Essay 4

“Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to national audiences”. To what extent do you agree with this statement?



It is a fact that bigger companies make more money then smaller film companies, this may not be the case in all films, but it is the majority. An example of this the films Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Ex Machina. One is a high budget film, the other is low.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens budget was $306 million, they were able to have a budget this high due to the fact that the production company was Lucasfilm. Lucasfilm is now owned by Disney which is a conglomerate company, this means that they own smaller businesses (Luacsfilm, Pixar, Marvel etc.). This means that it is a very large company and is also part of the big six. This gives them an advantage to dominate media production as they can create such big films. The Force Awakens was a large film as it had a $2.068 billion box office. An impact of that box office came from the marketing of the film, leading it to a bigger consumption. They spent a lot more than the average film. They created lots of merchandise and also had a soundtrack, they also collaborated with well known brands (HP, Subway etc.) to promote the film. This also helped them dominate.

Whereas, Ex Machinas budget was $15 million, so it was significantly smaller. This already signifies that it will not be as dominant as The Force Awakens. The film was produced by DNA Films and Film4, these are both British companies and DNA is one of the most successful companies in the UK. They have created some successful films such as: Love Actually and Never Let Me Go. And Film4 has created Slumdog Millionaire, This is England and Submarine. These are popular, but not worldwide like Star Wars. This means that it is more difficult for them to dominate. Ex Machina received a box office of $36.9 million, which means they doubled there budget, so did become successful. But they did not dominate. Ex Machina did not use marketing to their full potential, they created no merchandise. But, they pulled a publicity stunt on the popular app Tinder. This helped them reach a more national audience because that stunt only reached those who lived in the USA and attended the SXWS festival. Whereas Star Wars reached to a national audience by trying to use a range of new characters and actors. For Chinese audiences, they included a Chinese actor, which they had not previously done before. 

I personally believe that smaller companies can still make good, successful films, but they are not able to dominate and become as dominant as the bigger companies (i.e. The big six). And, they are much more able to appeal to national audiences as they have more money, so a higher budget. Also, big companies are able to exchange the film largely, due to the bigger audience that they have.