Disney is a multi-media conglomerate that has been around since the 1920’s and has expanded to become the well
known industry it is today. It is vertically intergrated, having control of all the processes of making and showing it’s
movies. It also owns it’s own companies to promote any of it’s creations – some even established by Disney itself, such
as Disney Channel, Disney Media Networks and even theme parks and shops.
During the production stage of Disney movies including new Star wars the force Awakens owned by new subsidiary Lucas film which they bought in 2012 for $4.05 billion, the role of digital technology is used to get the best out of the movie
being created, such as CGI and live action, and Star Wars being part of a 10 movie industry based upon a SCI-FI outer space opera uses a mixture of CGI, face capture and blue screen mixed with live action to bring their universe alive. These go well when marketing a film by releasing a trailer, as the audience
get a view of what has been incorporated in the film. Although the first Force awakens trailer released an action-packed trailer full with a mix of new characters as well as the nostalgic John Willaims score and introduction of the original characters Han Solo and Chewbacca, the
director, JJ Abrams, failed to include a story along with it, to recreate the period of technology when the originals came out, not able to get all these spoilers and information about the film before it can come out, JJ wanted to recreate the magic and mystery that the 1970's had in film as technology like YouTube and on-line websites couldn't ruin films for audiences, as he personally felt that the magic in the film industry had been taken away by more modern technologies, this was affective in marketing as audiences went into the cinema with only speculation on what the film could be, which made the film only more talked about making it trend even more, with every trailer beating records set by the last trailer for the most views in 24 hours on a youtube video trailer.
Furthermore, digital technologies were also used for viral marketing, as images of a real life sized Millennium Falcon, which
is a ship that fans would instantly recognise and associate with ‘Star wars’ was leaked online, which meant fans
could spread the pictures and publicity for the film was being created due to this association of a well-known actor and
a vehicle from the films, so this is part of synergy, and digital technologies effectively helped to market the product, so
it is very important for technologies to be involved in marketing. This also created "hype" for the film as fans online went hysterical knowing that there could be a chance for the original cast coming back, as this image was released before any details of the cast were also released.
Digital technologies are important in the consumption of the product as well, as many members of audiences would
use it in order to view the product. As part of the exhibition of ‘The falling’, it was released in August 2015 on
DVD, Blu-ray, 3-D Blu-ray and was available for digital download. This meant that that the audience members, mainly
male and female aged under 25 in these two quadrants of the four, would be able to view the film in a way that
appealed to them, as they could download it from iTunes, and provide digital technologies they couldn’t do so to
consume the film, so the role is very important. In addition to this, Digital technology allows for apps for phones and tablets to be created and downloaded, as part of marketing the media product. This is extremely beneficial for both
institutions and audiences.
The force awakens hasn't released on Blu-ray currently and there were apps created for ‘The Force awakens’ that could not have been made without
digital technologies. The app included a ‘virtual reality’ of the scenes, in which users could walk around their favourite
sets from the film, and there was another called ‘Disney infinity 3.0’, which was available to download from the
App Store on iTunes. This allowed the audience to consume the product of disney toys and allow users to play with their favourite characters from star wars against favourite characters from other disney movies, this synergy allows users in a different way and interact ‘The Avengers’
franchise, Pixar films and as well as the star wars franchise, and as technology has developed, it meant a greater audience was being targeted and the role of digital
technologies in marketing and consumption is extremely vital in generating awareness and create an appeal.
In the distribution stage, it is faster and more efficient to distribute your movie by digital means rather then by film
reels. This also allows for more places to show your movie and for your movie to get a better review and promotion by
the best method of marketing – word of mouth. Digital distribution also helps to get your movie out and exhibited on
a deadline that is specified. Not only does this mean that you receive praise for not delaying the films exhibition, but
you also can arrange special previews which boosts your marking. These could be made to be prize-draw previews creating digital competition so that people are aware of the movie’s release and will get them eager to see it.
Finally, the exhibition is the part that confirms if the movie is a hit or flop. Usually, reviews are given via cross-media
purposes but opinions on the film are also done by word of mouth. The proliferation of cross-media formats has made
it easier for people to see movie reviews on sites such as rotten tomatoes, IMDB and the like. These also have apps,
twitters and other forms so it is available on mobiles. People will be able to see whether a film is worth watching while
at the cinema. Films can also be exhibited on websites like Netflix or Lovefilm – so doing premiers on such sites may
further increase the movies popularity.
To conclude, the role of digital technologies has a large impact on the marketing and product consumption in my
media area as the proliferation of technologies has now become so advanced that people are affected by this on a
daily basis, making promoting products and film easier, and since Disney are a vertically intergrated, conglonerate they
can use synergy to promote their movies/products, making it twice as easy for them.
The falling was released on blu-ray on 24th august 2015
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