Digital Revolution first draft

`Digital Revolution/ Audience theory. What impact has the digital revolution had on the film industry?

The digital revolution has enabled the film industry to grow. This has happened through; advertisements, new platforms and many more.

The digital revolution has helped many films become more recognised for example, “X men day of future past,” the digital revolution has helped this film gain publicity in many ways, for example  it was advertised on a lot of websites such as “Buzz Feed,”  it was also advertised in cinemas and on TV. This growth of advertisement has enabled the movie to gross $233,921,534. Katz and Lazarfeld’s audience theory suggests that the advertisement is made to appeal to 18 year old males as they are considered opinion leaders.

Stuart Hall’s audience theory suggests that people may form 3 different opinions/ reading of what is being advertised; preferred, negotiated and oppositional. An example a preferred reading for “X men days of future past” is that it is a brilliant film with good effects, good story line, good actors and a good director (Brian Singer). A negotiated reading may be that although the effects and the CGI on the film is very impressive, the story line is unrealistic and the film is overrated. However, an oppositional reading would be that the film is completely awful and the actors and directors are bad etc.

The digital revolution has also enabled films to be released on different platforms rather than just on VCRs the ways it used to be. For example, “Xmen days of future past” was released in cinemas both 3D and non 3D, in IMAX, on blu ray and DVD and is soon going to appear on TV. Independent films like; “A Field in England” also uses different platforms to release the film, for example “A Field in England was released on TV (film 4), on DVD, in some cinemas and on video on demand. However independent films have different ways of being advertised, for example, most independent films are not advertised as frequently on TV as mainstream films, “A Feld in England” was not advertised at all on TV, although a lot of advertisements were done online on sites such as “Rotten Tomatoes”.

Many reviews have also been made for “A Field in England” for example; the Guardian and the Times, However reviews for this film are more oppositional then reviews for mainstream films like “Xmen days of future past.” This is due to the fact the movie does not have big production and the actors are unknown along with the director therefore it has no reputation.

Main stream films also tend to be more popular  than independent film s  due to the budget, the budget is usually a lot bigger with main stream films, for example, “Xmen days of future past” budget was $200 million whereas  the budget for “A Field in England was £300,000.