January 2010
1. What impact does the increase in global media have on media audiences?
2. To what extent are the media now more global than local or national?
June 2010
1. What impact does the increase in global media have on media production?
2. Discuss the positive and negative effects of globalisation of the media.
January 2011
1. What impact does the increase in global media have on local identity?
2. Discuss the idea that the media are becoming increasingly global.
June 2011
1. What is the impact of global media on people’s culture?
2. “The media have enabled us to live in a global village”. Discuss.
Showing posts with label Global Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Global Media. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Cut down AL Jazeera Information
Taken from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera
Al
Jazeera
Al Jazeera (Arabic: الجزيرة al-ǧazīrah IPA: [æl dʒæˈziːrɐ], literally "The Jazeera", abbreviating "The [Arabian] Peninsula"), also known as Aljazeera and JSC (Jazeera
Satellite Channel), is a broadcaster owned by the privately held Al
Jazeera Media Network and headquartered
in Doha, Qatar.[2] Initially launched as an Arabic news and current
affairs satellite TV
channel, Al Jazeera has since expanded into a network with several outlets,
including the Internet and specialty TV channels in multiple languages. Al Jazeera is
accessible in several world regions. Until 2011, Al Jazeera was owned by the
government of Qatar.[2]Before and after the change, it has claimed editorial independence from the government of Qatar, though this
has been disputed.[3]
The
original Al Jazeera channel's willingness to broadcast dissenting views, for
example oncall-in shows, created controversies in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. The station gained worldwide attention
following the outbreak of war in Afghanistan, when it was the only channel to cover the war live, from its
office there.[4]
In
the 2000s, the network was praised by the Index on Censorship for circumventing censorship and
contributing to the free exchange of information in the Arab world.
Al
Jazeera Satellite Channel was launched on 1 November 1996 following the closure
of the BBC's Arabic language television station, a joint venture
with Orbit
Communications Company,
owned by Saudi King Fahd's cousin, Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud. It had fallen apart after a year and a half when the Saudi government
attempted to kill a documentary on executions under sharia law.[7]
Al
Jazeera's first day on the air was 1 November 1996. It offered 6-hours of programming per day; this would increase to 12-hours by the end of 1997. It was broadcast to the immediate
neighborhood as a terrestrial signal, on cable, as well as through satellites
(which was also free to users in the Arab world).
Al
Jazeera was pitched as an impartial news source and platform for discussing
issues relating to the Arab world.
In
presenting "The opinion and the other opinion" (the station's motto),
it did not take long for Al Jazeera to shock local viewers by presenting Israelis speaking Hebrew on Arab TV for
the first time. Lively and far-ranging talk shows, particularly a popular,
confrontational one called The Opposite Direction, were a constant source of
controversy regarding issues of morality and religion. This prompted a torrent
of criticism from the conservative voices among the region's press. It also led
to official complaints and censures from neighboring governments. Some jammed
Al Jazeera's terrestrial broadcast or booted its correspondents. In 1999, the
Algerian government reportedly cut power to several major cities to censor one
broadcast. There were also commercial repercussions; Saudi Arabia reportedly pressured advertisers to avoid the channel, to
great effect. Al Jazeera was also becoming a favorite sounding board for
militant groups such as Hamas and Chechen separatists.
Al
Jazeera was the only international news network to have correspondents in Iraq
during the Operation Desert Fox bombing campaign in 1998. In a
precursor of a pattern to follow, its exclusive video clips were highly prized
by Western media.
Around the clock
1
January 1999 was Al Jazeera's first day of 24-hour broadcasting.[9] Employment had more than tripled in one year to 500
employees, and the agency had bureaus at a dozen sites as far as EU and Russia. Its annual budget was
estimated at about $25 million at the time.
However
controversial, Al Jazeera was rapidly becoming one of the most influential news
agencies in the region. Eager for news beyond the official versions of events,
Arabs became dedicated viewers. A 2000 estimate pegged nightly viewership at 35
million, ranking Al Jazeera first in the Arab world, over the Saudi Arabia-sponsored Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) and London's Arab News Network (ANN). There were about 70 satellite or
terrestrial channels being broadcast to the Middle East, most of them in Arabic. Al Jazeera launched a free Arabic language web site in January 2001. In addition, the
TV feed was soon available in United Kingdom for the first time via British
Sky Broadcasting.
War in Afghanistan
Al
Jazeera came to the attention of many in the West during the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan after theSeptember 11 attacks on the United States. It aired videos it
received from Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, deeming new footage of the
world's most wanted fugitives to be newsworthy. Some criticized the network for
giving a voice to terrorists.
2003 Iraq War
Before
and during the United States-led invasion of Iraq, where Al Jazeera had a
presence since 1997, the network's facilities and footage were again highly
sought by international networks. The channel and its web site also were seeing
unprecedented attention from viewers looking for alternatives to embedded
reporting and military press conferences.
Al
Jazeera moved its sports coverage to a new, separate channel in 1 November
2003, allowing for more news and public affairs programming on the original
channel. An English language web site had launched earlier in the year. The
channel had about 1,300 to 1,400 employees, its newsroom editor told The New York Times. There were 23 bureaus around the world and 70
foreign correspondents, with 450 journalists in all.
Afshin
Rattansi became the channel's first English-language broadcast journalist after
he left the BBC Today Programme, after the death of UK Government
Scientist, David
Kelly.
Al Jazeera English newsroom
The
new English language venture faced considerable regulatory and commercial
hurdles in the North America market for its perceived sympathy with extremist
causes. At the same time, others felt Al Jazeera's competitive advantage lay in
programming in the Arabic language. There were hundreds of millions of potential
viewers among the non-Arabic language speaking Muslims in Europe and Asia,
however, and many others who might be interested in seeing news from the Middle
East read by local voices.
Al Jazeera America
On
January 2, 2013, Al Jazeera Media Network announced that it purchased Current TV in the United States and would be launching an American news
channel. 60% of the channel's programming would be produced in America while
40% would be from Al Jazeera English.
Reach
Increasingly,
Al Jazeera's exclusive interviews and other footage are being rebroadcast in
American, British, and other western media outlets such as CNN and the BBC. In January 2003, the
BBC announced that it had signed an agreement with Al Jazeera for sharing
facilities and information, including news footage.[43]
Al
Jazeera introduced a level of freedom of speech on TV that was previously unheard of in
many of these countries. Al Jazeera presented controversial views regarding the
governments of many Arab states in the Persian Gulf area, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrainand Qatar; it also
presented controversial views about Syria's relationship
with Lebanon, and the Egyptian judiciary.
The result of Al Jazeera's market dominance is
that it has itself become a mover and shaker in Palestinian politics, helping
to craft public perceptions and influence the debate. This has obvious
implications for the peace process: how Al Jazeera covers the deliberations and
the outcome of any negotiated agreement with Israel will fundamentally shape
how it is viewed—and, more importantly, whether it is accepted—by the
Palestinian public.
Al
Jazeera's broad availability in the Arab world "operat[ing] with less
constraint than almost any other Arab outlet, and remain[ing] the most popular
channel in the region", has been perceived as playing a part in the Arab Spring, including the Tunisian and Egyptian
revolutions. The New York Times stated in January 2011: "The protests
rocking the Arab world this week have one thread uniting them: Al Jazeera,
[...] whose aggressive coverage has helped propel insurgent emotions from one
capital to the next".
Availability
The
original Al Jazeera channel is available worldwide through various satellite
and cable systems.[57]
In
contrast, in the United Kingdom, Al Jazeera English is available on the Sky and Freesat satellite platforms, as well as
the standard terrestrial service (branded Freeview), thus making it available to the
vast majority of UK households.
On the Web
Al
Jazeera's web-based service is accessible subscription-free throughout the
world. The station launched an English-language edition of its online content in March 2003. This
English language website was relaunched on 15 November 2006, along with the
launch of Al Jazeera English. The English and Arabic sections are
editorially distinct, with their own selection of news and comment. Al Jazeera
and Al Jazeera English are streamed live on the official site,[68][69] as well as on YouTube.[70][71] On 13 April 2009, Al Jazeera launched condensed versions of
its English and Arabic sites for mobile device users.
The
Arabic version of the site was brought offline for about 10 hours by an FBI raid on its
ISP, InfoCom Corporation,
on 5 September 2001. InfoCom was later convicted of exporting to Syria and Gaddafi-ruled Libya, of knowingly being invested in by a Hamas member (both of
which are illegal in the United States), and of underpaying customs duties.[72]
Creative Commons
On
13 January 2009, Al Jazeera released some of its broadcast quality footage from
Gaza under a Creative Commons license. Contrary to business "All Rights
Reserved" standards, the license invites third parties, including rival broadcasters,
to reuse and remix the footage, so long as Al Jazeera is credited. The videos
are hosted on blip.tv, which allows easy downloading and integration
withMiro.
Al
Jazeera also offers over 2,000 Creative Commons-licensed still photos at
their Flickr account.
Citizen journalism
Al
Jazeera accepts user-submitted photos and videos about news events through
a Your Media page, and this content may be featured on the
website or in broadcasts.[80]
Al
Jazeera used the Ushahidi platform to
collect information and reports about the Gaza War, through Twitter, SMS and the website.
United States
On
13 November 2001, during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, a U.S. missile strike destroyed Al Jazeera's office in Kabul. There were no
casualties.[96] According to Glenn Greenwald, Al Jazeera is "constantly demonized in
the American media."[97] When Al Jazeera reported events featuring very graphic
footage from inside Iraq, Al Jazeera was decried as anti-American and as
inciting violence because it reported on issues concerning national security.[98]
Egypt
During
the 2011 Egyptian protests, on 30 January, the Egyptian government ordered
the TV channel to close its offices. A day after, on 31 January, Egyptian
security forces arrested six Al Jazeera journalists for several hours and
seized their camera equipment. There were also reports of disruption in Al
Jazeera Mubasher's Broadcast to Egypt.
China
In
May 2012 Chinese authorities refused to renew Al Jazeera correspondent's press
credentials and visa, or allow a replacement journalist. Al Jazeera
consequently closed its bureau in Beijing.[116]
Editorial independence
Al
Jazeera claims that it is editorially independent,[122][123] though much of its funding comes from the Qatar government.
In 2010,United States Department of State internal communications, released by WikiLeaks as part of the 2010 diplomatic cables leak, claim that the Qatar government manipulates Al Jazeera coverage
to suit political interests.
Criticism
and controversy
While
Al Jazeera has a large audience in the Middle East, the organization and the
original Arabic channel in particular have taken criticism and been involved in
several controversies.
One
controversy founded on misinformation alleged that Al Jazeera showed videos of
masked fighters beheading western hostages in Iraq.[126] When this was reported in other media, Al Jazeera pressed
for retractions to be made.[127][dead
link] This allegation repeated on Fox News Channel on the launch day of Al Jazeera English on
15 November 2006.[128][dead
link]
Recognition by Secretary
Clinton
On
4 March 2011, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Al Jazeera provided more informative
news coverage than the opinion-driven coverage of American mass media.[139] Most American media outlets declined comment. Michael Clemente of Fox News called the comments "curious", while not directly
refuting them.
Secretary
Clinton's remarks contrast dramatically to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's complaints of bias early in the previous
decade.[140]
Competitors
·
In order to counter a
perceived bias of Al Jazeera, the U.S. government in 2004 founded Al Hurra ("the free one").
·
Since the launch
of Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera directly competes with BBC World and CNN International, as do a growing number of other international
broadcasters such as France 24, NHK World, and Russia Today.
·
The BBC launched BBC Arabic Television on 11 March 2008, an Arabic-language news
channel in North Africa and the Middle East.[147] This is the second time that the BBC has launched an Arabic
language TV channel; as mentioned above, the demise of the
original BBC World Service Arabic TV channel had at least contributed to the
founding of the original Al Jazeera Arabic TV channel.
·
When Euronews started broadcasting its
programs in Arabic on 12 July 2008, it entered into competition with Al
Jazeera. Arabic is the eighth language in which Euronews is broadcast, after
English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Example Paragraph taken from an A- essay (41/50)
Gilmor’s theory suggests the idea of ‘citizen journalism’. He argues that we see “the internet as a catalyst to challenge the big media powers, as ordinary people can post their news via blogs and other online communications’. Gilmor’s theory suggests that an increase in globalised media has positive effects on distribution and consumers can now become producers (web 2.0). A positive example of this would be the Syrian Arabic protests. Although news correspondents are unable to enter parts of Syria due to government restrictions, through an increased in globalised media with distribution, local suffering citizens were able to let the world know about their issues, an example being the internet video programme youtube user 25Bahman1389 posted mobile phone footage of Syrian Protests on youtube. Through this globalisation this account of citizen journalism was able to be posted around the world to highlight the problems. This suggests a positive impact of globalised media.
However, coming from an economically developed countries point of view and affluent society where internet access is readily available, it is far too easy to assume everyone has access to this. Leadbetter’s theory of 2008 supports this as he claims that “only 4% of the Arab nation has internet access’ so although globalised media can have positive effects on the distribution of media text, the less economically developed countries are unable to receive this distribution due to the inability to access the internet which suggests that globalised media is not as global as can be argued.
However, coming from an economically developed countries point of view and affluent society where internet access is readily available, it is far too easy to assume everyone has access to this. Leadbetter’s theory of 2008 supports this as he claims that “only 4% of the Arab nation has internet access’ so although globalised media can have positive effects on the distribution of media text, the less economically developed countries are unable to receive this distribution due to the inability to access the internet which suggests that globalised media is not as global as can be argued.
Discuss the positive and negative effects of globalisation of the media.
Discuss the positive and negative effects of globalisation of the media.
Globalisation of the media has become a major issues over the past twenty years, with technological advances – such as the rise of the internet as platform - making it possible to produce and consume media from all around the globe. However, this advance can be argued to have come at a price as this ‘global media’ could only be inclusive of first world countries having influence as a study of the BBC – who presents itself to be a global corporation would demonstrate.
McLuhan argues that society has become “increasingly mediated” and that we all now live in “global village”. In regards to our news provision, this is true. The BBC consider themselves to have global provision in that they employ more correspondents, reporters, and international bureaus than any other news channel. They also have approximately 51 million unique visits to their news website each week with a significant amount of this from other countries. This suggests a positive effect as the internet has enabled the BBC to bring their products to other countries.
However, it could be argued that the BBC has only responded to what Robertson calls the “compression of world and the intensification of the consciousness as a whole”. For example is it through our demand for world news – as we now have a far greater interest in international events – that the BBC has needed to provide it. For example the recent news stories on the Pope’s resignation were first reported within 15 minutes onto the BBC, which then provided 24 hour access to news through twitter feeds, video reporters and live access to the Vatican. This requirement for reporting is easily traceable back to the fact that Britain has significant number of Catholics and therefore would have a connection to the news and the BBC could provide this, which suggests a positive effect of Globalisation.
A particularly positive effect for corporations of global media is – as Plunkett argues – that many media producers are now “bypassing traditional gatekeepers” in response to the rise of the individual audience member. This means corporations like the BBC are needing to engage with their audience as a local level, however this is now happening across the globe. For example the BBC makes regular requests on its websites for audiences to contact them with their own experiences for example on a local level with the recent Stansted airport developments to across the world with the recent Brazilian night club fire where the BBC contacted a local blogger who could give them an eyewitness account, which suggests a more positive move towards a global media where everyone can take part.
However, as Leadbetter points out “only 4% of the Arab world has internet access”, which also highlights the issue of access to media in general. Despite the BBC’s claim that it is a global corporation – only 33% of the world can actually access the internet (and with filtering policies in countries like China and Iraq we can assume this percentage is even less) therefore which suggests a negative effect is actually a move towards a ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, for example, the BBC devoted far more screen time towards the Syrian uprisings, the success Psy’s Gangnam Style and the Pope’s Resignation rather than the estimated 500m that have been killed in the ongoing Darfuri conflict . Although this could be partly explained by Hacup’s news values deeming a long term conflict not newsworthy, it is also worth considering that much of Darfur does not have access to any form of media – therefore the avenue for consumption is not there, whereas the Syrian uprisings have been heavily influenced by social networking demonstrating the already existing audience for news provision companies like Al Jazeera and BBC to engage with and take advantage of.
This then also raises the issue of the devolution of culture, particularly in the provision of the phenomenon of “global tv” and the rise Hybrid Programming –especially within the BBC. Currently the BBC markets many of programmes and programme concepts to countries worldwide, for example its most successful programme -‘Strictly Come Dancing’ marketed as ‘Dancing with the Stars’ (in various languages) – is the most successfully marketed programme around the world. The concept is the same, the narrative structure of the series is the same and very often the mise-en-scene and sound is strikingly similar. Although it could be argued that as the show is such a generic format, easily identifiable in any language with the standard trope of the ‘competition’, that it global success would come naturally, however it just as easily be argued that it is only due to the BBC’s money and influence that shows like this can be shown and – ultimately – this will lead to a rapid decline in local programming from local cultures and the imposition of the BBC’s own ideologies over cultures – the classic Hegemony. Or, Irvine argues, that we are “putting all our cultural eggs in one basket”.
However, a counter-argument to this is Moores theory that we have not lost our interest in “localization”. This is true for the BBC’s provision of media as very few of its programmes actually travel as a complete product: only Doctor Who is a well-known brand that is only subtitles and dubbed into different languages, not other changes are made, possibly due to its science fiction non-culture specific routes. Most of the BBC’s “global” programmes are sold as formats only, allowed local culture changes to take place. For example, the programme “What not to Wear” was recently launched in India but with less of a focus on up to date fashion and criticism and more about “building Indian’s women’s confidence and style”, with the addition inclusion of very well-known Bollywood stylists and actresses as presenters to create a more “Indian” appeal. This suggests more of a “glocalisation” effect, as Waters argues that our ideas are instantly “pluralized”. He also argues that that we can “virtually visit” areas instead and evidence for this is substantially positive with the BBC as not only can we consume the “original” UK version of programmes but we can also see others countries – primarily America – versions which can provide cultural comparison. Also, the BBC are bringing in more global programming with great success such as Wallander and The Killing which indicates a positive effect of global media as demand is rising for non home-grown programmes. This suggests that a positive effect of Global Media is actually the rise in the power of the audience.
Within this new world of global provision, Gilmor argues that we now have the rise of the “citizen journalist” that bypasses the “big media” control and uses the tools of technology and convergence to produce their own news and opinions, some of which become powerful in their own right, for example the social networkers in the Arab Spring orchestrating a revolution. Judging by the move of AL Jazeera and BBC News to engages in social media websites like facebook pages and Al Jazeera had a twitter database to monitor patterns within the Arab countries, this indicates a more positive force from the audience towards have a say in their own media. In television too, audiences are beginning of use their diversity of choice to search out media that is out of their own country’s production and format, which then forces companies such as the BBC to provide each-more-global online provision and VOD programming to seek to avoid the even more evitable rise of piracy online.
Global Media can be argued to have had a generally positive affect of both audiences and producers in that both are being forced to diversify, without seeming to lose their cultural identity and current trends dictate that this pattern will keep on rising. However, with the media becoming utilized by the audience to provoke political and social change and the rising move of governments towards filtering and monitoring, it has to be argued that ultimately Global media could lead people to – what Bauman argues is “a crueler fate.”
However, it could be argued that the BBC has only responded to what Robertson calls the “compression of world and the intensification of the consciousness as a whole”. For example is it through our demand for world news – as we now have a far greater interest in international events – that the BBC has needed to provide it. For example the recent news stories on the Pope’s resignation were first reported within 15 minutes onto the BBC, which then provided 24 hour access to news through twitter feeds, video reporters and live access to the Vatican. This requirement for reporting is easily traceable back to the fact that Britain has significant number of Catholics and therefore would have a connection to the news and the BBC could provide this, which suggests a positive effect of Globalisation.
A particularly positive effect for corporations of global media is – as Plunkett argues – that many media producers are now “bypassing traditional gatekeepers” in response to the rise of the individual audience member. This means corporations like the BBC are needing to engage with their audience as a local level, however this is now happening across the globe. For example the BBC makes regular requests on its websites for audiences to contact them with their own experiences for example on a local level with the recent Stansted airport developments to across the world with the recent Brazilian night club fire where the BBC contacted a local blogger who could give them an eyewitness account, which suggests a more positive move towards a global media where everyone can take part.
However, as Leadbetter points out “only 4% of the Arab world has internet access”, which also highlights the issue of access to media in general. Despite the BBC’s claim that it is a global corporation – only 33% of the world can actually access the internet (and with filtering policies in countries like China and Iraq we can assume this percentage is even less) therefore which suggests a negative effect is actually a move towards a ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, for example, the BBC devoted far more screen time towards the Syrian uprisings, the success Psy’s Gangnam Style and the Pope’s Resignation rather than the estimated 500m that have been killed in the ongoing Darfuri conflict . Although this could be partly explained by Hacup’s news values deeming a long term conflict not newsworthy, it is also worth considering that much of Darfur does not have access to any form of media – therefore the avenue for consumption is not there, whereas the Syrian uprisings have been heavily influenced by social networking demonstrating the already existing audience for news provision companies like Al Jazeera and BBC to engage with and take advantage of.
This then also raises the issue of the devolution of culture, particularly in the provision of the phenomenon of “global tv” and the rise Hybrid Programming –especially within the BBC. Currently the BBC markets many of programmes and programme concepts to countries worldwide, for example its most successful programme -‘Strictly Come Dancing’ marketed as ‘Dancing with the Stars’ (in various languages) – is the most successfully marketed programme around the world. The concept is the same, the narrative structure of the series is the same and very often the mise-en-scene and sound is strikingly similar. Although it could be argued that as the show is such a generic format, easily identifiable in any language with the standard trope of the ‘competition’, that it global success would come naturally, however it just as easily be argued that it is only due to the BBC’s money and influence that shows like this can be shown and – ultimately – this will lead to a rapid decline in local programming from local cultures and the imposition of the BBC’s own ideologies over cultures – the classic Hegemony. Or, Irvine argues, that we are “putting all our cultural eggs in one basket”.
However, a counter-argument to this is Moores theory that we have not lost our interest in “localization”. This is true for the BBC’s provision of media as very few of its programmes actually travel as a complete product: only Doctor Who is a well-known brand that is only subtitles and dubbed into different languages, not other changes are made, possibly due to its science fiction non-culture specific routes. Most of the BBC’s “global” programmes are sold as formats only, allowed local culture changes to take place. For example, the programme “What not to Wear” was recently launched in India but with less of a focus on up to date fashion and criticism and more about “building Indian’s women’s confidence and style”, with the addition inclusion of very well-known Bollywood stylists and actresses as presenters to create a more “Indian” appeal. This suggests more of a “glocalisation” effect, as Waters argues that our ideas are instantly “pluralized”. He also argues that that we can “virtually visit” areas instead and evidence for this is substantially positive with the BBC as not only can we consume the “original” UK version of programmes but we can also see others countries – primarily America – versions which can provide cultural comparison. Also, the BBC are bringing in more global programming with great success such as Wallander and The Killing which indicates a positive effect of global media as demand is rising for non home-grown programmes. This suggests that a positive effect of Global Media is actually the rise in the power of the audience.
Within this new world of global provision, Gilmor argues that we now have the rise of the “citizen journalist” that bypasses the “big media” control and uses the tools of technology and convergence to produce their own news and opinions, some of which become powerful in their own right, for example the social networkers in the Arab Spring orchestrating a revolution. Judging by the move of AL Jazeera and BBC News to engages in social media websites like facebook pages and Al Jazeera had a twitter database to monitor patterns within the Arab countries, this indicates a more positive force from the audience towards have a say in their own media. In television too, audiences are beginning of use their diversity of choice to search out media that is out of their own country’s production and format, which then forces companies such as the BBC to provide each-more-global online provision and VOD programming to seek to avoid the even more evitable rise of piracy online.
Global Media can be argued to have had a generally positive affect of both audiences and producers in that both are being forced to diversify, without seeming to lose their cultural identity and current trends dictate that this pattern will keep on rising. However, with the media becoming utilized by the audience to provoke political and social change and the rising move of governments towards filtering and monitoring, it has to be argued that ultimately Global media could lead people to – what Bauman argues is “a crueler fate.”
Friday, 1 June 2012
Student Answers
Below are three pdf files that have three students answers from last year - they are complete answers with 1a, 1b and Global Media
One is an A grade (due to boundaries the mark of 77 was changed to 88)
The other two are B grades (these also had 9 marks added to their grades for boundaries)
http://www.mediafire.com/?dqzrla8619b4x59
http://www.mediafire.com/?kcn08448ij44f64
http://www.mediafire.com/?6st8yjmgvf033qk
All three links are to my mediafire account and the downloads are safe to use :)
One is an A grade (due to boundaries the mark of 77 was changed to 88)
The other two are B grades (these also had 9 marks added to their grades for boundaries)
http://www.mediafire.com/?dqzrla8619b4x59
http://www.mediafire.com/?kcn08448ij44f64
http://www.mediafire.com/?6st8yjmgvf033qk
All three links are to my mediafire account and the downloads are safe to use :)
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Global Media Case Study
Global Film Industry news - the rise of Nollywood (Nigerian cinema)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30707
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Nigeria
Global Film?
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/category/global-film-industry/
Global Film Industry - de-Hollywoodisation
http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=2059
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30707
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Nigeria
Global Film?
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/category/global-film-industry/
Global Film Industry - de-Hollywoodisation
http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=2059
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Extracts from Nielsen's Global Media Report
Discussing the trajectory of the online medium in the midst of an historic economic downturn is a perilous business. Assaulted every day with downward-facing red arrows, many of the indicators concerning all things digital veer to the negative:
• Online media’s “favorite child status” (i.e. a long track record of outstripping the growth of every other medium by a wide margin) appears to have diminished over the last few months
• Online advertising by the Financial Services, Retail and Auto industries has shrunk at a dizzying pace over the last six months
• Online display advertising’s share of revenue has plateaued at 20% of total online ad spend in the U.S., and no panacea appears to be on the horizon
• Despite online video’s persistent positive buzz, actual usage is averaging around six minutes per day in the U.S.
• The social media trend is today’s industry darling, but a monetization formula continues to elude the globe’s brightest marketers
But even the most cynical observer has to be swayed by positive developments that define the longer-term opportunities for the online medium and the e-commerce channel:
• Around the globe the online population is looking more and more like the overall population meaning that in a few short years, online access has moved from being a luxury or something cool to an essential, basic requirement
• Packaged goods manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and telecommunications firms, three of the largest historical spenders on traditional media, are moving online at a pace we haven’t seen before, even as the recession continues to deepen
• The audience growth and engagement quotient of online video is forcing marketers to positively re-assess the value of the online experience
• Adoption of social networking capabilities, by both consumers AND corporations, has crossed the chasm in what appears to be the blink of an eye. In the age of Twitter, feedback barriers have all but disappeared, creating a near friction-free environment for playing back brand experience, campaign reactions or brand events.
• Search continues to be an indispensible tool for all online denizens and opportunities for additional growth continue to emerge. Search across social media networks is the likely next opportunity for search engines
• Access to social networking sites via mobile devices almost tripled during 2008, largely due to rising smartphone penetration and improved network speeds. Increasingly consumers are turning to their phones for a wide range of online content
A Quick Look at Global Usage and Demographics
Exhibit 1 shows a variety of country stats regarding online usage. Americans spend the most time online during the month (a bit more than 2 hours per day), with users in France, Japan and the UK not far behind.
Age-by-Country Demographics
While the demographic-profi le differences of users around the globe aren’t that pronounced, there are some interesting observations (Exhibit 2).
The U.S. online population skews more to the age 50+ than the other countries listed, with the U.K. and Switzerland tied for second and Australia third. Brazil is more skewed to the youth (2-17) demographic, and China (CN in the chart in Exhibit 2) by a signifi cant margin to the 18-34 segment.
Video and Social Media Lead The Way
It is rare to see segments signifi cantly grow from BOTH an audience and an engagement standpoint, but we are seeing exceptional growth over the last couple of years in both video
and social media sites.
While Member Communities have been garnering impressive audience numbers for the last fi ve years, video audiences have been growing at meteoric rates, surpassing e-mail audiences in November 2007 (Exhibit 5). And from a time spent perspective, Member Communities surpassed e-mail for the fi rst time in February 2009. Video has been running neck and neck with search for the last year or so (Exhibit 6).
Cross Media Perspectives
The story within the story of the emerging market for online video is in understanding the interplay between viewing video online and TV viewership. As recent studies show that the amount of time that consumers spend watching TV continues to grow (now 5.5 hours per day), how likely is it for online viewership to take audience away from TV? And how can we compare and contrast the user experience when viewing content on TV vs. online video?
Recent Nielsen TV and Online fusion studies, compares a day of primetime network television audience for each of the major broadcasters with video usage to the Web sites of each of the broadcasters. Based on this analysis, as well as other fusion studies, a few points around cross-media video usage become clear. First, the duplication levels for TV programs and their corresponding online video streams tend to be relatively low, with internet adding approximately 2% additional reach in a given month. Also, there is no evidence that the Internet is cannibalizing TV use. In fact, Nielsen studies have shown that high consumers of TV are also high consumers of the Internet: high-intensity media consumers are high intensity media consumers regardless of media type.
Engagement
Regarding engagement, Nielsen IAG data indicate that the advertising impact of the Internet can add 15 points of lift above TV in terms of brand recall and 18 points of lift in mesage recall. So, not only is the Internet adding incremental reach to a TV media buy, but it is also creating significant additional effectiveness (Exhibit 13).
1. Consumers are looking for deals in a tough economy,
whether they intend to make the purchase online or offl ine
2. With declines in newspaper circulation, a key channel for distribution of printed coupons and advertising, manufacturers and retailers are looking for new ways to move product volume
(Exhibit 31).
The Whole Thing
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/nielsen-online-global-lanscapefinal1.pdf
• Online media’s “favorite child status” (i.e. a long track record of outstripping the growth of every other medium by a wide margin) appears to have diminished over the last few months
• Online advertising by the Financial Services, Retail and Auto industries has shrunk at a dizzying pace over the last six months
• Online display advertising’s share of revenue has plateaued at 20% of total online ad spend in the U.S., and no panacea appears to be on the horizon
• Despite online video’s persistent positive buzz, actual usage is averaging around six minutes per day in the U.S.
• The social media trend is today’s industry darling, but a monetization formula continues to elude the globe’s brightest marketers
But even the most cynical observer has to be swayed by positive developments that define the longer-term opportunities for the online medium and the e-commerce channel:
• Around the globe the online population is looking more and more like the overall population meaning that in a few short years, online access has moved from being a luxury or something cool to an essential, basic requirement
• Packaged goods manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and telecommunications firms, three of the largest historical spenders on traditional media, are moving online at a pace we haven’t seen before, even as the recession continues to deepen
• The audience growth and engagement quotient of online video is forcing marketers to positively re-assess the value of the online experience
• Adoption of social networking capabilities, by both consumers AND corporations, has crossed the chasm in what appears to be the blink of an eye. In the age of Twitter, feedback barriers have all but disappeared, creating a near friction-free environment for playing back brand experience, campaign reactions or brand events.
• Search continues to be an indispensible tool for all online denizens and opportunities for additional growth continue to emerge. Search across social media networks is the likely next opportunity for search engines
• Access to social networking sites via mobile devices almost tripled during 2008, largely due to rising smartphone penetration and improved network speeds. Increasingly consumers are turning to their phones for a wide range of online content
A Quick Look at Global Usage and Demographics
Exhibit 1 shows a variety of country stats regarding online usage. Americans spend the most time online during the month (a bit more than 2 hours per day), with users in France, Japan and the UK not far behind.
Age-by-Country Demographics
While the demographic-profi le differences of users around the globe aren’t that pronounced, there are some interesting observations (Exhibit 2).
The U.S. online population skews more to the age 50+ than the other countries listed, with the U.K. and Switzerland tied for second and Australia third. Brazil is more skewed to the youth (2-17) demographic, and China (CN in the chart in Exhibit 2) by a signifi cant margin to the 18-34 segment.
Video and Social Media Lead The Way
It is rare to see segments signifi cantly grow from BOTH an audience and an engagement standpoint, but we are seeing exceptional growth over the last couple of years in both video
and social media sites.
While Member Communities have been garnering impressive audience numbers for the last fi ve years, video audiences have been growing at meteoric rates, surpassing e-mail audiences in November 2007 (Exhibit 5). And from a time spent perspective, Member Communities surpassed e-mail for the fi rst time in February 2009. Video has been running neck and neck with search for the last year or so (Exhibit 6).
Cross Media Perspectives
The story within the story of the emerging market for online video is in understanding the interplay between viewing video online and TV viewership. As recent studies show that the amount of time that consumers spend watching TV continues to grow (now 5.5 hours per day), how likely is it for online viewership to take audience away from TV? And how can we compare and contrast the user experience when viewing content on TV vs. online video?
Recent Nielsen TV and Online fusion studies, compares a day of primetime network television audience for each of the major broadcasters with video usage to the Web sites of each of the broadcasters. Based on this analysis, as well as other fusion studies, a few points around cross-media video usage become clear. First, the duplication levels for TV programs and their corresponding online video streams tend to be relatively low, with internet adding approximately 2% additional reach in a given month. Also, there is no evidence that the Internet is cannibalizing TV use. In fact, Nielsen studies have shown that high consumers of TV are also high consumers of the Internet: high-intensity media consumers are high intensity media consumers regardless of media type.
Engagement
Regarding engagement, Nielsen IAG data indicate that the advertising impact of the Internet can add 15 points of lift above TV in terms of brand recall and 18 points of lift in mesage recall. So, not only is the Internet adding incremental reach to a TV media buy, but it is also creating significant additional effectiveness (Exhibit 13).
1. Consumers are looking for deals in a tough economy,
whether they intend to make the purchase online or offl ine
2. With declines in newspaper circulation, a key channel for distribution of printed coupons and advertising, manufacturers and retailers are looking for new ways to move product volume
(Exhibit 31).
The Whole Thing
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/nielsen-online-global-lanscapefinal1.pdf
Slumdog Millionaire and Hindi Cinema
Global Media
• What makes something a 'global media text'?
• Is'global' different to international, multinational, transnational etc.?
Global Media
• Does hegemonic status (one dominant power) mean Hollywood films are automatically global?
• Equally, are foreign language media 'global' when read in the UK?
• 'Global' implies similar use in a variety of diverse media markets.
• Does it also imply no 'national' ownership?
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, including:
• Mumbai
• Andhra Pradesh
• Assam
• Karnataka
• Kerala
• Punjab
• Tamil Nadu
• West Bengal
Indian films also came to be followed throughout South Asia and the Middle East (modest dress and subdued sexuality of these films was found to be acceptable to the sensibilities of the audience belonging to these regions)
Indian Cinema Overview
• India is the world's largest producer of films, producing close to a thousand films annually.
• About 600 of the total films produced are in Telugu and Hindi, approximately 300 each, while the remaining are in other languages.
• However, Hindi films account for about half of the total revenue generated by cinema in India.
• The provision of 100% foreign direct investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros.
• Prominent Indian enterprises such as Zee, UTV and Adlabs also participate in producing and distributing films.
• Tax incentives to multiplexes have aided the multiplex boom in India. By 2003 as many as 30 film production companies had been listed in the National Stock Exchange of India, making the commercial presence of the medium felt although many Indian films are bankrolled through mysterious means.
• The Indian diaspora (people relocating to other countries) constitutes of millions of Indians overseas for which films are made available both through mediums such as DVDs and by screening of films in their country of residence wherever commercially feasible. These earnings, accounting for some 12% of the revenue generated by a mainstream film, contribute substantially to the overall revenue of Indian cinema, the net worth of which was found to be 1.3 billion US Dollars in 2000.
• Facilities for film production in the country include Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad, the home of Telugu film industry, the largest film studio complex in the world
• Music in Indian cinema is another substantial revenue generator, with the music rights alone accounting for 4-5% of the net revenues generated by a film in India.
Indian Film Categories
• Bollywood – the mainstream Hindi films "formulaic story lines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song-and-dance routines, emotion-charged melodrama, and larger-than-life heroes.“
• 'Parallel Cinema' movement, prominent in Bengali cinema, Kannada cinema, Malayalam cinema, Tamil cinema and other regional industries, known for its serious content, realism and naturalism.
Presentation Content
• Overview
• History
• Conventions
• Move/lack of movement towards Global
• Influences
• Distribution
Bollywood
• The Hindi language film industry of Mumbai (formerly Bombay)—also known as Bollywood—is the largest and most popular branch of Indian cinema.
• The term "Bollywood" has origins in the 1970s, when India overtook America as the world's largest film producer.
• The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience and has resisted making films that target narrow audiences. It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would maximise box office receipts. However, filmmakers may be moving towards accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians, and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences.
History
• Following India's independence, the period from the late 1940s to the 1960s are regarded by film historians as the "Golden Age" of Hindi cinema. While commercial Hindi cinema was thriving, the 1950s also saw the emergence of a new Parallel Cinema in Hindi films
• Hindi films also become prominent in Cannes and with the Indian Diaspora, more international critical acclaim was given to Hindi films. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, romance movies and action films emerged followed by gritty, violent films about gangsters.
• Some Hindi filmmakers such as Shyam Benegal continued to produce realistic Parallel Cinema throughout the 1970s. However, the 'art film' came under criticism for not doing enough to encourage commercial cinema.
• Another important film from 1975 was Deewar, directed by Yash Chopra and written by Salim-Javed. A crime film pitting "a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan", portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan, it was described as being “absolutely key to Indian cinema” by Danny Boyle.
History Continued
• The most internationally-acclaimed Hindi film of the 1980s was Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! (1988).
• During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the pendulum swung back toward family-centric romantic musicals.
• Furthermore, this decade marked the entry of new performers in arthouse and independent films, some of which succeeded commercially, the most influential example being Satya (1998) . The critical and commercial success of Satya led to the emergence of a distinct genre known as Mumbai Noir urban films reflecting social problems in the city of Mumbai. This led to a resurgence of Parallel Cinema by the end of the decade.
• The 2000s saw a growth in Bollywood's popularity in the world. This led the nation's filmmaking to new heights in terms of quality, cinematography and innovative story lines as well as technical advances in areas such as special effects, animation, etc.
• The opening up of the overseas market, more Bollywood releases abroad and the explosion of multiplexes in big cities, led to wider box office successes in India and abroad
Bollywood Finances and Marketing
• In 1995 the Indian economy began showing sustainable annual growth, and Bollywood, as a commercial enterprise, grew at a growth rate of 15% annually – generating CD sales, magazines.
• With growth in commercial appeal the earnings of known Bollywood stars such as Shahrukh Khan reached 30 million rupees per film by the year 2000.
• Female stars such as Madhuri Dixit, too, earned as much as 12.5 million rupees for a film.
• Many actors signed contracts for simultaneous work in 3-4 films.
• Institutions such as the Industrial Development Bank of India also came forward to finance Bollywood films. A number of magazines such as Filmfare,Stardust, Cineblitz etc. became popular.
Bollywood
• Bollywood is more properly referred to as Hindi cinema, though frequent use of poetic Urdu words is fairly common.
• There has been a growing presence of Indian English in dialogue and songs as well.
• It is not uncommon to see films that feature dialogue with English words and phrases, or even whole sentences.
Technical Details
– Songs from Bollywood movies are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip synching the words to the song on-screen, often while dancing.
– Usually sound in Bollywood films is rarely recorded on location. Therefore, the sound is usually created (or recreated) entirely in the studio – although this is changing.
– Dialogues are usually written in an unadorned Hindi or Hindustani that would be understood by the largest possible audience.
– Some movies, however, have used regional dialects to evoke a village setting, or old-fashioned courtly Urdu historical films.
– Contemporary mainstream movies also make great use of English. In fact, many movie scripts are first written in English, and then translated into Hindi.
– Characters may shift from one language to the other to express a certain atmosphere (for example, English in a business setting and Hindi in an informal one).
– Cinematic language, whether in dialogues or lyrics, is often melodramatic and invokes God, family, mother, duty, and self-sacrifice liberally.
Influences
• Musicals –
– Moulin Rouge – Baz Luhrmann’s Bollywood-inlufenced movie fuelled a musical Renaissance
• A. R. Rahman, an Indian film composer, wrote the music for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams, and a musical version of Hum Aapke Hain Koun has played in London's West End.
• The Bollywood musical Lagaan (2001) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which has won four Golden Globes and eight Academy Awards, was also directly inspired by Bollywood films, and is considered to be a "homage to Hindi commercial cinema".
• Several other Hollywood films are also believed to have been inspired by Bollywood films. For example, V. Shantaram’s Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957) is believed to have inspired the Hollywood film The Dirty Dozen (1967).
• The theme of reincarnation was also popularized in Western popular culture through Bollywood films
• The 1975 film Chhoti Si Baat is believed to have inspired Hitch (2005), which in turn inspired the Bollywood film Partner (2007).
• The influence of Bollywood filmi music can also be seen in popular music elsewhere in the world.
– The Black Eyed Peas' Grammy Award winning 2005 song "Don't Phunk with My Heart" was inspired by two 1970s Bollywood songs: "Ye Mera Dil Yaar Ka Diwana" from Don (1978) and "Ae Nujawan Hai Sub" from Apradh (1972).
– Also in 2005, the Kronos Quartet re-recorded several R. D. Burman compositions, with Asha Bhosle as the singer, into an album You've stolen my heart - Songs From R D Burman's Bollywood, which was nominated for "Best Contemporary World Music Album" at the 2006 Grammy Awards.
– A.R. Rahman’s Jai Ho song from the end of Slumdog Millionaire was remixed by the Pussycat Dolls into English.
– Filmi music composed by A. R. Rahman has frequently been sampled by musicians elsewhere.
Commercial Conventions
• Bollywood films are mostly musicals, and are expected to contain catchy music in the form of song-and-dance numbers woven into the script.
• A film's success often depends on the quality of such musical numbers and the music is often released beforehand.
• Indian audiences expect full value for their money, with a good entertainer generally referred to as paisa vasool, (literally, "money's worth").
• Songs and dances, love triangles, comedy and dare-devil thrills are all mixed up in a three-hour-long extravaganza with an intermission. Such movies are called masala films. These movies are a mixture of many things such as action, comedy, romance etc.
• Most films have heroes who are able to fight off villains all by themselves.
• Melodrama and romance are common ingredients to Bollywood films.
• There are also formulaic features such as : star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, family ties, sacrifice, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences.
Other Conventions
• Bollywood conventions are changing.
• A large Indian diaspora in English speaking countries, and increased Western influence at home, have nudged Bollywood films closer to Hollywood models
• Or including topics such as Indians living elsewhere (e.g. Britain).
• Film critic Lata Khubchandani writes,"..our earliest films...had liberal doses of sex and kissing scenes in them. Strangely, it was after Independence the censor board came into being and so did all the strictures."
• Plots now tend to feature Westernised urbanites dating and dancing in clubs rather than centering on pre-arranged marriages.
• Though these changes can widely be seen in contemporary Bollywood, traditional conservative ways of Indian culture continue to exist in India outside the industry and an element of resistance by some to western-based influences.
• Despite this, Bollywood continues to play a major role in fashion in India.
Conventions and Global
• Bollywood initially explored issues of caste and culture in films such as Achhut Kanya (1936) and Sujata (1959).
• Bollywood grew during the 1990s with the release of as many as 215 films in 1991.
• With Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Bollywood registered its commercial presence in the Western world – dubbed into Punjabi and English
– A romantic anecdote of second-generation Indians living in Britain who are strongly attached to the traditional values of Indian culture. The frolicking of the lovers in Europe is followed by Raj's struggle to win over the hearts of every member of Simran's family so that they allow him to marry her – was extremely successful in Britain
Overview
• The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience and has resisted making films that target narrow audiences.
• It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would maximise box office receipts.
• However, filmmakers may be moving towards accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians, and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences.
History of Indian Film
Current Indian Film
• In the 21st century, Indian cinema became a global enterprise.
• Enhanced technology upgraded established cinematic norms of delivering product, radically altering the manner in which content reached the target audience.
• Indian cinema has markets in over 90 countries where films from India are screened.
• The country also participates in international film festivals.
• Indian filmmakers such as Shekhar Kapur, Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding), Deepa Mehta etc. found success overseas.
• The Indian government extended film delegations to foreign countries such as the United States of America and Japan while the country's Film Producers Guild sent similar missions through Europe.
Spread of Indian Film
• As cinema as a medium gained popularity in the country as many as 1,000 films in various languages of India were produced annually.
• Expatriates in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States continued to give rise to international audiences for Hindi-language films
• continued to carry "formulaic story lines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song-and-dance routines, emotion-charged melodrama, and larger-than-life heroes.“
• This is contrasted by the 'Parallel Cinema' movement, prominent in Bengali cinema, Kannada cinema, Malayalam cinema, Tamil cinema and other regional industries, known for its serious content, realism and naturalism.
Global India
• Indians during the colonial rule bought film equipment from Europe. The British funded wartime propaganda films during the second world war, some of which showed the Indian army pitted against the axis powers, specifically the Empire of Japan, which had managed to infiltrate into India.
• Indian cinema's early contacts with other regions became visible with its films making early inroads into Russia, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and China. Mainstream Hindi film stars like Raj Kapoor gained international fame across Asia and Eastern Europe.
• Indian films also appeared in international fora and film festivals. This allowed 'Parallel' Bengali filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray to achieve worldwide fame, with his films gaining success among European, American and Asian audiences. Ray's work subsequently had a worldwide impact, with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, James Ivory, Abbas Kiarostami, Elia Kazan, François Truffaut, Steven Spielberg, Carlos Saura, Jean-Luc Godard, Isao Takahata, Gregory Nava, Ira Sachs and Wes Anderson being influenced by his cinematic style
• Many Asian and 'Third World' countries increasingly came to find Indian cinema as more suited to their sensibilities than Western cinema. Jigna Desai holds that by the 21st century Indian cinema had managed to become 'deterritorialized', spreading over to the many parts of the world where Indian diaspora was present in significant numbers, and becoming an alternative to other international cinema.
• Indian cinema has more recently begun influencing Western musical films, and played a particularly instrumental role in the revival of the genre in the Western world.
Slumdog Millionaire Videos
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzbwV7on6Q – US Trailer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0DKHKVWwkg – UK Trailer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jph31ziJ_Lw – Spanish Trailer
• http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/trailer/10776.html - Indian Trailer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV-kBufZgug&feature=related
• http://www.revver.com/video/1299138/slumdog-millionaire-all-access-interview-desihitscom/ - Interviews
Independent Film Key Players
• Pathé – Involved with cinema production, distribution, the international management of a catalogue of more than 500 films, running cinemas (EuroPalaces network which federates the Pathé theatres and Gaumont)
• Film4 – Film company run by Channel Four
• Fox Searchlight - is a film division of 20th Century Fox, established in 1994. It specialises in indie and British films, alongside dramedy and horror, and is variously involved with the production and/or distribution of these films.
Hollywood Movies
Blockbusters
• Blockbusters emphasize spectacle, star power, and high production value, all of which entail an enormous budget. Blockbusters typically rely upon star power and massive advertising to attract a huge audience. A successful blockbuster will attract an audience large enough to offset production costs and reap considerable profits. Such productions carry a substantial risk of failure, and most studios release blockbusters that both over- and underperform in a year.
Independent film
• Studios supplement these movies with independent productions, made with small budgets and often independently of the studio corporation. Movies made in this manner typically emphasize high professional quality in terms of acting, directing, screenwriting, and other elements associated with production, and also upon creativity and innovation. These movies usually rely upon critical praise or niche marketing to garner an audience. Because of an independent film's low budgets, a successful independent film can have a high profit-to-cost ratio, while a failure will incur minimal losses, allowing for studios to sponsor dozens of such productions in addition to their high-stakes releases.
• What makes something a 'global media text'?
• Is'global' different to international, multinational, transnational etc.?
Global Media
• Does hegemonic status (one dominant power) mean Hollywood films are automatically global?
• Equally, are foreign language media 'global' when read in the UK?
• 'Global' implies similar use in a variety of diverse media markets.
• Does it also imply no 'national' ownership?
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, including:
• Mumbai
• Andhra Pradesh
• Assam
• Karnataka
• Kerala
• Punjab
• Tamil Nadu
• West Bengal
Indian films also came to be followed throughout South Asia and the Middle East (modest dress and subdued sexuality of these films was found to be acceptable to the sensibilities of the audience belonging to these regions)
Indian Cinema Overview
• India is the world's largest producer of films, producing close to a thousand films annually.
• About 600 of the total films produced are in Telugu and Hindi, approximately 300 each, while the remaining are in other languages.
• However, Hindi films account for about half of the total revenue generated by cinema in India.
• The provision of 100% foreign direct investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros.
• Prominent Indian enterprises such as Zee, UTV and Adlabs also participate in producing and distributing films.
• Tax incentives to multiplexes have aided the multiplex boom in India. By 2003 as many as 30 film production companies had been listed in the National Stock Exchange of India, making the commercial presence of the medium felt although many Indian films are bankrolled through mysterious means.
• The Indian diaspora (people relocating to other countries) constitutes of millions of Indians overseas for which films are made available both through mediums such as DVDs and by screening of films in their country of residence wherever commercially feasible. These earnings, accounting for some 12% of the revenue generated by a mainstream film, contribute substantially to the overall revenue of Indian cinema, the net worth of which was found to be 1.3 billion US Dollars in 2000.
• Facilities for film production in the country include Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad, the home of Telugu film industry, the largest film studio complex in the world
• Music in Indian cinema is another substantial revenue generator, with the music rights alone accounting for 4-5% of the net revenues generated by a film in India.
Indian Film Categories
• Bollywood – the mainstream Hindi films "formulaic story lines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song-and-dance routines, emotion-charged melodrama, and larger-than-life heroes.“
• 'Parallel Cinema' movement, prominent in Bengali cinema, Kannada cinema, Malayalam cinema, Tamil cinema and other regional industries, known for its serious content, realism and naturalism.
Presentation Content
• Overview
• History
• Conventions
• Move/lack of movement towards Global
• Influences
• Distribution
Bollywood
• The Hindi language film industry of Mumbai (formerly Bombay)—also known as Bollywood—is the largest and most popular branch of Indian cinema.
• The term "Bollywood" has origins in the 1970s, when India overtook America as the world's largest film producer.
• The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience and has resisted making films that target narrow audiences. It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would maximise box office receipts. However, filmmakers may be moving towards accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians, and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences.
History
• Following India's independence, the period from the late 1940s to the 1960s are regarded by film historians as the "Golden Age" of Hindi cinema. While commercial Hindi cinema was thriving, the 1950s also saw the emergence of a new Parallel Cinema in Hindi films
• Hindi films also become prominent in Cannes and with the Indian Diaspora, more international critical acclaim was given to Hindi films. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, romance movies and action films emerged followed by gritty, violent films about gangsters.
• Some Hindi filmmakers such as Shyam Benegal continued to produce realistic Parallel Cinema throughout the 1970s. However, the 'art film' came under criticism for not doing enough to encourage commercial cinema.
• Another important film from 1975 was Deewar, directed by Yash Chopra and written by Salim-Javed. A crime film pitting "a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan", portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan, it was described as being “absolutely key to Indian cinema” by Danny Boyle.
History Continued
• The most internationally-acclaimed Hindi film of the 1980s was Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! (1988).
• During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the pendulum swung back toward family-centric romantic musicals.
• Furthermore, this decade marked the entry of new performers in arthouse and independent films, some of which succeeded commercially, the most influential example being Satya (1998) . The critical and commercial success of Satya led to the emergence of a distinct genre known as Mumbai Noir urban films reflecting social problems in the city of Mumbai. This led to a resurgence of Parallel Cinema by the end of the decade.
• The 2000s saw a growth in Bollywood's popularity in the world. This led the nation's filmmaking to new heights in terms of quality, cinematography and innovative story lines as well as technical advances in areas such as special effects, animation, etc.
• The opening up of the overseas market, more Bollywood releases abroad and the explosion of multiplexes in big cities, led to wider box office successes in India and abroad
Bollywood Finances and Marketing
• In 1995 the Indian economy began showing sustainable annual growth, and Bollywood, as a commercial enterprise, grew at a growth rate of 15% annually – generating CD sales, magazines.
• With growth in commercial appeal the earnings of known Bollywood stars such as Shahrukh Khan reached 30 million rupees per film by the year 2000.
• Female stars such as Madhuri Dixit, too, earned as much as 12.5 million rupees for a film.
• Many actors signed contracts for simultaneous work in 3-4 films.
• Institutions such as the Industrial Development Bank of India also came forward to finance Bollywood films. A number of magazines such as Filmfare,Stardust, Cineblitz etc. became popular.
Bollywood
• Bollywood is more properly referred to as Hindi cinema, though frequent use of poetic Urdu words is fairly common.
• There has been a growing presence of Indian English in dialogue and songs as well.
• It is not uncommon to see films that feature dialogue with English words and phrases, or even whole sentences.
Technical Details
– Songs from Bollywood movies are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip synching the words to the song on-screen, often while dancing.
– Usually sound in Bollywood films is rarely recorded on location. Therefore, the sound is usually created (or recreated) entirely in the studio – although this is changing.
– Dialogues are usually written in an unadorned Hindi or Hindustani that would be understood by the largest possible audience.
– Some movies, however, have used regional dialects to evoke a village setting, or old-fashioned courtly Urdu historical films.
– Contemporary mainstream movies also make great use of English. In fact, many movie scripts are first written in English, and then translated into Hindi.
– Characters may shift from one language to the other to express a certain atmosphere (for example, English in a business setting and Hindi in an informal one).
– Cinematic language, whether in dialogues or lyrics, is often melodramatic and invokes God, family, mother, duty, and self-sacrifice liberally.
Influences
• Musicals –
– Moulin Rouge – Baz Luhrmann’s Bollywood-inlufenced movie fuelled a musical Renaissance
• A. R. Rahman, an Indian film composer, wrote the music for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams, and a musical version of Hum Aapke Hain Koun has played in London's West End.
• The Bollywood musical Lagaan (2001) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which has won four Golden Globes and eight Academy Awards, was also directly inspired by Bollywood films, and is considered to be a "homage to Hindi commercial cinema".
• Several other Hollywood films are also believed to have been inspired by Bollywood films. For example, V. Shantaram’s Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957) is believed to have inspired the Hollywood film The Dirty Dozen (1967).
• The theme of reincarnation was also popularized in Western popular culture through Bollywood films
• The 1975 film Chhoti Si Baat is believed to have inspired Hitch (2005), which in turn inspired the Bollywood film Partner (2007).
• The influence of Bollywood filmi music can also be seen in popular music elsewhere in the world.
– The Black Eyed Peas' Grammy Award winning 2005 song "Don't Phunk with My Heart" was inspired by two 1970s Bollywood songs: "Ye Mera Dil Yaar Ka Diwana" from Don (1978) and "Ae Nujawan Hai Sub" from Apradh (1972).
– Also in 2005, the Kronos Quartet re-recorded several R. D. Burman compositions, with Asha Bhosle as the singer, into an album You've stolen my heart - Songs From R D Burman's Bollywood, which was nominated for "Best Contemporary World Music Album" at the 2006 Grammy Awards.
– A.R. Rahman’s Jai Ho song from the end of Slumdog Millionaire was remixed by the Pussycat Dolls into English.
– Filmi music composed by A. R. Rahman has frequently been sampled by musicians elsewhere.
Commercial Conventions
• Bollywood films are mostly musicals, and are expected to contain catchy music in the form of song-and-dance numbers woven into the script.
• A film's success often depends on the quality of such musical numbers and the music is often released beforehand.
• Indian audiences expect full value for their money, with a good entertainer generally referred to as paisa vasool, (literally, "money's worth").
• Songs and dances, love triangles, comedy and dare-devil thrills are all mixed up in a three-hour-long extravaganza with an intermission. Such movies are called masala films. These movies are a mixture of many things such as action, comedy, romance etc.
• Most films have heroes who are able to fight off villains all by themselves.
• Melodrama and romance are common ingredients to Bollywood films.
• There are also formulaic features such as : star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, family ties, sacrifice, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences.
Other Conventions
• Bollywood conventions are changing.
• A large Indian diaspora in English speaking countries, and increased Western influence at home, have nudged Bollywood films closer to Hollywood models
• Or including topics such as Indians living elsewhere (e.g. Britain).
• Film critic Lata Khubchandani writes,"..our earliest films...had liberal doses of sex and kissing scenes in them. Strangely, it was after Independence the censor board came into being and so did all the strictures."
• Plots now tend to feature Westernised urbanites dating and dancing in clubs rather than centering on pre-arranged marriages.
• Though these changes can widely be seen in contemporary Bollywood, traditional conservative ways of Indian culture continue to exist in India outside the industry and an element of resistance by some to western-based influences.
• Despite this, Bollywood continues to play a major role in fashion in India.
Conventions and Global
• Bollywood initially explored issues of caste and culture in films such as Achhut Kanya (1936) and Sujata (1959).
• Bollywood grew during the 1990s with the release of as many as 215 films in 1991.
• With Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Bollywood registered its commercial presence in the Western world – dubbed into Punjabi and English
– A romantic anecdote of second-generation Indians living in Britain who are strongly attached to the traditional values of Indian culture. The frolicking of the lovers in Europe is followed by Raj's struggle to win over the hearts of every member of Simran's family so that they allow him to marry her – was extremely successful in Britain
Overview
• The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience and has resisted making films that target narrow audiences.
• It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would maximise box office receipts.
• However, filmmakers may be moving towards accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians, and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences.
History of Indian Film
Current Indian Film
• In the 21st century, Indian cinema became a global enterprise.
• Enhanced technology upgraded established cinematic norms of delivering product, radically altering the manner in which content reached the target audience.
• Indian cinema has markets in over 90 countries where films from India are screened.
• The country also participates in international film festivals.
• Indian filmmakers such as Shekhar Kapur, Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding), Deepa Mehta etc. found success overseas.
• The Indian government extended film delegations to foreign countries such as the United States of America and Japan while the country's Film Producers Guild sent similar missions through Europe.
Spread of Indian Film
• As cinema as a medium gained popularity in the country as many as 1,000 films in various languages of India were produced annually.
• Expatriates in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States continued to give rise to international audiences for Hindi-language films
• continued to carry "formulaic story lines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song-and-dance routines, emotion-charged melodrama, and larger-than-life heroes.“
• This is contrasted by the 'Parallel Cinema' movement, prominent in Bengali cinema, Kannada cinema, Malayalam cinema, Tamil cinema and other regional industries, known for its serious content, realism and naturalism.
Global India
• Indians during the colonial rule bought film equipment from Europe. The British funded wartime propaganda films during the second world war, some of which showed the Indian army pitted against the axis powers, specifically the Empire of Japan, which had managed to infiltrate into India.
• Indian cinema's early contacts with other regions became visible with its films making early inroads into Russia, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and China. Mainstream Hindi film stars like Raj Kapoor gained international fame across Asia and Eastern Europe.
• Indian films also appeared in international fora and film festivals. This allowed 'Parallel' Bengali filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray to achieve worldwide fame, with his films gaining success among European, American and Asian audiences. Ray's work subsequently had a worldwide impact, with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, James Ivory, Abbas Kiarostami, Elia Kazan, François Truffaut, Steven Spielberg, Carlos Saura, Jean-Luc Godard, Isao Takahata, Gregory Nava, Ira Sachs and Wes Anderson being influenced by his cinematic style
• Many Asian and 'Third World' countries increasingly came to find Indian cinema as more suited to their sensibilities than Western cinema. Jigna Desai holds that by the 21st century Indian cinema had managed to become 'deterritorialized', spreading over to the many parts of the world where Indian diaspora was present in significant numbers, and becoming an alternative to other international cinema.
• Indian cinema has more recently begun influencing Western musical films, and played a particularly instrumental role in the revival of the genre in the Western world.
Slumdog Millionaire Videos
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzbwV7on6Q – US Trailer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0DKHKVWwkg – UK Trailer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jph31ziJ_Lw – Spanish Trailer
• http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/trailer/10776.html - Indian Trailer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV-kBufZgug&feature=related
• http://www.revver.com/video/1299138/slumdog-millionaire-all-access-interview-desihitscom/ - Interviews
Independent Film Key Players
• Pathé – Involved with cinema production, distribution, the international management of a catalogue of more than 500 films, running cinemas (EuroPalaces network which federates the Pathé theatres and Gaumont)
• Film4 – Film company run by Channel Four
• Fox Searchlight - is a film division of 20th Century Fox, established in 1994. It specialises in indie and British films, alongside dramedy and horror, and is variously involved with the production and/or distribution of these films.
Hollywood Movies
Blockbusters
• Blockbusters emphasize spectacle, star power, and high production value, all of which entail an enormous budget. Blockbusters typically rely upon star power and massive advertising to attract a huge audience. A successful blockbuster will attract an audience large enough to offset production costs and reap considerable profits. Such productions carry a substantial risk of failure, and most studios release blockbusters that both over- and underperform in a year.
Independent film
• Studios supplement these movies with independent productions, made with small budgets and often independently of the studio corporation. Movies made in this manner typically emphasize high professional quality in terms of acting, directing, screenwriting, and other elements associated with production, and also upon creativity and innovation. These movies usually rely upon critical praise or niche marketing to garner an audience. Because of an independent film's low budgets, a successful independent film can have a high profit-to-cost ratio, while a failure will incur minimal losses, allowing for studios to sponsor dozens of such productions in addition to their high-stakes releases.
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