Tuesday 9 June 2009

UNIT 7: Understanding The TV and Film Industries




Introduction To Television
Television has come along way since the 1930’s when it was first commercialised, nowadays it is broadcast in many different ways and the different forms of television have evolved too, with interactive media and the internet competing for audiences and revenues strongly. PBS (Public Service Broadcasting) includes the BBC, which is run purely by Public service and funded by licensing. ITV, Channel 4 and Five; these channels are primarily funded by adverts they are still Public Service Broadcasted. PBS also includes S4C, SMG and UTV and all of the above are terrestrial broadcasters. Commercial Broadcasting and Subscription Broadcasting are things such as Sky TV, Virgin, and Tiscali TV. These all have to be paid for in order to watch them however they offer extra packages for example on Sky, offer extra Sports packages and Film packages, which cost extra. There are also other forms in which television can now be viewed for example in high definition (where you can subscribe to certain channels and watch your programmes in better quality), on your phone (certain channels and programmes can be viewed), on the internet and computer (free view can be channelled through to be viewed onto your computer and programmes and channels can be accessed on the internet for example BBC iplayer and 4OD). The BBC must entertain, inform, and educate which can be restricting sometimes, this is a must for the BBC but although other channels must do it to an extent the BBC is very insistent that the programmes cover those descriptions. Television used to only be watched on a television set and the restriction of only a few channels however hundreds and hundreds of channels are now available thanks to digital television such as Sky and Virgin Media. There are around 300 cable and satellite broadcasters. ‘Major international players, including BSkyB, Virgin Media, Discovery, Disney and Viacom, dominate this sub-sector but there are also a number of niche broadcasters catering to an amazingly wide variety of audiences and interests.


Task One (P1,M1,D1) - Technology in the TV Industry

Philo Farnsworth made the first working television set in 1928; little did he know what a revolution it would become and how much it would develop in the coming years. Now, in the 21st century, it is at its peak and is becoming more and more popular as the years pass, as more and more ways of broadcasting and channel variety there is.
Technology has affected the industry in many ways; there are lots of different methods of watching it and the different types of television viewing. Satellite is one of them; it can also be described as subscription viewing as you have to pay to watch it. Types of satellite include sky television and virgin media; these are two of the most popular forms of satellite television. Sky has a total number of 9,067,000 customers just in the UK alone.



These subscriptions provide an unlimited number of channels such as film, music, entertainment and children’s channels. Another popular choice for satellite is the new BT Vision, which is more pay-per-view than subscription as you only pay for what you watch. Cable is also another means of watching television; it is used widely in the world in countries such as Belgium and India. HDTV (High-Definition Television) is becoming more common, it’s only broadcast on digital television as opposed to standard television. High definition TV has around twice the linear resolution of normal television (SDTV) meaning that the picture quality is almost twice as good and the detailing and colour are immense, it is popular with films as it makes the viewing experience more enjoyable and can give the impression of cinema quality.
Interactive television includes ‘pressing the red button’ on certain channels to access further programmes and information, calling in on television shows to vote such as X-Factor and Big Brother, and the well known cactus kid adverts in which the viewers were asked to text in the vote to decide the fete of the character. This is becoming also ever popular; audience involvement makes people feel included therefore making the programme, channel, or advert popular and a point of talk. Music channels are now becoming more and more interactive by having text in competitions and votes to have videos played which is becoming very popular to interact the audience making them feel apart of the shows and music choice. Certain channels also have text in shows where you can send in pictures and talk to other people via the television set on channels like Fizz.
Television streamed through internet (VOD; video on demand) is also a favored method of distribution now. Free view can be streamed and watched on your computer screen; websites such as BBC and ITV provide iPlayer to catch up on programmes that have been aired previously, a popular choice is 4OD (on demand) by channel 4 which provides a whole back catalogue of films, series’, documentaries, programmes, and catch ups for the public to view at their own leisure. Of course there is still the analogue television. Things such as BBC iPlayer and ITV player are free but some of the programmes you do have to pay for and the series’ and films that you can buy on iTunes for your iPod and computer also have to be paid for.
Most technologies are described as ‘new media’ are digital, for example digital television, interactive, hd etc. Internet plays a big part in the ‘new media generation’ AOL, Google, Yahoo are just a few to name. AOL is one of the worlds leading Internet service providers, Google is an American publication, which is one of the most widely, used search engines for all kinds of information and images. Yahoo! is also a popular search engine although it provides a lot more such as yahoo! mail and messenger and sports etc.
PBS (Public Service Broadcasting) includes the BBC, which is run purely by Public service and funded by licensing, ITV, Channel 4 and Five; these channels are primarily funded by adverts they are still Public Service Broadcasted. This means that they are available for anyone to watch on analogue television. Free view is also available on most televisions now, which is a free digital service.
A free view box costs around £25 and can be bought separately to add on to your television, it offers around 48 digital channels, which are free with the box, and it also includes lots of radio channels and interactive services. Channels include film4, itv2, Dave, TMF, and BBC3. Televisions that have free view integrated in the TV (iDTV) are also available and can range from £100-£3500. To have free view a one off fee is needed. Our transmitter group is from Emley Moore, which provides to West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire; the digital switchover will take into affect in 2011.
Digital television is advancing, devices are currently available to now record TV, and pause and rewind it too. Sky Plus, Virgin On Demand, TIVO and now free view plus are all available to make television convenient therefore being able to live your life socially whilst making television work around your schedule and more accessible. Having said that fragmented audiences are becoming more popular due to the range of channels and use of technology. In the past there was mass audiences as there was only one television and a very limited number of channels available, but now in the present day with their being such a wide range of channels, most of which are niche channels specifically aiming the programmes at certain needs and interests for example if you wanted to listen to a rock channel you could pick scuzz, or if you wanted news there a lots of news channels to chose from making audiences more fragmented. The advance in technology and time has also allowed us to give us options about where or how we watch television. For example there may be around four televisions in each household now whereas there only used to be one limited to the main family room and now some may be in bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens. Both of these issues combined are making audiences fragmented.


The uses and gratification theory is more relevant today then it has ever been, every programme on television includes at least one of the following four: surveillance (information), diversion (entertainment), personal relationships, and personal identity. Programmes like the news are mainly used for surveillance but it can also be used for personal relationships as a talking point to bring people closer together. Diversion is programmes like ‘I’m a celebrity’ and ‘Big brother’ which can also be used for personal relationships (which could be integrated into more programmes then none as television is such a big part of society today). Personal identity could be categorized in programmes such as ‘How to look good naked’ as people especially women can identify and sympathise with the situations. This theory becomes more and more important as technologies advance as it is becoming more widely used, accessible and known to everyone. Advances in technology have helped film makers in many ways, for example CGI and 3D effects, have made films more real and are able to make them come to life, CGI has helped film in many ways and can contain things that without would not be possible for example fantasy creatures.


Task Two (P1,M1,D1) - Case Study On Sky

Sky launched itself in 1989 and was the first company to go ‘digital’, the first to go interactive (with ‘red button services’), the first to offer a personal video recorder and the first to offer HD services across the UK and yet they continue to expand and advance in technology. Sky Broadband and sky player expanded into computers to allow television on computers and even mobile television is available now. Even sky talk has been introduced and is becoming growingly popular.

Sky TV has roughly 23 million viewers in approximately 9 million households and numbers are growing every rapidly every year. A major technology advance was sky+. It was created to make television personal and to make it more accessible around people’s lives and over 12 million people in 3.7 million homes has it. In the past year more than 4.4 billion ‘touch of a button’ changes were made to the way people watch television. Sky+ in high definition was launched in May 2006 and by the end of June 2008 it already has more than half a million customers. To see HD in comparison to standard television click on the following link:



Sky also introduced multi-room, which means having an additional skybox in a different room. Sky Broadband was launched in 2006 and was the fastest growing broadband service, which is already in more than 1.7 million homes. Other technology advances include sky talk (phone services), Sky player (online TV services), sky mobile (watching TV on your mobile) and most recently freesat from sky, which is a one off payment of £150 and access to 200 channels with no monthly payment much like freeview but with a personal touch and more channels and accessibility.
Sky also has a number of other businesses such as sky business, sky media (for advertising), and sky betting and gaming amongst others. They are also currently trying to reduce their CO2 emissions (and have done so by 27% already). The table below shows the current facts and figures up to June 2008 this year.



Task Three (P1,M1,D1) - TV Industry Funding
Public service broadcasting means making television purely for the viewers needs rather than commercial interests. It is required that television includes particular fulfillments as part of their license. The BBC, launched in 1922, is funded primarily by the television license fee which is currently £139.50 which works out to be roughly 38p per day, and does not sell advertisement time, in all of its programmes it must include at least two of the three requirements, which were developed by Lord Reith, these are: entertain, inform and educate. If this does not happen for example ‘Fame Academy’ was considered to not fulfill any purpose except entertain and was from then on removed from television. The launch of ITV was in 1955 and this was the first commercial broadcaster channel as there had only been BBC1 and BBC2 before it. ITV is the biggest commercial television network in the UK now and is made up of fifteen regional licenses. The requirements, demanded by the government, for the right to broadcast, were of similar concerns: for example news coverage, religious and arts programming. Channel 4 and S4C (which is a welsh language provider) followed in 1981 to provide different forms of public service broadcasting and Five (the final analogue terrestrial channel) was most recently launched in 1997 and was too given a number of fulfillments in order to be broadcasted. However with the new digital age in tact and advancing at every chance, there are issues that have come to light about the relevance of public service broadcasting. Recently the BBC has been criticised for crossing the boundaries of the public service remit for providing programmes that could be aired by the commercial broadcasters.
Some suggest that in order for the BBC to stay ‘relevant’ new services and entertainment need to be brought to light, but there is also concern that with the digital switch over on the horizon and the digital channels getting just as much coverage as the analogue, what is the need for these costly constraints known as the license fee, in order to pay for these channels? However with Ofcom on the case and looking into adapting and thriving the PSB channels into a digital world and people such as Stephen Fry on its side: with such opinions as ‘We actually can afford the BBC, because we can’t afford not to’. I think the BBC and PSB will be around for much longer than people actually anticipate.
Most households in this day and age have some form of subscription television, with sky television peaking at over 9 million households now with over 27 million viewers; this is one of the most popular formats of subscription TV. Subscription formats include Sky, Virgin TV, and BT vision, Tiscali TV and Setanta and all of these encourage people to conform to their own kind of subscription, the main and most popular of those are Sky, Virgin and BT. Sky has a main package that includes most of the main channels and genres of television, including entertainment, kids TV, documentary channels, music channels etc but in order to watch sports and films perhaps even multi-room for e.g. these are further subscriptions to be added per month. Films and Sports are the most common in pay-per-view subscriptions such as Box office on sky. Virgin is of a similar context except it is in three different categories for three separate prices; over 40 channels, over 90 channels and over 145 channels and further subscription for HD etc is available like Sky. BT vision however is a very different form of subscription (the most recent of them all) and this type includes a different method with a view of only paying for what you watch. Different packages are available to pick and choose, which you watch the most, or you can simply pay per programme, film, or music video.
Other than companies trying to persuade you into subscribing to their television, they also try to persuade you into subscribing to their phone lines and broadband company too. Sky talk and Sky broadband have been launched as a package deal as part of the ‘see, speak and surf’ offer along with the sky TV. This is encouraged and deals are made to look like it is cheaper to do all three and easier to do all three from the same company. This goes for Sky, Virgin and BT all doing similar bundle packages. In America and Europe they have subscription companies such as Direct TV available in English, Spanish and international packages including Greek, Chinese and Russian, and Star Choice which is another pay-per-view subscriber and HBO which connects with your satellite and enhances viewing by adding films, documentaries all provided by the HBO channels and extras include HBO on demand which is available to subscribe to on the internet very similar to 4OD which we have in the UK which is also a subscription to TV on the internet. These are all very similar to the English ones just with a few adaptations such as channels. Pay per view is very popular in America; some of the main things that are huge over in the US are boxing, wrestling, concerts and UFC (ultimate fighting champion).
Sponsorship is very popular amongst films and programming; for example for a number of year’s appletizer and its range of drinks sponsored friends which was aired at weekends and after school, this is because a big audience of friends is kids and teenagers who are unable to drink alcohol and airing the programme at those times and using that as a sponsor will have the desired affect on teens to make them go buy it and make it available to them, therefore promoting their products. Another example is that desperate housewives used to promoted by Herbal essences which is aimed at the older audience perhaps even middle aged women whom appearance and beauty is almost a hobby of and using herbal essences shampoo and conditioner as a sponsor will promote their products and make the audience want ‘nice smelling hair’ and as a result will go buy the products, this however recently changed to foreiro roche chocolates in the new series for the same reasons as the others; for the audiences and promotion. Sponsorship is no coincidence when it comes to choosing their films and programmes and the audiences are a reason for that; sponsorship leads to promotion and distribution, other examples of sponsorship are Cadbury’s with Coronation Street and extreme home makeover with Black and Decker.
The majority of channels have adverts now and specific adverts are placed conveniently and cleverly in time slots and on channels, which are aimed to get the most potential effect that is desired. For example in the mornings (before school) and after school there is most likely going to be adverts for children including toys, days out, games and other child targeted programmes, however on a night after nine o clock there is most likely going to be adverts aimed at adults and teenagers for example older programmes, film trailers, food and shopping adverts. Expanding from this is placing adverts on specific channels that suit the audiences linked to the genre of the programmes or channel; this gives advertisers more specific demographics. For example Kiss (a R’N’B music channel) would most likely specify in CD’s of the genre, DVD’s aimed at the age audience and music programmes and ring tones of that genre, this targets the audience and makes the advert for that purpose and those people. Niche channels and audiences are very attractive to advertisers because it is easier to aim and confidently and correctly target your adverts at people who have particular interests and views. Because there are things such as Sky+ nowadays, people are fast forwarding through the adverts and no longer can advertisers rely on them alone, which is why product placement is so important in America because it is a way to get products and brands across to people in addition to the other adverts.
Product placement can be described as the incorporation of a product into a television programme or a film to enhance and advertise their company in exchange for funding that will go in to the production. It is very common in the US but is still illegal in the Britain. Giving a film some funding in exchange to use their products will advertise and most likely enhance sales of that product for example in Disturbia Xbox 360 Live is used, and by doing this it will promote their company by having a star using it in a film. Another example is in the James bond film ‘Casino Royale’ a Valo laptop computer was used which was a very big enhancement on advertisement. There is some concern that product placement not only can be good but can also be bad and can have bad influences on people with the products they advertise in the films and on TV. For example in sex in the city vodka absolut was used and as this is alcohol it can give a negative influence on people to drink, which ultimately is bad. Smoking product placement is also some what of an issue as it can be highly influential in a very negative way which could result in people (mainly kids or teens) trying smoking just because they have seen it in a film or in a programme.

Task Four (P1,M1,D1) - Presentation About Film and Television
The task was to produce and present a short rendition addressing points about the television and film industries including merging and integration, mainstream and independent cinema and british television: click play to view my presentation alone.



Task Five (P1,M1,D1) - Produce A Mind Map on The Different Jobs in TV and Film Industries

In order for us to know about the job roles in the television and film industries we had to research and produce some mind maps to exhibit the different lines and departments of jobs in detail..


This is my mind map on non-creative job roles in the film industry:


This is my mind map on creative jobs in the film industry:




















This is my mindmap on creative jobs in television:
This is my mindmap on non-creative jobs in television:


Task Six (P1, M1, D1) - You are a special guest on a radio programme and you are on the show as an industry specialist.




Other important working patterns:

Shift work is being in employment that has unusual and non standard hours, so as oppose to the regular standard working day, shift work includes long term night shifts and work where the schedules change and rotate often. An example of this would be a camera man, as they work long hours (12-24) a day and foreign travel may be required which would include long periods away from home.

In fixed term employment you must have an employment contract and it must end on a particular date when an event or time period has been completed. In the media industry an example would be a director, as their contract begins at the beginning of a film and ends when the film is done, and there is no on-going work.

Office hours include the average 9-5 basic structure, the title is self explanatory and normally includes jobs such as accountants that work in the office at regular hours (usually around 8 hours per day).

A freelance worker is someone that is self-employed who has a job that is without any long-term commitment, some work requires contracts whilst others have verbal agreements. The pay can vary greatly; they can be paid by the hour, day or project instead of flat rate fees. Examples of workers who work freelance are boom operators and ariel directors of photography who acquire work through personal contracts and recommendations from people; and as aerial filming is used mostly on a certain type of film (usually action) the work is therefore irregular.

Irregular patterns of work include anything that is out of the ordinary, this type of work may be required at any point of the day for long or short periods of time, an example of this would be actors, when working on films; actors can be required for two hours a day, up to five hours at 3 am in the morning making their work pattern irregular and very different from film to film.


- When in a job that is paid by hourly rate this basically mean you are paid for every hour that you work, an example of this would be the catering crew that work on the film set, although their hours may be long and sometimes irregular they would be paid for every hour that they put it in to making the food for the crew and talent.

- When someone is in employment that is piece work it means that they are paid for each unit of work that is produced or performed, for example actors’ and actress’ are paid per film, such as Reese Witherspoon who is known to be paid up to $15 million per picture that she makes and Angelina Jolie varying from $8 million a film to $20 million.

Task Seven (P1,M1,D1) - Different types of jobs and contracts in the BBC

Work Contracts: The BBC has a variety of different work contracts that people can work under such as;

- Attachment contract - This particular contract is when an employee is attached to a certain part of the company for example the scripting department of a film, under this contract, would not be able to leave this department and join or help in another section of the company. At the BBC there is currently a job as a Director for BBC Wildlife Fund and this is an attachment contract, and fixed term.

- Fixed Term Contract - Under this employment contract it must end on a particular date when an event or time period has been completed. In the media industry an example would be a director, as their contract begins at the beginning of a film/programme and ends when the film/programme is done, and there is no on-going work.

- Casual Work - Here there is no particular contract, a the work that is done is random and casual, so when the employee is needed and when they are free, this is when the work is done; therefore it is casual. For example a boom operator could do casual work.

- Flexi-contract - Under this contract the employee works flexible hours, which is a basis of ‘core’ hours with the ability to vary the hours around this. For example a camera man could be under this sort of contract.

- Freelance Work - A freelance worker is someone that is self-employed and who has a job that is without any long-term commitment. The pay can vary greatly; they can be paid by the hour, day or project instead of flat rate fees. Examples of workers who work freelance are boom operators and ariel directors of photography who acquire work through personal contracts and recommendations from people; and as aerial filming is used mostly on a certain type of film (usually action) the work is therefore irregular.

- Secondment Contracts - Under this sort of contract an employee will temporarily transfer from their normal job, to another department or organization. For example a hairdresser may temporarily transfer to being a make up artist for a certain amount of time.

- Voluntary - if someone is working voluntary, then he/she are doing so because they want to, they do not get paid as they are giving up their time as they wish, often in the media industry volunteers, choose to work for companies voluntary to gain useful experience or out of genuine interest, for example taking an unpaid work experience placement at the BBC to gain experience and insight into the world of television.

Other Contracts and Agreements: Sometimes on top of these contracts others need to be signed such as;

- Confidentiality agreement - this agreement is a legal contract that outlines what information needs to stay confidential, and which information is able to be shared with others. Examples of this contract could be if a new employee were to start working at a new channel, or programme and they would have to sign one of these contracts in order to keep information such as story lines and personal information safe.
- Exclusivity agreement - this type of agreement is a contract which states that the employee (for e.g. Jonathan Ross) must only work for their company/business (e.g. The BBC), another example would be that Chris Moyles has an exclusivity contract to only perform on Radio as a DJ for the BBC, however sometimes employees can change the company they work for, e.g. Graham Norton used to work for Channel 4, and now presents only for the BBC, and Chris Moyles has recently been taken from BBC Radio, to produce his own television programme on Channel 4 (see video below)


Task Eight (P1,M1,D1) - Health and Safety


Health and Safety Measures: everything has to be taken into consideration. Below is a the risk assessment paperwork we use at our school before we go out and film on location.



Task Nine (P1,M1,D1) - Media Legislation


Media Legislation Terms: these terms are also very important:


Equal Opportunities: this means that in employment, you will not be discriminated in any way by means of race, sex, culture, origin or colour. This is the BBC’s equal opportunity statement:
“The BBC is committed to promoting equal opportunities for all, irrespective of colour, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origins, gender, marital/civil partnership status, sexuality, disability or age.”
“The BBC is committed to reflecting the diversity of the UK and to making its services accessible to all. This applies both to our output and to the people who work here.”
“The BBC aims to create and sustain an inclusive work environment which provides equality of opportunity for everyone.”
Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 - this law makes it illegal to discriminate against employees, job seekers or trainees on the account of age. This includes not employing, dismissing or poor conditions to work in, and all of this is classed as illegal if because of age. We need this law because age is the largest form of discrimination in the workplace.

Trade Union – A Trade Union is an organisation of which members belong to the same trade, for example teachers that act as a group and discuss common issues or problems in their jobs. As a group they try and achieve targets and goals for example better working conditions.

Intellectual property – This is a term used to describe a piece of creative work for which property rights are recognised. Under this law the owners are granted with exclusive rights for their work such as phrases, literary work, discoveries or inventions.

Copyright – This is also a grant of exclusive rights that are awarded to those who have created a piece of original work. Copyrights only last a certain period of time ranging from fifty to one hundred years from the authors death, the length of contract can change for different kinds of authorship.

Trademarks – These are distinctive signs or logos that bring your attention to an individual organization or business. They identify themselves with brands so customers and consumers can become familiar with them. For example Apple, or Coca Cola.

Posted by BTEC TV & Film at 05:49  

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