Section B - Institutions and Audiences

Section B -  Institutions and Audiences

You should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange and relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and institutions.

In addition, you should be familiar with:
• the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice; 
• the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing; 
• the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange; 
• the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences; 
• the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences; 
• the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions; 

• the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour. 

You will then focus on the questions to do with film.

• This will be a study of a specific studio or production company within a contemporary film industry that targets a British audience (eg Hollywood, Bollywood, UK film), including its patterns of production, distribution, exhibition and consumption by audiences. 

• This should be accompanied by study of contemporary film distribution practices (digital cinemas, DVD, HD-DVD, downloads, etc) and their impact upon production, marketing and consumption.