Film, Radio and Video Games

What Film, Radio and Video Games covers

Film, Radio and Video Games is examined in Component 02, Evolving media. For film it covers Disney from Snow White to global conglomerate; vertical integration and the structure of the film industry; financing, risk and the franchise model; technological change in production and exhibition; distribution, release windows and home entertainment; marketing a global blockbuster; and film certification and regulation. For radio it covers public service broadcasting and the Radio 1 Breakfast Show; funding, ownership and competition in the radio industry; radio technology, platforms and convergent distribution; and how the Breakfast Show reaches and constructs its audience. For video games it covers Nintendo, ownership and the global games industry; producing and distributing Animal Crossing: New Horizons; its audience, play and participation; and the regulation and social context of video games.

The 15 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Disney from Snow White to global conglomerateRecall questions on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as Disney's first feature and gamble, its financing and National Film Registry status, Disney's purchases of Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, conglomerates, diversification and synergy, franchises, streaming, and concentration of ownership.Open →
• Vertical integration and the structure of the film industryRecall questions on vertical and horizontal integration, RKO's distribution of Snow White and Disney's creation of Buena Vista, the 1930s studio system, block booking and the 1948 Paramount ruling, owning a streaming platform, independent film, and specialised, institutionalised, high-risk production.Open →
• Financing, risk and the franchise model in filmRecall questions on film slates and tentpoles, shared universes and franchise stars, above-the-line and below-the-line costs, blockbuster marketing spend, co-productions and tax reliefs, why Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was shot in Australia, break-even, box office shares and greenlighting.Open →
• Technological change in film production and exhibitionRecall questions on the multiplane camera, rotoscoping, colour and sound in early Disney, computer-generated imagery and performance capture, digital projection, cheaper equipment, streaming finance, anti-piracy technology, convergence and home viewing, and remastering an old film.Open →
• Distribution, release windows and home entertainmentRecall questions on film distribution and release windows, the 45-day cinema run of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the row it caused, day-and-date release, the Disney Vault, home video, wide releases and opening weekends, and the film's absence from China.Open →
• Marketing a global blockbusterRecall questions on film marketing campaigns, teaser trailers, conglomerate cross-promotion and merchandising, fan communities, how Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was marketed to neglected audiences, four-quadrant films, targeted advertising, certificates and audience-made promotion.Open →
• Film certification and regulationRecall questions on the BBFC and its funding, local authority powers, the 12A certificate, the Video Recordings Act 1984, cutting for a lower rating, the American production code, regulating a global release, and the challenges streaming and digital technology pose to classification.Open →
• Public service broadcasting and the Radio 1 Breakfast ShowRecall questions on the BBC's three duties, the age group Radio 1 must serve, the requirement of distinctiveness, and the news strand supplying its bulletins.Open →
• Funding, ownership and competition in the radio industryRecall questions on licence-fee funding of Radio 1 and its effect on content, commercial and not-for-profit radio, Global and Bauer Media, consolidation in commercial radio, RAJAR listening figures, Ofcom and the Royal Charter, arguments about the licence fee, and economic pressure on schedules.Open →
• Radio technology, platforms and convergent distributionRecall questions on FM, DAB and BBC Sounds, on-demand listening, filmed radio, convergence, social media on air, podcasting and music streaming as competition, digital switchover and its obstacles, cheaper audio production, and listening data.Open →
• Reaching and constructing the Radio 1 Breakfast Show audienceRecall questions on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show's target audience, mode of address and parasocial interaction, participation features and regular slots, specialised audiences, listeners as producers, live shows against playlists, celebrity guests, and the cultural role of a youth station.Open →
• Nintendo, ownership and the global games industryRecall questions on Nintendo's Kyoto base and origins as a playing card maker, first-party games and its internal studio, vertical integration and console exclusives, Sony and Microsoft, franchises, studio takeovers and regulators, indie developers, digital storefronts and the scale of the games industry.Open →
• Producing and distributing Animal Crossing: New HorizonsRecall questions on Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch, physical and digital sales, free updates and downloadable content, its monetisation, online subscriptions, scannable merchandise, Nintendo's direct presentations, streaming as marketing, localisation and its March 2020 release.Open →
• The Animal Crossing audience: targeting, play and participationRecall questions on the PEGI 3 audience of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a game players cannot lose, its pleasures and real-time play, social interaction and player-made content, casual audiences, how its players contradict gaming stereotypes, outside organisations, ownership and its role as a lockdown social space.Open →
• Regulation and the social context of video gamesRecall questions on PEGI labels and their legal force, why games are harder to rate than films, loot boxes and in-game purchases, arguments for and against tighter regulation, the lockdown context of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, its ban on political campaigning, and online safety for children.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Film, Radio and Video Games further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Distribution vs Exhibition

  Distribution: the stage that places a finished film with cinemas and pays for the advertising campaign that opens it. Exhibition: the stage that shows the film to the paying public, keeping an agreed share of the box office takings.

• Production budget vs Marketing spend

  Production budget: the money it costs to make the film itself, covering cast, crew, shooting and the work done after filming. Marketing spend: the separate cost of selling the film to an audience through advertising, trailers and publicity.

• Radio 1 vs Commercial pop radio

  Radio 1: the BBC station funded by the licence fee to serve fifteen to twenty-nine year olds, required to be distinctive, to play new music and to carry news bulletins. Commercial pop radio: a chart-music station funded by advertising, free to play whatever holds the largest audience and under no obligation to take a risk on the unfamiliar.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What was significant about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the history of Disney as a studio?

   Model answer

   It was Disney's first feature-length film, and its success turned a small studio making short cartoons into a major Hollywood player.

2. 2

   Define the term media conglomerate.

   Model answer

   A media conglomerate is a very large company that owns a number of other companies operating across several different media markets.

3. 3

   Why was making a feature-length animated film seen as an enormous gamble in the 1930s?

   Model answer

   Animation had only ever been sold as short cartoons shown before the main feature, and drawing a film lasting over an hour cost far more than the studio had ever spent.

4. 4

   How was the production of Snow White paid for once its costs ran far beyond the original estimate?

   Model answer

   Walt Disney borrowed against the studio and his own property, and secured further finance from the Bank of America.

5. 5

   What does selection for the National Film Registry recognise about Snow White?

   Model answer

   It recognises the film as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant and therefore worth preserving as part of the nation's film heritage.

6. 6

   How did buying Marvel Entertainment strengthen Disney's position in the film industry?

   Model answer

   It gave Disney outright ownership of a library of characters that could be turned into a linked series of films, together with all the merchandising and licensing rights attached to them.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Film, Radio and Video Games revision questions

What does Film, Radio and Video Games cover in OCR A-Level Media Studies?

15 subtopics: disney from snow white to global conglomerate, vertical integration and the structure of the film industry, financing, risk and the franchise model in film, technological change in film production and exhibition, distribution, release windows and home entertainment, marketing a global blockbuster, film certification and regulation, public service broadcasting and the radio 1 breakfast show, funding, ownership and competition in the radio industry, radio technology, platforms and convergent distribution, reaching and constructing the radio 1 breakfast show audience, nintendo, ownership and the global games industry, producing and distributing animal crossing: new horizons, the animal crossing audience: targeting, play and participation and regulation and the social context of video games. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Film, Radio and Video Games organised?

By the OCR H409 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.