Timed Essay Question 1

Question: Explain how the arrival of digitally convergent media platforms has impacted on film producers. Refer to Disney and its 1967 and 2016 versions of The Jungle Book to support your answer. In this essay I will discuss how the arrival of digitally convergent media platforms have impacted film producers, and in the way that this affects processes such as marketing. A digitally convergent media platform is an interactive platform where people can share their thoughts and discuss topics. The film industry was completely different in 1967 in comparison to the sector in modern times. In 1967, the producers did not have the perks from digitally convergent media platforms and social media that we have today. The process of marketing and advertising would have been vastly different. The main ways a Disney film, would be advertised would be through posters/billboards, trailers, newspapers and possibly TV/radio. This still created a lot huge brand identity within the UK, and Disney were still very successful in this era. However, Disney did not have a global reach, so their brand was not known outside of the UK, as it is today. This is due to the lack of social media and technology available in 1967. There were no DVD’s in this time, so consumers could only watch films at a cinema, meaning the products did not have availability at all times for the audience. There was also no cross-synergy from Disney, for example, Disney nowadays use McDonalds happy meals to give a toy to the buyer, due to Disney’s products being targeted at children (primarily). Furthermore, Disney did not own any companies externally, like they currently do, therefore they could not promote their brand through these like we would see nowadays. The audience of Disney may also be different today than it was in 1967. The producers of Disney had traditional ideology’s, and these normally were portrayed in some way within the films. This is even portrayed in the jungle book due to the protectors of Mowgli (Baloo and Bagheera) both being males, whilst mostly the female would stay with the cubs. This links to Gender theory, due to the males being seen as superior to females in the sense of survival. This ideology is portrayed due to the identity of the producers, they have this identity because of their past experiences, for example newspapers they read, and the views of the people around them (their upbringing). This ideology would have been used in all of Disney’s films, therefore, the same message would have been portrayed repeatedly to the audience, and their views would be cultivated (cultivation theory). However, in modern times, the generation as a whole have more of a progressive representation, so may challenge some of the messages Disney portray. In 1967, the industry, and development of social media were only at web 1.0. This means that media products were a passive product, and they had a passive audience. For example, most of the media would be a non-interactive article which had been put on a webpage purely just to read. However, in more recent years, social media has developed into web 2.0. This is the second stage of development on the internet, mainly being the change from static webpages to dynamic or user-generated content and the growth of social media. The audience in this transition became an ‘active audience’, this transition mainly was kickstarted in the times when platforms such as ‘myspace’ were introduced. Due to the audiences becoming more active, they began to share information about themselves such as their interests. This gave access to Disney information about potential consumers identity, as they now had information regarding their hobbies, interests and lifestyle. As a result, Disney could target their audience in a number of more ways, and they had a better idea of a specific demographic they wanted to target from the rise of social media. Web 2.0 was also the start of prosumers. YouTube was founded in the 1970s and was a key part in which Disney can now market for their products, but also for fans to post film reviews and content related to their products. Prosumers can also post on blogs on various sites and discuss what they liked and did not like about a Disney product, where other people with similar identities who also like Disney will see the comments, this causes discussions between the fans of Disney, and is an example of fandom. Disney capitalised on the development from web 1.0 to web 2.0 and used it as a tool for marketing. For example, they posted trailers on their YouTube channel, websites and various social media pages, such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Disney created accounts specifically for the Jungle Book 2016 on these platforms and released teasers of the film and behind the scenes footage month before the release of the film, they would also use these platforms to implement cross-media synergy, for example Disney uploaded an interactive movie poster on Snapchat and users could apply a framed ‘Jungle Book’ lens, which turned their faces into the snake, Kaa. Since the introduction of web 2.0 Disney managed to maximise profits. They were aware that they had a mass audience so they would recreate products repeatedly, for example Jungle book have released a 40th anniversary copy and continue to release copies like this every year. Due to the brand loyalty consumers have for Disney they continue to purchase these products; this is an example of cultural industries. Due to the high profits Disney have made, they have purchased multiple other companies such as ESPN, ABC and FoxTV. Disney then used these platforms to advertise new products. Due to these companies having high brand identity and recognition in other parts of the world, Disney obtained global reach. In conclusion, the development of social media and digitally convergent media platforms has enabled Disney to reach a much larger audience and achieve global reach. The 1967 Jungle Book was fairly restricted regarding the amount of advertisement and the audience it could reach. However due to the development in these digitally convergent media platforms Disney can now achieve a much higher reach through the advertising on these platforms and due to the help of prosumers, who essentially also help promote the brand.