Ex_Machina Marketing

Magazines

Many independent and less known magazines featured ex machina, plus there aren't many interviews that were published into magazines. Interviews regarding the film are quite hard to find and this could be due to the production company focusing on other marketing techniques, or the film could have not received any interview requests from magazine companies. However there are articles about the film from before and after it was released in online magazines and reviews. It was 'Film Forever's' film of the week in February 2015 and gained lots of positive attention on smaller magazine companies like 'Impact' a magazine for students in Nottingham.  

'Slant magazine' also Included a review for the film in their copy which was significantly more negative, the review includes a 2 and a half out of 5 star rating and can be read here. 
TV Interviews

The cast of Ex_Machina have been interviewed for a number of YouTube channels including Beyond The Trailer, We Got This Covered, Flicks And The City and more well-known channels such as MTV and Film4. This appeals to a wider audience than some TV shows. As this was an indie film with a small budget the cast wouldn't go on big TV shows where the audience may not suit the targeted audience for the film. The YouTube channels appeal to many more people, who are more likely to see the film, this includes younger adults and people interested in technology. The videos mainly contain the cast talking about their experience with the film, meeting their cast members and little hints or spoilers of what if going to be seen in the film. Alicia Vikander has also been on Late Night With Seth Meyers and spoke about perfecting her 'robot voice' and taking on the role of Ex_Machina. These interviews help to attract a larger audience and also allows the audience to see new information about the film, cast or some behind the scenes information. 

Products

Apps and Games

When marketing Ex_Machina the production companies used a dating app, Tinder, to interact with people at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. These people matched with the character Ava, and without them knowing, she spoke to them, asking questions about love and being a human. Afterwards, the people were sent a link to her instagram account, where it was revealed it was a stunt for a film.

Essay 3 What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products available to audiences in the media area you have studied.

Essay 3 What Impact Does Media Ownership Have Upon the Range of Products Available to Audiences in the Medi... by Charlotte Long on Scribd

DNA TV Limited

DNA TV Limited

DNA FILMS partners with FOX NETWORKS GROUP to create new TV company DNA TV LIMITED.

New Venture to Produce Dramas, Comedies and Limited Series for World-Wide Distribution.

UK-based DNA Films has teamed up with the Fox Networks Group (FNG) to make their first foray into television with a new venture to be known as DNA TV Limited, it was announced by Andrew Macdonald, CEO of DNA Films and Peter Rice, Chairman and CEO, Fox Networks Group.

The new company will call on DNA’s deep relationships with an incredible stable of UK-based writing, producing and directing talent, to create TV dramas, limited-run “event” series and comedies for UK and international broadcasters around the world.  As DNA TV’s partner, FNG will have a “first-look” to provide production co-finance, and access to its unrivaled global distribution network, including US-based Fox Broadcasting, FX Networks and The National Geographic Channels as well as Fox International Channels’ 300+ channels around the world.

DNA TV Limited will be owned and operated as an independent TV production company.  The management and creative decision making of the company will reside in the UK.

“Having worked closely with Peter when he was at Fox Searchlight, we are delighted to have Fox Networks Group in our corner,” said Mr. Macdonald.  “We believe that by utilizing our relationships with British talent and broadcasters, we can produce great television drama that will resonate in the UK as well as with Fox’s audience in the US and around the globe.”

“Over the years the team at DNA has demonstrated a remarkable gift for developing strong, well-written material and managing productions with tremendous production values,” said Mr. Rice.  “This venture will give their talent access to a global audience from a creative base in London and will give our networks group the opportunity to work with them.  We’re delighted to be working with Andrew, Allon and their team again to produce great programmes for the Fox networks.”

Mr. Macdonald, with producing partner Allon Reich, will lead the team as they do for DNA Films which has produced and financed a slate of successful films including Academy Award and BAFTA Award-winning “The Last King of Scotland,” “Notes on a Scandal,” “28 Days Later” and “Sunshine”,. DNA’s current slate includes an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Far From the Madding Crowd” and writer/director Alex Garland’s thriller “Ex Machina”.

Managing Fox Networks Group’s participation will be Eric Schrier, President, Original Programming for FX Networks and FX Productions.

DNA Films is run by Andrew Macdonald and his producing partner Allon Reich and is one of the UK’s most successful film production companies, producing over 20 films since 2000.  Based in London but with close ties to Hollywood, DNA has produced for Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Universal and Entertainment Film Distributors.  Forthcoming releases include Alex Garland's Ex-Machina and Thomas Vinterberg's Thomas Hardy classic, Far From the Madding Crowd.  Previous productions include Sunshine on Leith (2013) Dredd (2012), Never Let Me Go (2010), The Last King of Scotland (2006), Notes on a Scandal (2006), 28 Weeks Later (2007), 28 Days Later (2002), Sunshine (2007), The Beach (2000), Trainspotting (1996) and Shallow Grave (1994).

Disney as a conglomerate

Disney as a conglomerate

Disney is a conglomerate

A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet. Media conglomerates strive for policies that facilitate their control of the markets across the globe.

Disney owns

• Walt Disney Studios
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment
• Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group:
• Touchstone Pictures
• Pixar Animation Studios
• Lucasfilm
• ESPN
• ABC Entertainment Group
• Marvel Entertainment
• Disney Music Group

The media industry is dominated by 'The Big Six'

Just how dominant are 'The Big Six' studios?

How many independent films can you spot?

Why might conglomerates be seen as a negative?

Global conglomerates can at times have a progressive impact on culture, especially when they enter nations that had been tightly controlled by corrupt crony media systems (as in much of Latin America) or nations that had significant state censorship over media (as in parts of Asia). The global commercial-media system is radical in that it will respect no tradition or custom, on balance, if it stands in the way of profits. But ultimately it is politically conservative, because the media giants are significant beneficiaries of the current social structure around the world, and any upheaval in property or social relations—particularly to the extent that it reduces the power of business—is not in their interest.— 

Robert W. McChesney, The New Global Media; It’s a Small World of Big Conglomerates, The Nation Magazine, November 29, 1999

Media Ownership

Media ownership

Media ownership has a huge impact on the availability of the products that are able to be made. Huge conglomerates such as Disney horizontally integrate, meaning that when they synergise across other sectors such as TV, publishing and games, they work with companies and institutions that they already own or have created. They earn the name ‘conglomerate’ by having these subsidiary companies within themselves. This means that all profit made across the sectors, stays within the conglomerate, being Disney. The domination of a conglomerate has a huge effect on smaller media institutions. Smaller media institutions have little media ownership. Little media ownership may cause losses in their overall profit. This is due to the fact that for them to synergise to other sectors, they must work with other, separate companies and institutions, that specialize in that particular area. Doing this causes the company to share out its profit to any companies that have helped.

The ease to which a conglomerate can offer new products is great. The parent company can decide what products they want, and can use their subsidiary companies to create it. An example of this would be Disney wanting a TV show to be broadcast on The Disney Channel. Whatever this new show is, Disney will have full influence on its outcome. Smaller companies will have greater difficulty doing this as the reality of converging with another company is not guaranteed. Even if successful, part of the control of the product goes to this external company, influencing the final outcome. Media conglomerates will have full control of their products and how it turns out. The subsidiary companies are under control of their parent company.

To further add to the freedom of control that conglomerates have over their products, they no longer have to worry about the thoughts and opinions of their audience. They no longer have loyalty to their audience because of the scale of their company. These conglomerates are at a stage where they no longer need to attract new audiences. Whatever they make will be a success, despite being a high quality product of a low quality product. For example, smaller institutions must ensure that their product meets the demands of their audience. If they do this, then the chances of their product being successful will be maximized. However, they cannot ignore what their audience wants like conglomerates can, because their reputation for high quality products will be a lot lower, meaning that if it looks bad, no one will watch/buy it.

Star Wars Marketing

Magazines 

Six 'Special Edition' Empire magazines were released featuring the crew from The Force Awakens, the special addition aspect draws more people into buying the magazine, plus 'in-depth' interviews featuring the main stars are also included in this special addition of Empire. The magazine also teamed up with Hasbro to sell limited edition action figures of the character 'Kylo Ren'. Star Wars clearly see the magazine world as a good way of distributing their film, as one article states '17 best star wars magazine covers of 2015' clearly showing how well they used magazines as a way of getting popularity and all types of people seeing their marketing. 

As you can see here models and clothing sites all advertised star wars, for their own gain and Star Wars' gain. The four quadrants of advertisement were met though magazine marketing alone. 

TV Interviews

The cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens have promoted the film through television media. This included chat shows and interviews on shows such as ABC News, Graham Norton, Ellen and Good Morning America. This promoted the film by the cast members talking about the filming process, the cast and crew and spoilers of the film. Disney owns Lucasfilm and ABC Entertainment Group which the cast of the film where featured on to talk about the film. The cast appeared on the shows before the film was released to promote viewings. The shows attract a large audience anyway, so with an A-list, or soon to be, cast the viewings of the TV shows increased. This allowed the audience to see spoilers of the film to intrigue them and others to go and see the film when it comes out in cinemas or on DVD.  The shows the cast featured on are extremely popular in their country of origin and worldwide. The shows can be seen in other countries or by streaming or downloading it online to watch, this means the audience is even bigger and will be seen by thousands of people.

Products

The marketing team behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens ensured that the film was marketed across all different types of media. Most films use marketing through TV interviews, trailers and magazines but only films with big companies and big budgets have the money to pay for tie-in products that market their film. Star Wars: The Force Awakens used so many different tie-in products meaning that the public almost couldn't escape the marketing for the film, it was impossible for nobody to have heard about the film. Some of the products were some that almost made sense with direct links to the film e.g. toys, however others were products that didn't correlate with the film at all e.g. cereal and oranges. These types of tie-in products are where both Star Wars and the company who own the product it is marketed on benefit because fans will be more inclined to buy that product because it has Star Wars on it.

Apps and Games

There is a LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens game for games consoles like Xbox 360, Xbox One and Play Station, Another Star Wars consul game came out just before the Star Wars: The Force Awakens film did which was called ‘Star Wars Battlefront’ however this game didn’t follow the Star Wars: The Force Awakens storyline but it would still get older audiences excited about the newest Star Wars film which was The Force Awakens. They also produced board games which where Star Wars: The Force Awakens themed.

Essay 2 Star Wars and Ex Machina 'Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of products in the media area you have studied.'

Essay 2 Evaluate the Role of Digital Technologies in the Marketing and Consumption of Products in the Media... by Charlotte Long on Scribd

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