Digital Technology Essay

Evaluate the role of digital technology in the production, marketing and consumption of products?

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Digital Technology, Production, Marketing, and Consumption: This is suggesting the technology which used throughout the stages of making a film such as production, marketing and consumption which is the way people view the film, as well as exhibition and distribution which helps with the stages of the making in the film.

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          Digital Technology is used throughout the making of the film which is what we have studied; film industry, which involves production, marketing and consumption (the way in which people view the film). Production is the type of company that is involved in the making of the film before it releases and the main body of what it is. Marketing is the way that the film is heard about and the way in which the film is released into various cinemas, examples of this is viral marketing- social media. Moreover, consumption is the foundations at which people watch the film, whether this is in different types of platforms such as different cinema viewings like 3D and IMAX as well as different platforms that films can be watched such as from DVD, Netflix and Apple TV. The big six use a range of technologies within the making of their films.

Within the production of films various different technologies are used to produce different mediums within the film. There are three stages to production; pre-production, production and post-production.  Pre-Production is what happens before shooting begins which is factors such as the creation of story boards, location scouting, set construction and semi-finalisation of the script. Production: point of no return, it isn’t financially visible to cancel projects. Finally, post-production which is the editing of the footage, decision of the sound tracks and the insert of sound effects within the editing stage.  Within films CGI (computer generated industry) is used frequently. As well as this, in Frozen they used a method called a material point method which helped the artists with how the snow appears on the screen, specifically Olaf’s body which needed to be rebuilt and moved around, and this helped with animating the extra movement. As well as this films are filmed via different cameras which allows the film to be released in different formats which are 2D, 3D and IMAX. Along with the filming from different cameras, green and blue screens are used to insert different animations within the process of editing that can’t be created in real life. The reason these colour screens are used is due to it being the furthest colour away from the pigmentation from the skin. In comparison to a big six film produced by disney, ansmaller film that shows digital technology within the stage of production is 'tortoise in love; which is a British comedy that debuted at Empire in Leicester Square. This was filmed by a village using their locals as their actors which attracted the news and by everyone sharing it, the film was widely previewed and acknowledged. Therefore, technologies used throughout the production of a film is due to different stages.

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Technologies are used differently for the distribution and the marketing of a film as opposed to production. Distribution companies are ones that focus on the release of the film into different platforms and companies, for example what cinemas the film would be released to, for how long and for how much and how people acknowledge the film. The ways in which the film is heard about is through different marketing techniques such as trailers, social media which is below the line marketing such as viral marketing. Viral marketing is when people talk about the film online and spreads the word of the film. Technological convergence has made the marketing of films easier, as people can now get updates on their phones and various devices so it’s faster and easier for companies to promote their films for example trailers will be watched through these devices.  Linking with trailers, frozen had their original trailer which was released officially however there was an additional trailer to ensure that they attracted a wider audience. The second trailer was aimed more towards boys too show that the film wasn’t focused purely on princesses therefore attracting a range of youths. As well as this frozen also had the creation of an app with apple to promote their film and interviews and music was released in promotion of the film from different artists which gathered more of an audience. They had a variety of marketing techniques instead of just trailers, for example they involved their animated characters within a popular American TV series ‘once upon a time’ and used TVs too broadcast different versions of the film like singalong versions. 

Consumption of products is initially the exchange and exhibition of a film which is the platforms at which an audience can view the film and how it is released. Type of exhibitions depend on the type of audience the film is aimed at, for example the film could be released on vimeo if it was a short at home film made with no production costs, whereas a film released in a cinema or in a large theatre would be targeted towards a wider audience. An example of a type of exhibition is when Spiderman collaborated with Evian with the baby campaign and a trailer was made to promote the new Spiderman with the Evian campaign. This had millions of shares and popularity for both companies increased rapidly this was due to synergy.Technologies that are a type of exhibition could be the format in which you watch the film. For example different types are 2D, 3D, 4D, 5D and IMAX. 3D has become more widespread to prevent the chances of piracy as well as having a different experience when watching the film. Whereas 4D and 5D isn’t as popular and is specific in particular places such as Disney parks and in capital cities. Exhibition of a film is the final stage to retrieve information to see whether the movie was initially a hit or a miss. Cross-media is a technique that has helped make it easier for people to find data that show the reviews of the film and whether it has impressed others and this can be located on websites such as IMDB and rotten tomatoes. This is another platform that could primarily spread the word of the film. Frozen was made available to download on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon Movies as well as being able to be purchased on DVD and Blu-ray and it was released in cinemas as 3D and IMAX. This gave the film a whole potential to please any person of their audience giving them a variety of ways to watch the film.

On the other hand, it isn’t just major company films that benefit from the use of digital technology throughout the consumption of their film. Fast Girls was also released on Blu-Ray and DVD on the 8^th October and is also available to be streamed on Netflix, Amazon and Google Play Movies. Moreover, exchange is the way in which films can be viewed. By making a variety of platforms available for a film to be watched engrosses a wider audience and enhances the chance to have a higher intake of gross product. For example, Samsung released a 3D TV which can also be connected with a phone with playing films. Therefore a variety of different digital technologies does play a role in the production, marketing and consumption of products.

In conclusion, digital technologies have given us great advances within the film industry as opposed to what was able to be made in previous years. For example, the development of technologies in showing animation have made a huge impact on the films that are aimed particularly towards a younger audience. For example, how the original beauty and the beast was released in 1991 and has now developed into a movie with real actors with advanced special effects and digital techniques. As well as this due to technological convergence a wider range of technologies has become available for all different companies that make various films. For example, the film tangerine was filmed all on an iPhone 5s and was edited with a free app store app and this received wide marketing and popularity, in comparison to this frozen was edited with hundreds of different technologies with a large amount of money put into the production and they both managed to receive a following. However, there are some negatives to digital technologies; with advances being so high few films have a small amount of reality incorporated within and are purely based on green screens, voice overs and editing techniques. Although digital technologies have made a positive impact on the film industry overall and have attracted a wider audience.