Case Study: World War Z (2013)

WORLD WAR ZWorld War Z is a 2013 American action horror film directed by Marc Forster.

THE PLOT When former U.N. investigator Gerry Lane and his family get stuck in urban gridlock, he senses that it's no ordinary traffic jam. His suspicions are confirmed when, suddenly, the city erupts into chaos. A lethal virus, spread through a single bite, is turning healthy people into something vicious, unthinking and feral. As the pandemic threatens to consume humanity, Gerry leads a worldwide search to find the source of the infection and, with luck, a halt to it's spread.

THE ISSUES RAISED BY MEDIA OWNERSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIA PRACTICE;

Lots of smaller companies came together to produce World War Z, these included Skydance Productions, Hemisphere Media Capital, GK films, Plan B Entertainment and 2DUK. Because of all these 5 production companies working together allowed a bigger budget creating a better film. The main Producers for the film were Brad Pitt the main character in the film, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Ian Bryce.

As all of the production companies were smaller independent studios, they had to get a larger distributor for the film, Paramount Pictures with a budget of $190 million however it was said that the budget went over the limit slightly because of the marketing for the film. The film managed to score $540 million from the box office which made them their money back overall.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CROSS MEDIA CONVERGENCE AND SYNERGY IN PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING; All the small production companies worked together to produce World War Z and Paramount

Pictures worked along side them to distribute the film. All the production companies involved played a role within the production of the film.

The film had a total budget of: $190 Million, this meant that there would have been enough for the production process, distribution and the marketing of the film which was mainly ran by Paramount pictures. Brad Bitt brought the screen rights of World War Z in 2007 meaning by him running his company Plan B Entertainment they own rights to the film hence them being one of the production companies for it. World War Z was a huge hit within the marketing process. This would be have been mainly beneficial for Paramount Pictures. They managed to ignore things such as bad publicity in the press, production delays, and other problems which could have occurred within this stage of film distribution. However when the film was close to release it was rumoured that World War Z has spent way over it's budget regulating in a need of $400 million box office figure. This increased figure was due to marketing and promo expenditures.

THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED IN RECENT YEARS AT THE LEVELS OF PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, MARKETING AND EXCHANGE; 

After the film was released in the cinema it was able to be streamed illegally within days as people didn’t want to wait for the DVD to be released which would take months. When the film was released on DVD it was also available on Blu-ray from retail stores/supermarkets and online stores such as amazon.

The film was shown in 3D and I think that it suited that format as the majority of the film was made up of action and zombies, for people interested in both of these things 3D would make the experience better for them. This would have been a types of distribution the film undertook. I think giving people the option to watch in 3D would be the extra selling point for the film, they could then choose the option whether to watch I standard 2D or go the extra step and watch in 3D. CGI was also used thought-out the film but that however was expected because any zombie/action film would be expected to have some sort of CGI to give it that “Wow” factor.

For people who don’t like going to the cinema to watch a film and would much rather watch it from the comfort of their home they have two options, either illegally stream the film or wait a few months until the DVD and Blu-ray version is released. This might be because the audience get a more physical version of the film and can watch it as many times as they like where as a cinema would be something like a one off and you couldn't watch it after a few years for example.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PROLIFERATION IN HARDWARE AND CONTENT FOR INSTITUTIONS AND AUDIENCES; When the film was released in 2013, online streaming was just taking a big step forward with

the mass popularity of Netflix, Amazon and iTunes. Paramount Pictures decided to not distribute the film on streaming services in 2013 and to just stick with DVDs and the cinema. Because many people now don’t mind watching a film on their phone, laptop or tablet if the film was released in 2016 it would have slightly been different as the film would have most likely been added to streaming services within the first year of release.

Alterative ways people can watch them are with film piracy. Days after the film was released people could pirate the film and when one version was out there, many started to take on, for example a better quality version or a hand-held version of the film. Distribution companies would now need to alter the way they distribute the film because although most of the time they do chose the standard cinema and DVD option they would need to think outside the box and choose something different which would attract more people, in this case it could be Netflix, a Brad Pitt film distributed by Paramount Pictures would guarantee success on such platform. It also means that people can watch films from the comfort of their home. However leaked versions of the film would create negativity around the film industry and may have a huge effect as it would effect the box office figure for film as less people are going to watch it.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE FOR INSTITUTIONS AND AUDIENCES;

The film used a variety of different social media sites to promote the release. World War Z did not have a website like other films such as Star Wars and relied solely on the marketing strategies set on Facebook and Twitter. Techniques in which the film used were asking the people interested in the film questions relevant to their opinion for example: “What would be your weapon of choice in the midst of global pandemic?” This helped promote the film and encourage people to go buy/watch the film to find out the answers for the questions. This also created hype for the film and got people excited towards the final release date.

The trailer was also shown on YouTube this meant it was easily accessible, it would of also been promoted on TV channels in which people watch however on YouTube meant it could easily be shared and the people interested could comment with their opinions of the film. This created more enthusiasm for the film as people would have had different opinions/thoughts about it.

THE ISSUES RAISED IN THE TARGETING OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL AUDIENCES (SPECIFICALLY, BRITISH) BY INTERNATIONAL OR GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS; There was a difference in the poster for all of the countries the film was

promoted in. As shown on the next slide, they all had the same layout just different action shots shown so they can differentiate them between other release dates/countries as they may also vary.

Although there was different posters, for the trailer there was only one which was a worldwide trailer. They were uploaded to YouTube by various people which would mean that they can be reached on a global level as YouTube accessible across the world.

United States Spain United Kingdom

THE WAYS IN WHICH THE CANDIDATES’ OWN EXPERIENCES OF MEDIA CONSUMPTION ILLUSTRATE WIDER PATTERNS AND TRENDS OF AUDIENCE BEHAVIOUR. Personally, if I liked the trailer for the film I tend to go and watch the film in the

cinema as I prefer it to buying the DVD or Blu-ray version. This is because I usually only watch the film once so having a DVD version of the film would be pointless in my case.

I do watch films on Netflix and Amazon as they provide a variety of different choices and genres. The problem with these streaming services would be that most of the time you would have to wait a few months for the film to be added or it may only be added in a certain country. For example Star Wars was added to Netflix US but not the UK of Netflix as they probably weren’t allowed to.