Section B: Exam Question

How far does the platform on which they are consumed determine the construction of media products in your cross-media study? Support your answer with reference to a range of products from THREE media platforms.

I have been studying the film industry. The three case studies I have been researching are Ill Manors, A Field in England and Suffragette.The film is targeted at the youth demographic which is consumed from three media platforms; e-media, broadcast and print.

In terms of E-media, Ill Manors created the Tag London Campaign  which helped the audience get involved through the use of user-generated content.  It influenced fans to tweet using the hashtag #illmanorsalbum to help raise awareness towards the album and through doing this it also helped raise awareness towards Plan B's twitter account because fans began to mention him in their tweets (@4planb). Additionally, fans were then prompted to tweet the tag London twitter account itself by using the hashtag #illmanors in order to express their feelings and views towards Britain's current state. The campaign inspired fans to tweet by selecting tweets that would then be tagged by graffiti artists and projected around iconic London sites. The tweets on these sites were then photographed and put onto social media to encourage more fans to tweet. Also, the use of social media helps promote film. The two step flow model is used in this instance as opinion leaders are able to promote the film. The fact that Plan B is a rapper also would help the fan base and audience to consume both his soundtrack and film through synergy and through social media. There is a link between the campaign and the broadcast platform because through both of them the fans get an insight into Plan B's ideas and beliefs. This then encourages them to see his work and state their own opinions. Furthermore, the campaign and twitter account itself can help promote the interviews and encourage fans to watch them in order to get a clearer understanding of the inspiration behind his work.

Moving on to broadcast, a short documentary helps us understand Plan B's initial thoughts behind the film Ill Manors. Plan B's intentions behind making the film was to help explain the irrational behaviour that we witness from youths and to explain their culture. He also says how he wants to challenge the stereotypes of them and get rid of the misunderstandings. Plan B originally made the film that had a script of 20 pages, however, he was told to reduce it down to only 5 pages as they had only one night to film. This then inspired him to make it almost like a music video, with Plan B himself rapping the narrative.This film was created near to the time that the London riots took place. Therefore, as well as targeting its core target audience of youths aged 16-25, it targeted the alternative audience in order to provide insight to them as to why the riots took place and explain why the youths behaved the way they did.The film does successfully do what Plan B wanted to achieve due to the fact that the cinematographer said that the film aims to show that there is 'hope in a hopeless situation'.

Regarding the print platform, Plan B did a interview with The Guardian. The target audience for the Guardian would be aimed at the younger generation, as the newspaper states that their main readers are "urban consumers with a keen sense of adventure when it comes to trying new products and experiences."  The Guardian is mainly left wing and it's a broadsheet newspaper, and would focus on socialist ideologies rather than conservatives. Furthermore, in terms of  psychographic groups, the Guardian would appeal to explorers. The interview informs them about Plan B's life and the difficulties he faced when he was growing up. This allows the reader to identify with Plan B and feel some sort of emotional connection with him. The fact that every paragraph tells a different story of his life helps the reader understand Plan B as Ben Drew rather than an artist and a director. The fact that he uses this as a tool to promote his film is a clear promotional technique which causes the reader to sympathise with him, understand him, and therefore want to watch his film. Furthermore, Plan B gives the audience a insight of the reasons behind his actions which helps the audience the purpose behind both his music and his film. There is synergy between this interview and the Radio Interview with Fearne Cotton, they both focus on Plan B as a person and his life rather than the music and his film career. This means that Ill Manors is exposed to different/alternate audiences, which creates more coverage for Ill Manors.

On the other hand, A Field In England's distribution strategy was a simultaneous release. It was released on 5th July 2013 across cinema, DVD/Blu-ray, TV and VoD at once. This would allow the younger generation to  come across the film more easily and be exposed to it and maybe watch it as they are consumed by the media. The advantages to releasing the film across all platforms on the same day is that it could create a hype about the film and all the publicity is geared towards one month and that leads to people wanting to watch it straight away and it might also help it be around longer in cinema. This would allow people to come to it without having that panic of watching it within a week before its gone.  However, the disadvantages to this approach is that the audience might resort to the cheaper option to watch the film, e.g. on demand or on the TV in comparison to spending more money by buying the DVD or a cinema ticket. This will then lead to less revenue being made because majority of the audience will prefer the cheaper option and only a minority will be willing to spend the money when there is a cheaper option in place.

Another example of how the platform on which they are consumed determine the construction of media products, is the film Suffragette, a historical period drama, who also used e-media in their campaign. The film ran a competition where audiences could post an image of their mum with the hashtag #InspiringMothers on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and they will be entered into a price draw to win a £250 Outfit gift voucher plus some exclusive Suffragette goodies. This creates interest in the film as audiences are able to interact and share personal opinions on something that is inspirational to them. Also, in terms of print, the film uses various posters to help promote the film. One specific poster consists of pull out quotes. This  helps the audience get an insight into the film by opinions based because they are by well known associations therefore it will encourage people to watch the film. 

Moreover, the broadcast platform shows a range of interviews, one of which is with the main star Carey Mulligan. This interview with the main character from the film helps the audience understand the reasons behind the making of the film. Carey Mulligan briefly explains the dynamics behind the film and we also learn that she herself wasn't aware of the events that took place during the feminist movement until she became a part of this film. Furthermore, the interviewer also talks about the empowerment of women through the making of this film due to the fact that the director, producer and writer were all women. Carey Mulligan hopes that the film will help young people acknowledge what women had to go through to get basic civil rights. This interview will help to promote the film through Carey Mulligan's existing fan base.

To conclude, I think that the platform on which they are consumed determines the construction of media products in Ill Manors, A Field in England and Suffragette to a large extent.