Homework

What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences? You should focus on FILM but you may make reference to other media such as Music, Newspapers, Radio, Magazines or Video games.

The continuing development of digital media technology has a large significance to the media institution and audiences. The distributors are always trying to find unique way to market their product and the development of digital technology is making this easier to do so. New ways, that only could have been possible because of the development of digital technology, such as social media, trailers on YouTube and may more.

The development of digital media technology has also increased the way in which the audience can consume films, magazines and other media products. The development of online streaming allows the audience to purchase films and stream or download the film directly to their computer at home and now on their smartphone examples of this is iTunes and Netflix. This new technology saves distributers millions because instead of sourcing materials for the packaging. 

Production also save money by not having to produce a reel of film which costs millions instead they just sending the film from computer to computer. This also helps out the distribution companies because they don't have to send a reel of film around the world. This does have a downfall because the first viewing of a reel of film has a better quality than a digital film but this is out weighed with the fact that the reel can get damaged when rewinding. Another downfall of not using a reel o film is that it is very easy to pirate them. There are many ways distributing companies are trying to prevent piracy is having a similar release date for different countries and this reduces the amount of films being brought other to a country where the film has not been released yet. 

The development of 3D and now 4D is changing the experience the audience has when consuming a film. Along side this, CGI is developing further to create nearly perfect replicates of humans. The film Avatar (2009 directed and written by James Cameron)  is a good example because it used both CGI and 3D to create it. The use of 3D brings more people into the cinemas because not many people have the ability to watch it at home so the only way is to go to the cinema or iMax. The production of these new films, that heavily rely on CGI, have a very high budget because the equipment is still considered new and cost a lot of money. Again Avatar had an estimated budget of $237000000 and this is way more money than a normal film would budget. Even thought the budget is more the profit is usually more too, for example Avatar who produced a gross of $760505846, which is a big profit.

Within the rolls of a distributing company is marketing and one of the most popular ways to promote a film is social media because many people use it and the information can be spread quickly. Another way is having short programs that are dedicated to tell the consumers what films are coming out and the must seem films shown an example of this is "The Top Ten Show" on sky. Overall I believe the development of digital media technology has benefited all areas: production, distribution and exhibition.