Institutions and Audiences - 7 points

• the issues raised in targeting of national and local audiences (British) by international and global institutions?

In recent times, the power structure between audiences and institutions has changed drastically. Audiences are no longer passive consumers but actively and critically analyse any given form of media presented to them and have even become producers through platforms such as YouTube. To continue producing content that the audiences will appreciate, institutions carry out researches such as demographs for this purpose.

Big media giants such as Time Warner and Disney have huge budgets which they spend on vast marketing and integrate synergy and cross media convergence and tie ins e.g. a movie like Moana (2016) will synergize with food chains such as McDonald's to produce toys related to the movie to reach maximum audience. Another example would be of Captain America: Civil War's synergy with brands such as Pizza Hut and Skittles. Since Disney is also in charge of toy production, through vertical integration they will also produce toys for Marvel characters to appeal to younger audiences as well. Through converging with Audi and Superbowl and releasing trailers related to them, Marvel also tapped into the older audiences. The studios therefore have to consider all age groups to sell their product to maximum fruition.

The problem for British independent studios like Film 4 arises as they cannot afford above the line marketing due to low funding from their government and dominance by Hollywood, therefore synergy isn't created and the film misses out on potential audiences. The budget for Captain America: Civil War was $250 million and with this Disney would be able to distribute it internationally and without the worry of it not doing well at the box office as Disney is a well established company which would not take a huge hit if the movie were to fail at the box office, which would seem unlikely as their movies are highly anticipated. 

Audiences are largely familiar with big institutions and trust them to produce satisfactory content. For example, Captain America: Civil War was the 13th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and established audiences had high expectations due to past critical acclaim. Smaller institutions don't have that kind of exposure and target only a certain type of audience due to small advertising campaign and low budget, losing out on a wider audience.

Their problem can however be solved by the star system, where well known British actors playing a role in a British made film can bring it more attention e.g. Keira Knightly and James McAvoy appearing in Atonement (2011). 

Independent institutes are also restricted to certain genres such as social realism due to lack of funds for special effects which leads to very similar independent films. Even when they are distributing films internationally, there will be cultural barrier between the film and the audience which might not connect with the values of British people. For example, the movie Pride, was specific to British history, quite unknown to the rest of the world, hence more likely to appeal to a niche audience. 

There are some films that do not face this problem, however. An example of this would be the blockbuster success of the Harry Potter series produced by Warner Brothers.

In conclusion, the main problem lies with British institutions unable to reach wider audiences due to cultural and funding restraints.