Definitions

Mainstream products: The labels "Mainstream media", or "mass media", are generally applied to print publications, such as newspapers and magazines that contain the highest readership among the public, and to radio formats and television stations that contain the highest viewing and listener audience, respectively. This is in contrast to various independent media, such as alternative media newspapers, specialized magazines in various organizations and corporations, and various electronic sources such as podcasts and blogs (Though certain blogs are more mainstream than others given their association with a mainstream source

Independent products: “Independent media” refers to any form of media, such as radio, television, newspapers or the Internet, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications. Within the United States and other developed countries, it is often used synonymously with alternative media to refer to media that specifically distinguish themselves in relation to the mainstream media. In international development, the term independent media is used in relation to the development of new media outlets, particularly in areas where there is little to no existing media presence.

Niche products: A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused. The market niche defines the product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact. It is also a small market segment.

Film

Production

Mainstream film production almost certainly consists of a large budget. With this it means they are able to afford professional (A list) actors and can afford to produce the movie to the point where it can almost exactly realist. For example ‘Avatar’ had one of the largest movie budgets in 2009, totalling at £155969792.43 = $237000000. With a budget that large they were able to recruit the best actors and were able to use the best technology they could to make the animated film, seem/feel/look realistic.

Distribution

Another factor of mainstream films other than having a large budget would be on who they cast to be in their movie. This factor allows the audience to reach a further capacity due to the fact the actor/actress cast as the roles are then able to add to the distribution of the advertising. 

Horizontal integration

Horizontal integration:  Horizontal Integration is a Media Company's Ownership of several businesses of the same value. A Media Company can own a Magazine, Radio, Newspaper, Television and Books.

Benefits: The Company can diversify its products and sell those products on a larger market, to reduce the costs to produce its newly diversified products or services, and reduce the amount of external competition.

Disadvantages: One disadvantages can include legal repercussions if the horizontal merger results in a company

Vertical integration: Vertical integration happens when two organizations or businesses at various stages of production merge.

Benefits: It enables you to invest in greatly specialized assets.

Disadvantages: Decreased Flexibility. This is because of the downstream or upstream investments that the business will make.

Co-operatives: The media cooperatives is a relatively new form of cooperative. They are a form of alternative media, critical of capitalism, with left-wing stances. Media Cooperatives are a special form of service cooperative, in which customers and service providers usually unite to oppose the pure profit motive. In contrast to mainstream media companies, media cooperatives pursue more idealistic goals.

 Topic C.3 Methods of showcasing work

Learners should also understand the different opportunities media employees have to

showcase their work. Learners should understand the benefits and drawbacks of using

different methods of showcasing their work, both for the individual and for the media

employer, including examples of typical roles in the sector where a specific method is

likely to be used.

● CVs (paper, digital, social CV):

o benefits (flexible, low cost, quick to process, established practice, tailored to need,

illustrates practical skill, can use digital technology, suitable across all media

sectors, offers a concise picture of applicant)

o drawbacks (uninspiring, difficult to demonstrate creativity, limited space, difficult

to stand out).

● Portfolios (online or print, blogs):

o benefits (mix personal projects with professional work, regularly and easily

updated, interactivity, multimedia content, demonstrates practical skills, engaging

format)

o drawbacks (time consuming to produce and process, not always appropriate to all

media sectors, higher risk factor).

● Showreels (moving image, gaming and audio):

o benefits (demonstrate practical skills and creativity, easy to update, established

practice, opportunity to stand out)

o drawbacks (time consuming to produce and process, not always appropriate to all

media sectors, difficult for graduates and inexperienced professionals).

Media Industries

Media industries

 And

 Structure

Radio

Before televisions, films and games there were only two forms of media to retrieve information from. One would be print, this would be objects such as newspapers or posters. The other form of media was radio. Radio first came around in the 19^th Century but people only started taking it seriously around the 20^th Century when it was mainly used for political announcements. Soon after in the later 20^th Century the radio began to evolve and was beginning to have licensed commercial public radio stations. This is the specific generation where radio began to flourish until the brought out FM radio. FM radio basically means frequency modulations are used in the radio waves to reduce static. This then opened doors for many radio station companies. Since then there have been many successful radio stations and with different genres to now pick from the can all be at the top of their game for example the top radio station to hear music on would be Capital FM. This station allows its listeners to hear the music they want to hear twenty four seven. Not to mention it also gives them important general information, such as the traffic or the weather, etc.

Film

The use of films began in the 1890’s for people’s entertainment. As technology was limited at this point in time most films were under a minute long and also included no sound until 1927. Around the end of the middles of the 20^th Century film makers began to edit their movies and moving the camera allowing them to have more than one shot. As the movie industry progressed directors such as Alfred Hitchcock started to expand and shock his audience with his classic hit movie ‘Psycho’ having one of the most powerful scenes in cinematic history which would be ‘The shower scene’. Leading on from that the movie industry has expanded too many branches and has become one of the most popular platforms in media.

TV

The television first appeared in the early 19^th Century but then started to use electricity within the late 19^th Century. Around the 20^th Century they began to show television in colour. This movement was a big thing as it allowed the audience to be enlightened and feel refreshed with all the new colours. DTV (Digital television) became popular as it was then the first from coming out of analogue television to digital.  Now in the modern day they have once again improved television by bringing 3D television into our homes.

Games

The history of video games goes as far back as the early 1950s. They started off by designing simple games   as a part of research but then found out it brought great entertainment to themselves. In the 1970s video games started to become popular as arcade games, game consoles and computer games started to appear. The game Nim in which players tried to avoid picking up the last match. Later named "Nimatron," tens of thousands of people played it, and the computer won at least 90% of the games. Pong was the first arcade video game with widespread success. The game is loosely based on table tennis: a ball is "served" from the center of the court and as the ball moves towards their side of the court each player must maneuver their paddle to hit the ball back to their opponent. In 1985, the American video game console market was revived with Nintendo’s release of its 8-bit console. In its original release it was offered in three tiered bundles: the Control Deck bundle came in two versions, one with no game and priced at £89.99, and one with Super Mario Bros. priced at £99.99, and both including two controllers.

Crash Bandicoot

   
‘Crash Bandicoot’ is a game made for Play station around the early years of the 2000’s. The game was to control a fox and make him complete missions to the game eventually came to an end. This game included specific tasks to achieve and secret levels to unlock. The difficulty of the levels also increased as the game gradually went on and you progressed from level to level. The story of Crash Bandicoot starts off with an evil doctor ‘Neo Cortex’ inventing a type of ray that specifically evolves whatever it is pointed at. In conclusion to that they point the ray at a fox which then evolves into a two legged, walking, fox with human strength also known as ‘Crash Bandicoot’. As the doctor tries to conform Crash and put him into the military. Crash disagrees with this and with that escape and is now on the run from Dr. Cortex. This game, with many spin offs, has multiple types of genres but the most common would be adventure, action and fantasy. With it being created in the early 2000’s there aren’t many social networks for the game unless they’re tribute pages for example, https://www.facebook.com/Crash-Bandicoot-32021303804/timeline/ .

Distribution
Some distribution methods they used to advertise the video game ‘Crash Bandicoot’ would be TV commercials. They also used posters to advertise the game. They placed them in specific areas to ensure they would attract the right audience.

   
Audiences
When this game originally surfaced, the specific target audience was for children between the ages 12 years to 16 years but as the game continued and expanded on to different genre types the age range varied from 12 year olds to 40 year olds, allowing this game to be enjoyed by the whole family. And also having at as a specific target audience to a mass audience.




Distribution Methods Some distribution methods they used to advertise the video game ‘Crash Bandicoot’ would be TV commercials. They also used posters to advertise the game. They placed them in specific areas to ensure they would attract the right audience.
Commercials The commercials used to promote the release of the video game for crash bandicoot show cased a grown man in the costume seeming to believe that he was crash bandicoot. This portrayed a sense of comedy therefore allowing the audience to know it is targeted towards children as children would find this funny.
Posters The posters were used to in particular areas that a familiar to video games such as near a video game store. They were also placed near areas where children would most likely be. For example near schools and parks.
Toys During the prime of this game, the company arranged a deal with McDonalds, therefore as the new version of the game was being realised McDonalds brought out a toy version of the lovable dog.

Regulatory: