What significance does the continuing development of the digital media

technology have for media institutions and audiences?

Or in other words..... What affect does the on going development

of digital technology have on media institutions and audiences?

The first thing you should do is to choose from one of the six options, which in our opinion we think choosing film is the best option as we have spent a lot of time going over institutions and audiences in film.

When starting your answer, we would advise an introductory paragraph setting the scene about what digital technology is and a brief description of its history.

An important thing you need to do is go into detail about examples, because this is where the examiners will give out marks, due to it shows a broad knowledge of film and an answer relevant to the question

When completing this answer it could be easy to name all the different developments in digital media, although it is incredibly important to stay on task with what the question asks and not list the points. What you need to do is make the point and then explain why it is a continuing development. To get the best answers. All ways make sure you are relating back to the question.

Take a quick look at this clip to see how advanced visual effects have become and how reliant some films have become on using ‘Computer Generated Imagery’.

In the second paragraph you should talk about what digital technology was used during; production, distribution and exhibition.

You can talk about the 5k camera used to film the Hobbit which can shoot up to 120 frames per second, the CGI used in furious 7 to map Paul Walkers face onto his brother Cody, the viral video that Jurassic world uploaded onto social media of their dinosaurs chasing people or IMAX cinemas allowing you to have perfectly pitched tuning and laser-aligned audio placement.

In the third paragraph you can talk about how new technology isn’t always a positive in the media industry as it does sometimes force a company to re-invest millions to reach the same level as their competitors, this financial risk can affect a company’s future, if the investment doesn’t reap overall profit the company has lost most of their money in dead technology.

An example of a company not taking this risk can be seen in Disney’s history as they had produced Tron, a short CG animated film which was a staff production which was never destined to be released to the public, as it was only a test to see what CG animation could bring to the world of animation. In the new era of films, there is a lot of technology available for the producers, which sometimes too much is added to a film.

Due to the advances in digital media technology, institutions now have social media, television and online adds to advertise their film. This has massively increased the institutions audiences because more people are likely to see their advertisement. Unlike 30 years ago where films were advertised by posters on the side of buses, newspaper adds and radio adds.

This has had a large impact on audiences because they are now more aware of new films coming out due to the increase in forms of advertisement due to digital technology.

How have audiences reacted to the development of new media technology?

Audiences have positively reacted to the increase in quality of films. This is one feature that all cinemagoers will never get bored of. But with better quality comes a higher price to develop the film, this leads to higher priced cinema tickets. However, features such as 3D and 4D cinema has not gone down well with consumers. Audiences are watching films in 3D and 4D, but most consumers prefer to watch films in normal 2D. This is because people find 3D and 4D too chaotic and can make some consumers feel sick. This is a negative affect for institutions because it costs a great deal of money to create a film in 3D/4D. This is why tickets cost more for 3D and 4D. This steep price can drive audiences away.

What is the exam board looking for?What are the positive and negative impacts?

Compare old methods of distribution/marketing with new methods of distribution/marketing

How does new digital technology allow institutions to reach their target audiences easier?

How have audiences reacted to the change in digital technology?

QUIZ

What is CGI?

QUIZComputer Generated Imagery

QUIZ

What is distribution?

QUIZ

Digital distribution is the delivery or distribution of media content such as

audio, video, software and video games.

QUIZName the big 6

QUIZColumbia, Universal, Paramount, Warner

Bros, 20th Century Fox and Disney