Ex machina research

Ex machina research

•    Producer: Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich

•    Director: Alex Garland

•    Distributor: Universal Pictures

•    Cast: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Corey Johnson 

•    Budget: $15 million

•    Locations: Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

•    Technology: The film format was printed on D-cinema

•    Number of screens - opening weekend: 1,289

•    Number of screens - peak number: 2,004

•    Box office figures: $36.9 million

1. The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice

The first issue, which is raised by media ownership, is whether the company is within a position to invest large amounts of money into the production and marketing of a film and whether they are a well-known company. If the company is a British institution then it is likely that they aren't a very successful company in comparison to American. This is because it is largely comprised of small independent producers. They are also known to be under-capitalized. This means you would not be able to fund for things like special effect, stars, the creating of the film etc. This means they won’t be able to publish the film, as people will be more interested in films with all the better stars, good special effects and story line, which is what the bigger company’s like Disney have as an advantage. Another issue raised is about “85%/90%” of the films shown in the UK are US films. This is because US have a bigger budget on making the film, which gives them an advantage as they have much more freedom when spending money on the film. Therefore US production companies certainly have the largest market share. . For Ex Machina, this seemed like an issue for them as the producers were both English companies who aren't so well known, which meant that it was hard for the film to gain publicity as it cannot be accomplished as easily as a film produced by Disney would. At first it seemed that the film would just be the same as all low budget films, as it was only released on 4 screens and therefore, they needed to do something different in order to gain the publicity they needed. The way ex machina managed to achieve such good publicity was because they managed to get universal studios to distribute their film which meant that they had access to many cinemas and could show their film on various screens. However, this wasn't the only reason they managed to make ex machine successful... Because it was a low budget film, they had to think differently about how they went about spending money and were much more careful about it. it was said that they wouldn't have done what they did with Ava if it was a low budget film. The creators of Ava were also told not to look at any robots during the production of her, this meant that Ava was extremely different and brought something new to the industry. Therefore, because the producers spent their money wisely, made the film individual and had the help of universal studios, this meant they were able to receive a total revenue of around $37 million.

2. The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing

Synergy is an important aspect because its two media companies collaborating for the purpose of generating profit. This is important in production because when two media conglomerates come together and they are very well known it will make the audience want to watch the film more because it’s done by two media conglomerates and will therefore be successful. However, because Ex machina was produced by two smaller conglomerates, it seemed a different picture. Its clear, that without the help of one another they would certainly not have been successful, as a film like ex machine needs thousands of ideas thrown at it as they were trying to be something different. And therefore by having two companies work on the film, it allowed them to proceed and come up with many ideas. Another reason it was important is because they were so low on their budget and therefore because they had the help of each other they were able to maximise the overall outcome of Ava, set the film in a stunning landscape and create amazing visual effects. Cross media convergence is where a media product is promoted across other media platforms. Ex Machina used cross media convergence a lot when marketing, in a way where it was on lots of tv advert intervals, and cropped up a lot on the side of websites online. However, this is what is expected for a film company to do now. Therefore, Ex Machina stepped it up a level and decided to market their film in yet another way by the use of Tinder... The way they did this was by creating lots of “Robot” accounts named Ava. Once in a conversation with another individual, the “Robot” would explain the storyline in a very sneaky way, and eventually explain who they are and what the film is about. This gained lots of publicity over social media and helped the film generate lots of fans.

3.  The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution and marketing

This is used for the audiences to interact with the films through using digital technology to put extracts on YouTube and then to overlay new sound tracks on to them. Film studios can make films using CGI, green screens and other special effects which have only recently been able to complete due to the technology we now have compared to a few years ago. The methods of filming and editing have changed recently with the introduction of film cameras and digital cameras, editing software, laptops and digital projectors. Distributors use the latest software for designing high-concept film posters and trailers, they can do this using phone apps, online marketing and can also use Facebook. Although film companies spend so much on the productions on films, they have issues with file sharing and piracy. These are issues which are growing within our society as it is easy to get away with it and also easy to download and watch. A way in which film companies are trying to avoid piracy and file sharing is through releasing the films soon after theatrical release by selling them on video on demand, premium TV channels and downloads. The US and UK cinemas chains aren’t happy about this issue, especially as the cinema companies have invested a lot of money in to projectors and digital equipment. With people file sharing and piracy, the cinema companies aren’t able to make their money either to make their money back on the equipment which was invested in to the equipment and also, unfortunately, goes out of date fairly quickly.

4. The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences

The significance of proliferation of hardware in the film industry means there are more equipment for producers to use, for example in the filming aspect, there are thousands of cameras to use and many ways to film, like using a film camera or a digital one. However, as the new technologies are cheaper to buy and are meant to be better quality it means film companies can spend more money on better editing software and marketing, etc. In the film Ex machina the filming was done on a digital camera, instead of film, the producer may have done this because it was cheaper and they were on a smaller budget compared to some of the block buster movies. But that didn't affect the outcome for the audience as it still won awards for Best visual effects. The proliferation of hardware in media has meant that audiences in the film industry have been able to create their own home movies on a much smaller budget, by using digital cameras and editing software like adobe. Then the movie can be uploaded to the internet for the audiences. 

5. The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences

Technological convergence is the joining of two or more media companies or technologies to form a new object. Within ex machina, the technological convergence would be that the robots are made to be human-like with consciousness but are also able to do things better than humans making them, eventually, the next evolution stronger and better than humans. The technological convergence for institutions and audiences has allowed to improve the quality and complexity of films using new techniques. It also makes it easier to make and access such as DVD’s, cinema and downloadable versions. Recently, films aren’t being made how they used to be made with big cameras and film reels and are now using digital versions of recording which is considerably cheaper because a traditional camera would cost around £50,000 compared to the advanced digital ones which cost around £10,000 saving money. With them being able to save money in this section from just changing recording methods, the production companies can then use the money efficiently, spending it on different areas to make the film better such as special effects and CGI (which have improved dramatically over time) for, in this case, ex machina. Despite the fact that ex machina was a low-budget film, it won a Grammy award for the special effects which were used during the film which suggests that the production company spent less money on other necessities such as the actors’ abilities and not needing A-list stars and other extras such as advertisements and marketing but specifically focused on making sure that the special effects were really good, making the film known for their special effects.

6. The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically British) by international or global institutions

Ex machina was a film which had unexpected success earning academy awards, golden globes and BAFTA awards. Ex machina won an Oscar for the best achievement in visual effects and was also nominated for an Oscar in the best writing and original screenplay. There are many different issues which are raised by production companies aiming films at either local audiences or global audiences. With ex machina being a low budget film, they weren’t able to focus on the advertising and marketing department because they focused on the visual effects making the film interesting with all the special effects using special software. Because Ex machina was only released in the United Kingdom on January 21^st 2015, this proves how because they had a low budget, they weren’t able to make the film for other countries or advertising it in other countries as it would cost the production company more for marketing and advertising. Although, if the production company for ex machina was to have a bigger budget, focusing it more on the advertising and marketing and releasing it in other countries, the production company would have more profit than what thy received. Also, with it only being a local based film, it may only appeal to the target audiences of the United Kingdom compared to target audiences globally. This film was good at targeting the desired audiences due to the amount of profit the production company had made. The production company had an approximate budget of $15,000,000 and made approximately $30,000,000 doubling their money.

7. The ways in which the candidates own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour

My own experience of how the media has changed is very dramatic as i have grown up in the 21st century, meaning i have been able to watch movies on Video tapes, where the screen used to flicker and now I’m able to watch movies in HD, but that has now been outdated by blue ray which almost an immaculate picture. But much before this, back in the 1970s when DVD first came out, people could only see a movie at the cinema on and they made a special trip out of it as it was such a big thing. As times have changed, we no longer have to do that, we can sit at home and watch almost any more by streaming it on our mobile phones of other devices. Due to this film has to attract its viewers again by issuing deals for example orange Wednesdays and student Thursdays. Now media companies are buying rights to show films on their television channels for example Netflix and sky movies. All of this takes away people visiting cinemas and can place them in the same cinema situations at home.