How to answer the Institutions and Audiences question in the exam

Give yourself enough time.  Split your time equally between the TV drama essay and the Institutions and Audiences essay.  You should start the second essay after one hour.



First of all you need to read the question.  The question will ask you about one (or even two) of the following:

• Ownership (this includes studios, production companies, distributors, exhibitors, funding sources, the BFI, corporations etc.)
• Cross media convergence (basically the combination of different media institutions or media content)
• Synergy (how different media work together - stylistic, merchandise and product placement, transmedia storytelling, marketing, simultaneous release, similarly timed release of linked products such as film and video game)
• technology
• production (how the film is made)
• marketing (how you are made aware of the film)
• distribution (how the film gets to you - DVD, Blu-ray, VoD, cinema release, TV broadcast, download, Youtube)
• digital (sound and images that are broken down into digital data which is then read by digital devices such as DVD players, computers and phones and formed back into sound and images)
• exchange (where, when and how the film passes from the distributor to you - e.g. you are at home in your bedroom, streaming a film from Netflix onto your tablet)
• technological convergence (this can be content or hardware)
• audience (the people who 'consume' the film)
• consumption (watching the film)
• institution (producers, distributors, exhibitors)

Often the question is 'dressed up' in fancy language.  Don't panic.  You can answer it.  Take your time and think about how you can 'work your way' into the question.

Make a plan!  Write down which case studies you are going to use and any key points you don't want to forget to include.

Essay Plan

1. State that you are going to be writing about the film industry.
2. If your question has a technical term, such as digital distribution, you might want to briefly define what that means.
3. If you are going to approach the question from a particular 'angle' or use the views of a media commentator such as Henry Jenkins then explain your approach to the examiner, e.g. For the purposes of this essay I am going to...
4. The question will ask you to develop a view or opinion on the topic.  Don't worry about this. All you will be doing is thinking about the issues for audiences (you and other people who watch films) and institutions (the people involved in the industry).  The examiner will be looking for you to explain, analyse and argue your points.  Just think of it like you are having a discussion with yourself where you are trying to form a balanced judgement on the question, with both the audience and institutions considered.
5. Give 5-10 developed examples that are relevant to the question area (don't forget that the question areas link up with each other and so a case study that you revised for one area may also be relevant for another).  Wherever possible, you should explain the issues for both audience and institution for each case study.  Remember to use paragraphs for each separate case study.
6. Use terminology accurately when writing about your case studies.
7. Try to include points about production, distribution/marketing and exchange in your case studies, but you don't have to cover all three in each case studies.
8. Try to include points about the past (a little), the present (mostly) and the future (some).
9. Conclude your answer by returning to the question and giving a meaningful view on the issue in your question.  Try to end strongly.  Don't just repeat yourself or make some 'wishy washy' statement like, "Yes, in some ways I agree with the statement and in some ways I don't".  This will be the last thing the examiner reads before (s)he gives you a mark so don't end on a low note!
10. Relax...it's all over :)