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The Grand Budapest Hotel Release date: 07 Mar 2014 (United Kingdom)

Director: Wes AndersonLanguages: English · French

Awards: Academy Award for Best Original Score · Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Story by: Wes Anderson · Hugo GuinnessMusic by: Alexandre Desplat

Edited by: Barney Pilling Production company: American Empirical Pictures, Indian Paintbrush, Studio Babelsberg, Scott Rudin Productions and

TSG EntertainmentDistributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Edited by: Barney Pilling Release dates: 6 February 2014 (Berlin)

6 March 2014 (Germany)7 March 2014 (United States & United Kingdom)

Running time: 100 minutesCountry: United States, Germany, United Kingdom

Language: English Budget: €23 million

Box office: $174.8 million

THE ISSUES RAISED BY MEDIA OWNERSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIA PRACTIC E

The Grand Budapest Hotel was produced by American Empirical Pictures, Indian Paintbrush, Studio Babelsberg, Scott

Rudin Productions and TSG EntertainmentThe five production companies synergised together to

maximise their success. Not only did it obviously give them a much bigger budget, as they were able to combine their

money, but also to share production means, the risk of an unsuccessful film and name and popularity.

American Empirical has a very distinctive style. All their films have a very alternative and are really recognisable. This means that people who watched and enjoyed their past films such as Moonrise Kingdom, The Darjeeling Limited or Fantastic Mr. Fox

(a well known family film) would go and see The Grand Budapest Hotel purely because of it’s production company.

TSG are an independent institution who are quite a well-known production company. They have produced many successful

films such as X-Men: Days of Future Past, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and The Maze Runner. This again would contribute to

the audiences anticipation to see the film.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CROSS MEDIA CONVERGENCE AND SYNERGY IN DISTRIBUTION, MARKETING AND PRODUCTION

Films are usually created by two or more companies, these companies work together to produce, distribute and market films. In this case the distribution company was Fox Searchlight Pictures. This media company had an important role in the success of the film. They had control over how many copies of the film were made, which is a vital job because if there is an insufficient amount of copies produced, the film could not maximise the profit made. In addition, they also show the film to prospective buyers representing the cinemas. This is crucial as it is marketing for the showing of the film, due to the fact that it will increase the amount of tv adverts, internet adverts and Posters. The production team consisted of Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven M. Rales and Scott Rudin. These have overall control over the films production, they put together the crew and are responsible for the success of the film.

THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED IN RECENT YEARS AT THE LEVELS OF PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION,

MARKETING AND EXCHANGE.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a modern Niche film released in 2014. This results in the production companies having access to recently developed film technologies. However despite this majority of The Grand Budapest Hotel was filmed on location therefore there was little need for any dramatic special effects and advanced green screening. They access to most new technologies available, for example internet Streaming, DVD and Blu-ray. These have affected the way that they decided to create the film as its means they can release it in a variety of ways, for example The Grand Budapest Hotel was released on Blu-Ray and therefore different audiences will watch it differently.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PROLIFERATION IN HARDWARE AND CONTENT FOR INSTITUTIONS AND AUDIENCES

The public now having access to phones and tablets with internet coverage now means that modern DVD sales may begin to decrease, for example The Grand Budapest hotel will be available on sites like Netflix and Lovefilm and therefore the public will prefer to watch it on these rather than buy the DVD and therefore the companies that created The Grand Budapest Hotel will lose out on money from the lack of DVD sales. Another way technologies have come together is the creation of Blu-Ray, this allows film companies to create their films with another new technology which naturally attracts bigger audiences.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNICAL CONVERGENCE FOR INSTITUTIONS AND AUDIENCES

• The Grand Budapest has a website, on which you can watch the trailer, meet the cast, do Grand Budapest themed activities and watch extra clips. They didn’t really have any social media however the website was a very effective source of media and so they were fine without it.

THE ISSUES RAISED IN THE TARGETING OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL AUDIENCES (SPECIFICALLY, BRITISH) BY INTERNATIONAL

OR GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS

• Due to the film being American/British/German production, it would triple its potential in success. Tis is because the big marketing campaigns will be launched in three different countries. In contrast, for example, with American films where the big marketing campaigns often only reach the audience who are in the same country. However The Grand Budapest Hotel will not only have the marketing campaign cover the American audience (who take up a large percentage of the film consumption), German audience and British audience.

THE WAYS IN WHICH THE CANDIDATES’ OWN EXPERIENCES OF MEDIA CONSUMPTION ILLUSTRATE WIDER PATTERNS AND TRENDS OF

AUDIENCE BEHAVIOUR.

From the perspective of the younger groups of the four quadrants we both digitally downloaded the film. For cult films similar to the Grand Budapest Hotel the audiences are not consuming the film in cinemas. Instead, they choose to access the film via the use of digital technologies on the internet through streaming and digital downloads.