Lego Minecraft

Synergy Meanings

Synergy - the interaction of two or more forces working together to create a greater impact than what would be created individually

Synergy in Media - the way in which an element of a media conglomerate or different companies work together to promote linked products

Cross Platform Gaming Homework

1. Cross platform gaming means that a video game has the ability to allow players to play a game like Minecraft simultaneously on different gaming hardware.
2. The "Better Together" update is so exciting for the gaming world because it takes different versions of Minecraft that have been available on PC, Xbox, iOS, and Android, and consolidates them into one master version, with same features, functionality and content matter where you play. This update allows players from the listed platforms to play together without any restrictions.
3. There might be concerns over online child protection because there are some content in games that are inappropriate for children for example Call of Duty and Battlefield. These games portray murder, blood and guns in them and parents will not allow their children to mimic the actions they see for them to get into trouble. For example, Fortnite has murder in it and PlayStation didn't agree to play with other platforms because of that reason.
4. I think that it is a good idea to have cross-platform games because people from different gaming platforms are able to play together without no restrictions; there will be no barrier in between them. This also allows players to jump from one server that is specific to a gaming platform to another to play with their friends. This also makes games last longer as their "shelf life" would be expanded meaning that the game will not get old soon. However, the server might have to much strain and it will ultimately crash therefore players are unable to play the game that they want so the developers will have complains. Secondly, there might be lack of compatibility in terms on controls. Gaming hardware all differ from their controls/controllers so the developers will have to change the controls for them to best suit the console and that will take some time. Also, some people might not like the controls so that will further delay them. Finally, different gaming platforms might have different policies. For example, Xbox might find an action unacceptable whereas for PC they are allowed. Therefore, the developers need to make up a policy that pleases all gaming platforms for cross-platforming to be allowed so this is a huge drawback when they are trying to persuade gaming platforms.

Lion King Teaser

I am going to make a teaser for the upcoming live action Disney blockbuster film "The Lion King".

I am going to have a range of Social Media strategies. Firstly, I am going to tame a harmless cubs (baby lions) and I'm going to let it walk by itself around the streets of cities. Every cub will have a supervisor so that they don't get into any trouble. Each of them will have a poster on their bodies saying "I just can't wait to be king!". This whole act is a reference to the Lion King film. It's about Simba singing a song about his ambition to be King. Some people in the public will be confused while most will know the reference. Furthermore, I will make a documentary about Lions in Kenya. The title of the documentary will be named "Lion's Dominance"and it will portray how they show dominance to a tribe. The location wouldn't be mentioned however some landscapes of Kenya will be shown so that some people will know the purpose of the documentary. The last teaser is a tip from Rafiki explaining how to be a successful King to the tribe. It will be a live action filming and afterwards a 5 second teaser from the film will show. The last teaser will give most information of the film to the audience. All of the strategies will be posted on YouTube and short clips will be shown on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter with hyperlinks to watch the full video on YouTube.


Lion King has products such as toys and stuffed toys, keychains, towels, pajamas, t-shirts, mugs, bags etc.

Black Panther Case Study

Black Panther Case Study

The film “Black Panther” comes out on February 12^th, 2018 from the production company Marvel Studios.  Marvel Studios have been founded 25 years ago in 1993 and they created films based on Marvel comics mainly by Stan Lee. They are responsible for creating blockbuster films such as The Avengers Series, Spider-Man Homecoming (the “Spider-Man” franchise is licensed to Sony Pictures), Thor, Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Iron Man and the Hulk. Marvel Studios is now a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios which is a division of the conglomerate The Walt Disney Company from 2009.

The main characters are made up of black people: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett and Daniel Kaluuya. Danai Gurira is best known for her role on The Walking Dead, Forest Whitaker and his Rogue One: A Star Wars Story role, and Danial Kaluuya's role in the horror film Get Out. The reason why the director, Ryan Coogler, hired these cast members to represent the Black Panther Party. They are an African American Revolutionary Party and their purpose is to patrol the African American neighbourhoods and to protect residents from the acts of police brutality.

The production budget is not officially announced but it is estimated to be 200 million dollars. It must include the pre-production, filming, post-production and promotion. This includes buying the rights to the script, the actor’s salaries, production staff salaries, set construction, special effects, wardrobe, craft services, and marketing. This approximately costs 106 million dollars but all of these attributes can vary, for example, the size of the actors, the amount of special effects that need to be used or how much the rights of the film costs.

Marvel Studios has a wide range of platforms to promote their film. They have made 3 trailers and have released them on YouTube as well as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and they have created an advertisement on Snapchat. The official trailer has had 18 million views, 7.2 million views on Facebook and 103 posts and 203 thousand followers on Instagram. The trailers have also been shown on big television companies (BBC and ITV for example) in the UK. Black Panther has several promotional posters in cinemas and on London’s transport like TFL. They also have billboards in America with some of them popping out of the billboard.

Black Panther has a wide range of licensed products for Marvel to sell to promote the film. This includes stuffed toys based on the Black Panther’s suit, masks, claws, mugs, shirts, caps, bags, the upper torso of black panther’s suit, action figures et cetera. The film needs to sell its merchandise so that they can pay the people who have worked on the movie. For example, actors, director, production team, composer as well as the marketing team will all have their cut mainly from the licensed products. The rest of the money will be for Marvel, however, Disney will get some of their shares too.

Marvel has managed to get a partnership with the car manufacturer Lexus. Black Panther’s flagship is the Lexus’ “LS 500 F Sport luxury saloon”. Both brands can promote each other to increase their sales and their profit. Lexus has used the characters from the Black Panther film to advertise the performance and the luxury of the car. In addition, the film takes this opportunity to show off its characters as well as what the audience can expect from it like action and adventure.

Disney uses the money they get from Marvel Studios for them to help the other divisions within its business. The money that they have gotten help other production companies like Lucasfilm, Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. The money will also assist Disney Parks and Resorts, Media Networks, and Consumer Products and Interactive Media. Those main divisions get split into many other subsidiaries as well as having some of the money for their revenue. The many subsidiaries that Disney owns are the reason why they are the world second largest media conglomerate and their expansion will only get greater over the years. 

08/02/18

The Walt Disney Company

• Founded by Walt and his brother in 1923
• Started by making short animations to be shown as part of a cinema programme
• 1928 Steamboat Willie (1st Mickey Mouse)
• 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1st Feature length animation) Distributed by RKO

Snow White

• It is the 10th most popular film.
• Premiere December 1937
• Released in 2 cinemas (New York and Miami) January 1938
• General Release February 1938
• Box Office $7 million
• Re-released: 1944, 1952, 1958, 1967, 1975, 1983, 1987 and 1993 
• Total Box Office: $180 million (about $1 Billion when adjusted for inflation)

Disney Timeline

• 1950 - First ‘live action’ films start
• 1950 - Starts working in TV
• 1955 - Mickey Mouse Club on TV
• 1955 - Disneyland opens
• 1964 - Mary Poppins released (nominated for Oscars)
• 1966 - Walt dies

How the money is split

• Disney’s net worth $92bn
• Company valued at about $150bn

05/02/18

"The Guardian" - Violent games and Aggression

• Problems with genre and games - 1st person shooter like CoD iis different from war strategy games
• Study: the author was not a neurologist
• Conduct disorder - stealing, fighting 8-9 years over several years; upto the age of 15.
• Study does not look at social factors e.g. existing mental health, conduct disorder
• Weak link between violent gaming is aggressive behaviour but this might just be competitiveness - refutes effects theories - counteracts moral panics

Black Panther Homework

Production Company

• Marvel Studios, which is owned by Disney, is producing this film.

Casting

• The main characters are made up of black people: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett and Daniel Kaluuya.
• Danai Gurira is best known for her role on The Walking Dead, Forest Whitaker and his Rogue One: A Star Wars Story role, and Danial Kaluuya's role in the horror film Get Out.
• The reason why the director, Ryan Coogler, hired these cast members to represent the Black Panther Party. They are an African American Revolutionary Party and their purpose is to patrol the African American neighbourhoods an to protect residents from the acts of police brutality.

Production Budget

• It is not officially said, but it is estimated to be $200m

License Products

• There are little products produced to promote the Black Panther film.

Brand Partnerships

• The film has a brand partnership with the car manufacturer Lexus so the movie can promote the car and the car can promote the movie. This works either way.