Essay: What impact does media ownership have on the area you have studied?

In this essay, I am going to explain how media ownership affects the film industry. I am going to use two British films to support my analysis; the films chosen are Skyfall and The Woman In Black. Both of the films were released in 2012 and were both successful. However, the production, marketing and distribution were handled differently for both films. Sony Corporation (one of the biggest multinational conglomorates in the world), was behind Skyfall's promotion and distribution whilst Eon Production handled the film's production. Skyfall received over $1billion in the box office whilst the budget was over $200million. Sony, being a massive media conglomerate, had a massive impact on Skyfall's success. For instance, Sony had the money to send the filming crew on various places such as Turkey or even China. This might have had an impact on Skyfall's global success as the inhabitants of those countries might have been informed of the filming taking place, which helps promotion.

Indeed, Sony possesses dozens of subsidiaries which operate in lots of different sectors such as entertainment and video games (cross media ownership). This enabled a synergy to occur in Skyfall's marketing strategy. When Skyfall was released, its theme song was also released in the same month by Columbia Records, which is a company under the ownership of Sony. Adele was chosen as the singer and that choice might have enticed Adele's fan base to watch the film. As well as that, the Sony Xperia T and the Sony Vaio (both Sony products) could be seen at some point during the film (product placement), which allowed Sony to advertise their own brand without paying anything. Owning subsidiaries in different sectors like Sony allows the company to reach markets effectively.

For the case of The Woman In Black, Its film production company (Hammer Film) is not part of a media conglomerate and didn't get help from one so they had a handicap. However, their main key to success was the presence of Daniel Radcliffe, a renowned actor from Harry Potter. Daniel Radcliffe was invited to many chat shows around the film's release time to promote the film. They had a budget of $17,000,000 and they got over $127,000,000 in the box office. The film became successful partly because of partnerships Hammer Film created to promote the film. Indeed, they partnered with Alliance Films for the distribution over in Canada, partnered with CBS Films for the United States and Momentum Pictures for the UK.

However, media ownership can affect the film industry negatively. Indeed, as the competition might not be apparent or even threatening to media conglomerates such as Sony or the Walt Disney Company, this might lead to slow innovation. It also can affect independent film companies, as they are less likely to succeed due to a highly competitive market.

Therefore, media ownership affects the film industry positively as well as negatively. Massive companies can practically help any film achieve success thanks to their power on mass media. However, independent film companies can have a harder time achieving success as competition is almost constant due to conglomerates.