The owners of any given company within the media can significantly influence the way in which a film is implemented, the genre or type of film, and ultimately whether or not said film could potentially become a success. A large part in this happening is down to the stature, reputation and wealth of these companies. The larger and wealthier companies are, for obvious reasons, in a much more beneficial position, and therefore are more suited and able to develop more significant films, which are in turn usually regarded to have more of a chance of being successful. The reason that these bigger companies are more likely to produce more successful films is due to the money they have at their disposal. Said companies can afford to have more leeway with regard to their budget, allowing them to have more of a license to spend money, and take risks with their money, without worry about this money being returned. As Mark Kermode states, these big blockbuster films are more likely to produce more of revenue or a return. This is due to the film being made into an event through marketing and whatnot, so therefore the film companies make it virtually impossible for themselves lose out on money, as people, whether or not they are keen on the film, don’t want to miss out on the event of the film being released. Once they’ve payed their money to get into the screen, it doesn’t matter if they are keen on the film. The film companies have already gotten their share of the revenue.

A prime example of a big film company is Warner Bros. Warner Bros. possess the appropriate rights to highly successful film series such as Harry Potter and Star Wars. Each of these series have been ground-breaking in their popularity and success, as well as being highly renowned as household and established series within the film industry. Due to the success of the aforementioned series, consumers build up an expectation of Warner Bros. Warner Bros now have a high reputation of producing high quality films, and with that comes an obligation to produce more and more high quality films. Therefore, those who enjoy Warner Bros.’ films will attend the showings of these films, because of the expectation of what is being released. The highly renowned and critically acclaimed Harry Potter series contains eight films, each of which has achieved mass popularity. Harry Potter and the Philosophers’ Stone was the first of these eight films to be released. This film, released in 2001, was hugely successful, not least at the Box Office. Based on the J.K Rowling novel series, the first film of the series utilised a its budget $125,000,000 to its potential, grossing a large sum of $317,557,891. This figure is reflective of the popularity of the film, as the film didn’t just make its money back. It doubled its money, and then some! More and more films were to follow, and with every film released in the series, the more of an event they became. Overall, within the grand scheme of the Harry Potter series, Warner Bros. used immense funds to implement all the movies within the series, a figure in the region of $1.2 billion to be precise. Taking in approximately double this figure, grossing a figure in and around $2.4 billion. Its highest grossing film was its series finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two. Although this wasn’t the film with the highest budget, its finale grossed around $380,000,000, from just a $125,000,000 budget. Released in 2011, ever-present stars such as Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Grainger) had become well renowned as top quality actors/actresses. Many considered the pair to be somewhat A list stars due to their work throughout these films. This is one reason behind the success of Harry Potter. Another factor that aided the success of the final movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was the way in which it was promoted. The marketing was beneficial as such that it embedded the film into more of an event, as

opposed to just a film. This meant that a percentage of people who viewed the movie were merely watching the film as they were reluctant to miss out on this event.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is an example of such an event. Produced by Paramount Pictures, Rogue Nation was the fourth sequel and fifth movie in the highly popular Mission: Impossible series. Due to the success of the series thus far, many people were eagerly anticipating the fifth movie (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) and therefore were reluctant to miss out on such an event. As well as the implementation of the movie becoming an event, there were more factors than just this variable that made the film a success. Not least due to the fact that the movie contained A-List stars. Ethan Hunt is played by arguably the most famous actor on the planet, in Tom Cruise. Cruise is famous for many significant roles within the movie industry, and is well renowned for playing Ethan Hunt in the hugely successful Mission: Impossible series. The 53-year-old has generated a net worth of a staggering $480,000,000 throughout his acting career, and has achieved this wealth through playing roles in films such as Top Gun and Edge of Tomorrow. Therefore, Cruise has developed a reputation as a talented, top quality and iconic Hollywood actor. With this success, comes an immense reputation within his industry (as is the case with many industries). And coupled with this high reputation, arises an expectation and a sense of an obligation to impress, succeed and to deliver. Because of this, Cruise’s films have a high demand for tickets as he is expected to do well, regardless of the role he may be integrated into. The reason Cruise’s films generated a high demand is that people expect his films to be of a high quality, and therefore won’t shy away from viewing films that contain him, and feel that they are in safe hands if Tom Cruise is present, and don’t believe they will be witnessing a disappointing film.

Paramount Pictures were the company behind the production of the hit film.

Media convergence is having a staggeringly positive effect on the film industry, not least the ways in which were able to view films, as our accessibility to films, along with films’ availability has certainly been broadened in recent decades. Recent advancements in the technological industry as a whole have done anything but harm the film industry, introducing a vast array of digital platforms and devices for the common man to download and watch movies. The ways in which films are viewed are so converse now, to those of fifteen years ago, after the introduction of downloadable content through the internet. Albeit illegal, this doesn’t prevent people from downloading movies while they’re still exclusive to cinematic viewing. This in turn can increase or decrease the popularity of a film, as people can recommend any given film to a friend, who can then go to the cinema to watch the film and therefore contribute to the success of the film.

The recent development in mobile phones contributes immensely to the way in which we can watch films now. If we wanted to, at any time or within any given location, we could watch a film. Provided we have a mobile phone on our person, coupled with a network connection, we have the relevant beneficiaries at our disposal in order to download a film and watch it there and then. It’s crazy, and if, in, say, 2008, that idea was presented to you or I, we would be completely perplexed by such a notion. Another format which we can utilise in order to view films in this modern day and age, what with all this new technology, is through the use of legal internet networks, or movies on demand. Examples of such networks are the highly popular Netflix and Amazon Prime. Potential viewers pay money monthly into these networks, and in turn can watch movies on demand when they are made available by the provider. This can contribute influentially towards the success of a film, as films can be shown to a wider audience and the general consensus or overview of the quality of a film can be more reflective of a population. Therefore, films can gain a lot more credit or criticism and the balance between these opinions can widen.

New kid on the block: Netflix has taken the film industry by storm in recent years.

Due to these newly embedded devices and formats being integrated into the film industry, production companies and the relevant distribution corporations have to cater appropriately for all audiences. For example, if low budget film intends to reach out and target as many people as possible to broaden their target audience, they must ensure that their movie is compatible will all potential devices that viewers may wish to access the film through. Produces and distributors must make assurances and take the necessary measures to make the film viewable and accessible on devices such as mobile phones, iPads, gaming consoles and whatnot. This is imperative throughout the production of the film in order to make sure that the film is competing applicably with any other films that may be released within a similar time period. By releasing these films and allowing them to be accessible via all the necessary devices, production companies are broadening their audience and allowing more of a following to view the movie, which contributes significantly to the success of a film.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation benefited significantly from cross media convergence. Produced by Paramount Pictures, a large budget was available to utilise different forms of the media. With such a large production company, comes a large budget. A budget sufficient enough to allow the film to be compatible with many devices. Therefore, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation was accessible to a wider audience, and subsequently achieved more success than it would’ve done if this variable wasn’t present.

In recent years, 3D motion pictures have been introduced. 3D is an enhancing cinematic devices designed to create a more life-like a realistic nature with regard to the picture. It can enhance the cinematic experience as viewers get a feeling as if the pictures on the screen are coming towards them, or jumping out at them. The way in which 3D (3-Dimensional) operates is by using a pair of cameras independently, and then collaborating them to create a 3-Dimensional image. For the cinematic experience to reach its full potential, spectators of the film are obliged to wear the requisite 3D glasses while watching the film. Without the glasses, the camera work would be irrelevant. Films that are made in the 3-dimensional format are also equipped for 2-dimensions and are in no way restricted for 3-dimensional viewing. They’re not exclusive to this viewing format.

Blu-Ray has been a successful viewing format that has rose to prominence in the last few years. Blu-Ray is widely regarded as the next step up from the originally standard DVD format. Whereas DVDs were originally restricted to displaying an resolution optimum resolution picture of 480p, Blu-Ray can display pictures with much more clarity in much higher resolution of 1080p. It is not exclusively the picture that is clearer with Blu-Ray, as the sound quality is also of the higher variety. This aids in gripping the viewer, with more encapsulating scenes with higher quality shots as well as making the experience more realistic and first hand.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation was shown both the 2-dimensional format and the 3-dimensional format. Often at the cinema, prices for entry increase for 3D showings, as opposed to 2D showings. Therefore, with Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation being displayed in 3D picture, more revenue was generated from cinema showings, through those who wished to view the film in the more modern and encapsulating format. Because the film was shown in 3D, this emits a message that the special effects will be impressive, and worth seeing, therefore people would generally elect to view the film in the 3D format as opposed to the 2D format, regardless of the difference in cost. This aided in the success of the film as more money was made from 3D showings at the cinema.

As well as being displayed in a 3-dimensional format, Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation is displayed in a Blu-Ray format. This will increase the potential image quality resolution of the film, thus further enhancing the viewing experience. With a higher resolution, the special effects of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation are, well, more effective. The effects will appear to be more impressive as well as life like. Blu-Ray films tend to cost significantly more than DVDs, so again, more money and revenue will be generated from those who wish to enhance their viewing experience by purchasing a Blu-Ray disc.

The advancement of technology in recent years has certainly helped from a marketing point of view, too. Distributors and their relevant companies use the latest software to its greatest effect in order to market a film to its full potential. Nowadays, designers and marketers can use all new, modern hi-tech equipment in order to create a gripping trailer, a vibrant poster, and anything beneficial that can help to entice any potential viewers. All action trailers and teaser trailers are so, so important within the marketing of a film, and can make or break a films potential success. Therefore, distributors and production companies use a large chunk of their budget in order to make that department of the pre-production as perfect as it could possibly be.

This poster was one of many to surface across social media prior to the film’s release.

Recent technological developments have allowed marketers and distributors, combined with all the relevant persons to market via the internet. Marketing online, i.e through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook can certainly expand the audience of people who could potentially stumble across the film. Distributors can pay money to any given social network sites, Facebook, for example, who can in turn promote the film so that a link to a description of the film will then be embedded into the news feeds of a target audience. This broadens the potential audience of a film, as more and more people, whether intentionally or unintentionally, will be made aware of the film, which in turn will increase the percentage of people who are interested in the film. This can contribute to the film’s success as it widens the target audience, which will continue to multiply as more people come across the film.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation had a very successful marketing campaign. Active at present, there is a Facebook page dedicated to the Mission: Impossible series, which has accumulated a staggering 3.3 million likes as of the 21st of October 2015. 3.3 million! That means that 3.3 million are merely aware of the film. That’s quite something, isn’t it? This contributes to the success of the film as, the more people that like the Facebook page of the film, the more people will become aware of the film. Friends of friends who have liked the page can potentially be exposed to this Facebook page as it will appear on their news feed, and the chain will continue to multiply.

From the early days of film production, film companies have always been looking for ways to improve the production of their films, what with the rising demand for quality, as well as pressure from rival companies, coupled with the advancement in technology. Because of this, we often see drastic alterations with regards to the way in which the films are produced, as well as the way films are made available. Nowadays, it appears that the normal and standard practice is to sit at home and watch films on demand. Failing that, it seems to be watching the films via streams or downloadable content. The obvious factor behind electing to utilise these platforms is the cost. It’s simple to stay at home and watch a film, as well as practical, and then you have the notion that this alternative means of watching a film is significantly cheaper. The days of turning up at the cinema and paying the requisite charge seem to be fading. Because of this, film companies need to adapt the way in which films are made to be available. Film companies can no longer afford to be ignorant; they don’t have enough leeway to turn their nose up to movies on demand, to Netflix, or to Amazon Prime. The reason being is that the film industry is such a mass money-making business, so much so that how we watch films how accessible they are, what devices they’re available on, has millions upon millions of pounds riding on it. Already with a significant profit, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is due to be released on Blu-Ray and VOD in December 2015, which will no doubt add to its already impressive gross.

The internet in this modern day and age is massively influential on the success of a flim. Think about how you hear about a film, how you elect whether or not to make the effort to watch the film. What do you base your first impression of the film on? Trailers, film reviews, posters? All of which are prominent on the internet, whether that be on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook, specific film pages such as the IMDB (Independent Movie Database) or Youtube – in the form of the trailer its self or on an advert played before a video. You can even locate the films themselves on the internet, if you scour strenuously enough. Interviews, quotes, short extracts, all on the internet. And what makes that so important? It’s all free! Everybody with an internet connection has an access to and is exposed to all these forms of promotion, and this has an immense effect on the success of the film. Think about the amount of people on the internet. The larger budget films will have a larger amount of funds at their disposal; therefore will have more license in their budget to pay for their film to be promoted across the internet. The higher the budget, the more money will be spent on promotion, and subsequently more audience members will be attracted. With this, more money is made, and once a film reaches a certain height of success, it’s impossible for a reverse, there’s no going back. Often, what occurs, is distributors will pay video sites such as Youtube a certain amount of money, who in turn will place their trailer in the advert to a video. A video that is deemed similar, or such a video that is associated with the target audience, or projected favoured audience of the film being advertised. In this sense, there is a clear convergence between the Internet and the film industry.

Another element of convergence is the use of Video on Demand (VOD), particularly when these platforms are embedded into Xboxes and Playstations etc. This is an example of a convergence between films and video games, as the film companies are wishing to appeal to the gaming community, in order to broaden their audience and the range of people they are attracting towards the film.