coordinates the shoot using the shot list and shooting script, the number of days spent filming depends on the length of the commercial and intricacy of the script. The final part of the process is post-production which includes video editing, sound editing and exporting of the TV commercial.
P2.2 Analysis
This is a trailer for Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone which is warner bros picture (An AOL Time Warner Company).
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Purpose: The purpose of this trailer is to help sell and promote the film by giving the audience glimpses of whats to come by showing them various characters and creatures.
Genre: The trailer makes it clear right from the start that this a fantasy, adventure film with the owls breaking through the Warner Bros logo. The train creates the sense that this is an adventure film and by showing a mode of transport it gives the impression to the audience that the characters will go on some magical journey. The goblins in the trailer add to the fantasy elements of the trailer suggesting that there are more unusual creatures within the film.
Form and style: This is 1 minute and 50 seconds trailer in 720p x 264 aspect ratio and would have been shown on places like youtube, Facebook IMDB etc. The style of trailer is made to make the audience feel like they are part of this magical world for example when the door slams at the start the Warner bros logo shakes making the world feel very real. Also some of the shots create the effect that the audience are starring at the characters and creatures bringing the audience closer to the magical world and making them feel like they are in it. The style of the the trailer is very fasts-paced, not in terms of movement, but in terms of the number of quick cutaways showcasing all the different locations which enables them to include lots of scenes in a short amount of time. The vintage tone of the trailer creates the impression that the film his full of mystery as the colour palette used in the trailer is associated with strange and curious worlds.
Content and meaning: The narrative of the trailer is fairly chronological to the actual film by showing harry in the house then introducing Hogwarts this helps the audience know exactly whats going on when they watch the film. It has three-part structure which mirrors a third act structure within films. Starting off the plot of the film which eases the audience into the film, then showing all the characters and settings creating this sense of wonder and ore and finally it ends with "You are the boy who lived" which would create a gasp expression Fromm the audience who would want find out the meaning behind the quote and therefore be like to watch the film. There is little movement in the trailer which suggest that the main focus of the trailer are the character and settings as the trailer tries to build this new world for the audience to enter. The pace of the trailer is fast with a lot of quick cutaways and shots only lasting 1 or 2 seconds, however it does mix it up occasionally with a few fade to blacks and shots lasting 4 or 5 seconds which allows the audience to take in what they are seeing. In each shot the focus is very clear as the mis-en-scene of each shot shows the character in the middle of frame making it clear to the audience who the main characters are in the film. The background music establishes a mysterious atmosphere within the trailer to emphasise the ambiguity behind the characters and settings, in addition the music is a leitmotif for the film which makes the audience feel part of this world. The owls in the trailer act as symbolism for the film as they represent magic, mystery and ancient knowledge.
Production process: The process starts by generating ideas throughs pitches and scripts. In the next stage they produce a storyboard which breaks down each or shot that they want in the trailer. Using shots from the actual film they then edit the trailer with a specific tone or atmosphere in mind, which sometimes can be different from the tone of the film. After they have finished editing the trailer they the work with the marketing team on how to distribute the trailer so that it can be seen.
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P3 Target audience and demographics
1 and 3) The main gender of Warner bros audience is male with an age of 25-39 and earning more than £1000 a month, putting them in the ABC1 social grade. Their lifestyle includes working in the technology, entertainment or marketing business and their hobbies would be playing video games and spending time with family.
2) The acorn structure is a type of classification that includes 6 Caterogies, 18 groups and 62 types. For the audience described above I think it fits into the second category because working in the technology and entertainment would fit well in the rising prosperity category and the amount of money they'd be making would put them in the group career climbers. They like spending time with family which would make them type 18, Career driven young families.
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4) The trailer for Harry Potter appealed to the audience because it created a sense of adventure and mystery which suits a family audience. The main three characters were fairly young which would appeal to young families and there kids, as they would relate to these characters more than say the older generation. The target audience likes video games; it appealed to them by having a narrator over the top guiding the audience through the trailer, similar to when video games have instructions that guide the player through the game.
P4 Distribution and promotion
Distribution channels: Warner Bros makes feature films, TV shows and Video games. Motion pictures under Warner bros and new line cinema would be shown in theatres then dvd copies would get released and sold in rental stores, local shops and online about three months after it had been released in cinemas. Television shows would be shown on released on cable network and various other subscription or on demand services, any Warner bros tv shows would be shown on any channel contracted to Time Warners Cable service. Video games would be released in stores and online straight away. For Harry Potter it would have been shown in the cinema first the releases on dvd afterwards, also because it was a book they would have re-relased the book with brand new covers to try and maximise profit. Harry Potter is continually being shown on tv over Christmas time as well.
Advertising: Before the release of Harry Potter they have done quite a bit of advertising to promote the film such as trailers, posters/billboards, book and merchandise. The trailers would get displayed before a movie in the cinema would start and it would have gone viral online making sure it reaches the right audiences. The released 7 trailers and 14 posters in order to increase there profit margin. For 6 of the posters they used indivual characters to sell the film, the reason for this was so that before the audience went to see the film they were already familiar with some of the main characters; making the film easier to follow when watching. Newspapers published exculsive photos from the film which was free advertising for the film. Merchandise was big part of adverting before and after the films release.Harry Potter toys was the big Christmas seller in the year in was distrusted, selling more merchandise than Furbys and Thunderbirds, with costumes, dolls and games available to collect.
P5 Issues with media products
A) The trailer for Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone did really well at introding the audience to characters and setting's while also keeping the trailer short and consistent which helps the audience because when they would be already familiar with the characters and settings therefore they can enjoy watching the film without having to worry about not knowing certain aspects of the film.
B) The trailer includes an unequal amount of male to female with the ratio being 3:1 however the ratio for the amount of old to new people is much closer at 7:5. It surprises me how many more male characters there are in the trailer than female characters because it highlights which gender is having more screen time in trailers, films and tv shows, which is unfair considering the acting abilities aren't different. The most obvious stereotype they've used in the trailer is that some of teachers (who are witches and wizards) wear a pointed hat, glasses and dark clothes which is common stereotype for witches and wizards.
C) Harry Potter was made on a big budget which meant that they had the money to create their own characters, music and settings avoiding many legal issues when it comes to the copyright law. All the actors would have signed a model release form and an 8 film contract which means the actor will be signed on to do all 8 films also avoiding any legal issues such as actors being asked not to talk about the film outside of production or actors being asked to be in other films.
D) The BBFC are the company that put classifications on films and without a classification a film can't be released or advertised. Each classification depends on things such as how much sex, violence and bad language there is in the film. This trailer contains minimal violence and no sex or bad language which was why it was given a PG rating however if during one of the more tense scenes in the trailer there was a slight hit at violence then the trailer would have been given a 12 rating. All the actors would be playing different characters to themselves which would avoid any ethical issues when reprenting people in the advert, also all the actors are on a contract which mean they'd all be happy to be in the advert.
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