How
important is technological convergence for institutions and audiences within a
media area which you have studied?
A
technological convergent is two
pieces of media formed together as one in a device. Over the past few years, technological convergence has developed immensely- For
instance, the invention of the iPhone has given normal people the power to not only be used for
calls and texts, but they can now be consumers and producers of products! They are able of start make
their own products for others to enjoy. For example, people can now make a living off of making
YouTube videos- something that would have been impossible 10 years ago!
They are able to create content by using their mobile phones. Mobile phones are a great
example of technological convergence. They have the power to not only
communicate through calls and text messages (like we’ve mentioned earlier), but
it also: acts as an MP3 player when listening to music; acts as a computer when
surfing the internet; acts as a digital camera when you take photos and videos
and users even use the power of Web 3.0 when interacting with others online
when using social media and playing games online! Those are just a few examples
of how technological convergence affects everyday people. But how does this
affect the media industry?
In US film
studios, technological convergence can create cross media links. One form of cross media link
promotion is Synergy.
Synergy is where a media
product is made for another media product. This way, both individual products get
promoted together, but are still promoting the product they are aimed
towards. One example of synergy is the movie ‘Skyfall’. Skyfall had many different ways of
distributing itself using many different types of technological convergences.
Firstly, the film used synergy- Adele partnered with SKYFALL to produce a theme song for
the newest James Bond Film, SKYFALL. The soundtrack
"Skyfall" was released on 5 October 2012 at BST, as part of "Global James Bond Day",
celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of Dr. No, the
first James Bond film. Adele mentioned recording a "special project" in September 2011
in an interview on The Jonathan Ross Show, leading to assumption in the
media that she would be recording the theme for the film. This promoted the
movie because this would have created speculation with Adele fans because they would be curious to
see what her “special project” was. Another example of synergy is how interactive the Skyfall
website is. Due to the development of Web 3.0 (where not only people can
research things online, but they can also be a part of the internet itself) the
Skyfall website was able to offer a range of interactive activities, such as
downloading wallpapers and watching videos. Not only was the website appealing
to those who visited it, but it promoted the movie and its partners.
UK low
budget films use technological convergence to create awareness for themselves
too. For instance, Ill
Manors is a low budget UK film. They used ancillary marketing by releasing the movie on DVD, Blu-Ray, download and On
Demand on Monday 8th October 2012. Plan B’s album had the same name as the
movie which, again, is another use of synergy. The album went straight to number 1 in the Official UK
Album Charts in July 2012. This was interesting for the public because it was unusual for a rapper to use an
album to promote a movie, so the fact that Plan B did that meant that it
gained massive awareness. Plan B’s CD used multiple marketing techniques- Not
only did the CD itself used synergy, but Plan B used Twitter as a technological
convergence by getting them to hashtag #IllManorsAlbum. Plan B also used the official music video of the song
‘Ill Manors’ to gain awareness.
However, technological convergence can be seen as a bad thing. For example, piracy. Piracy affects production, distribution and exhibition. In 2013, 77.75 fake DVDs were sold. £700 million was lost due to piracy. Blockbusters lose up to £4 million a year due to piracy. Also, due to the progress of Web 3.0, people can how post pirated movies on the internet, and therefore these can easily be burnt onto a disk and can be sold. Studios try to combat piracy problems by, not only releasing the movie in cinemas, but also using technological convergence to release it. So release it on: Blu-Ray, iTunes, On Demand and download. Not only has technological convergence had an impact on the film industry, but it’s also had an effect on its audiences. Audiences do not have to just go to the cinema in order to watch films. For instance, with Skyfall- audiences are able to watch it in so many ways! Ways include: Blu-Ray, iTunes, On Demand, download, YouTube and on TV channels! They can watch films at the cinema, at home or even on the go (thanks to the invention if the iPhone and its technological convergence skills)
Technological convergence can only increase from this point onwards. Working Title Films are one example of the impact of technological convergence in the present day. For instance, one film that they have produced is ‘Johnny English Reborn’ (2011). Normal blockbuster films have a budget of $138 million. But ‘Johnny English Reborn’ had a budget of £45 million. This means that due to special effect editing software, film budgets may decrease because of developing advanced green screen and Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) technology.
However, technological convergence can be seen as a bad thing. For example, piracy. Piracy affects production, distribution and exhibition. In 2013, 77.75 fake DVDs were sold. £700 million was lost due to piracy. Blockbusters lose up to £4 million a year due to piracy. Also, due to the progress of Web 3.0, people can how post pirated movies on the internet, and therefore these can easily be burnt onto a disk and can be sold. Studios try to combat piracy problems by, not only releasing the movie in cinemas, but also using technological convergence to release it. So release it on: Blu-Ray, iTunes, On Demand and download. Not only has technological convergence had an impact on the film industry, but it’s also had an effect on its audiences. Audiences do not have to just go to the cinema in order to watch films. For instance, with Skyfall- audiences are able to watch it in so many ways! Ways include: Blu-Ray, iTunes, On Demand, download, YouTube and on TV channels! They can watch films at the cinema, at home or even on the go (thanks to the invention if the iPhone and its technological convergence skills)
Technological convergence can only increase from this point onwards. Working Title Films are one example of the impact of technological convergence in the present day. For instance, one film that they have produced is ‘Johnny English Reborn’ (2011). Normal blockbuster films have a budget of $138 million. But ‘Johnny English Reborn’ had a budget of £45 million. This means that due to special effect editing software, film budgets may decrease because of developing advanced green screen and Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) technology.
