Disney are one of the 6 larger conglomerates and after 2012 expanding their cross-media ownership for $4.05 Billion to own subsidiary Lucas Film, producers of the Star Wars Franchise. Disney's revenue in the fiscal quarter of 2015 to nearly $13.4 billion. Disney are made up of four subsidiary divisions- The walt Disney Studies(Owning of Marvel, Pixar and animation and Lucas Film, including Film studios, record Labels); Parks and resorts(Theme Parks); Disney consumer products(Merchandise, publishing), Media networks(TV, radio, internet). Disney are an example of cross-Media ownership and this benefits them as it allows them to use synergy within separate subsidiaries.
Obviously, The force awakens is just another instalment of one of the biggest Film merchandise synergies ever selling 3,850,000,000 units of Kenner toys between 1978-1985 then selling 5,537,000,000 Hasbro units between 1995-2011 when the separate trilogies came out, as well as 138 video games sold making $3,400.000,000, In total the franchise before the Force Awakens had a revenue of $28,000,000,000 approximately.
Toys and collectables are the most mass produced merchandise of Star Wars you can get. There are tens of thousands of toys collected by tens of thousands of people starting in the 1970's following the initial release.
There is a huge amount of Star Wars clothing and accessory merchandise in numerous retailers. There are shirts, leggings, shoes, hats, costumes, hair accessories, wigs, makeup, jackets, jewelery, baby clothes, sew on patches, bags, underwear and so on. You can buy this kind of merchandise from almost anywhere online and in high street stores such as Forbidden Planet and exhibitions like Comicon, where people also dress as the characters. This is only popularized by Lucas Film delivering their product on more than one media channel.
The Force Awakens being the most anticipated film of 2015 has been marketed well through Media Synergy, Media synergy is the way in which different elements of a media conglomerate work together to promote linked products across different media, and The force awakens unlike The smaller independent film The falling didn't lack this at all, Sky have a channel dedicated on Sky Movies to the Star Wars franchise called Sky movies Star wars, this channel's advertising is obviously marketed at the fans where I can see a number of media conglomerates working together to sell and promote their products, for example CoverGirl and star wars have partnered on Force Awakens styled make-up, Duracell and Star wars partnered also to advertise batteries and other produces, Subway in 110 countries selling Star Wars force awakens kids meals and even Max factor also.
Their Media convergence in more Make-up lines has significant connotations, The Force awakens use of Media convergence is to market the film to a larger audience out of Star wars' stereotypical audience, marketing at females as Star wars' target audience is stereotypically known as more male, this use of media synergy is blatant to help push this new instalment onto a larger audience.
Synergy is used in the Force awakens in many ways, The poster is of the film promotes different sub-parts of the film, its soundtrack scored by John Williams, The soundtrack alone shows the application of technological convergence and cross media convergence as cross media the soundtrack can be accessed by purchasing a CD or downloading on Itunes and by listening to the music whilst watching the film, Using the Apple platform to access The force Awakens shows how convergence has been used, but Technological convergence the soundtrack can be accessed/Purchased/Consumed via the internet, ipod, mobile phone via Itunes and the ever growing Youtube which The force awakens even has their own channel to converge that market. Another use of Synergy used by Disney is that their subsidiary Walt Disney Studios record labels can produce John Williams score.
Differently, previously Star wars merchandise would have been made seperately, but now synergy has been used in the different subsidiary of Disney in Disney Consumer products, The Force awakens has a new fresh range of Toys and other Merch, In cinemas as The force Awakens was played merch Odeon and Lucas converged to help sell new merchandise to fans coming to see the film, Disney expect an Ancillary revenue of $5 billion 12 months after the films release alone.
Disney used synergy to promote the release of The Force awakens by releasing the John Williams score through Disney's record label. The album generated publicity which encouraged people to see the film, as there is a form of nostalgia towards the soundtrack being very recognizable.
New technologies are used by disney in the production of their films. The force Awakens was filmed in digital 3D using 35mm lens with a 2,35:1 aspect ratio(Cinemascope), Originally they wanted to shoot in Imax 70mm film instead being a more popular technology, but used the 70mm film to accompany certain shots, this subtle approach to filming the force Awakens reflects the popularity of IMAX 3D techonology with film studies. Studios like IMAX 3D for a number of reasons, serveral recent 3D releases have been hugely successful such as Avatar which grossed $2.7 billion. Cinemas can also charge more for tickets to see IMAX 3D films. Use of IMAX 3D also helps to tackle piracy and encourages people to pay to see the film at the cinema, as pirated copies will not be in 3D. Filming in IMAX 3D is more costly than 2D. The force Awakens used the Pace fusionm rig, a 2 camera rig which films images simultaneously.
New technologies have benefits and disadvantages for companies like Disney. Proliferation of Hardware and Widespread has lead to increased piracy, as well as offering a wider range of entertainment choices competing for the audience's attention. A consequence of this has been declining DVD sales. In order to combat this Disney have developed their use of digital distribution and electronic sell-through. Disney recently launched Studio all access which allows consumers to purchase a copy of the film and then access it in a variety of formats on a range of devices. for Example the Toy Story 3 DVD came as a multi-pack featuring DVD, Blu-ray, streaming and digital download copies. Disney are also planning to launch Video on demand service to allow consumers to instantly access their films through cable and digital television. Disney are planning to release The force Awakens on DVD product Second screen which allows users who have bought the blu-ray editions of certain films to download an app for a tablet, phone or computer. Whilst they watch the film consumers can sync this app with the film allowing them to access a range of additional content( Trivia, games, storyboard,etc.). This use of Technological convergence allows the experience of the consumer to be more interactive. It also benefits disney by encouraging consumers to purchase their products.
LucasFilm subsidiaries: Skywalker sound, THX, Lucasarts and Lucasfilm animations. Now owned by disney.
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