Technological convergence

Also DT, POH

What is Technological convergence?

1. Convergence refers to technologies coming together; technologies that were separate (phone/camera/data) that now share resources and interact with each other synergistically to create new features and offer more features than a single device.

2. Media industries are DIVERSIFYING so they can produce and distribute across several media i.e. online newspapers, audio podcasts, videogames & films….

Today, we are surrounded by a multi-level convergent media world where all modes of communication and information are continually reforming to adapt to enduring demands of technologies. This convergence is changing the way we CREATE, CONSUME, LEARN, & INTERACT with each other.

We no longer live in a world where video games, TV, film, newspapers etcexist separately, they have converged together.

….cont.

• Synergy: convenience and profits for institutions

• Convergence: convenience for the viewers/audience (film exhibition) = MULTI-PLATFORM film marking & exhibition

Link to technology

• Digital technology is the ‘umbrella’ or overall topic for TC

• D cinema = digital cinema • This is also linked to proliferation of hardware because

advancement of technology grows and is very fast!• In this day and age, many things are converged to make

things easier and more efficient • iPad/smart phone or xbox/ps3 or smart TV = all in 1

device

• IT’S ALL ABOUT TECHNICAL CHANGE!!!!!!!!!

Media Industries

• Media industries have to respond to changes in media technology• Media convergence means a lot of TV shows, films, and music exist

across a range of media and are the products of several industries. • i.e. music is available across a huge range of formats, it’s converged

with other industries (cross media convergence)

– Games & music: guitar hero, soundtracks for PS3 games, bands make money from giving their image and music to these games

– Music & tv/internet: Xfactor, BGT – sings songs, performances and also the encouragement for audience to vote on smart phones/tablets, and use iTunes to download the songs from the show

– What are examples in film industry?

P, D, E

• Production

• Distribution (marketing is distribution)

• Exchange/exhibition

Digital distribution

• There are a lot of positive and negative impacts on film industry from digital technology– Piracy; hurts industry and also a lot of solutions had to be created and liaisons with other companies to

protect films

• Digital filming/projection: – DSN: (funded by UK film council) gave money to cinemas to make them able to digitally project/exhibit films – Makes indie films easier to produce– Reach wider audiences (exhibition)

• Digital distribution is revolutionary: once it’s the norm to download films, new form of ‘blanket release’ is obvious – no prints to be made (no touring) , bypass cinemas (even tho still a big selling point)

• Saves billions on previous expensive and time consuming costs• Even though piracy is a threat, with digital distribution, piracy is even less likely (because you can

simultaneous release) so people filming in cinemas who distribute poor quality versions, people will have already seen it in different parts of the world.

• Therefore simultaneous global release/distribution closes the gap and prevents piracy in this sense (the need to sell to viewers who can’t watch it for weeks/months)

• Cinema: old technologies (prints) – expensive manufacturing, heavy, wear and tear (quality of sound/video would go after 3rd time viewing)

• Digital distribution solves these problems (converged technologies into 1) – no more quality issues and also better for environment!!!!!!! (no waste as it is digital) and CHEAPER!

IMAX (exhibition)

Imax – convergence (P, D, E)

Film industry survival

• Has had to survive against many things:– TV broadcasts (because of socialness of going to cinema)– VHS (video tapes) (because multiplex cinemas made the cinema experience more exciting –

link to emergence of blockbusters with expensive marketing)– Multiple TV channel viewing– Film channel subscriptions (cheap)– Downloading films– PVR devices– Online rentals

………cinema & blockbuster STILL survive all the above!!!!!!

– BUT, will it survive the latest technological changes? (snazzy home entertainment stuff) Or will technology and technological convergence be a bigger threat to exhibition?

– Changes in accessibility (how you watch films)?– People at end of day still want the spectacle of large screen/sound etc

– If you owned the latest HD/3D top TV with surround sound and ability access to new release films (internet connected) and all that other fancy stuff……….would you go to cinema?

Production convergence

• Cameras (arri alexa) have capacity to do more– Smaller and more compact as well (making it easier and faster to film stuff)– Slumdog millionaire – cameras on backpacks to get in teeny spaces! – Quality – HD and excellent picture quality for audience (sharp and crisp)

• (digital) – no film/prints – can film and watch at same time (no dailies/prints) • Film making is redefined • Editing & special effects capabilities (editing programmes converged) – no need for make-up/film

extras etc) – can do all that in editing (but mostly blockbuster films) • Can do all production without ANY film (all digital) • Cinematographers now moving towards digital cameras• More freedom and creativity as you can shoot longer/it costs less etc• Indie – can shoot, edit, distribute all on cheap equipment (some indie filmmakers could even do it

all on iPad!!!!!) (we make mini films and upload onto youtube with 1 piece of equipment!!!!) – Film on ipad– Edit on ipad– Edit on youtube– Promote on youtube & social media – Upload to youtube– Watch on youtube/vimeo

Marketing convergence other Cinema Home Downloading

Digital posters (can change them frequently)

Websites/social media = convergence

*VIRAL MARKETING (watched with new converged devices and social media sites including youtube) –remember these devices have APPS

Show trailers on dig screens while they are at cinema

See first few mins(dark knight – first 8 mins during _________ film)

Watch trailers &adverts on TV

Preview trailers on PPV (before you rent others)

Watch extra clips or interviews or promotional material online

Can also watch youtube on TV

Lovefilm/netflix –linked to TV (red button)

Youtube – trailers, interviews, previews, adverts (pop up or viral)

SOCIAL MEDIA –share marketing, participate in competitions, watch films

Smart phones, ipads = watch everything from trailer, to watch/play marketing games/websites, share on your FB/twitter, rent/buy film on itunes or netflix/etc.

Distribution convergence

• Encrypted software to cinemas (not sending separate prints)• All in one digital files (with code to de-lock at cinema so not

pirated) • Sent/uploaded online (itunes)• DVD: can include extras on DVD or downloads (directors cut) or

(backstage footage ‘the making of’) = all in 1

• ALL DIGITAL FILES to…..(before, these used to be separate and long, expensive processes) – Cinema– DVD manufacturing

• Ultraviolet: converge DVD/downloading (codes)

– Home/downloading: itunes, netflix, lovefilm, amazonprime, blinkbox– Youtube: free! Easily accessible for ANYONE (global = wider audience)

Exchange/Exhibition convergence

Cinema Home Downloading

***remember internet technologies:-bluetooth-3G-4G (fast!!!)-fast broadband

-fast internet means faster downloading to access films quicker

-digital – less space (students = small places (no dvds)

-Simultaneous global release (released at same time around world)-more cinema’s will therefore buy more films to show (won’t have to buy multiple prints) -better quality at cinema (3D, IMAX – more immersive)

But £££££!

-also audiences can buy tickets (and get deals) on phones/tablets before cinema (cinema website or other ticket websites)-orange wed (on phones!!)-send reviews/trailers to phones via bluetooth

-smart TV, HD TV can connect to internet, have great sound, (have all the features put into a 1 home entertainment unit which is similar to cinema) -DVD/blu ray (blu ray has encrypted software to prevent piracy)

But ££££!

-piracy tho –pirateboy.com or DVD ripping equipment

Online –computer/ipad/smart phone etc(easy download and on a piece of equipment which can do many things)-rent/buy….SD/HD-cater to converged devices (consoles, tablets, computers etc) -pirate

But decrease cinema/DVD sales?

Other audience interactive websites

• Buy on cinema website (vue.com)

• Youmakethemovies.co.uk

• Findanyfilm.com

(synergy & convergence!!!!)

POH(proliferation of hardware)

• FASTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT advancement of technology!• Speed of new cameras and technologies happens so quickly

– New iphone/ipad• Flashy new features, better quality of …….(2x a year now!)

– New cameras (can’t even buy old tape ones anymore!)• Everyone using digital

– New equipment for general audiences too• So much flashy stuff that is pretty good and cheap• Also equipment to rip DVD’s tho

– At home• Computers & social media

– Fans can interact more, share, write reviews, (user generated content – web 2.0) , fan clips – can edit and make these themselves on their own equipment !!!! And then share it on social media for other fans PROSUMERS!!!

• Phones…..tablets……smart TV’s with internet connections/apps/ etc– Consoles: internet, cameras, games, dvd player etc– TV: computer, tv, dvd player, consoles etc

– Social media phenomenon's (its so normal now)– We can access stuff sooooo quickly, it’s almost too convenient!

• 4G/broadband (downloading from iTunes/on converged devices)• Instant downloading/streaming (PPV / netflix, blinkbox etc)• Watch anytime/anywhere we want!

• THIS ALL LINKS TO CHANGING AUDIENCES (coming up in next slides)

– ALL THIS STUFF IS PRETTY RECENT!!!!!!!!

– Growth of technology means growth for film industry• But of course, it’s risky and can equally lose money (poor cinema sales)• Do you think film industry will survive? Will cinema? What could happen in the future? Do you think 50 years ago the film industry

would be as it is today?

More POH

• Proliferation leads to technological convergence!!

• Also leads too….. – Downloading (itunes, apple TV, ipod/pad)

– Digital piracy (dvd, file share)

– Social networking sites (share, marketing, buzz)

– Accessibility (everywhere and anywhere)

– Control (industry & audience)

Think of benefits for your case studies – is technology, POH, TC beneficial for them? or detrimental?

Changes audiences

• We live in a digital, online age• Web 2.0 – user generated content• Active audiences because of technology (internet)• Industries should treat things as a public space – people are drawn in to

pull content that they can personalise, identify with and share it.• PROSUMERS (producers + consumers = prosumers) (make & buy)

More changing audiences….

• Digital media distribution and consumption has allowed consumers to become producers (prosumers) or at least interactors, and thus far more active users of media. – Think of the way films encourage audience participation from the audience.

• Gauntlett goes as far as to say that new media erodes the boundary between producer and audience to the extent that it makes little sense to talk about media audiences at all anymore—he calls this rethink 'Media Studies 2.0'.

The Concept formerly known as AUDIENCE• This phrase is now commonly used by media professionals to describe the ways in which people engage with

media, and it shows how contested the idea of audience is in the digital era. The ways in which convergence, user-created content and social networking have transformed the audience are often thought about in terms of audience 'fragmentation'. In this climate media institutions are desperately trying to provide 360-degree branding for their products—to surround us with them across all the various converged media forms that we come into contact with—a good example of this is Avatar or Skyfall or Thor 2.

• Csigo suggests that media institutions are no longer interested in keeping the audience together, but in 'triggering engagement' in people. Converging media, then, can lead to both control by media producers and resistance by the consumers, who now get to produce their own media. For media institutions, this imposes key changes: the media world changes from a 'value chain' (cultural products made and distributed to audiences) to a social network (a complex system where producers and audiences are mixed up). Another way of describing this is the shift from 'push media') (where producers push media at us and we receive and consume it) to 'pull media' (whereby we decide what we want to do with the media and access it in ways that suit us).

The key term that is often used to describe the proliferation of people making and distributing their own video is the long tail. (example – original paranormal activity or life in a day)

Today’s audience

• People are busy and on-the-go – therefore they like to watch films when they want and how they want (therefore the idea about having devices they can easily do it all on appeals to them (and they are mobile) – Film industry will change to make sure they can easily

market, distribute and exchange their products with these audiences to make profits and prevent piracy!

Connection to ownership

• Conglomerates have subsidiaries and synergies to converge with– Other areas in same company (like sony entertainment, MGM &

EON)

• Have capitol to have synergies and also huge marketing campaigns, which have a lot of cross media convergence and technological convergence's! – Visit britian – on website, audiences interact with on

phones/tablets etc– Websites – can visit on same devices– Social media (FB/twitter) – on same devices and share etc– Games (mgm or gameloft etc)

Mainstream vs indie vs changing

Mainstream/hollywood/blockbuster

Arthouse/indie/niche Changing industries

-have all the money to do a range of things-money means control-money buys latest technology to keep up with changes-mass audiences buy cool stuff made with new stuff! (can see all marketing strategies/CGI/good quality image/films on all platforms etc)

-don’t have money to buy all new stuff-but sometimes they can get it by borrowing/lending/renting (cheaper) (in our name/MBTD)-can complete with below the line/free advertising on social media -films can’t be ‘spectacular’ with CGI/special effects etc. so not sellable to mass audiences, BUT target niche audiences through some cross media platforms-BUT they shoot on similar cameras and are mostly digital (D cinema) so easily produced, distributed and exchanged/exhibited to audiences (funding helped – DSN)-indie cinemas now having ondemand (watch film in cinema at home (streaming) (In our name)

-more indie films are being distributed by conglomerates and sold in same ways as hollywoodfilms (they have better storylines and same quality) also, people are sick of over CGI and predictableness of mainstream/hollywood films-indie filmmakers (PROSUMERS) can now shoot, edit and distribute their own films all themselves on 1 (or a few) inexpensive devices and reach a decent size audience because of easy access (online/social networking)

A technological convergence essay…….

50/50 = A1

but it’s about 5 years old so it’s quite dated now! (so couldn’t use same case studies –remember there is so much new technology since then!!)