From the early 1920s to the early 1950s, the American film industry had evolved into a business controlled by a few companies, a condition known as a "mature oligopoly". The most powerful of these companies, or studios, were the fully integrated 'Big Five': MGM, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and RKO.
These studios not only produced and distributed films, but also exhibited them in their own movie theatres - this practice of operating each stage of the production process is called Vertical Integration. In 1948 the United States Supreme Court ruled that this practice was unfair to any competition and the major studios were forced to sell off their cinemas.
Today, three of these studios are part of big corporations: MGM is privately held, Warner Brothers is part of Time Warner, 20th Century Fox is part of the Fox Entertainment Group and Paramount Pictures is part of Viacom.
The big corporations usually have holdings across several different media - e.g. film, TV, radio, print and internet. This is horizontal integration ("the consolidation of holdings across multiple industries") or economic convergence as Henry Jenkins calls it http://www.phase1.nccr-trade.org/images/stories/jenkins_convergence_optional.pdf
The corporations have developed the practice of owning many media outlets, which run almost the same content - this is considered to be very economical, since it requires only minor changes of format and information to use in multiple media forms. For example, within a conglomerate, the content used in broadcasting television would be used in broadcasting radio as well, or the content used in hard copy of the newspaper would also be used in online newspaper website - this is called cross media convergence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18AC7f64k98
What has emerged is the new strategy of content development and distribution designed to increase the “synergy" between the different divisions of the same company. The corporations seek content that can move fluidly across media channels. Henry Jenkins talks about transmedia storytelling (basically another term for cross media convergence) which is when a story, such as Dr Who or Harry Potter, is told across multiple media formats, e.g. film, television, print and video game. Clearly a corporation can exploit its ownership of multi-media holdings to sell what is essentially the same product across a range of media, provided it has the rights to do so. The BBC are able to sell the Dr Who story across different media because they own the rights. http://convergenceishere.weebly.com/doctor-who-and-csi.html. J.K. Rowling sold the film rights for Harry Potter to time Warner Bros. but the publishers of the books are an independent publishing house, Bloomsbury Publishing, and the Pottermore site is partnered with Sony http://henryjenkins.org/2011/06/three_reasons_why_pottermore_m.html.
However, different rights owners can all benefit from the interest in Harry Potter by releasing products at the same time as the film is released. This includes merchandise and so when a James Bond film is released, companies like Sony, Omega, Aston Martin and Heineken create a synergy of their own http://brandsandfilms.com/2012/11/product-placement-in-pictures-skyfall/
Synergy can also work on a stylistic level. Synergy helps to establish a brand identity that you, the consumer, immediately recognise. This 'creative' form of synergy might involve a logo (e.g. Batman), a particular typeface (e.g. The Terminator metallic 'font'), certain images or a musical 'motif' (e.g. the James Bond theme). These stylistic 'idents' can be used across a range of marketing forms (cross media) - e.g. trailer, poster, website etc. - to establish a shared 'look' or 'sound'.
All of these synergistic elements help to raise your awareness of the film and increase the likelihood of you going to see it.
Synergy also takes place in combination with cross media convergence. So when Twentieth Century Fox release a new film, News Corp (the owners) will simultaneously carry articles (this is the synergy) and advertisements in their print media (cross media convergence), such as The Sun and the The Times and also include news items on Sky News (e.g. the premiere and cast interviews).
We also see synergy and cross-media convergence combining in the range of marketing devices used by distributors today. They use 'old media' (e.g. posters, cinema trailers, TV spots, newspaper advertisements etc.) and 'new media' (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, official websites, blogs, transmedia storytelling websites etc.). The synergy is that all the elements of the media campaign work together. The cross-media convergence part is that the campaign includes TV, cinema, print, internet, social media, radio etc. For examples of this, read your Cloverfield article and read about the viral marketing campaigns for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises: http://filmschoolrejects.com/news/marketing-the-dark-knight-a-viral-revolution.php http://batman.wikibruce.com/Home http://mica.ac.in/blog/viral-marketing-strategy-dark-knight-rises/ http://builtvisible.com/the-most-amazing-content-marketing-campaign-ever/ https://prezi.com/vawol3_bp6o6/the-dark-knight-rises-marketing-distribution-and-other-stu/ http://whatculture.com/film/the-dark-knight-rises-viral-marketing-are-warner-bros-missing-a-trick.php
Simultaneous release is another form of synergy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_release http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/field-england-marks-uk-distribution-first
Time Warner is unusual in that it operates both horizontal integration and vertical integration. The horizontal integration is its ownership of different media outlets, e.g. CNN and HBO (television), Warner Brothers Digital Distribution (online), Entertainment Weekly (print and online), New Line Cinema and Castle Rock (film). It also vertically integrates within its film division. Time Warner can produce films (e.g. through Warner Brothers), distribute them through Warner Brothers Pictures (e.g. films by New Line Cinema or Castle Rock) and exhibit them through Warner Brothers International Cinemas.
Read here for a detailed analysis of media ownership that relates to the film industry: http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc52.2010/MeehanCorporate/index.html
A key part of the article is this:
"In film, News Corporation owned the Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, and Blue Sky Studios (animation). Film distribution was generally through Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. News Corporation did not own movie theaters. The company synergized its films, using Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment to repackage them as videos and DVDs, Fox Music to deal with soundtracks, and Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising to promote them and earn secondary revenues. In film, then, News Corporation was vertically integrated in production and distribution, horizontally integrated in its ownership of four studios, and synergized through connections to other operations."
We also see synergy and cross-media convergence combining in the range of marketing devices used by distributors today. They use 'old media' (e.g. posters, cinema trailers, TV spots, newspaper advertisements etc.) and 'new media' (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, official websites, blogs, transmedia storytelling websites etc.). The synergy is that all the elements of the media campaign work together. The cross-media convergence part is that the campaign includes TV, cinema, print, internet, social media, radio etc. For examples of this, read your Cloverfield article and read about the viral marketing campaigns for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises: http://filmschoolrejects.com/news/marketing-the-dark-knight-a-viral-revolution.php http://batman.wikibruce.com/Home http://mica.ac.in/blog/viral-marketing-strategy-dark-knight-rises/ http://builtvisible.com/the-most-amazing-content-marketing-campaign-ever/ https://prezi.com/vawol3_bp6o6/the-dark-knight-rises-marketing-distribution-and-other-stu/ http://whatculture.com/film/the-dark-knight-rises-viral-marketing-are-warner-bros-missing-a-trick.php
Simultaneous release is another form of synergy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_release http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/field-england-marks-uk-distribution-first
Time Warner is unusual in that it operates both horizontal integration and vertical integration. The horizontal integration is its ownership of different media outlets, e.g. CNN and HBO (television), Warner Brothers Digital Distribution (online), Entertainment Weekly (print and online), New Line Cinema and Castle Rock (film). It also vertically integrates within its film division. Time Warner can produce films (e.g. through Warner Brothers), distribute them through Warner Brothers Pictures (e.g. films by New Line Cinema or Castle Rock) and exhibit them through Warner Brothers International Cinemas.
Read here for a detailed analysis of media ownership that relates to the film industry: http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc52.2010/MeehanCorporate/index.html
A key part of the article is this:
"In film, News Corporation owned the Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, and Blue Sky Studios (animation). Film distribution was generally through Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. News Corporation did not own movie theaters. The company synergized its films, using Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment to repackage them as videos and DVDs, Fox Music to deal with soundtracks, and Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising to promote them and earn secondary revenues. In film, then, News Corporation was vertically integrated in production and distribution, horizontally integrated in its ownership of four studios, and synergized through connections to other operations."
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