Film and the Internet

The film industry, like all others (i.e. games, music and newspapers), was revoloutionised by the growth of the internet - but has also been given new threats. Video, DVD and even Digital piracy are still a bigger threat than ever to the industry, and with the internet, anyone can log on to the internet and download illegal films or television programmes. The scale of internet piracy has tripled in recent years, with an average of 1.67 million people a year watching illegal content - as opposed to 570,000 in 2003, the increase is massive, and it is still growing. To put these figures into context: the average DVD on release costs an average of £13, with the DVD prices ranging from around £8 to $15 - if you multiply £13 by 1.67 million, this equates to £21,710,000 (bear in mind this also includes television piracy with most TV box sets selling at anything from £18 - £50). The threat on the industry is massive, and the internet is a double-edged sword; giving new areas to advertise, but also giving film pirates new areas to give their product away.

The History of Film:

The film industry was first born in the 1860s, with what we know as cinema coming into existence in the early 20th century. In the 1970s the first revoloution to the world of film came into existence, VHS or Video Home System, giving consumers the oppurtunity to watch in the comfort of their own home, and for almost 50 years they served their purpose - with the last main supplier of prerecorded VHS sending out their last order in late 2008.

The next revoloution was that of DVD, with their first appearance coming in 1993, in two forms; The Multimedia Compact Disc (MMCD or CDi) and Super Denisity Disc (SD). Eventually the two products converged, creating what we know as the DVD (Digital Verstatile Disc or Digital Video Disc).

Current Film Practice:

The film industry is still split into two markets; Digital and DVD. Digitally the main supplier of major release films, and a large variety of Niche, is iTunes. iTunes sells movies from; 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment, with iTunes also offering some 1,000 films for rent.

Analysis of Film Posters

The Curious Case of Bejamin Button:


Analysis: The poster is exceptionally symplistic, so as to not reveal depths into the film, but just entrance the audience to view the film simply. The poster has only two main points of focus in the form of the eyes of the two characters - with no background instantally highlighting the eyes.


Lighting: The lighting in this poster focuses on the faces of the two characters, showing the light in this piece is used to highlight the encentricities of their faces, highlighting the males more aged aspects - as the film is about his backwards age. The black background, as I said earlier, draws the eye to the only features - the faces.


Contents: The poster shows only half their faces, portraying them to be hiding part of themselves, and also generating an enigmatic feel to the piece. The poster also features the distributors, producers and marketers; as well as the name of the film and major or big name actors and actresses.

Text: The text in this piece is exceptionally indicative of the films content. The text is layed-over a stylistic pattern, giving it a victorian fluted design, which on closer inspection, reads 'Life' twice, with one being back to front. When applied to the two characters, the back to front 'Life' applies to Benjamin living his life backwards.

Research Into Distributors

Universal Studios:

Universal has a large, diverse and quite frankly, universal back catalogue. The studios are responsible for various big names such as; the upcoming 'Wolf-Man', King Kong and Bridget Jones' Diary. Universal Studios also owns NBC, making them a partially self-advertised.

Drama Releases: Universal has published various Drama genre films, including; Fried Green Tomatoes, Billy Elliot and Pride and Prejudice.

Paramount Pictures:

Paramount is a corporate media giant, encorporated with both Dreamworks and MTV, is a large scale film distributor, and so comes with a high level of the all important 'purchasing power'. With it's vast media catalogue spread across many genres, it is not a highly specialised drama veichle, but comes with the advantage of a large name.

Drama Releases: Paramount has distributed; The Weatherman, Breakfast at Tiffanys' and Angela's Ashes.



American Empirical Pictures
Being a rising film distributor, AEP comes with a still slightly niche status, even when dealing with big name stars such as Gweneth Paltrow and Ben Stiller. It has made Drama films and Comedy films, giving them a depth in the drama field.

Drama Releases
AEP has released Drama in the form of; The Royal Tennenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited.