a past paper question

For the holiday work we had to do this past paper question. It doesnt really have to do anything with my coursework but it is just relevant because of the movies I wrote about. I chose to write about Tim Burton`s Alice in Wonderland and Requiem for a dream and shows my research on them, the companies that distributed them and how the budget affected it.

How important is the technological convergence for institutions and audiences within the media area you have studied?

In recent years the technology has progressed a lot. We are now in the era called the Computer Age and media is a part of our lives every single day. If something interests us, whether it is a magazine, a film, a book, you can be sure that they won’t just be part of specific brand of media. This is because nowadays products converge into many different platforms.

For my media coursework I have studied a film “Requiem for a dream” a lot, so I will talk about it as an example of a low budget film. Film was released in 2000 and was distributed by “Artisan Entertainment”. Its budget was 4.5 million dollars and box office - $7,390,108. Requiem for a dream was very successful and received a lot of positive critics reviews. However, as it was produced on a low budget and by an independent label, technological convergence is quite minimal with this particular product. There is a website for the film ‘http://www.requiemforadream.com”, which allows online promotion for sales and distribution to the public. The website is quite old fashioned and doesn’t look right for viewers nowadays, because it was developed 13 years ago. A soundtrack by Clint Mansell is also available to purchase and is very relevant to the films’ genre.

Comparing Requiem for a dream with another high budget film, Alice in Wonderland, 2010 American computer-animated and live action fantasy film directed by Tim Burton. Its budget was 150 – 200 million dollars and box office - $1,024,299,904. The film was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, featuring typical Tim Burton`s actors – Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp. The music was written by Danny Elfmann, the CDs can be bought in the shops, online and in iTunes. A CD called “Almost Alice” was released and is a collection of songs by various artists, inspired by the film. The lead single, "Alice" by Avril Lavigne has finished the film, it played during the credits. Other singles include "Follow Me Down" by 3OH!3 and "Tea Party" by Kerli.[62] The album was released in march  2010. Film had a various marketing campaigns – trailers were shown in the main cinemas, posters, there were 3 official facebook groups for advertising it. A film was released in 3D format, which also attracts audience because of the special effects, which low budget films can not afford. I remember, that in my local cinema in Portugal there were huge (wall sized) posters everywhere, with one character on each.

Before the film was released “Disney Interactive Studios” has announced that a video game will be released and it is available for PC, Wii, Nintendo.

Film can be bought in different formats – Blu Ray, 3D, DVD.

The technological convergences made this film a lot more money than if film was not advertised that widely and was low budget with no special effects.

Generally, technological convergence is massively important for institutions and audiences within the media, but a films success due to promotion and distribution doesn’t necessarily mean the content is better than a low budget contending film. Obviously, if Requiem for a Dream was marketed in the same way Alice in Wonderland, it would have a huger impact on the public than it originally had, even though the film is not a very mainstream sort of film, that everyone will watch and pay in the cinema for. When we did the audience research on what films people like the most we found out that most of the people would not go to the cinema to see a “weird” film.