Personal View

Personally, I see trailers for films on TV, then go to see them at the cinema a week or so after they have been released. My dad also subscribes to Empire Magazine, so sometimes i read through the reviews before i go to see a particular film.
When i want to buy a DVD or music i always go to a HMV store. I hardly ever shop online. This is because i know i am guaranteed to be able to find the film/CD that i want as it is such a big company. I also have a HMV Pure card, which means that i can get points on everything i buy, to then spend on more unique items such as festival tickets or signed merchandise.
With music i also never download or buy it online, i always shop in a store, mainly HMV.
HMV is one of my favourite shops as it stocks practically everything involved in entertainment. I buy posters, Cd's, DVDs, Books and Games in there all the time.

The Long Tail Theory

This is the graph showing popularity ranking. To the right is the long tail; to the left are the few that dominate. The area of both sections match. The vertical axis is sales; the horizontal is products.
This means that while consumers are buying many of one product, there are also people that are buying less of more products.

"The distribution and inventory costs of businesses successfully applying this strategy allow them to realize significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items. The total sales of this large number of "non-hit items" is called the Long Tail". The phrase "The Long Tail" was first thought of by Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of Wired magazine.

The long tail basically refers to our culture shifting away from a focus on mainstream products and markets and into selling less of more.

One company that this theory has affected is HMV . Over the years, HMV has adapted its stores to suit needs of a much broader audience. It started out as a record shop in London and was opened on July 20 1921 by Sir Edward Elgar. This is the earliest known in-store appearance from a music celebrity. In the 60's the store was refurbished and featured a small recording studio and some of the first commercial television sets. Over time, they have expanded as a company and now have stores globally selling products such as CD's, DVD's, Books, Clothing, Posters, Merchandise, Games and gadgets such as headphones and music players.

HMV is a company that now provides almost every service for its customers, keeping it up to date with other companies. It sells every form of media and also caters for online customers.

There is a service called "Pure HMV" which allows customers to collect 100 points per pound on everything they buy in store and online, then spend on special gifts such as tickets to film screenings, music festivals and signed merchandise. HMV also have an online music downloading service called "hmvdigital" and film rental service called "hmv ondemand" http://www.hmvondemand.com/. This is how they have had to change their services to keep up with the current trend of online shopping and companies such as LOVEFiLM.com whcih allow you to rent and watch dvd's from your home.

At the end of 2011, LoveFilm claimed to have over 1,500,000 members, over 70,000 titles, and over 4 million rentals per month across five countries. LoveFilm has, in a few years, become the leading online DVD rental outlet in the UK and across Europe. This is a prime example of the long tail theory, it provides thousands of DVD's and makes a huge profit from it, yet it only sells one product, subscriptions to it's service. If it begins to get competition, it can only be assumed that it will begin renting CD's and start a downloading service.

How The Internet Has Changed Film Distribution

How the Internet has Changed Film Distribution on Prezi

Online Age- Youtube

Types of Media
- Print
- Radio
- Music
- Internet

New media gives us:
- new ways of connecting and communicating with eachother
- New cultures
- Youtube Stars http://youtubestars.blogspot.com/
- New ways of information
- Collaborating

This interconnectivity is tagged, controlled and connected. Youtube is affecting old media. For example, a person uploading a video of themselves singing can lead to a record deal.

It can also cause a loss of community. People are trying to find them through networking online. Online it gives people network individualism.

Cultural Inversion

Express > Individualism
Value > Community
Express > Independence
Value > Relationships
Express > Commercialisation
Value > Authenticity

Collapse of Context: "As if everybody is watching where nobody is"

"Freedom without fear or anxiety"
Cultural Tension, Advertising on popular videos.

Marketing and Distribution – how films reach their audiences

Mainstream films and studio pictures are often distributed via their own distribution companies and promoted via traditional campaigns which include posters and trailers and websites. Convergence means that the big studios often own TV companies too, so a film can be released for cinema, then DVD and then TV.
Independent and specialist producers rely more on film festivals and competitions and other means of promotions to get their films distributed. The internet is increasingly important for these film producers because they don’t have the budget or connections as the big studios.
You need to consider how the internet has changed film distribution for big mainstream studios as well as independents and specialised film producers and is this positive change? The Longtail Theory is about “less of more” how do the products reach audiences? “Wikinomics” is also relevant….think about what has happened to HMV. Digital media can be globally transported at the click of a mouse.