historical task

• one example from the cover of Woman's realm that supports the idea that variety, creativity and quality are limited by the narrow range of magazine distributors during the time period, can be found in the cover lined of the edition. these cover line feature only things related to women having to be part of the domestic sphere and suggests that women should only be interested in home caring. this limits the amount of variety as it suggests thatchy can't try out new thing or activity. in addition the main image in the from cover can be seen as wearing a nude- colour costume, which suggests that women should notary to attract attention, but should stay in the background. this limits the amount of creativity as it does not allow t o experiment with new outfits and clothing which are more bright, extravangat and artistic. 
• this is also evident in the contents page, as it lists topics such as "cookery" "knitting" and "fashion". this tells women that they should not try and explore new things but stay fished with their own role and purpose in society. 
• on the other hand towards the end of the magazine we an see an image of a woman surfing, while holding a tray. this can be seen as challenging the idea that variety is limited, as it is telling woman to go out and haven. sports is usually associated with men, but she is seen doing it with skill as she is also balancing a tray with food on in while practising the sport.
• having said this in most of the adverts women are seen as seeing food, and this seems to limit the quality of the magazine, as ideas are repeated throughout the whole text, and this will make it seem repetitive and boring.

"ownership allows more varied and adventurous content"

i believe this to be true, as in the hick magazine, which a non-mainstream one there is content which challenges the ideas that women are expected to be in the domestic sphere. they highlight how women can be strong and powerful, showing them as skilled solders. this is shown by the fact that the headline is "female fighters". 

the use of costume further highlights this as they are wearing the stereotypical army uniform. this shows that variety is not limited and that women ca try to different things and styles. direct dress makes the main image seem confident and ready to take up any challenge. 

in the brussels oaklands angles article we can clearly see that the continent is adventurous as it ta;ls about women being strong and able to fight, but also as weak and in need of help, as it talks about their deaths and not only their successes.  

on the other hand in the article about brussels  skaters we an clearly see that young teenagers are portrayed in the stereotypical way. willing to have fun and spend time outside. this can be seen to challenge this statement as the content is not varied and adventurous, but it shows what an audience would expect to see.

industries questions

1-
2-
3- media concentration limits variety, creatibity and quality. it reduces choice for consumers.
4- a process where a company aquires another at a different level of the industry.
5- no, because producers are always looking for new materials and new ideas to attract diffrent audience and always keep them engaged.
6- companies unwilling to take risks and that avoid them whenever possible. they often adhere to an established formula and avoid doing anything different that might have a negative imppact on sales.
7
8- explanding a company's operations into new or differnt areas of business
9- companies that have control over different stages or levels in the productiond and/or distribuito process.
10 - momopoly is a situation in which one commina is able to establish total control or dominance within a paticular market or industry. oligopoly is a situation in which a small number of powerful companies are able to eatablish contro; or dominance within a particular market or industry.
11- statuatory regulation is implemented by the law. it thereatens the principles of self-regualtion
self regualtion is a system in hwich the media industries assume responsibility for regualting themselves , limiting the need of outside interferenze.

podcast 2

The Business of Film (Podcast 2):

* There are 6 million different types of producers.

* Every film production company will have to build their products up from the start. Some of these startups can exceed so dramatically that they become their own businesses., for example, the Harry Potter Franchise, but most are just one-offs.

* Film companies in America are only interested in making movies that appeal to people in all different countries. They are looking to create brands that they can expand and exploit worldwide (through other products like amusement parks and game shows)

* However, in the independent film scene, most of the British film market,  the main focus is on trying to get the film made and then about how they are going to distribute that film.

* Films are made in the UK, such as Star Wars and the Harry Potter films, to benefit from the UK's benefits tax rebate system. However, they are owned by Hollywood Studios, who take the majority of the profit.

* Screenplays are known to be re-written numerous times.

* Development Hell: This is when a film is developed beyond a reasonable and sensible bit of development

* In this time actors and directors come and go, each wanting to put their own imprint on the property. Therefore, something that was hot might become cold the next week. It might then be put back into development and a new cast and directing cast will be attached to it. This causes a loss of money.

* An example of this loss of money comes from Warner Bros. and the unreleased Superman Lives. They paid $10 Million to Tim Burton and over $10 Million to Nicholas Cage to keep their schedules free for the project. But it was never made. However, all in all, it is actually cheaper to not make a film.

* If a film is tent-pole movie then it might cost $200 Million. This is another reason why development hell is so evident in Hollywood as they are constantly bringing and paying new screenwriters to see if they can come up with something else.

* There are around 50,000 screenplays submitted to the Writers Guild a year. There is a superabundance of films and no effective way of filtering it down.

* Blacklist - Films that aren't picked up are put on the list and passed around in order to be picked up
* "It is easy to make a bad film from a good script but hard to make a good film from a bad script"
* 970 scripts have been on the blacklist
* 270 of the 970 have been made
* Argo was found by Ben Affleck on the Blacklist
* The 270 films from the Blacklist have made 23 billion dollars in Blockbusters
* Production companies are less likely to pick films from people they don't know causing a blockage
* Casting also makes films
* Casting started with people who had Rolodexes and connections
* The list can be created by finances
* People may come with a fixed idea of people they want to star in the film

podcast

The business of film - bbc4

The film business can be seen as  unpredictable. The most critically successful films are not necessarily the most profitable ones. 

Audience want emotional engaging and intelligent stories. so for the producers , the challenge is to create films which strike a cord at the box office, but audience and financing is a risk as they are always unpredictable. 

Audiences are thirsty for emotionally engaging characters, something that they can enjoy with. 

sequels usually let people down, as they don't engage the audience as much as the first movie.

The american audience is always looking  for franchises,while the UK doesn't. They prefer making spokes films.

In the US 7/10 of the highest grossing movies were sequels. They are the movie business.

70% of he market is not in the |US, as adventure and action make the films more interesting, so it is important to film in different countries and places.

The entire film business changed in 2008, where the financial market collapsed. The type of films made were all really similar, so studios started to go to independent film makers. For this getting financial support is very difficult.

Uk indigent films are financed by bbc films and film-goer, plus a bit of preisales and bfs.

bfs - looks for filmmakers that they feel like they are helping. 82% of Uk filmmakers who make feature films don't make an other feature film in the next 10 years. 

for a film to succeed you need to keep in consideration

-timing

-response from the audience

-weather

-sporting events

budgets in producing a movie can vary from 1 mil to 30 mil dollars, with an average of around 5 mil.

The UK government wants to support British films so to do this they will give you 1/5 of the money you spend in cash. To know if your movie is British you need to go through a cultural test - you get points if your director is British, location is British, ecc

Sales agents: sells distribution rights. All independent distribution models have a sales agent who estimates the cost of a movie. 

The rating funding is complicated . Promo is picked up by a sales agent, then you speak to production founds, look at short fall and use gap finance to go to production. Nobody knows how a film will appeal the audience. The market place is now more uncertain than ever. 

In the 90s most movies were targeted to men, but now it has opened up also to women as they have become more independent and started to make their own money, which they have their own control over. Having said this, the industry is still mainly male dominated. WEomen are not seen as directors and it is very difficult for them to get their movies financed. 

in addition, more and more content is made for an older audience as they have money, but little content is made for them. They want to see Hollywood films, so 90% of the investments go there. 

industry key concepts

- A media conglomerate is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. these are called subsidiaries. 

•What are the 6 major media conglomerates operating today?

1- national amusements

2- disney

3- time warner

4- Comcast

5- news corp

6- sony

Concentration of media ownership (also known as mediaconsolidation or media convergence) is a process wherebyprogressively fewer individuals or organizations controlincreasing shares of the mass media. Contemporary researchdemonstrates increasing levels of consolidation, with manymedia industries already highly concentrated and dominated bya very small number of firms.


concentration can limit variety as it does not let new ideas in.

agree

•      conglomerates may not allow alternative ideas or texts such as films to be produced.
•      conglomerated are driven by profit and income. therefore if a formula is successful profitable texts (magazines, films) continue to be reduced.

disagree

•      conglomerates can produce creative works and texts that are high quality due to high budgets and good crew. 

more socially diverse patterns of ownerships help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions. 

the idea that the people who own the media are from a diverse background. not only from wealthy white men. if it was this the case, the media product might become lees varied. the media productions would be more adventurous and diverse. 

ferguson

ferguson believed that women magazines are constantly tellng women to be more beautiful. this is evident for ecample in the  advert of bottled beauty as we see a woman who is applying make up on her face, suggesting that he natural beauty is not enoughtm but that she needs to try harder, to be as beautiful as she can be. this is further reinfroced thhrought they way her hair is done we can clearly see that it is pulled back andneatly brushedm suggesting that she needs to take lots of care in her looks.
in addition fergusiin believed that "getting and keeping a man " is comonly seen as a primary goal in women's magazine. making themselves attractive is therefore their duty. in this advert this is enhanced throught the headlines, where we can see a list of different products for skin, suggesting that women need to keep their sin soft and sulky, in order to pelase their man.

•Find one tokenistic character from a Media text. (other than those mentioned).

•Explain why they are tokenistic

Star Wars
After Episode IV became a blockbuster, numerous people noticed that an entire galaxy of humans were all white. (Which was not entirely true; it was just that the main characters were all white.) Episode V introduced Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, the Token Minority Black.

reakfast at Tiffany’s has been romanticized to death by entire generations of filmgoers since its release. Which is weird, because it contains one of the most offensive performances in the history of American movies. Not only was Mickey Rooney cast to portray a Japanese man, the character itself indulges so many stereotypes about people of Asian descent, it would've still been offensive had an actual Japanese actor been cast.

The same way minstrel shows showcased overtly racist slapstick comedy featuring performers in blackface, Rooney’s role as I.Y. Yunioshi was a majorly exaggerated caricature of people of Japanese descent. 

straight outta compton research

Straight Outta Compton was produced by Legendary Pictures who entered into partnership with Universal Pictures (the  lm’s distributor) in 2014. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, a Comcast company. The fact that the  lm was produced and distributed by a major, vertically integrated  lm studio that is part of a media conglomerate is significant in terms of funding, possibilities for cross- promotion and reaching a global audience.

the Comcast company also owns subsidiaries such as: Comcst Cable Communications LLC, NBCUniversal Media LLC,  Comcast spectator, and many others. 

NBC Universal owned subsidiaries such as: NBC Broadcasting, Peacock Productions, NBCUniversal Television Stations, NBC Owned Television Stations,NBCUniversal Television Distribution,NBC Entertainment,NBC programming,Universal Television,Universal Filmed Entertainment Group,Universal Pictures,DreamWorks Pictures label, and many others.

• Whose idea was the film? Did the idea start with the writer, or were writers brought in to develop a preconceived idea? 

In March 2009, it was announced that the film was in development at New Line Cinema, with S. Leigh Savidge and Alan Wenkus writing, and Tomica Woods-Wright, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre set to produce the film. 

In May 2010, it was announced Andrea Berloff would write a draft of the screenplay.

In April 2012, F. Gary Gray was selected as director.

 By 2013, the film was picked up by Universal Studios, who, in December 2013, hired Jonathan Herman to write a new draft of the script and brought in Will Packer to executive produce.

• Where did the idea come from? Was it an original idea, or perhaps a book first, or TV series, or comic strip, or from some other source?
the films tells the true story of the depiction of the career of gangsta rap group N.W.A. Titled after N.W.A's 1988 debut studio album, the film focuses on members Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre, and the rise and fall of the group.

• Was the film based upon an original script or developed over time by many writers?

Andrea Berloff wrote a draft of the screenplay

• Who financed the film - Production Company? What other films have they produced?

Co-financed by Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures for $28 million, "Straight Outta Compton" follows N.W.A from its scrappy beginnings in the mid-'80s to its unlikely success and the death of member Eazy-E

legendary has produced films such as Superman, The hangover, Batman begins, Jurassic World, Interstellar, 42,…

Universal pictures has produces films such as pitch perfect 1,2,3 ,LOve actually, Split,  Fast and furious, Fifty Shades of gray. 

• Casting – who were cast in the main roles and why? How important were stars? How did the film-makers think the chosen stars would appeal to audiences? 

Ice Cube is played by his son, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Dr. Dre is played by Corey Hawkins, and Eazy-E is played by Jason Mitchell.Paul Giamatti also stars as N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller.

 Sande Alessi Casting posted the notice on several social media platforms in search of different types of women to be extras in the film. raised some eyebrows because many thought it to be incredibly racist.

Who was the producer? 

ice Cube

Tomica Woods-Wright

Matt Alvarez

F. Gary Gray

Scott Bernstein

Dr. Dre

Who was the director and why did they take the project on? 

in September 2011, F. Gary Gray, Craig Brewer, and Peter Berg were in talks to direct the film. In April 2012, F. Gary Gray was selected as director. Gray had worked with Ice Cube in the film Friday and Dr. Dre in the film Set It Off. He has also directed some of their music videos. By 2013, the film was picked up by Universal Studios.

Did they have a track record of success? 

The film earned $200 million at the worldwide box office.

The F. Gary Gray-helmed film is also the highest-grossing movie from an African American director ever.

Straight Outta Compton was the No. 1 R-rated August opener ever, grossing $60 million during it's opening weekend, and it held the No. 1 box office position for three weeks in a row.

Was there anything interesting about the film soundtrack?
Straight Outta Compton: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack of the movie. The album was released by Universal Music Enterprises on January 8, 2016 in digital formats. The soundtrack features songs that were mainly performed by N.W.A but also includes solo performances from N.W.A members Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Dogg).

What happened during the production phase?

Was it an easy ‘shoot’? If there were difficulties what were they? Were there tensions between any of the creative personnel, often known as ‘the talent’?
On August 12, 2014, TMZ reported that just seven days into filming in Compton, a drive-by shooting took place directly in front of the cast and crew members while they were on the set. A group of men standing outside the Compton Courthouse flashed gang signs at a passing car and passengers in the car opened fire on the group. No one affiliated with the film was injured or hurt, but one civilian near the set was shot. Despite the incident, it was announced that filming would continue to take place as planned in the city.

On January 29, 2015, Suge Knight (the record producer of NWA)was involved in a hit-and-run incident that left one man dead and another hospitalised. Witnesses claim that Knight followed the men after an argument on the Straight Outta Compton film set to a burger stand parking lot in Compton, and that the collisions looked intentional. Security footage video was released online in early March showing Knight running over both men but which Knight's attorney said helps his client's self-defence claim.

Terry Carter, co-founder (along with Ice Cube) of Heavyweight Records and a friend of Knight, was the man killed.The second victim, filmmaker Cle Sloan, suffered a mangled foot and head injuries.

In October 2017, transcripts from a grand jury hearing earlier in the year indicated Knight allegedly gave multiple menacing warnings to director F. Gary Gray during filming. Although Gray would testify he did not recall any calls or texts threatening his safety (a move Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes referred to as intentional perjury out of fear), Knight was allegedly angry at his depiction in the film and that he was not compensated for his portrayal.

Was any part of the film shot on location? If so, where? Why were some locations chosen over others? Were costs a factor? 

Straight Outta Compton was filmed in Compton, California and Los Angeles, California. Principal photography began on location in Compton. The principal exterior shooting on a large post-riot set was observed on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood. While shooting in California, the production spent $50 million in the state and received the California Film & Television Tax Credit.

^{Where there any difficulties with casting or with acquiring the stars/actors the producer wanted?} 

On February 21, 2014, director Gray announced an open casting call for the film in Gardena, California, via his Twitter account. There were also open casting calls in Atlanta and Chicago.Rapper YG auditioned to play MC Ren in the film.The project was scheduled to start filming in April 2014 but was pushed back due to casting delays.

It was then confirmed that Ice Cube's son, O'Shea Jackson Jr., would play a younger version of his father in the film. O'Shea Jr. joined Jason Mitchell and Corey Hawkins, who portrayed group members Eazy-E and Dr. Dre, respectively. In early July 2014, casting directors for the film issued a casting call for extras and vintage cars in the Los Angeles area. In July 2014, it was confirmed Aldis Hodge would portray MC Ren and Neil Brown Jr. would play DJ Yella.Paul Giamatti then joined the cast to play N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller and Keith Stanfield joined the cast to play Snoop Dogg. 

A casting call for extras for Straight Outta Compton was released on the Sande Alessi Casting Facebook page. The casting call was looking for African-American girls for the film using an A-D ranking scale. Though the "A girls" category was looking for "classy" women of all colours, the "B through D" categories were very explicitly linked with skin-tone. As the women get less attractive, the casting call wants the women's flesh tone to be darker, with the lowest listing calling for "African American girls. Poor, not in good shape. Medium to dark skin tone.” The casting call post went viral as people expressed their outrage of what they call colorism, sexism, and racism in the categorising of black women. A representative for Sande Alessi Casting said the ad was an "innocent mistake" and when it comes to casting "poor" people, they are also looking for women of various skin tones and body types. As for the A, B, C, D grouping system, Sande Alessi Casting says "it's the usual method they use to look for different types of people for any project and it wasn't meant to offend anyone.”

^{What did the film cost to make? How much did the stars get? Where did the budget go? Was the film shot within budget? Was it ever in any danger of going over budget?}

Straight Outta Compton grossed $161.2 million in the United States and Canada and $40.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $201.6 million. The net profit of the film twas $91.1 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film.

In the United States and Canada, the opening weekend projections were continuously revised upwards, starting from $25 million and going as high as $60 million.

On August 27, 2015, Straight Outta Compton became the highest grossing music biopic of By September 21, 2015, the film had grossed $188 million worldwide to become the all-time highest grossing music biopic, surpassing Walk the Line's $186.4 million worldwide gross.

their initial production budget was of$28,000,000

^{Were there any changes to the script during production? How many changes or re-writes?} 

Costume designer Kelli Jones said "the script was literally changing the entire time we were shooting, I mean literally the entire time. There would be days where I would get a call on Friday and they were like ‘oh by the way we’ve moved the pool party scene to Monday’ and the pool party scene had like 400 people and I needed to get '80s bathing suits, so there wasn’t a single weekend where me and my team were not working.

What technology was used in the production of the film such as camera?

Red Epic Dragon, Cooke Anamorphic/i, Kowa Prominar, Zeiss Super Speed, Lightweight, Fujinon Alura, Angenieux Optimo and Optimo 2S Lenses

List some of the key people who made contributions to the production.

What happened during the marketing and distribution phase of your case study film?

• Who were the distributors? How well known was the company? What is their track record as distributors? (Other films/genres) 

Andes Films (2015) (Chile) (theatrical) (not released)

Columbia Pictures (2015) (Philippines) (theatrical)

Kinepolis Film Distribution (KFD) (2015) (Belgium) (theatrical)

Parco Co. Ltd. (2015) (Japan) (theatrical)

Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (2015) (Sweden) (theatrical)

Synca (2015) (Japan) (theatrical)

United International Pictures (UIP) (2015) (Singapore) (theatrical)

Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2015) (Australia) (theatrical)

Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2015) (Germany) (theatrical)

Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2015) (France) (theatrical)

Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2015) (Netherlands) (theatrical)

Universal Pictures (2015) (USA) (theatrical)

Home Box Office (HBO) (2016) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)

KVH Media Group (2015) (World-wide) (all media) (ships)

Universal Home Entertainment (2016) (UK) (DVD)

Universal Home Entertainment (2016) (UK) (Blu-ray) (DVD)

Universal Pictures Benelux (2016) (Netherlands) (Blu-ray)

Universal Pictures Benelux (2016) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE) (2016) (USA) (DVD)

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE) (2016) (USA) (Blu-ray) (DVD)

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (2016) (Germany) (DVD)

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (2016) (Germany) (Blu-ray) (DVD)

Universal Pictures (2015) (Spain) (all media)

• Were there any issues with the classification of the film?

this film was rated as a 15 and was passed as uncut

• Who was the target audience? How do you know? 
• hypsanc community
• nwa fans 17-34 year olds
• community leaders
• i know this as the film is portraying the rappers, while it is also showing their situation, and trying to tell the community leaders that they are being treated harshly, in a way that  they dont’t deserve, just because of their race.
  
  • How did the filmmakers decide where to release the film and when? What was the eventual release pattern?
  
  • What was the marketing and advertising strategy for the film? Was there a premiere, and if so, where?
  
  • Find film posters and analyse them for how they reach their audience(s)

• Analyse a trailer/teaser trailer and consider how the trailer persuaded and positioned British audiences to see the film.

• What outlets were used for advertising? Was TV used, for example?

• Were there any merchandising tie-ins?

• Was any additional publicity gained, and if so, how?

What happened during the exhibition (audience) phase?

• When was the film released; also where and on how many screens?

• Were there any other special restrictions placed on the exhibition of the film?

• What were the reactions of the critics to the film? Was it considered a critical success? Has it been re-assessed since then?

• Did the film create a particular media debate, or create news headlines?

• How much money did the film take? Was it considered a commercial/financial success?

• Did it run in the cinema for some time?