Communications and Media

Select ONE media text from ANY of the three media areas below and examine the factors that contributed to their global commercial success. You must pay particular attention to the synergies and other key business strategies mobilised by your chosen text’s producer and/or distributor/record label/network, and the impact these have had on the production (choice of genre, style, narrative [for films and television shows]; music genre, language of lyrics [for albums]) and dissemination of the media text.

1. Film:
1. The Avengers Assemble (Joss Wheddon, Disney, 2012)
2. The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros., 2012)
3. Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, Universal, 2011)
4. Juno (Jason Reitman, Fox Searchlight, 2007)
5. The Hunger Games (Gary Ross, Lionsgate, 2012)
6. Skyfall (Sam Mendes, Sony, 2012)

2. Television:
1. 30 Rock (NBC, 2006-2013)
2. How I Met Your Mother (Fox Television, 2005-)
3. Mad Men (Lionsgate, 2007-)
4. Girls (HBO, 2012 – )
5. The Newsroom (HBO, 2012-)
6. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, 2002-)

3. Music:
1. Mylo Xyloto (Coldplay, EMI, 2011)
2. Who You Are (Jessie J, Universal, 2011)
3. She Wolf (Shakira, Sony, 2009)
4. The 2nd Law (Muse, Warner Bros Records, 2012)
5. x (Ed Sheeran, Asylum/Atlantic, 2014)
6. 1989 (Taylor Swift, Big Machine, 2014)

Deadline: Thursday 17 December 2015, 2pm

2000 word limit – bibliography excluded

Details

This assignment has been designed specifically to assess learning outcomes 3 and 4 as those appear on page 2 of the module guide:

• a critical awareness of the ways in which economic and industrial factors shape media texts
• an ability to analyse media texts and identify their commercial imperatives

In the first 6 weeks we have been focusing primarily on how the media industries changed following the rise of global entertainment conglomerates and the impact of media convergence.

If the media industries have changed then it goes without saying that the products the media industries produce have changed. As they are products of subsidiaries of companies that have interests in various entertainment and media markets around the world and which are set up in such a way as to exploit synergies and be able to market them easily globally, the argument is that media texts will be made in such a way so that they are can achieve as great a commercial success as possible.

To give you an easy example, no company would invest $100 million dollars and try to set up a franchise without using any elements that can make a film or a TV show appealing to a large demographic. If you watch Hollywood films, you will be pressed to find a film with no bankable stars who can “carry” the film, unless we talk about particular genres, like horror, where stardom is not as important as is the “scare” element. Similarly, major record labels are unlikely to sign an unknown band/artist without having other commercial elements that they can exploit (for instance, good looks and therefore marketable “face”, pre-existing fanbase gathered through social media, songs that are easy to digest/fit in the current trends, etc.).

So what you are asked to do is to research in GREAT detail your chosen media product and discuss what is it that convinced a global entertainment conglomerates and their subsidiaries or a large independent like Lionsgate to finance/produce/distribute it.

To do this you need to work in 3 ways – hence why I have asked you to work in groups of 3 as it would be relatively easy to share the work
a) you will need to do research on the conglomerate/independent behind the media product you have chosen and see what specific synergies it can use (and has used) for your chosen media product, how it used its horizontal and vertical integration and its various subsidiaries to maximise success of its product in the market
b) you will need to do research on the production history of the media product itself. How did it end up being made? Why? Why in a particular conglomerate? Who is involved? Are they “bankable”? What are the media product’s commercial elements? etc.
c) you will need to analyse the media product as a text and demonstrate its appeal for the audience it was produced. That would mean discuss its narrative, style, genre, special effects, acting, themes and ideas it supports, etc. In other words, you need to account for the way it looks and sounds, and link this to its industrial origins. As I keep arguing in the module, everything that appears in a media text represents a decision driven by commercial imperatives.

Research in these 3 areas by 3 people is bound to produce a lot of material and data. It will be then the team’s work to organise this material coherently in a 2000 word essay (excluding bibliography) where, as the two learning outcomes state, you will demonstrate “the ways ineconomic and industrial factors shape media texts” and “analyse media texts and identify their commercial imperatives.”

In terms of marking these works, my standard approach would be to give the same group mark to all 3 members of a group. However, to ensure that everyone is doing the work and contributing to the group essays in equal ways I will maintain my discretion to give a lower mark or even a zero to anyone not doing the work, or not collaborating with their group members, or not answering emails, or being absent for no good reason without letting their group members know. If a group experiences incidents like the ones I mention above, you will need to email me and I will also contact the person and try to sort things out.

Please note, if a member of a group does not make contact with me or their group by the end of week 9 seminars, they will not be allowed to submit and get a zero. This is a group essay so to get a mark you will need to work in groups.