How Does Your Own Experience of Media Consumption Illustrate A Wider Pattern Trend of Audience Behavior?
My own experience of media consumption, in many ways, demonstrates and mirrors current trends in audience behaviour.
Over the last few years especially, the watching of videos and usage of the internet have changed rapidly. The platforms in which I have watched movies and shows, and have listened to music and have even read books have moved forward with the release of new technology and streaming services.
Growing up, my family would go tot he local DVD store to pick out movies for that weekend. Then, around 2013, we bought an Apple TV so began renting movies from there. Then in 2015, when Netflix and other SVOD's like TVNZ became available in New Zealand, we used them more, and also illegal streaming services became more common to use. This trend in using the newest services for my family aligns with most of the families in New Zealand. As technology and internet have increased it has become easier to watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it, as opposed to 15 and 20 years ago when even uploading a photo would take longer then it takes to open Netflix and choose a movie. This also links to fragmentation because back then, to watch a movie the one place you would go, unless you had a DVD , was the cinema, but now the audience is fragmented in that others might choose to stay home and stream the movie which would affect the cinema. CD's and radio have also been overtaken in usage by apps on peoples phones such as Apple Music and Spotify, because of their appeal when the user has the chance to choose to listen to whatever they want to. When I was younger we had a CD Holder Binder in our car and you'd choose music from one of the CD's, but now we can plug in an AUX cord or bluetooth one of our phones to the speaker in the car. Even books have changed, people often use Kindle or reading apps to read books. Personally, I contrast with this audience trend because I prefer to read books on paper as opposed to on my phone or tablet.
Recently, there has been sort of a war between Hollywood movies and Netflix movies especially. Hollywood movies generally make more money in the box office (the box office is a movies commercial success- how much money people pay for the movie once they come out) because they get an official release in the cinema, whereas Netflix doesn't, however several Actors and Actresses and even directors and producers have made it quite clear that they don't think that Netflix movies and actors should be allowed to receive academy Awards or Oscars because of fears that if Netflix won an Oscar, it would encourage online streaming from home, which would have a massive effect on the movie going experience and would eventually lead to the disappearance of cinemas and loss of heaps of money in that sector. If in future, this where to happen, it could possibly be a repeat of what happened to DVD stores- there is not one DVD store that I know of in my whole city, there was three that were 5 minutes away from my house when I was about 7, but there isn't anymore, they were changed into a golf store, a party store and liquor store but there is a movie cinema a 2 minute drive from my house that used to be a parking lot when I was younger. So if Netflix and other streaming services like Hulu and Lightbox took over the market, the disappearance of DVDs could be repeated in Movie Theaters. This would seriously decrease a number of peoples social lives, as the movies is a friend based outing or a date night in general.
Disney, one of the Big 5 in media, and also one of the biggest conglommerates, would not be under threat if the attendance to movie theatres were to decrease as Disney has both media platforms saturated with their movies. They release several films yearly, not only kids and family movies, but they also own the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe which brings them billions of dollars yearly. With Disney+ there video streaming service, if theatres were to fade in usage, they would still receive billions of dollars from Disney+.
In regards to my media consumption, although I do watch movies at home on Netflix and stream shows, I still do go to the movies with my friends quite often. As I've gotten older, the amount of movies I've gone to at the cinema has increased as a social activity, and as it's gotten easier to watch shows, I've also done that more then using DVD's etc which shows hat mt media consumption has changed over time following the current audience trends for my age.
Stereotypically, older people, like grandparents, enjoy going to Arthouse cinemas to watch movies in comparison to younger people who just go to the normal cinema. This is because their main focus is too have a social experience as opposed to younger generations who are going to the movie to focus solely on the movie. At the Arthouse cinemas, independent films are shown, whereas at cinemas, Blockbusters are shown. Through personal experience with my Nanna, I realised when we take her to the cinemas to watch movies with us, for example we took her to 'Emma' and 'The Hustle', she will make comments and jokes, and laugh especially loud through the movie. This is because she would go to the cinema as a social experience, as opposed as to watch the movie and focus on what is happening. Typically this lightens the atmosphere in the cinema to the point where people aren't doing that thing where they try not to laugh, but they'll actually laugh and get more involved in the movie, which contrasts with the stereotypes of Arthouse cinemas being social and movie theaters being quieter.
Vertical Integration in media applies to Studios who own many of the phases in the process of making a movie, like a company who owns a production studio, an animation studio and an editing studio etc. An example of this is Disney, they are a conglomerate who who owns other companies that used to be conglomerates (they own Fox) and so there company doesn't need the help of other companies when they make movies, they can do it all under Disney studios. Film companies that are subsiduaries however, such as South Pacific Pictures in New Zealand, don't have their own editing or animation studios because they are not big enough to do so, so they use the use other studios, like they might use Weta Workshops for there special effects etc.
Over the recent years, technological convergence has made it possible to do whatever they might have needed to do on multiple devices possible to do on one device. Technology has morphed its functions so that it is able to do everything on one device. An iPhone can do whatever a mac can do. By using a phone, you can stream a movie, download music, edit a video, go on social media, have a calculator, go on notes, take a high quality photo, send an email- you can do whatever you need to do- sure computers can offer a bigger screen view, and may have a few more advantages, but all in all, an iPhone can make most of the same functions. For example, for this blog post I don't need to use a computer necessarily because my iPhone can access the internet and post it from there, and if i want to watch a movie I can stream from my phone onto the Apple TV to get it on the projector screen.
What people are consuming nowadays links to my earlier point on fragmentation. Because of the web 2.0, people are exchanging more content via apps like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram etc. What audiences are consuming has been fragmented because people can do what they want on these different sites, and what people watch and are being influenced into, for example ads for a new movie, can go way further because people are watching the famous actor on instagram, or a video of the press conference for that movie pops up on the suggested to watch page of their YouTube account. Because of the change in technology, the audience has been fragmented into many different platforms, and so Production Companies need to make sure they are covering all areas of media to get the most awareness and excitement for the upcoming movie. How media is marketed through saturation also is a big part of this. Disney is a company that has vertical and horizontal integration so covers most of the market. They can advertise for the new Thor movie by ads on Disney Channel, Disney+, the Fox channels they own, by paying for ads on TV and Cinemas and YouTube, and by getting Chris Hemsworth or Taika Waititi to post the ad and a message to the fans on thier Instagram accounts. The whole market will be saturated by this film so no one will miss seeing the trailer. This would contrast with other movies, particularly Indies as they wont get as much recognition, so they don't have as large an audience. The other question that is raised by this is are audiences influenced by Hollywood, or is Hollywood influenced by the audience- do they follow where the large audiences go and advertise there, or does the audience go to where Hollywood has placed the advertisements and watch it cos they know it's there? Personally, I think Hollywood follows the audience- they recognise where the largest numbers are, and would put more advertisements into that area of media because they know it wil have a larger impact on ticket sales etc.
I think it's fair to say that as technology has advanced, peoples (and my) expectations on the media and the way they consume it has also advanced to increased at home streaming, and more expectation for media companies to give the audience what they are already receiving, but in a way they can receive the same, but at home, on their couch.
Recently, there has been sort of a war between Hollywood movies and Netflix movies especially. Hollywood movies generally make more money in the box office (the box office is a movies commercial success- how much money people pay for the movie once they come out) because they get an official release in the cinema, whereas Netflix doesn't, however several Actors and Actresses and even directors and producers have made it quite clear that they don't think that Netflix movies and actors should be allowed to receive academy Awards or Oscars because of fears that if Netflix won an Oscar, it would encourage online streaming from home, which would have a massive effect on the movie going experience and would eventually lead to the disappearance of cinemas and loss of heaps of money in that sector. If in future, this where to happen, it could possibly be a repeat of what happened to DVD stores- there is not one DVD store that I know of in my whole city, there was three that were 5 minutes away from my house when I was about 7, but there isn't anymore, they were changed into a golf store, a party store and liquor store but there is a movie cinema a 2 minute drive from my house that used to be a parking lot when I was younger. So if Netflix and other streaming services like Hulu and Lightbox took over the market, the disappearance of DVDs could be repeated in Movie Theaters. This would seriously decrease a number of peoples social lives, as the movies is a friend based outing or a date night in general.
Disney, one of the Big 5 in media, and also one of the biggest conglommerates, would not be under threat if the attendance to movie theatres were to decrease as Disney has both media platforms saturated with their movies. They release several films yearly, not only kids and family movies, but they also own the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe which brings them billions of dollars yearly. With Disney+ there video streaming service, if theatres were to fade in usage, they would still receive billions of dollars from Disney+.
In regards to my media consumption, although I do watch movies at home on Netflix and stream shows, I still do go to the movies with my friends quite often. As I've gotten older, the amount of movies I've gone to at the cinema has increased as a social activity, and as it's gotten easier to watch shows, I've also done that more then using DVD's etc which shows hat mt media consumption has changed over time following the current audience trends for my age.
Stereotypically, older people, like grandparents, enjoy going to Arthouse cinemas to watch movies in comparison to younger people who just go to the normal cinema. This is because their main focus is too have a social experience as opposed to younger generations who are going to the movie to focus solely on the movie. At the Arthouse cinemas, independent films are shown, whereas at cinemas, Blockbusters are shown. Through personal experience with my Nanna, I realised when we take her to the cinemas to watch movies with us, for example we took her to 'Emma' and 'The Hustle', she will make comments and jokes, and laugh especially loud through the movie. This is because she would go to the cinema as a social experience, as opposed as to watch the movie and focus on what is happening. Typically this lightens the atmosphere in the cinema to the point where people aren't doing that thing where they try not to laugh, but they'll actually laugh and get more involved in the movie, which contrasts with the stereotypes of Arthouse cinemas being social and movie theaters being quieter.
Vertical Integration in media applies to Studios who own many of the phases in the process of making a movie, like a company who owns a production studio, an animation studio and an editing studio etc. An example of this is Disney, they are a conglomerate who who owns other companies that used to be conglomerates (they own Fox) and so there company doesn't need the help of other companies when they make movies, they can do it all under Disney studios. Film companies that are subsiduaries however, such as South Pacific Pictures in New Zealand, don't have their own editing or animation studios because they are not big enough to do so, so they use the use other studios, like they might use Weta Workshops for there special effects etc.
Over the recent years, technological convergence has made it possible to do whatever they might have needed to do on multiple devices possible to do on one device. Technology has morphed its functions so that it is able to do everything on one device. An iPhone can do whatever a mac can do. By using a phone, you can stream a movie, download music, edit a video, go on social media, have a calculator, go on notes, take a high quality photo, send an email- you can do whatever you need to do- sure computers can offer a bigger screen view, and may have a few more advantages, but all in all, an iPhone can make most of the same functions. For example, for this blog post I don't need to use a computer necessarily because my iPhone can access the internet and post it from there, and if i want to watch a movie I can stream from my phone onto the Apple TV to get it on the projector screen.
What people are consuming nowadays links to my earlier point on fragmentation. Because of the web 2.0, people are exchanging more content via apps like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram etc. What audiences are consuming has been fragmented because people can do what they want on these different sites, and what people watch and are being influenced into, for example ads for a new movie, can go way further because people are watching the famous actor on instagram, or a video of the press conference for that movie pops up on the suggested to watch page of their YouTube account. Because of the change in technology, the audience has been fragmented into many different platforms, and so Production Companies need to make sure they are covering all areas of media to get the most awareness and excitement for the upcoming movie. How media is marketed through saturation also is a big part of this. Disney is a company that has vertical and horizontal integration so covers most of the market. They can advertise for the new Thor movie by ads on Disney Channel, Disney+, the Fox channels they own, by paying for ads on TV and Cinemas and YouTube, and by getting Chris Hemsworth or Taika Waititi to post the ad and a message to the fans on thier Instagram accounts. The whole market will be saturated by this film so no one will miss seeing the trailer. This would contrast with other movies, particularly Indies as they wont get as much recognition, so they don't have as large an audience. The other question that is raised by this is are audiences influenced by Hollywood, or is Hollywood influenced by the audience- do they follow where the large audiences go and advertise there, or does the audience go to where Hollywood has placed the advertisements and watch it cos they know it's there? Personally, I think Hollywood follows the audience- they recognise where the largest numbers are, and would put more advertisements into that area of media because they know it wil have a larger impact on ticket sales etc.
I think it's fair to say that as technology has advanced, peoples (and my) expectations on the media and the way they consume it has also advanced to increased at home streaming, and more expectation for media companies to give the audience what they are already receiving, but in a way they can receive the same, but at home, on their couch.
Hi Luci
ReplyDeleteOverall Score - 35/50
Terminology: 7/10
Analysis/ Argument : 14/20
Examples and explanation: 14/20
- Great first attempt at an A & I's essay! I can see you really tried to include al the concepts and terminology from our class sessions, so well done on that.
- I think one thing we can work on is refining your ideas and making them link very clearly to the question throughout your essay. This will help your essay focus on ANSWERING the question, rather than writing paragraphs that vaguely tie into the main point. It just takes deliberate linking and focus in every paragraph's topic sentence and then in explanations.
- You have included a lot of great points! Here is where you need to include DETAILS!! Case study movies information/ stats/ numbers and data, even quotes! What movies did you research? What was their box office revenue? How many people watched it on opening weekend? What was their target audience and how did they reach them? How did audiences interact with the films (did they create fan pages - how many likes? ) What platforms are the films available on (Youtube trailer?? How many hits/ views? )
Overall a great start. I'll help you really sharpen up your argument so you get the best results next time. Definitely on your way to a real solid understanding of how to craft one of these essays, well done :)