History Of Mass Media From Traditional Age

History Of Mass Media From Traditional Age Mass media has coexisted with Homo sapiens since the brink of time as its history stretches back beyond the dawns of recorded history to the individual who then wanted to reach out to a larger group of audience through any form of communication, regardless a painting on the wall of a cave, or just by telling a story to a group of people. History of mass media can be traced back to the early days of dramas that were performed in various cultures. The word media was first mentioned in the 1920s, but back then, it referred to something that had its origin much further in the past and the term Mass Media originated with the print media that was also its first example. The first newspaper was printed in China 868 A.D, but due to the high cost of paper and illiteracy amongst people, it didnt prosper. It was Johannes Gutenberg, who for the first time printed a book in a printing press in 1453. However, the invention of printing press in the late 15th century gave rise to the first forms of mass communication, enabling publication of books and newspapers on a larger scale than previously possible. According to Wikipedia, mass media refers collectively to all media technologies, including the Internet, television, newspapers and radio, which are used for mass communications, and to organizations which control these technologies. Over the years, during the period post-Second World War, radio, television and video were introduced. The audio-visual facilities became immensely popular as they provided information and entertainment. Of late, it is the Internet which has become the latest and most dominant of all the mass media. Here, information is been generated through various websites and search engines. One can play games, listen to radio while working and chat with friends and relatives, irrespective of location. It also gives information on various topics such as literature, politics, science, sports, fashion, movies, education, career, jobs etc. similar to other types of mass media. Indubitably, one of the biggest influences in our modern lives today, is the force of mass media. Without this medium of communication, our way of live and our civilization would be much more backward than where we are today. We humans are still immature as we definitely have a lot of growing up to do as a race, and mass media is a tool that is supposed to aid us in achieving the aim of fulfillment. Mass media comprises of two parts; print media and the broadcast or also known as electronic media. The print media refers primarily to newspapers and magazines. Radio, television and the Internet constitute the broadcast media. Mass media is simply a section of the media that spreads to a large audience simultaneously, through various types of media. The simplest way to understand what mass media is about is to take a look at newspapers. The first high-circulation newspapers arose in the eastern United States in the early 1800s, and were made possible by the invention of high-speed rotary steam printing presses and railroads which allowed large-scale distribution over wide geographical areas. However, mass production of newspapers had a downfall. The increased rate of circulation led to deteriorate in feedback and interactivity from the readers, which made newspapers a one-way medium. Newspapers first appeared in Europe in the mid-17th century. They evolved gradually from a similar type of publication called broadsheet a single sheet of paper that responded to unusual events. Although newspapers of today and those in the past are quite similar in almost every aspect, newspapers and their content have changed over time. Newspapers in different communities often contain dissimilar contents. The future for newspaper industries seems to fade over time as people look to the Internet for news and young people turn away from papers, paid-for circulations are falling year after year. Papers are also losing their share of advertising spending. Classified advertising is quickly moving online. Inevitably, the newspaper industries which was once experienced explosive growth now faces cyclical trough as new technology such as the existence of e-book has rendered obsolete newspapers in their traditional format. Revenue has plummeted since fierce competition from internet media has squeezed older print publishers. The number of people reading newspapers and magazine has decreased over the years, and polls indicate that the public has more confidence in the accuracy of stories aired on television than in the papers. On the other hand, those who get their news from the print media are better informed. On the bright side, reading newspapers has a lower impact on global warming than reading online. This is so because the impact from powering a computer itself outweighs the impact from creating newsprint. According to Torraspapels Paper, Reading a newspaper generates lower impact on global warming than reading the news online for 30 minutes. Most newspapers today focus on local coverage. There are only a few that cover national issues in depth, and whose editorials can influence national policy. How important the print media is to the individual is subject to debate, however. Magazines, on the other hand, were known to exist since the 1700s in which it resembled books. Based on historical research, the first magazine ever produced was called The Gentlemans Magazine, released in January, 1731 by well-known writer of his prime, Edward Cave. The main idea of Edward was to compile a monthly issue of news and commentary on topics the public were interested in. The difference between magazines and newspapers is that magazine has a relaxed style of writing, while giving and sharing opinions in a magazine is encouraged. However, newspapers during that era were more fixed and straight-to-the-point, following strictly to collected data and statistics. Magazines from the past have a similar purpose to newspapers, criticizing organizations. For instance, Daniel Defoes first English magazine, The Review was published to criticize the Catholic Churches of England. The magazine was also released during the 1700s but published magazines then only lasted for a few months as publishers are geographically limited and the cost of magazine printing is very expensive. More than five decades after magazines were introduced, mass circulation was made possible. Magazines which was once only affordable by the buying elite, now available for the working class as well, and the subject matter had shifted mostly to entertainment sake as well. Magazines are now very affordable to the public. This was made possible by the lesser cost in printing and a bulk of the cost is also reduced due to the many advertisers that the magazines have. This is why that it is in magazines that advertising went full-blast. They can secure one whole page for their products in colored form unlike that in newspaper. Admittedly, this can cost more than the dailies but the potential buyer would be enticed more about the product as the ad would be more attractive in color. Nevertheless, from there, the concept of magazines expanded to various interests, ranging from sports to entertainment, general knowledge and more during todays popular culture. Magazines have a more casual style of reading as literary freedom is practiced. With this, venturing into each interests or fields is easier and more fun as magazine writers have freedom to express their ideas on the subject, as collected data comes second in magazine writing. Today, magazines can be found in almost every newsstand, divided into categories; some of them include IT, fashion and family. Successful magazines include Readers Digest, National Geographic and Peoples Magazine which are also placed in the Top 10 most subscribed magazines in the world. Readers can now also choose from the subscription options that publishing companies offer their customers. They can choose to be subscribed on a daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annually or annually on their magazine of choice. It is also great for short reading for its articles would not really be so mind-boggling but not that shallow either. This is why a lot of readers prefer magazine as well because they are not intimidated by the number of pages within, and they can stop at one article anytime they like and read the other articles any time they want. Book reading gives a much more different experience in which if you stopped at a section, you have to read the rest immediately if you dont want to risk losing yourself or being confused with the story. Magazines really had gone a long way since then as it already evolved itself in just less than three centuries and it was able to stand on its own with its own share of loyal followers. It is already an industry on its own and the evolution doesnt stop there. Magazines would still evolve and change but rest assured that its followers would be with them all the way. Commercial radio first began to broadcast in 1920, and got into politics very quickly carrying the results of that years presidential election. The 32nd President of the United States, President Franklin Roosevelt effectively used radio to communicate directly with the American people through his fireside chats during the worst days of the Depression. Radios are the earliest form of televisions, developed over 80 years ago when wireless communication was never a thought even in the most brilliant scientists minds. It was until the late nineteenth century that James Clerk Maxwell developed the first radio-wave theorem in 1864. Mathematically, he proved that if an electrical interruption is of short distance from the point at which it occurred, there would be effect or passage of electrical current due to a type of wave that moves at the speed of light, in which the electromagnetic energy would travel. Heinrich Hertz experimented with Maxwells thesis in 1888 and demonstrated that waves travelled in straight lines and could be reflected by a metal sheet. Augusto Righi, an Italian physicist, continued and refined Hertzs work, establishing the equality between electrical and optical vibrations. Another scientist, Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti, constructed, in 1888, a tube due to his belief that electrical discharges of atmospheric perturbations influence iron filings. In 1894, Oliver Lodge named Temistocles famous tube the coherer and increased the reception gain of the hertzian waves. Alexander Popoff then created a vertical metal pole by using Lodges coherer and collecting atmospheric disturbances in a rudimentary antenna. The invention of these instruments helped Guglielmo Marconis discovery who verified that electromagnetic waves travel between two points separated by an obstacle which led to the creation of the first radio transmitter. This experiment was repeated with larger spark gaps starting with 5 feet; expanded up to 100km and radiotelegraphy was born. The first radio station began operation in the 1920s. The broadcasting radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh. This service became very popular and soon the concept spread around the globe. Early uses of radios were maritime, for sending telegraphic messages using Morse code between ships and land. Radios were used to pass on orders and to communicate between armies and navies on both sides in World War I. Germany used radio communications for diplomatic messages once it discovered British had tapped its submarine cables. Besides broadcasting purposes, point-to-point broadcasting, including telephone messages and relays of radio programs became common in the 1920s and the 1930s. In the pre-war years, radios were the development of detection and locating aircrafts and ships by radars. As time progressed, so did the development of radio. Today, the concepts used in radios are also used in many modern devices that are now essential to our modern lives. Inventions of radios ultimately lead to telephony (Mobile phones), videos (Television sends the picture as AM and the sound as AM or FM, with the sound carrier a fixed frequency), satellite navigation systems (Satellites with precision clocks, the satellite then transmits its position, and the time of the transmission, the receiver listens to four satellites, and can figure its position as being on a line that is tangent to a spherical shell around each satellite, determined by the time-of-flight of the radio signals from the satellite. A computer in the receiver does the math), radars (Detects objects at a distance by bouncing radio waves off them. The delay caused by the echo measures the distance and the direction of the beam determines the direction of the reflection), radio remote control (Radio remote controls use radio waves to transmit control data to a remote object as in some early forms of guided missile, some early TV remotes and a range of model boats, cars and airplanes while large industrial remote-controlled equipment such as cranes and switching locomotives now usually use digital radio techniques to ensure safety and reliability), heating (Radio-frequency energy generated for heating of objects is generally not intended to radiate outside of the generating equipment, to prevent interference with other radio signals. Microwave ovens use intense radio waves to heat food. Diathermy equipment is used in surgery for sealing of blood vessels. Induction furnaces are used for melting metal for casting, and induction hobs for cooking), and even radio services. Radio became the dominant form of media during and after World War II, as it could provide war information much faster than newspapers, and people desired current news of the war situation and of their relatives fighting overseas. However newspapers still supplied daily information and advertising. Radios importance as a news and information source declined however with the introduction of television in the late 1940s. Television dominated the media industry in 1950s. Radio and print media was to compete with television that seemed to give the best of both media: pictures and sound. With the advent of television in the 1950s, print media and radio were forced to rethink their approaches towards news and entertainment. The new media changed the nature of running for the United States presidential office, the first campaign ads for a presidential candidate appeared on television in 1952 and the first presidential debate was aired in 1960 between Senator John Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon. The television however was not invented by a single inventor, instead by many who contributed to the evolution of television. It was Joseph Henrys and Michael Faradays work with electromagnetism in 1831 that jumpstarted the evolution of electronic communication. In 1862, the very first still image was transferred over wires by Abbe Giovanna Caselli, the first person to accomplish such feat in the history of mankind using his brilliant invention, the Pantelegraph. Scientists May and Smith then experimented with selenium and light, which eventually revealed the possibility of transforming images into electronic signals in 1873. Boston civil servant George Carey thought about complete television systems and in 1877 he put forward drawings for what he called a selenium camera that would allow people to see by electricity. By 1880, great inventors, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison theorize about telephone devices that were capable of transmitting images as well as sounds. Alexander invented the photophone, a device that used light to transmit sounds but he wanted to advance his device for image sending. Four years later, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, first to engineer a rotating-disc technology that was able to transmit pictures over wire, making Paul Nipkow the father of mechanical televisions. He was the first human ever to discover televisions scanning principle, in which light intensities of small portions of an image are analyzed and transmitted, making Paul Nipkow the forerunner of televisions. At the Worlds Fair in Paris, the first International Congress of Electricity was held. That is where Russian Constantin Perskyi made the first known use of the word television. At the dawn of the 20th century, the momentum of ideas and discussions shifted to physical development of television systems. Inventors around the globe attempted to build mechanical television systems based on Paul Nipkows rotating disks and electronic television systems based on cathode ray tubules developed independently in the 1907 by English inventor Alan Archibald Campbell Swinton and Russian scientist, Boris Rosing. Electronic television systems lagged behind mechanical systems for several years as mechanical television was cheaper to build and delicate parts was not used. Besides, it was difficult to get financial backing to develop electronic television when mechanical television worked so much better at that time and with a cheaper working system, the public didnt see the need to change. However, Vladmir Kosmo Zworykin and Philo Taylor Farnsworth made some critical breakthrough, and electronic televisions began to catch up. Electronic television systems eventually replaced mechanical systems. Peter Goldmark, working for Columbia Broadcast System, demonstrated color television to the Federal Communication Commision in 1946. His system produced color pictures from a red-blue-green wheel spin in front of a cathode ray tube. Cable television, formerly known as Community Antenna Television or CATV, was born in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the late 1940s. The first successful color television system began commercial broadcasting on December 17, 1953 based on a system designed by Radio Corporation of America. On June of 1956, practical television remote controller first entered the homes of Americans. The Germans however used remote control motorboats during World War I. In the late 1940s, the first non-military uses for remote controls appeared. The very first prototype for a plasma display monitor was invented in July 1964 at the University of Illinois by professors Donald Bitzer and Gene Slottow, and then graduate student Robert Willson. However, it was not until after the advent of digital and other technologies that successful plasma televisions became possible. There was an explosive growth of the media in the 1980s, especially television. Satellite television reported events across the world live. With competition from 24-hour cable television news, many newspapers disappeared. Cable news and subscription cable television also rose in popularity, competing with network television. According to a Media Research in May 1994, 98 percent of all American houses has at least one TV set. 63 percent received at least basic cable. It is estimated that the average American spends 20-25% of his or her time with the television on. According to a Newsweek article on June 7 1999, the United States is the largest exporter of television programs and American movies are in prime time television all over the world. However, the Europeans are now making more of their own shows and sitcoms that have more local flavour. As in the 80s, parents continue to question the appropriateness and value of media programming for children of different ages. As the 20th century was coming to an end, a new media was born the Internet. It links people together through their computer terminals with modems connected to telephone lines and with the Internet electronic publishing and chat rooms sprang up, allowing individuals to express their opinions freely to a large global audience, giving printed media a challenge to survive. With minimal technical information, any individual will be capable of commenting personal views on air without the huge expense as of in traditional publishing. The Internet also gave advertising a whole new platform to promote their products and delivering their message. The future of mass media is yet to be unknown as there are possibilities of new medium yet to be invented and because of the widespread distribution of cellphones and the Internet, it is easy to forget that both technologies are at their immature stage. However, it is unlikely that we, as of living in this society are able to focus on the lens of history with clarity upon what these technologies have or might have effect upon us in the future. Mass communication is truly the mass power to shape the future of human culture as communication is culture and since humans are searching for new forms of communication, indubitably, we are indirectly looking at new forms of utilizing power, new forms of controlling individuals and new forms of shaping the human culture to come.

The Marketing Of Movies Film Studies Essay

The Marketing Of Movies Film Studies Essay In 1910s, the era commonly known as the birth of movie marketing, the big focus was on the movie stars. As motion picture audiences grew, so too did the importance of the actors. It was producer Carl Laemmle who originated the publicity stunt, an orchestrated media event where something dangerous or spectacular related to the movie is performed in order to draw further attention to its opening. After asking Florence Lawrence, a famous movie star, to join his IMP production company, he announced to the press that Lawrence had died in the car accident. After news of her death had created a sufficient stir, he placed a full-page advertisement in papers to deny the story. That was one of the first deliberate marketing strategies in the industry and it changed the movie marketing system dramatically. (Block and Wilson, 2010:19). As the stars of movies became more and more identifiable, the publics curiosity about them grew to be insatiable. This then started an era of using movie stars to promote movies and ultimately, it opened a whole new field of movie marketing. From 1920s, film distributors had started to employ marketing teams to create and produce publicity materials like press books, which were intended to encourage cinema managers in the exploitation of the film product. Film historians tend to look at early press books in order to study the history of movie marketing itself. Each press book would carry information about the film and its production, such as the plot synopses, the cast, background information and all the details of the availability of posters or other promotional aids such as lobby cards or standees life-size cardboard cut-outs of characters from the film (Moat, 2003-2010) to be put in cinema foyers. Press books were also used to promote ideas like recipes, competitions, quizzes and tie-ins with the local shops, as well as suggested text for local newspapers. The peak of the press books popularity lasted from the 1920s until the beginning of 1950s, when film distributors started to have more money to spend on promotiona l strategies, and film going was at its height. By the mid 1950s, theatre attendance had dropped to only 50 percent of what it had been in 1946. (Lees and Berkovitz, 1981) To make things worse, the U.S Department of Justice had launched an antitrust suit against the Big Five film companies Paramount, RKO, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros. and MGM. After eight years of negotiations, these studios and three minor studios of that time Columbia, Universal, and United Artists agreed to what became known as the Paramount Consent Descree. (Pomerance, 2005:12) From now on, studios could no longer marshal under their own vertical structures the entire movie-making process, from acquisition of script material through pre-production, filming, editing, marketing, distributing, and exhibiting and therefore could no longer predict in advance what the profit range would be for the films they systematically produced. As the audience were less likely to visit the theatre, films had to have a more profound contact through the plot or use of vi sual effects. As a result, exhibition practises were modified in many ways after 1950 to lure the audience back: widescreen processes like CinemaScope and Cinerama, advance reservation road show bookings for major features, more intensive use of cinematic colour, the use of more exotic locations and lushly scored, quasi-symphonic or jazzy music. (Pomerance, 2005) However, what makes a hit? is the big question that has been on the minds of everyone involved in the movie business since its early days. (Lees, 1981:142) The uncertainty engendered by this shaky state of affairs causes, quite naturally, a parallel state of anxiety about decision making. There are no guidelines to consult that will indicate anything other than approximate probability. Film marketing has therefore two definitions. One is giving the public what they want. The other is making the public want what you have got. In the eyes of many movie marketers, this amounts to a very clear distinction between bad and good. (E.Squire, 2006:67) The problem is that there is usually no sure way to tell what the public wants. In late 1960s, film makers had started to use marketing research as a method of predicting the audience acceptance. Its goals were clear: determine a statistical picture of the kinds of people who go to movies, find out if certain projects will meet with public favour and learn how to market films that have already been made. (Marich, 2009:29) However, producers could watch the results of market research, trade paper reports of grosses, but the numbers for one film could never predict how the next one would do. In the 1970s, for example, there were three kinds of films one did not make: science fiction, sports and Vietnam. The films in those subject categories had all bombed, so it was assumed the public was turned off by the subject matter. (Stringer, 2003) Vietnam was depressing, science fiction was for buffs, and who wanted to see movies about boxing when they could see real sports at home, for free? Star Wars (Lucas, 1977), Coming Home (Ashby, 1978) and Rocky (Avildsen, 1976) buried these arguments forever, although the same thinking persists. For example, the presence of stars in the cast was said to be insurance that a film would be successful, but in Star Wars, for example, there were no famous names. Interestingly, the American film industry changed more between 1969 and 1980 than at any other period in its history, except perhaps for the introduction of sound. During that time, profits for the most successful motion pictures rose from the hundreds of thousands to the hundreds of millions of dollars. (Curran, 1998) The sixties were also highly marked by the rise of television. Although still too expensive, it opened a new window for film marketers. The film that is often credited with changing how movies are distributed and marketed was Jaws (Spielberg,1975), the first film to open at a thousand theatres and to use network television to support it. Made by Universal Pictures, the studio liked the complete film so much that it began a TV advertising campaign that cost an unprecedented $700,000 (Block, 2010:506) The film opened on 490 screens, setting the standard for subsequent wide openings for Hollywood films. Universal was looking to ramp up the marketing for Jaws to levels never seen before. Three nights before the film was scheduled to open nationwide, the studio saturated the networks during peak prime time hours with a barrage of thirty-second trailers. When it opened on June 20, Jaws become a national sensation. After the Jaws experience in 1975, multi-disciplined marketing departments were created, which included specific divisions for publicity, creating advertising, media buying, and promotion. (Cook, 2000). The follo wing chart depicts Jaws franchise films all-release worldwide box office revenues versus their production costs. (Block, 2010:507) Equivalent 2005 $s Against the rule of films one should not make in 1970s, George Lucas began developing his concept of a mythical science-fiction action adventure film named The Star Wars, set in the distant future and featuring a cast of characters. Universal and United Artists passed on it, but 20th Century Foxs Alan Ladd Jr. offered Lucas $10.000 to develop the screenplay. (Bakker, 2008:101) The head of Foxs advertising department, David Weitzner, began working on the film in February of 1977 and hired the successful advertising agency of Smolen, Smith and Connoly, which had previously created campaigns for such movies as Carrie (De Palma,1976) and The Omen (Donner, 1976). Donald Smolen began his task by examining the initial marketing research that had been conducted. The reports from the early screenings were not very encouraging said Smolen. We were told not to spend too much money, because the research showed it was just another science-fiction movie. (French, 1997:32) They certainly were not too excited about it, with the exception of Ashley Boone, the vice president of distribution at Fox, who kept touting the film, saying it is going to be a hit. When Fox screened the film for Smolen and his partners, they were not impressed. At this point, there were so much missing from the film it was not fair to judge it, although we did. However, my job was to make sure the f ilm was sold. In that regard it did not make any difference what the research showed or what anybody thought about the film. We were just trying to sell the film in the best possible way. (French,1997:32) To pump up pre-release interest, Lucas inventively tapped science fiction conventions, released a comic book and a novelization. The film opened to long lines at 10.00 am on May 25,1977 in a mere 43 locations across the United States. (Lucasfilm Ltd, 2004) No one knew it was going to be a big hit remembers David Prowse, actor playing Lord Vader. Nowadays, we take for granted that a big blockbuster will go out with thousands of prints and open in May. But back then the summer special effects blockbuster did not exist. (Prowse,2010) Although there were certainly fewer movie theatres in operation during the 1970s compared with today, a wide release of a mainstream, non-specialised film at that time typically meant a few hundreds engagements. Lippincott, former Lucasfilm Ltd. Vice President for Advertising admits that if the film was redone today, on the basis of the way movies are released with a couple of thousands prints, it probably would have been unsuccessful. Theatres did not want the movie. We were lucky to get forty theatres to open it (Gross, 1999:55) What is more, until the mid 1970s, movies were poor cousins of television when it came to merchandising. Sound tracks and books had always brought income to producers and studios, but the manufacturers who bought licenses to make other kinds of products such as toys or t-shirts figured that regular weekly exposure on television was the key to selling their goods. In comparison, movies seemed to be quick, one-shot affairs, not around long enough to sustain a product in the marketplace. (Curran, 1998) All that changed with Star Wars. The phenomenal success of most of the scores of Star Wars items showed that all sorts of products could ride on the coattails of a hit film. It also showed that through shrewd merchandising, a studio could make millions of dollars above and beyond income from movie theatres. The studios tend to define merchandising as any instance of an outside company using a film title or an image from a film on a product or as part of an advertising campaign. (Smith, 20 02:34) The latter case is called a tie-in, and as its name suggests, it is a partnership of two different companies in a unified advertising strategy. George Lucas agreed to reduce his salary as a film maker, reportedly $100.000, in exchange for Fox agreeing to let him have the films merchandising rights and other, lesser non-cash considerations. At the time Star Wars hit theatres, it had just ten licensees, but that mushroomed when the science fiction movie exploded in the box office. According to The Licensing Letter, the original merchandisers were Kenner for toys, games and crafts, Factors and Image Factory for t-shirts and posters, Ben Cooper for childrens costumes, Twentieth Century Records for soundtracks, Ballantine for paperbacks, Marvel for comics, Don Post Studios for various masks, Ken Films for edited home movies, and George Fenmore Associates for souvenir programs. (Marich, 2009:144) Star Wars was the real birth of the modern movie licensing business and it caught a lot of people by surprise. Six months after the release of Star Wars the much anticipated range of toys still was not ready. Puzzles, jigsaws and other items that could be produced with relatively short lead times begin to dominate toy shops across America, but Kenner had simply not had enough time to create its product. It became apparent to everyone at the company that they were going to miss the all-important Christmas toy purchasing period. Worried that by the time its products were available, the Star Wars obsession of Americas children would be over, the company devised the Star Wars Early Bird Certificate Package. (Lucasfilm Ltd, 2004) This was a large envelope available in toy stores. It included a certificate which the recipient would have to post to Kenner, remembering to include his or her name and address. The recipients would then, as soon as the toys were produced and before they were av ailable in shops, receive the first four of Kenners Star Wars action figures: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2 and Chewbacca. Kenner, which is now owned by Hasbro, still to this day has a Star Wars license for different merchandise. To compare, in 1997, by adding just four-and-a-half minutes of new footage to the original film, at a cost of $10m, roughly the cost of the entire original movie, George Lucas has managed to recycle Star Wars back to the top of the box office and make it the most successful picture of all time in the US. When it opened on May 25, 1977, Star Wars took $2.6 million in six days from a timid 32-screen release. On January 31, 1997, the re-release exceeded all expectations with $35.9m from 2,104 screens. (Duncan, 1997: 16) When George Lucas decided to digitally revamp the Star Wars trilogy for re-issue, Lucasfilm and 20th century Fox were left with a marketing conundrum. How do you build awareness for a film that is possibly the best known picture ever made? We went into re-release without a marketing template explains Gordon Radley, president of Lucasfilm. (Lucasfilm Ltd, 2004) Star Wars is more than a cultural phenomenon, it has such an impact on the hearts and minds of cinema-goers and no trilogy has ever been re-released on such a large scale. Lucas himself had strict guidelines for the worldwide re-release: it was to emphasise the in-theatre experience- the big screen as the best possible way to see Star Wars as well as stressing the unique chance to see all three films in a relatively short scape of time. Less than a year before the Star Wars relaunch, the new trio was titled The Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition and given the tag line Join the Celebration! Back on The Big Screen! (Lucasfilm Ltd , 2004). Although the average American has seen the film many times, US posters used the phrase See It For The First Time. (Duncan, 1997:16) Working with Lucasfilm, Fox marketers have approached Star Wars in terms of raising the consciousness of an existing, long-lasting brand name. The important thing was that we were not bringing a new film out says Jim Gianopulos, president of 20th Century Fox International. We didnt have to raise awareness. In 1996, before the release, Star Wars merchandising held the number two sales spot. (Smith, 2002:35) Star Wars action figures were the biggest selling toy after Barbie and has made more than $3 billion since the release of the film in 1977 twice the amount the franchise itself has earned. The unprecedented $2 billion tie-in with PepsiCo that was struck in May 1996, became the cornerstone to promoting Star Wars as a brand name again. (Duncan, 1997:16) During the latter part of the decade, intoxicated by the success of Jaws and Star Wars, Hollywood developed a blockbuster complex. The following table depicts franchise films originating in the 1970s. (Block and Wilson, 2010:533) Equivalent 2005 $s in Millions of $s Rank Franchise Number of Films in Franchise All-Release Worldwide Box Office 1 Star Wars 6 $6,872.9 2 Jaws 4 $2,238.9 3 Rocky 6 $2,060.6 4 Superman 5 $1,797.0 5 The Godfather 5 $1,139.2 The event movies, franchise films, and instant blockbusters that drove the box office of the 1980s became more expensive, more high-tech, and more international in the 1990s, although the profits became even harder to realise. By the early 1990s, sophisticated marketing techniques such as advertising testing, the use of the internet and product placement in films, became firmly rooted in the business. As production and marketing costs soared, more and more movies opened with huge grosses only to fade after the first weekend, replaced by another movie the following weekend. Nobody could predict that in a summer packed with big-budget mainstream studio fare like Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Lucas, 1999) and Wild Wild West (Sonnenfeld, 1999), Artisan studio would score the most stunning coup in recent times by propelling Blair Witch Project, a grainy, low-tech documentary, to $250 million at the box office worldwide. (Marich,2009:96) Interestingly, the writers of the film spent less than $100,000 to make and present it in documentary style. As a result, with sequels, videos and licensed merchandise, it became the most profitable low-budget films in cinema history, as depicted in the following table. (Block, 2010:520) Top 5 Blockbuster Movies Lowest Production Cost versus Highest Revenue All-Release Domestic Box Office, 1960-2009 Equivalent 2005 $s in Millions of $s Rank Film Initial Release Domestic Box Office Production Cost 1 The Blair Witch Project 1999 $177.3 $.04 2 Easy Rider 1969 $191.7 $1.9 3 American Graffiti 1973 $402.0 $3.30 4 Psycho 1960 $209.9 $5.3 5 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2002 $266.4 $5.4 Thanks to a revolutionary use of the internet and word-of-mouth, the movie stood out amongst the onslaught of $200 million movies with corporate tie-in partners and $50 million advertising budgets. Bound by a small marketing budget, the internet proved to be the one outlet where the money spent paid off in spades. The Web completely levels the playing field; you cant out-spend somebody on the Web the Artisans studio marketing head, John Hegeman said. Its against the grain of every other media; you create a message and give it time to breathe. If the environment is interesting, you can hold onto the fan base longer, as opposed to a 30-second ad thats here and gone. For us, it was the most important and impactful delivery mechanism (Hegeman, cited in Stanley, 1999) Co-director of the movie, Eduardo Sanchez, created the Blair Witch Project website to outline the story of the Blair Witch and lure potential investors- before the screenplay had even been written. He also planted a false information that the murders shown on-screen were real, not staged by film makers. Of course the events depicted in the movies were not real, but the controversy they caused helped boost interest and ticket sales. Rather than posting a typical promotional movie site with Shockwave presentations, cute screen savers, a few trailers, and an opening date, Sanchez created a Web site that is an extension of the movie rather than just an online advertisement. In addition, just before the general release of the film, The Science-Fiction Channel aired a mockumentary, Curse of the Blair Witch (Sanchez, 1999b), which, supposedly, investigated the legend behind the movie. The program contains actual interviews of relatives and friends of the three main characters. (Sanchez, 1999b) Since the whole legend was fictional, including the myth of the missing students, the program can be treated as another marketing mechanism for the film. Despite this, it gives more background information on the legend that is hinted at in the film. Then, at the Cannes Film Festival, the producers distribute flyers containing information about the cast. The missing posters of the actors of the film were also put up. These marketing strategies and also the authentic feel of the movie made many viewers believe that the whole documentary was real, even though the film was listed in the fiction category. This decade also saw industry consolidation accelerate. By the end of the 1990s, bigger companies dominated the entertainment industry and companies such as News Corporation (20th Century-Fox and Fox Broadcasting), Time Warner (Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema), and Viacom (Paramount, Blockbuster Video, and CBS) were changing the dynamics of ownership. (Bakker, 2008:122) Studios were no longer part of companies focused primarily on movies and TV shows. These companies ushered in an era of more intense research, which was conducted at a higher cost. Everything was tested, from story concepts to TV commercials. These companies were also able to raise vast pools of funds from investors both in United States and around the world. Movies were still shown on film, but there were signs that the end of the celluloid era was upon us as movies entered the electronic age. Digital technology was used first to store information, then to edit movies and TV shows, and later as a tool in special effects, leading ultimately to the beginning of digital cinema, which would transform production, distribution, and exhibition. At the same time the internet gave easy access to an abundance of information and fast communication. When in 1993 only 1.3 million people used the Internet, by the year 2000, over 300 million people had access. (Bordwell, 2003:274) Soon after, the DVD was introduced as a digital consumer entertainment format and seemed likely to replace videotape. However, mainly due to evolving technology, the U.S film industry faced many new difficulties as a new century dawned. Film piracy exploded, thanks to digital copying and internet access. Also box-office revenues swelled due to increased ticket prices as supposed to larger audiences. In real terms, theatres were earning less from tickets sales that they had in the 1980s. (Stringer, 2003) In the meantime, the costs of film making and marketing were rising faster than the income. Nonetheless, theatrical motion pictures remained central ingredients in the media mix. Films spawned television series, video games, comic books and other merchandise material. The press tracked top-grossing films as if they were a sports team. The industry might have been riddled with economic problems, but film was securely at the centre of Americas and the worlds popular culture. Bibliography draft: Bakker, George (2008) Entertainment Industrialised. The Emergence of the International Film Industry, 1890-1940, University Press, Cambridge. Bassom, David (1999) Star Maker, StarBust, May 1999, pp. 40-45. Bhuvaneshwari (2005) Star Wars: A Star Brand, IBSCDC, May 2005, pp. 1-8. Block, Alex Ben and Lucy Autrey Wilson (2010) Blockbusting, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., New York. Cook, David (2000) History of the American Cinema. 9 Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970-1979, MacMillan, New York. Curran, David (1998) Guide to American Cinema 1965-1995, Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport. Dale, Martin (1997) The Movie Game. The Film Business in Britain, Europe and America, Cassell, London. Duncan, Celia (1997) Marketing Focus: Star Wars Trilogy, Screen International, March 1997, p. 16. Endicott, Robert (2000) Studios Soar to New Box-Office Nirvana Advertising Age, July 2000, p. 10 E.Squire, Jason (2006) The Movie Business Book, McGraw-Hill Education, England. French, Lawrence (1997) Selling the Force, Cinefantastique, February 1997, pp. 32-37. Hayward, Susan (1996) Key concepts in Cinema Studies, Routledge, New York. Izod, John (1988) Hollywood and the box office, 1985-1986, MacMillan Press, Hampshire. Kempster, Grant (2005) Star Wars, Film Review, August 2005, pp. 12-16. Lehu, Jean-Marc (2007) Branded Entertainment: Product placement and brand strategy in the entertainment business, Kogan Page, London. Lees, David and Stan Berkowitz (1981) The Movie Business, Random House, New York. Marich, Robert (2009) Marketing to Moviegoers: A Handbook of Strategies and Tactics, second edition, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. Pham,Andrew and Neil Watson (1993) The Film Marketing Handbook, BAS Printers Limited, Hampshire. Pomerance, Murray (2005) American Cinema of the 1950s. Themes and Variations, Oxford International Publishers Ltd, Oxford. Prowse, David, actor playing Lord Vader in Star Wars trilogy. Face-to-face interview (notes), 20 September, 2009, Glasgow. Smith, Jim (2002) The Star Wars Story- Part One, StarBust, May 2002a, pp. 34-41. Smith, Jim (2002) The Star Wars Story- Part Two, StarBust, June 2002b, pp. 26-33. Smith, Jim (2002) The Star Wars Story- Part Three, StarBust, July 2002c, pp. 28-34. Stringer, Julian (2003) Movie Blockbuster, Routledge, New York. Wasko, Janet (2003) How Hollywood Works, SAGE Publications, London. Miller, Neil The Ultimate Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Photo Gallery, http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/the-ultimate-harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince-photo-HYPERLINK http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/the-ultimate-harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince-photo-gallery.phpgallery.php (accessed 22.02.2010) Royal Albert Hall Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix http://www.royalalberthall.com/about/history-and-archives/timeline-detail.aspx?search=20030626 (accessed 18.02.2010) Granville, Williams Bestriding the World http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/granville.shtml (accessed 22.03.2010) Entertainment Marketing Letter Product Placement On The Rise In Broadcast Network Primetime Shows, http://www.epmcom.com/products/entertainment/eml (accessed 10.03.2010) Koster, Olinka Harry Potter and the not-so-wizard Coca-Cola wheeze http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-79086/Harry-Potter-wizard-Coca-Cola-wheeze.html (accessed 23.03.2010) Moat, Janet Selling the Movies, http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tours/marketing/marketingtour1.html (accessed 24.10.2009) Grover, Ronald Twilight, the Movie: This Seasons Harry Potter? http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2008/tc20081114_235548.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_companies (accessed 22.03.2010) MPAA Marketing budget 2007, http://www.mpaa.org/researchStatistics.asp (accessed 10.01.2010) Box Office Mojo Proud American, http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=proudamerican.htm (accessed 21.01.2010) Thilk, Chris Harry Potter series http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/2004/06/03/7005/ (accessed 5.09.2009) Filmprofit, Producers Marketing Package http://www.filmprofit.com/samples/ProdMarkSample.pdf (accessed 01.01.2010) Stanley, Tim, High-Tech Throwback marketing of Blair Witch Project, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BDW/is_36_40/ai_56023086/ (accessed 10.11.2009) Star Wars:Bonus Material, prod: Lucasfilm Ltd., USA, 2004. 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Repression and Fear of Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, and Transgender America

Repression and Fear of Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, and Transgender Americans Every June thousands of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender people gather in different locations around the world to celebrate Gay Pride Month with dances, festivals, and marches. The categories of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender are fairly recent; the term "homosexual" used to refer to all individuals of a sexual orientation other than heterosexual. The tradition reached its thirty-fifth anniversary this year, and while the number of participants has skyrocketed since the first march, the rights for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender people have not altered significantly since 1970. For example, not only are same sex marriages not legally recognized or granted the same privileges as opposite sex marriages, the current administration proposed to ban the possibility of same sex marriages ever being recognized by the government through a constitutional amendment. This amendment is one in a series of attempts by the American legislature to restrict and confine the homosexual lifestyle, therefore an entire month seems extraneous to celebrate their identity given their lack of legal rights. But the more the government threatens to interfere with the choices of homosexuals, the louder PRIDE becomes: cities such as New York and San Francisco boast attendance in the hundreds of thousands. The legislative act of prohibition has provided strength to the prohibited acts in the case of sexual behavior and identity. Michel Foucault best explains how homosexuality became an identity and a category. In The History of Sexuality, Foucault explores the validity of the "repressive hypothesis" which claims that sex has been repressed in Europe s... ...story of sexuality has resulted in individuals being defined by their sexuality, thus laws against homosexual acts prohibit homosexuals from claiming who they are. Social and legal attempts to restrain the homosexual identity have been met with increasing support and power. Works Cited: 1. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality Volume I: An Introduction. Trans. Robert Hurley. (New York: Vintage Books, 1980) 2. Rubin, Gayle. American Feminist Thought at Century's End: A Reader. Ed. Linda S. Kauffman. (Cambridge, Ma: Blackwell, 1993) 3. Paris is Burning. Dir. Jennie Livingston. Videocassette. Miramax, 1992. Internet Sources: 1)Sodomy Laws, A reference site for the history and current status of sodomy laws in the US and around the world. 2)American Civil Liberties Union ,Website for the organization working to defend the bill of rights.

Quest for Purpose in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut Essay -- Works of Kurt

Quest for Purpose in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kurt Vonnegut's personal experiences force him to question the meaningless cruelties and conflicting paradigms in life.   As a second generation German-American and a witness of Dresden's bombing during World War II,   he observes firsthand the pointless destruction of which humans are capable (Dictionary 494).   He devotes his works to understanding the chaotic, cruel world he encounters.   According to   Peter Reed, Vonnegut's works feature a "...protagonist in quest of meaning in an absurd world" (500).   While struggling to understand the disordered universe around them, Vonnegut's protagonists attempt to become satisfied individuals by understanding the purpose of human life.    As he probes the chaotic nature of the universe, Vonnegut, according to Ernest Ranly, "...seems preoccupied with genuine human questions, about war, peace, technology, human happiness" (454).   Vonnegut's works show an obsessive desire to answer these questions, and he explores them by narrating quests for order and purpose in human life.   According to Stanley Schatt, Vonnegut "...believes passionately in both the importance of the individual and the need for human love and compassion" (348).   Vonnegut's beliefs become apparent as the searchers invariably realize Vonnegut's truth: the universe is too chaotic to understand, so the secret to order in their lives is simply kindness. In Vonnegut's novel, Galapagos, the narrator, Leon Trout, attempts to understand humanity's cruelty after witnessing the Vietnam War's brutality and lack of purpose.   As a marine in "...a nearly endless, thankless, horrifying, and, finally, pointless war..." (Galapagos 254), Trout struggles to come to terms w... ...nd: A Study of the American Novel in the Nineteen-Sixties.   Yale, 1973.   Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism,   Vol. 3.   Detroit: Gale,1975. Ranly, Ernest W.   "What Are People For?" Commonweal.   7 May 1971, 207-211.   Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism,   Vol. 2.   Detroit: Gale,1974. Reed, Peter J.   "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr."   Dictionary of Literary Biography.   Vol.2: American Novelists Since World War II.   Detroit: Gale, 1978. _____.   "Kurt Vonnegut."   American Writers.   1981.   Scribner's Writers Series. Schatt, Stanley.   "The World of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." in Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction. Vol. XII, No. 3, 1971.   Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism,   Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale,1973. Vonnegut, Kurt.   Galapagos.   New York: Dell, 1985. _____.   Mother Night.   New York: Dell, 1961. _____.   The Sirens of Titan.   New York: Dell, 1959.

Postmodernity as the Climax of Modernity: Horizons of the Cultural Futu

Postmodernity as the Climax of Modernity: Horizons of the Cultural Future ABSTRACT: Given that any society is endowed not only with a set of institutions but also with the particular pattern of self-reflection and self-description, postmodernity should be viewed as an epoch representing the climax of modernity and its self-refutation. Parting with traditional society, modernity represents the triumph of power-knowledge, the divorce between spheres of culture, the global social relations, the new institutions, the change in the understanding of space-time relations, the cult of the new, and the modernization process. While preserving the institutional set of modernity, the postmodern period casts into doubt the basic thought foundations of classical modernity. The horizons of the emerging cultural future should be viewed in the light of a positive synthesis of the postmodern reflexive pattern with the legacy of modernity. The final of the 20-th century became an epoch of the radical reconsideration of the legacy of modernity. Beginning from the fifties, the new postclassical period of development of Western culture and society appeared as a specific reality that was more radically coined by the end of sixties-beginning of seventies when, with the growth of the feeling of a radical break with the past, a pattern of postmodernist cultural reflection obtained its definite popularity. Philosophers and historians of culture are intensively debating the question whether the coming of this period marked the end of modernity or its climax opening the horizons of the completely unknown future . In any event, the change of the pattern of cultural reflection looks very important and deserves special attention for it evidently reveals... ... Baudrillard, Jean. The Illusion of the End. Cambridge: Polity Press,1994. Bernstein, Richard. The New Constellation. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1995. Foucault, Michel. Politics. Philosophy. Culture. New York: Routledge, 1988. Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press,1995. Habermas, Jurgen. Der philosophische Diskurs der Moderne. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag,1989. Jameson, Fredric. The Seeds of Time. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Lyotard, Jean-Francois. The Postmodern Explained. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1993. Rorty, Richard. Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Vattimo, Gianni. The End of Modernity. Oxford: Polity Press, 1991. White, Stephen. Political Theory and Postmodernism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Differences Between PR and Advertising

Public relations is planned and conducted in a business-like way. PR deals with many different groups of people known as publics and relates to all the communications of total organization. It’s not a form of advertising, its purpose is to tell not selling product yet it is playing a role of spreading knowledge about a new product or service, informing and educating people,and creating understanding to the prescribed objectives. Sometimes, it is also the beginning to play an important brand-building role. However, advertising is a form of communication that is intended to convince the target market to purchase or take some actions upon products,ideas or services. It’s mainly presents the most persuasive selling message to the public by using attractive layout,colourful illustration,creative scriptwriting skill,and themed video-making or ‘copy platform’ in an advertisement. Thus,it is higher cost than PR. Besides, advertising didn’t build up market knowledge about the new and unknown product or service to the public while PR does. For instance, a company pays for the advertisement space about its latest product or service so that the company can creative control what goes into the advertisement and how long the advertisement runs for. It could be design become more attractive to fascinate buyers to buy it. And it will be bringing the hard-selling message to motivate market buyers with using those buzz word as ‘Act now! Buy this product! ’ to purchase it. Whereas, the PR for the company will create understanding through knowledge, inform its own exclusive products or services to the public clearly and it helps to build up market knowledge as well. Then,those buyers would be more understanding about the company brand than just knowing their products by its packaging or advertisement. Yet, the company has no control on how the media presents,must it writing in a no-nonsense news format and the press would only be released once.

Gothic Art and Architecture

Gothic art and architecture played a very important role in the appearance of medieval times. The approximate time frame of the Gothic stage began in 1125, preceding the Romanesque period. Gothic art was first considered very ugly and was believed that barbarians were only capable of making such pieces. So, the name gothic meaning ghost was given to this time period. Now in the 20th century people think Gothic art is beautiful and admire it greatly. The First Methodist church in Notate by Red Barrel is a Gothic church.While looking at the church you take note of the pointed arches. This is a feature that began in the Gothic time period, and replaced rounded arches of the Romanesque period. Pointed arches are on every window and on the frame of the door. Inside you can see a simple barrel vaulting system. Another feature of Gothic art that The First Methodist Church has is the wonderful stain glass windows. They were very long and told a religious story. The stain glass allows the wal ls to be thinner and let a nice color filled light in.This light fills the church, and back then would be one of the only systems of light. The most dominant feature of Gothic architecture is the size, or height of the church. They believed that the higher the church the better, because they were closer to heaven. Some even contained towers so they could be closer to heaven. The one in Notate is very tall and has a very high ceiling. The ground plan for the church is in a cross, Just like medieval times. Inside the church is very complex along with the high ceilings.There are no painting, but the columns are highly decorated and complex. The First Methodist Church in Notate has many Gothic features, but is missing some characteristics. It does not have flying buttresses, or a rose window, which were strong Gothic traits. Also there were no windows on the east end where the sun rises. Alters were mainly put on the eat end, so when the sun rose it would fill the alter with light. Goth ic architecture is very beautiful, and the town of Notate is very lucky to have such a marvelous Gothic church in its town.