THE 'BIG SIX' RESEARCH

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. (CPII) is an American film production and distribution studio that is part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film studios in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age.

The studio, founded in 1918 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. The name is derived from "Columbia", a national personification of the United States, which is used as the company's logo.

In its early years a minor player in Hollywood, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.

With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the primary homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbia's major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant (who was shared with RKO Pictures). In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio's premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio.

In 1982, the studio was purchased by Coca-Cola; that same year it launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which merged with Tri-Star to create Columbia Pictures Entertainment. After a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Japanese company, Sony in 1989.

Films include:

·         21 Jump street

·         The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

·         Men in Black

·         The Amazing Spider-Man

·         Total Recall

·         Skyfall

·         Django Unchained

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., formerly known as Warner Bros. Studios, commonly referred to as Warner Bros. (spelled Warner Brothers during the company's early years), or simply WB is an American producer of film, television, and music entertainment.

One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Entertainment. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

Warner Bros. is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America

Films Include:

·         The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

·         Gangster Squad

·         Jack the Giant Slayer

·         42

·         The Great Gatsby

·         The Hangover Part III

·         Man of Steel

·         Pacific Rim

·         The Conjuring

·         Prisoners

·         Gravity

Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and division of The Walt Disney Studios, owned by The Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1950 as Walt Disney Productions, the division is based at the Walt Disney Studios and is the main producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit. It took on its current name in 1983. Today, in conjunction with the other units of The Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Pictures is classified as one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. Nearly all of Walt Disney Pictures' releases are distributed theatrically by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, through home media platforms via Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and through television syndication by Disney-ABC Domestic Television.

The studio's predecessor (and the modern-day The Walt Disney Company's as a whole) was originally founded as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, by filmmaker Walt Disney and his business partner and brother, Roy, in 1923.

The creation of Mickey Mouse and subsequent short films and merchandise generated revenue for the studio which was renamed as Walt Disney Productions at the Hyperion Studio by 1928. The studio's streak of success continued in the 1930s, culminating with the 1937 release of the first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which became a huge financial success. With the profits from Snow White, Walt relocated to a third studio in Burbank, California.

Films Include:

·         Toy Story 3

·         The Sorcerer's Apprentice

·         Tangled

·         Tron: Legacy

·         Mars Needs Moms

·         Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

·         Cars 2

·         John Carter

·         Brave

·         A Wreck-It Ralph

·         A Monsters University

 The company divided motion picture productions within the studio as two units; one for animation and another for live-action. The latter division began producing live-action films in 1950 with the release of Treasure Island. By 1953, the company ended their agreements with such third-party distributors as RKO Radio Pictures and United Artists and formed their own distribution company; Buena Vista Distribution. In 1983, Disney underwent a corporate restructuring resulting in the renaming of Walt Disney Productions as The Walt Disney Company and the studio itself as Walt Disney Pictures.

Universal Studios Inc. (also known as Universal Pictures), is an American motion picture studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBC Universal, and is one of the six major movie studios. Its production studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City.

Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, and Jules Brulatour, it is the oldest movie studio in the United States of America. It is also the fourth oldest in the world that is still in continuous production; the first being Gaumont Pictures, the second oldest is Pathé, the third is Nordisk Film, and the fifth oldest is Paramount Pictures. On May 11, 2004, the controlling stake in the company was sold by Vivendi Universal to General Electric, parent of NBC. The resulting media super-conglomerate was renamed NBC Universal, while Universal Studios Inc. remained the name of the production subsidiary. In addition to owning a sizable film library spanning the earliest decades of cinema to more contemporary works, it also owns a sizable collection of TV shows through its subsidiary NBC Universal Television Distribution. It also acquired rights to several prominent filmmakers' works originally released by other studios through its subsidiaries over the years.

Films Include:

·         Snow White & the Huntsman

·         Ted         

·         The Bourne Legacy

·         Pitch Perfect

·         Les Misérables

·         Mama 

·         Jurassic Park

·         Fast & Furious 6

·         Despicable Me 2

·         R.I.P.D. 

·         Kick-Ass 2 

·         The World's End

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, with hyphen, from 1935 to 1985)—also known as 20th Century Fox, or 20th Century Fox Pictures, is one of the six major American film studios as of 2011. Located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, just west of Beverly Hills, the studio used to be a subsidiary of News Corporation, but now it's currently a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. The company was founded on May 31, 1935, as the result of the merger of Fox Film Corporation, founded by William Fox in 1915, and Twentieth Century Pictures, founded in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck and Joseph M. Schenck.

20th Century Fox has distributed various commercially successful film series, including Star Wars, Ice Age, X-Men, Die Hard, Planet of the Apes, Fantastic Four, Alien and Predator. Television series produced by Fox include The Simpsons, M*A*S*H, The X-Files, Family Guy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, How I Met Your Mother, Glee, Modern Family and 24. Among the most famous actresses to come out of this studio were Shirley Temple, who was 20th Century Fox's first film star, Betty Grable, Gene Tierney, Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. The studio also contracted the first African-American cinema star, Dorothy Dandridge.

20th Century Fox is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Films Include:

·         Rise of the Planet of the apes

·         We Bought a Zoo

·         Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

·         Titanic

·         Prometheus

·         Abraham Lincoln: Vampire hunter

·         Ice Age: Continental Drift

·         Taken 2

Paramount Pictures Corporation (commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount) is a film and television production/distribution studio, consistently ranked as one of the largest (top-grossing) film studios. It is a subsidiary of U.S. media conglomerate Viacom, Paramount is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). It has distributed various commercially successful film series,

Films series include:

·         Shrek,

·         Transformers,

·         Mission: Impossible, 

·         Cinematic Universe (2008-2011),

·         Indiana Jones,

·         Star Trek,

·         Jackass,

·         Beverly Hills Cop,

·         "Crocodile" Dundee,

·         Madagascar,

·         Kung Fu Panda,

·         Paranormal Activity,

·         G.I. Joe,  

·         Friday the 13th.

Development in software and effect on audience and institution

Technology is constantly being developed and improved, and this is what allows major film companies to create films that push the boundaries of what is all ready possible with film making. However, film makers do not always take into perspective the effects that this could have on an audience and institution. The development of software and cinematography technology has in some ways allowed film makers to explore techniques that have never been used, but this is not always  successful as some audiences prefer tradition.

The access we have to watch films in modern times has completely altered due to the rapid development in technology. The ability to steal and pirate movies online is becoming more accessible all over the world, and this has a negative effect on the film industry as people can access them for free, causing a loss for the film makers. The the development in ways we can view a movie now gives people an alternative to just watching it via DVD. Things like HD and 3D TV's, Blu-ray players allow people to watch a film in a different perspective. HD Televisions are graphicly superior to standard pixilated TV's, it also allows the viewer to alter the dynamics of the sound through improved systems, and bring the precision of a cinema screen to home. By engaging the audience more effectively with such detail in both sound and vision, this encourages cinema goer's to swap the big screen for the top of the range TV, causing a loss for the cinema's. These detailed TV's allow you to do everything a cinema can, but just on a much smaller scale. The time taken for a film to go from the cinema to DVD had decreased and become a lot  faster allowing viewers to only have to wait a month or two before they can buy the film for a lot cheaper and a lot less hassle. With the invention of 3D TV's in 2010, the public brought them as they became a novelty trend, but this soon changed as they were not what people first thought. To watch any kind of film of programme you required specially made glasses, these however were not cheap, and made it more costly for the consumer if lost or broken. Samsung and Sony both created these large screens with added 3D in an attempt to compete with the modern cinema. The development of modern televisions over the past couple of years have caused cinemas to loose out on large amounts of money, as they can not keep up with the demand for new develop technology. As devises become more advanced, the demand will continue to rise, making it more difficult for the cinema brand to compete with such advanced technology. If there is no longer a future for cinema, this will destroy the concept of IMAX filming s there will be no need for it any more. Along with the need for cinemas to keep up with the advancing technology, they must constantly update the equipment within the establishment. If this does no happen, they will have no choice but to raise the admission prices in order to fund this development, which will only force people away even further and eventually force people to use 'Home' entertainment.

With the invention of the IMAX camera, that standard to which people could watch a film increased dramatically. With such a big screen to view the blockbuster on, the graphics were like nothing ever seen before, giving the cinema a unique edge. When shooting a film with an IMAX camera, it is filmed in the largest scale possible, adding to the realism of the film and also boosting ticket sales. However in order for an institution to hire the IMAX camera, they must pay $3,200 just for a day of filming. For larger productions, the amount of camera required would be a lot larger, an this required a large sum of money. With only the larger film companies being able to afford this, they had a advantage. Without a large budget, the IMAX cameras would not be affordable and not beneficial for the films production. With the lack of graphic quality, the film would eventually flop as audiences were not drawn towards it. The IMAX camera allows film makers to film in 2D, 3D and HD, each with slightly different graphic features, however the number of camera lenses determines the overall quality of the film. The IMAX camera was nt always practical for the director as it is on a continuous reel, and this means the director can only see every frame he had taken until the end of the day. This was restricting in regards of the production time. With this problem, the hire time for each camera would be a lot longer than planned causing the  films budget to be stretched even further to afford each camera.

With the development of devices such as the Blu-ray player, companies like Sony maker large profits from selling an up to date version of a DVD. The overall better quality and resolution of Blu-ray DVD's give's it a greater selling point over other DVD players. With a red laser being used in standard DVD player, the blue laser used by Blu-ray allows information to be stored at a greater density, allowing more features to be stored within the disk attracting a wider audience. By adding special features, this allows institutions to to charge extra money for un seen footage and interactive features. However, with Sony having all the rights to the Blu-ray design, they gain all of the profit, causing the institution to loose out on money overall.

In order for cinema's to become profitable institutions, they work closely with companies like orange mobile network  to create deals such as 'orange Wednesday', which allows 2 viewers to watch a film for the price of one. By promoting offers like these, both companies make a gain and profit. his example of synergy is useful for both institutions as they can promote each other, resulting in a higher income for both companies. This collaboration not only allows an audience to view films for affordable prices, but also consider changing their mobile network and WiFi to gain extra customers.  By working synergistically both institutions benefit from the extra gain in trades, and use it to create an image that not only benefits both companies, but also benefits the consumer.

As time develops so will the technology that allows audiences to access films globally. With the rise in sales of smart phones and android phones, these are a primary source for watching films online and streaming them straight a mobile. Stores such as Itunes allow the consumer to download a film straight to the phone, and  even allows people to illegally download films from the web. These illegal downloads prevent DVD and Blu-ray sales and this causes the certain institution to loose out on sales. Furthermore, this access to illegal films reduces sales at cinema's as the access to them from a mobile is so simple. his then goes on to effect the distribution, production and marketing foundations of a film, as it is not making the sales that it has the potential to. On the other hand, the quality of pirated movies does not meet the standard to what you would receive at a cinema, and they pose a threat to the profit margin of film institutions.

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All information about all films was sourced from www. Wikipedia.com

...Just thought i'd let you know!

The Hobbit: An unexpected journey

A film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit (1937) was in development for several years after the critical and financial success of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), co-written, co-produced, and directed by Peter Jackson. Jackson was initially going to produce a two-film adaptation of The Hobbit, which was to be directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Del Toro left the project in May 2010, after about two years of working with Jackson and his production team, due to delays caused in part by financial problems at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Jackson was announced as director that October.

The Hobbit films were produced back to back, like The Lord of the Rings films. Principal photography for The Hobbit films began on 21 March 2011 in New Zealand and ended on 6 July 2012, after 266 days of filming. Pick-ups for An Unexpected Journey were filmed in July 2012 as well. Work on the film was expected to be completed on 26 November, just two days prior to the film's Wellington premiere.

High frame rate

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey used a shooting and projection frame rate of 48 frames per second, becoming the first feature film with a wide release to do so. The new projection rate was advertised as "High Frame Rate" to the general public. However, the majority of cinemas projected the film at the industry standard 24 fps after the film was converted.

Score

The musical score for An Unexpected Journey was composed by Howard Shore. It was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and featured several vocal soloists. The original song "Song of the Lonely Mountain", sung by Neil Finn, served as the end title theme. The album received nominations for various awards and peaked in the top ten charts in Korea and the United States.

Dredd

Garland began writing Dredd in 2006 during post-production of his other writing credit Sunshine, and completed his first draft while serving as an executive producer during filming of 28 Weeks Later. Garland's draft revolved around one of Dredd’s main enemies, the un-dead Judge Death. He described the story as a "riff on the whole Judge system", but that it did not work because the Judge system had not yet been established and required too much knowledge about the Judge Dredd comic from the audience. He also considered the end result too surreal and extreme. From this script, Garland decided that the story needed to be more focused and grounded. He instead considered adapting some of the notable Judge Dredd storylines, including "Democracy" (1986) and "Origins" (2006).

With a $45 million production budget, filming began on 12 November 2010 in Cape Town and took approximately 13 weeks, with second unit photography occurring over seven weeks. Filming locations included Johannesburg and Cape Town Film Studios (Dredd was the first project filmed at the studio). The project involved a majority of Cape Town crew members and about 40 imported crew. The producers chose to film in South Africa because of the lowered cost of employing cast and crew compared locations in Europe and North America, and government incentives that offered to rebate up to 25% of the production costs. The film was shot digitally and primarily in 3D using RED MX, SI2K and Phantom Flex high-speed cameras. Multiple camera rigs were used. Some 2D elements were converted to 3D in post-production.

The filmmakers experimented with the visuals of Mega-City One, including the design and positioning of the city's tower blocks, to create the impression that the city had risen out of the remains of another. They found that replicating the comic visuals of blocks close together made the blocks appear small. Instead they allowed more space between the buildings to emphasise the larger buildings and allow for the presence of roads and cars to allow for extrapolation outside of the picture. Outcrops and appendages were added to break up the buildings' straight lines. On 7 October 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported that Travis was prohibited from participating in the editing process following creative disagreements between producers and executives. Garland took over the editing process; his contribution was considered significant enough for him to seek a co-director credit—a situation considered unusual as Garland had never directed a film before and had not been in charge of any filming. The disagreement concerned a disapproval over the footage that Travis was providing. Although Travis was removed from the editing process he was monitoring the progress of the film. On 10 October, Travis and Garland released a joint statement claiming that they had agreed on an "unorthodox collaboration" before production began, that Travis was still involved in the film and that Garland was not seeking a co-director credit.

Box Office Data

How to answer an essay question

Topic - What the exam is based on (E.g. Film, games etc.)

Aspect - The specific area of the topic (E.g. Marketing, distribution etc.)

Viewpoint - The question belief about the specific area of the topic

Instruction – What the question wants to do with that view

“Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to national audiences.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Topic - American & British film

Aspect - The production and making of the film

Viewpoint - The big six completely dominate the industry?

Instruction - What (Evaluation)

In order to answer this question, I need to gain a strong understanding about the production of a chosen film, and also information about the big six and their role in the national film industry.