LO4, Task 5: Legal, ethical and regulatory issues

It’s Maddie from Education Wise, and this time I’m here to tell you about the ethical, legal and regulatory issues that film companies face when developing and distributing their films- particularly the ones that challenged Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.

A) Impact and effect
It has been suggested by researchers that audience members fit into two categories- passive and active. It’s like two separate schools of thought- the first theory in regard to a passive audience is called the hypodermic syringe, invented by Theodore Adorno in the 1930s. This is the idea that the media inject a more easily influenced audience with negative messages and values; they believe everything they see on TV and apply their lives to it which could have a negative impact. This may result in issues of violence, sexual impropriety or harmful stereotypes. An active audience is somebody that questions what they see on television and is not easily influenced by it. This is the second school of thought in which David Gauntlett said that people can filter content in media and adapt to it, using it merely for entertainment or analysis purposes. In Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium Eric (the child) befriends the stores accountant, even bringing him to his house at one point of the film. Realistically children shouldn't befriend adults and definitely shouldn't be taking them to their home so this scene is not alerting children to the concept of 'stranger danger', creating what would be a negative impact on a passive audience. Eric is also bullied throughout the film for being different to the others- this may make passive audiences think it is acceptable to ostracise people for being different. However, the film may have a positive impact as Henry and Molly are adults who have stopped believing in their own capabilities but by the end of the film they have rediscovered their self-faith. Adults watching may learn a lesson from this film about having confidence in their abilities and take some morals away from it. As well as this, whilst Eric is bullied by the other children the adults understand that this is wrong and encourage him to make nice friends- hopefully the audience derive the message to not allow people be outcasts in society.

B) Representation
Representation is the way a character or group is portrayed- Stuart Hill (1980) theorised that all representations are mediated, meaning they are created purposefully. For instance, teenagers are generally represented as being moody and unpleasant towards others (especially adults), even though this is not always the case in real life.
Similarly Tessa Perkins (1979) believed that not all stereotypes are false/negative when being portrayed in the media. In this film Eric is the kid that is different from the others his age and he acts as the stereotypical underdog because of it. Positively in my film, Molly is a strong female character which will be presented as an 'ideal self' (Carl Rogers 1970) for most young girls in the audience. She challenges the stereotypes set by most women in films (counter-type) by being the main character and becoming powerful enough to manage the emporium. She does not serve the male gaze (Laura Mulvey) as she dresses in a 'tom-boy' fashion. In my film all of the main cast are white, the only time that characters of any other ethnicity appear are in brief moments- this means the film does not have a diverse cast in the sense of representation and may give the negative stereotype of white people being more successful than those of other ethnic groups.

C) Legal and/or ethical issues
When creating a film there are many legal issues that the producers will face, the main being copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is when content is used in the film from another source without permission e.g. a song by an artist. The producers will need to get this permission from the creator in order for them to be allowed to use it; to do this they will pay a large sum of money to the owners and list their content in the credits. In the case of a song they will put the artists name often accompanied by the record label. Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium is filled with toys, the majority of which were not created for the purpose of the film. For instance Kermit the frog is an iconic character which appears in my film- to show Kermit they would've needed to pay the Disney as they are now the owners of the Muppets’ brand. There is also a scene in my film in which Cat Steven's song 'don't be shy' is played. In order to use this song they would need to have paid Cat Stevens and his record label (Legacy Recordings) a large sum of money so they did not face any problems. The consequences of copyright infringement are being sued/fined and the movie may be stopped from being released because of the content.
Ethical issues are often faced by film companies- the main one of these being illegal downloads as the producers lose profit because of them. Although some producers actually see it as a form or marketing; if the audience like it enough they will buy the real product along with merchandise.
Numerous things are considered 'offensive' within films, for instance: racism, sexism, scenes of a sexual nature, use of language, violence, horror or drug use. Each of these categories are considered offensive for multiple reasons, possibly because they attack a specific group of people (e.g. it features racism) but mainly to shelter younger viewers from more disturbing scenes. The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) makes sure films are labelled so parents know if they will be appropriate for their children. My film is a classed as a U for Universal and has no offensive material within it because it is aimed at children.

D) Regulatory bodies
The BBFC is the British Board of film classification and they classify films in terms of what age groups they believe should be permitted to watch them. Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a U for universal- this means it was deemed appropriate for all age groups in both the US and the UK. Many films are censored, even if it takes place as late as the editing stage, but my film was not altered to be more appropriate for its target audience. It has no scenes of particular offense within it so remained classed as a U throughout all of the production. In a U film the closest BBFC allow to swearing are words such as 'damn' or 'hell'; damn is used only once in my film so Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium is applying itself to the BBFC guidelines. There are no sexual references in my film, violence or drug references. It is also stated in the guidelines that 'moments of emotional stress or threat will be quickly resolved and the outcome will be reassuring'. My film applies itself to these rules by having an ending that settles each characters individual problems throughout the movie- Molly finds the power to believe in herself, Eric makes his first friend, Henry remembers its okay not to be so serious all the time and Mr Magorium peacefully declines into his eternal rest. If the ending was to be one where all the issues were not resolved then it may’ve had to be a higher rating as young children need the security of a happy ending so that they are not troubled by the films events and continue to believe that everything may have  a ‘good’ ending.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK's advertisement regulator spanning across all different kinds of media. They ensure the advertising codes are being followed and, if they are not, act to censor the adverts. Each of the adverts for Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium adhered to this code- before being aired they would've been required to have all their claims substantiated about it being suitable for viewers, which they decidedly were. The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) is the committee that has written the advertising codes which are enforced by the ASA. These guidelines must be adhered to by my film during advertisement- for instance 01 Compliance rule 1.1 states ''Marketing communications should be legal, honest and truthful". Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium manages to do this as the poster displays the actors which are actually in the film surrounded by multiple characters/toys from the emporium, the poster denotes magic which is exactly what is within the film. In the 05 Children rule, 5.1 states any film being marketed towards children must be appropriate and is not likely to result in any harm towards them. Posters for my film have nothing on them which could be considered mature content, all the films products such as toys and the book are also suitable for the target audience (U) and should not scare or upset them. Another section is 04 Harm and offence which states that the context of the poster should not offend any groups- the poster for Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium does not discriminate against any gender/race/religion and does not even suggest a relation to any of these things.

By this point you should have a far greater grasp of the ethical and legal issues faced by film developers as well as an understanding on key terms. Now that I and Education Wise have had the opportunity to share all of my media related knowledge with you I hope you use it wisely when going forward with your own businesses one day, thank you and goodbye!

Audience member profile

Alicia is a 5 year old girl still under the firm belief that a giant rabbit visits every Easter and Santa zips down their chimney every Christmas. She has what she considers the worlds largest collection of action figures and Bratz dolls (in reality she's just the only one with more than 10 on her street), of which her favourite is a miniature replica of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the Terminator franchise. Her and her brother have a tendency to argue over what belongs to whom in their collection, but when she pulls out the waterworks her parents are suddenly in no doubt of who is the true proprietor. Together, the four of them live in a homely bungalow in Yorkshire. The house has the constant aroma of fresh plastic and everything always has the appearance of being clean- although upon closer inspection you may see that Alicia has begun to moult and her ginger hair litters most of the furniture.

Audience profile

Demographics summary

NRS stands for National Readership Survey and they are an organisation which specialise in demographic information by doing audience research for institutions.
The lifestyle of a person is the way they live their lives based on e.g. their hobbies, job, etc. But the spending power of a person is the class that they fit into based on their income and occupation, this is often called ‘social’ grade definition. ABC1 is common when it comes to targeting an audience as they have a lot of disposable income (lots of money to throw away).

LO3, Task 4 Feedback

Sound Assessment

LO3, Task 4: Distribution and Advertising

Hi it's Maddie and I'm here again to talk about distribution and advertisement and how they are used by film developers to let their films reach a wider audience. So what exactly is distribution?

Distribution channels

Distribution is when a product is shared out to it’s audience- whether they be niche or, in the case of Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, mainstream. It terms of films, distribution is when the film is made available to consumers. To distribute a film properly it will require the company to also use promotion and advertisement so more people go to see it and the developers will make a larger profit. Independent companies have to rely on conglomerates to distribute their films, such as 20th Century Fox; Fox uses methods such as joint ventures to make their films reach a wider audience. Whilst Fox is the distributor or Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, it was produced by three companies in a joint venture together (Mandate pictures, Walden media and FilmColony). Conglomerates such as these use something called covert advertisement which is when other products will be advertised in their film- for instance in my film k’nex is covertly advertised in the emporium.

Convergence is when two things join (or converge) together to create a single thing; or the coming together of more than one technology in one place. The impact of convergence is that you don’t have to buy as many devices anymore, which makes it cheaper for the consumer- this happened because of web 2.0 which is known as the interactive web (the second phase of the internet where it became available to the public). Technology is coming together to provide new and convenient devices, most films are now distributed via new technologies using digital methods. Analogue methods (old media) also existed as a way of past distribution, such as: film reels, VHS tapes and radio. 20^th Century Fox will have to pay to have their films reel on multiple screens in a single cinema, which was incredibly expensive, until digital projectors came around. Now films such as Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium are sent to the cinema on a hard drive that connects to the cinema’s server so it can be played on multiple screens.

There are many ways you can watch films, Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium can or could be viewed: in the cinema, on television, on online streaming websites (e.g.NOWTV), via the DVD or illegally downloading it on sites such as putlocker. My film was shown in cinemas as it was expected to reach a mass, international audience so can now be bought on DVD. It has been on TV several times, mainly on Sky UK as it is one of 21st Century Fox’s subsidiaries. It is also easy to find illegally online (on sites such as putlocker) and is even available to watch on youtube in a format of worse quality.

The world-wide box office revenue of the film is $68,191,643 and it was distributed internationally as the film translates to any more economically developed parts of the world as every family with money will buy their children toys. It wouldn't have grossed this much if it had not been advertised as much and been shown across cinemas. The domestic DVD gross of the film was also high at $24,809,766, showing it have been successful.

Advertising and promotion

Advertising and promotion are the ways in which a film is marketed to ensure the target audience is aware of its release. Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium was marketed by putting out trailers online and on TV and releasing merchandise related to the film such as the soundtrack, a book (The Amazing Compendium of Edward Magorium) and toys such as the sock monkey. It was also marketed using posters displayed on billboards around America and was advertised in magazines

which promoted the movie. Social networking was used to gain the film followers by setting up a Facebook account for it- but Twitter was only used later by TV companies such as CITV to let their audiences know when the film is was showing on their channel.

In 2002 David Gauntlet discussed the rise of the Web 2.0: when the original internet changed from being a place for researchers to input information to a way of communicating for mankind. Technology is providing more convenience for audiences and evolving by upgrading to new technologies from analogue methods to digital methods. Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium was marketed via digital methods as it was brought out in 2007 and the fact it used social networking to advertise itself is a modern convenience.

The films global box office revenue is $68,191,643 and the budget for the film was $65,000,000. This means that the developers only gained $3,191,543 which is relatively large compared to films made by independent companies but still not a major profit so it wasn’t particularly successful. However, the fact that it grossed over $60 million means the advertisement still must have been relatively effective and the DVD had a domestic gross of $24,809,766; although its marketing was obviously not as effective as films such as Avatar as that had a gross of $760,507,625 but that also had a much higher budget.

In the creation of this film, three different film companies went on a joint venture to produce it (Mandate Pictures, Walden Media and FilmColony)- these are all relatively iconic film companies. They advertised Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium over cross media platfor ms such as having a book made of it which was published by scholastic (another example of 20th Century Fox and Scholastic going on a joint venture to increase profit). There is also a soundtrack that was sold for the movie- both of these forms of advertisement will have helped promote the film so it had a wider audience.

The audience itself also contributes to the promotion of films. With Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium one method could be social networking but another could be by reviews- any form of review will still get the film out into the public eye but a good review will make the reader more likely to actually go and watch it. This is the extract of a bad review written by Roger Ebert: “All of this perhaps sounds like a wonderful family movie, and to a degree it is, although the story arcs involving Molly and the accountant and the threats to the store are all recycled from countless other films. The plot is forever being upstaged by the Emporium. We want to stop worrying about Molly's self-esteem and just play with more neat stuff. And is there ever any real doubt that there will be a happy ending?… Hoffman has countless characters inside of him, and this is one of his nicest… Portman, as Molly, doesn't think it's that simple, and she has the thankless task of holding out against the old man's certainty. The suspense, such as it is, will possibly enthrall kids up to a certain age, but their parents, once they get over the visual delights of the Emporium, will be grateful the proceedings last only 93 minutes”. This poor review explains why the film may not have done as well as it was capable of, as audiences are now reliant on the media it is likely a lot of people were influenced by the bad reviews and wouldn’t have seen the film.

That’s all I’ve got to tell you about distribution for now, I’ll see you guys in the next video!

LO2, Task 3 Feedback

LO2, Task 3: Audience

Introduction

Hi it's Maddie again, and this time I've been asked to do a video talking about the relationship between Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium and it's target audience. Ien Ang and John Hartley said that before making a media product it was necessary to know who your audience was so the film could be catered to them- invisible fiction and imaginary entities should be created before the film. The target audience of my film is family orientated as it is majorly for young children but the parents taking them have been kept in mind throughout the development. It should be a relatively even spread of female and male viewers but I created an audience profile of a 5 year old girl called Alicia that the film would be targeting.

Gender

I decided that there would be a relatively even spread of genders watching the film, although there may be slightly more females (54% girls, 46% boys). I created an imaginary entity to represent this age and gender: Alicia is a 5 year old girl still under the firm belief that a giant rabbit visits every Easter and Santa zips down their chimney every Christmas. She has what she considers the world’s largest collection of action figures and Bratz dolls (in reality she's just the only one with more than 10 on her street), of which her favourite is a miniature replica of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the Terminator franchise. Her and her brother have a tendency to argue over what belongs to whom in their collection, but when she pulls out the waterworks her parents are suddenly in no doubt of who is the true proprietor. Together, the four of them live in a homely bungalow in Yorkshire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2_iJKeSSHw

My first clip introduces us to Molly; the stories protagonist. She may be considered a 'star persona' (Richard Dyer 1972) as the children watching probably will have seen her before in the later Star Wars trilogy. Portman may also appeal to girls watching as she is denoted as being a strong female character and could be considered an 'ideal self' to them (Carl Rogers 1980) when they are at such an impressionable age. By being influential she challenges Berger's concept of men acting and women appearing. This scene connotes a fairy tale 'once upon a time' beginning to the story as it is shown in chapters with Eric the child monologuing over the top, showing a fluency in the progression of children's books which the audience will be familiar with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVTPetDiJ-c

In this scene children are denoted playing with numerous toys around the emporium. This connects with the target audience as the majority of girls this age love toys- lots of girls are denoted throughout the scene playing games. Their playful attitude connotes the magic that children see upon entering a toy store, stereotypically females enjoy playing dress up and this is denoted by a blonde child within the scene, thus appealing to their hobbies. There is comedic value in the binary opposition of the young and the old denoted in the clip, even if Mr Magorium is actually the one representing the younger generation as he is a child at heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlg_UzEcALs

The female viewers will once again find a kindred spirit in Molly's friendly attitude denoted on screen- she is not a stereotypical girl in her sense of dress and wears 'tomboyish', un-sexualized clothing which young girls will be able to relate to more than the provocative women that are often depicted. This is the scene in which the audience first meets Mr Magorium and he is denoted as being spectacularly bizarre with an apartment to match his personality. Carl Rogers (1980) believed that within films there were characters that the audience would see as an 'ideal self' and characters they would see as an 'ideal partner’. Mr Magorium would probably be viewed as an ideal self for the audience, because what kid doesn't want to grow up to be a toy store owner?  




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAwglEXcyJE

There's a stigma that stereotypically girls are interested in shoes which is why this scene may appeal to them as it focuses on the discussion of shoes- but this stereotype is challenged as Mr Magorium is the one talking about the importance of them. There are more men in this film than females predominantly (there are four main characters and three of these are men), these characters will influence the boys watching to act or speak a certain way as children are impressionable and these characters have jobs that they would ideally strive for at such a young age. Dustin Hoffman played Hook in the Peter Pan sequel, acting as a 'star persona' as these children may recognise him.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Mrga2aSL0

Stereotypically there are different toys for each gender, although these stereotypes overlap multiple times throughout the trailer, showing children of different genders playing with the same toys. The music in the trailer will probably appeal to the target audience as it is likely they will have heard the songs before. As well as this they will know the famous actors/actresses from Star Wars (Natalie Portman) and Hook (Dustin Hoffman), both films suitable for their age group in which they would’ve appealed to the characters they play before.


Age

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2_iJKeSSHw

Eric and most of the side cast are children which will mean the young audience will connect more to the characters as they have similar attitudes and hobbies. The struggles he faces throughout the film will be similar to the kind the viewers struggle with; he is an outcast and viewers may either see themselves or their past selves in him. Molly is introduced in this scene, she is more relatable to the parents watching the movie as she is an adult that has stopped believing in herself- binary opposition is shown between the age groups here as Eric cannot understand why she has lost this faith. Her loss of faith may connote that this is how most adults end up growing up and the way life changes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaHedefjC1U

There's a lot of silly humour throughout the film that will appeal to that of young people. Mr Magorium dialogue at the end of the clip (bouncy ball room scene) is a joke that will mirror the sense of humour of the watching children, connoting his childish nature and making them like his character. The scene in which Henry and Eric play-pretend will be very amusing to the watching children- stereotypically they enjoy watching adults do silly things (Denoted is Henry pretending to be a Jester whilst putting on a silly voice). Children have all played pretend so they will see pieces of their own imagination reflected in the discussion of 'what to do about the dragon'. This scene bridges the chasm between the young and the adult as usually there would be some binary opposition.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVTPetDiJ-c

It's essentially a fact that children love toys as they allow them the freedom to express themselves and create their own worlds- Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium is devoted to toys. In this scene hundreds of kids the ages of the target audience are denoted running around the emporium trying out different games. The scene denotes a puppet moving by itself and a 'fresh fish mobile', connoting that they are magical as there is no other explanation in the children's eyes. Kids are taught to believe in magic from a young age as they are impressionable, to the ones watching this film the emporium will be a wonderland they desire to exist. Realistically, their should be some binary opposition of genders appearing in this scene as children are shoe-horned into stereotypes of what toys they should play with to fit their gender, but multiple genders are denoted playing with toys in the scene. This may influence the children watching to believe that it is acceptable to play with any toys they chose and not to judge others for stepping out their stereotypes and have an affect on their maturity.


Mr Magorium and Molly present ideal selves (Carl Rogers 1980) to the children: Mr Magorium is an ideal self because he runs a toy store and Molly is an ideal self because she is a strong female character. The scene in which Molly and Mr Magorium go to a bed store and jump on the beds is something most of the viewers either will have done or will still want to do (child or adult). This film is made up of children desires and this scene is no exception. Denoted is them jumping against a backdrop of blue wallpaper with clouds along it, connoting the sense of freedom in what they are doing in having such a childish abandon in the consequences of their actions. The watchers (old and young) will begin to view these characters as ideal selves for their future as they are doing what they like and not being held back by their ages, thus influencing the adults to allow themselves times to have fun in their lives and act as children do.


The film is broken up into chapters that convey the current narrative stage (Todorov 1977). The manner Eric begins the story is denoted being very 'once upon a time' styled which will appeal to the viewers as this is something they're familiar with. This keeps the audience well informed of what is going on, as children cannot be expected to follow a complicated story line.


Lifestyle

The NRS (National readership survey) are an organisation that specialise in demographic information by doing audience research for institutions. They create a demographic by doing surveys/questionnaires and analysing the results. My audience fit into the lifestyle category of 'settled suburban's, meaning they are settled with a family so would be going to see this film together with their children. 

A suburban family would relate to this film for multiple reasons. For instance there are toys in the film, being a suburban family they will buy a lot of toys for their children and the younger members of the family will be able to relate to playing the games seen on screen- they will buy a lot of the latest toys and also may have a console for video games. To be able to buy these toys they would have to live in fairly nice accommodation such as a semi-detached house where the kids would be liable to play with other children that lived close to them. Settled suburbans would go on holiday to locations like Disney Land to entertain their kids as well as paying for adventurous weekend activities for them in order to keep them busy e.g. scouts and brownies.
Secondly, the ages of the characters in the film reflect the personalities of viewers- Molly and Henry are the adults whereas Eric is the child. Molly and Henry are shown having struggled after growing up and either no longer believing in themselves or stuck trying to be mature constantly. The adults in the audience may relate to their problems and learn a valuable moral lesson from the film, the type of family I imagine seeing this film would be one that has little time to do anything else outside work except occasionally watch TV, because of this they could understand the struggle Molly and Henry are facing. Eric does not understand why the adults are facing these problems which provokes binary opposition between the ages. Whilst its a light-hearted and family friendly film it does touch on mature themes as well like death and the loss of childhood. Children will probably be oblivious to a lot of the darker themes, as they are too young to understand; instead it's like an extra addition to the film that will resonate with parents. There are also multiple star personas in the film (Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman), that each viewer will recognise for different reasons- children will recognise Hoffman because of Hook and adults will recognise him because of films such as Rain man. Adults will know Portman from V for Vendetta whereas children will know her because of Star wars- seeing these actors in the adverts will influence them to see the film as they are familiar with them.

Spending power

The spending power of an audience is often called their 'social grade' definition and is both well established and widely used. ABC1 is common when it comes to targeting an audience as they have a lot of disposable income (lots of money to spend/throw away). I believe that the people watching my movie will be middle class/lower middle class. This is for reasons such as the fact that this class will likely have a family and a relatively good income; going to the cinema to see a film would be a regular outing to keep their children content at a younger age. Both parents would likely have ordinary middle class jobs  to support their lifestyle, e.g. the mother might be a nurse and the father a builder. There will be a lot of merchandise from the film such as posters the parents can afford to put in the children's rooms or the purchasing the DVD when it comes out to rewatch- as they are of a higher band they can buy more for their children. A lot of toys are also advertised in the film which the younger viewers will probably want to buy afterwards as this is stereotypically a child's main hobby. The film itself uses a lot of CGI (children are now digital natives as they are growing up in a world with so many devices) which will appeal to the ABC1 band as it creates spectacle for the viewers and improves the quality of the film so it is worth spending more money on and creating escapism. It is likely the children will be influenced by the characters in the film and may see some of them as an ideal self, for instance Molly as she is a strong female character, because of this they will buy into her personality and try to become more like her. They may do this by dressing more like her in tomboyish clothes and their parents will be the ones funding their new clothes.

Uses and gratifications

Denis McQuail (1972) believed there were four reasons that people consumed media products- surveillance, escapism, building personal identity and building personal relationships. Mr Magorium's wonder emporium incorporates escapism and building personal relationships. Escapism is used in the film as the audience becomes submerged in the fictional diegesis and momentarily forget their daily lives. A fantastical world of magic within the emporium is created which children will appeal to because of its fantastical nature and become lost in as they desire for it to be real. The film also follows a relatively simple story line so anyone can easily understand the plot and be lost in it for a little while (it's just about the toy store being upset because Mr Magorium has left and losing it's magic). The film can also be used to build personal relationships as it leaves a lot to be discussed by viewers. Most of the movie is made up of CGI as that is the only way to make it appear as though there is actually magic happening in the emporium; the effects create spectacle for the audience which can be discussed after the film. Mr Magorium's wonder emporium also makes interesting moral points for adults to derive from the film, lessons such as you are never too old to be a child or you should never stop believing in yourself the way you do as a kid. These plot points leave discussions to be had on the effect these morals may have had on the viewer.