Leveraging analytics to produce compelling and profitable film content

Producing compelling film content profitably is a top priority to the long-term prosperity of the film industry. Advances in digital technologies, increasing availabilities of granular big data, rapid diffusion of analytic techniques, and intensified competition from user generated content and original content produced by Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) platforms have created unparalleled needs and opportunities for film producers to leverage analytics in content production. Built upon the theories of value creation and film production, this article proposes a conceptual framework of key analytic techniques that film producers may engage throughout the production process, such as script analytics, talent analytics, and audience analytics. The article further synthesizes the state-of-the-art research on and applications of these analytics, discuss the prospect of leveraging analytics in film production, and suggest fruitful avenues for future research with important managerial implications

When Streams Come True: Estimating the Impact of Free Streaming Availability on EST Sales

The rise of online digital platforms has caused a massive increase in the number of viewers who consume entertainment via online streaming. To cater to this audience, television networks have started making their content instantly available on both paid and free online streaming platforms after broadcast. However, this raises questions as to what impact these free streaming channels have on consumption in paid channels, such as digital Electronic Sell Through (EST). In this paper, we empirically analyze whether free streaming on a major television network’s online platform cannibalizes the sales on paid channels. To do this, we use a unique dataset provided by a leading television network in the United States. We exploit the natural variation in the online streaming schedules of a prominent television show in our identification strategy. Using a difference in difference approach we find that free streaming availability cannibalizes EST sales by about 8.4%

Digital tools in media studies: analysis and research. An overview

Digital tools are increasingly used in media studies, opening up new perspectives for research and analysis, while creating new problems at the same time. In this volume, international media scholars and computer scientists present their projects, varying from powerful film-historical databases to automatic video analysis software, discussing their application of digital tools and reporting on their results. This book is the first publication of its kind and a helpful guide to both media scholars and computer scientists who intend to use digital tools in their research, providing information on applications, standards, and problems

We decide what art means: Revitalizing audiences’ authority

Facing stagnant average audience attendance and inequality in governmental support, how can British Columbian arts organizations survive and thrive? Research has shown that audiences have become increasingly disconnected from their meaning-making processes during arts and culture experiences (Brown, 2013; Scollen, 2008; Sedgman, 2017). The literature has also demonstrated that meaning-making experiences could increase the audience’s desire to attend and advocate for others to attend arts and culture events (Brown, 2013; Gwillim et al., 2019; Prendergast, 2004). My research focused on my participants’ experiences at a suite of outreach activities (talkbacks, lectures, digital content, workshops, etc.) which I call information sessions. I was interested in their descriptions of the relationship between attending an information session and their decisions to attend and encourage others to attend arts and culture events. I was also interested in their suggestions for improving information sessions and their perceptions of the barriers to attendance faced by their communities. Using a social constructivist framework, I conducted a thematic analysis drawing on guided journal entries and semi-structured interviews. My findings showed that meaning-making value was a motivational factor in my participants\u27 decisions to attend arts and culture events, share their experiences with others, and encourage others to attend. In addition, participants articulated how improvements to the physical, financial, and content availability of information sessions and arts and culture events could overcome attendance barriers. These findings are useful because revitalizing audiences\u27 authority as meaning makers can recentre their importance in the development of arts programming that provides value and overcomes barriers to attendance. This potential for revitalization could position information sessions as a crucial contributor to the long-term success of the British Columbian arts and culture sector

Digital Tools in Media Studies

Digital tools are increasingly used in media studies, opening up new perspectives for research and analysis, while creating new problems at the same time. In this volume, international media scholars and computer scientists present their projects, varying from powerful film-historical databases to automatic video analysis software, discussing their application of digital tools and reporting on their results. This book is the first publication of its kind and a helpful guide to both media scholars and computer scientists who intend to use digital tools in their research, providing information on applications, standards, and problems

On-demand music streaming and its effects on music piracy

In the late 1990’s, music industry revenues began to decline, mostly due to the proliferation of the Internet which enabled consumers to easily pirate music. Record companies and artists began fighting legal battles and investing in educational campaigns in an attempt to teach young people the value of intellectual property. However, the times are now starting to change. In 2016, US retail revenues from recorded music grew 11,4%, the biggest increment since 1998. Streaming revenues have now surpassed income from the sale of traditional formats. Nevertheless, there is still a big player in the market worth paying attention to: music piracy. This thesis seeks to investigate the impact on-demand streaming services have been having on illegal downloading and uncover young music consumers’ habits and preferences. Through an online survey, the study used a conjoint analysis to uncover consumers’ preference structure. It also included direct questions to assess music consumers’ characteristics and habits. The results show that ethics and perceived risk negatively influence the decision to pirate music. On the other hand, higher ethics and involvement are associated with the propensity to pay for streaming services. Also, as age increases the propensity to pay for streaming rises and the tendency to pirate decreases. Even though consumers are price sensitive, price is not always the main decision factor. Finally, we observe that streaming did in fact help to reduce the incidence of music piracy among young music consumers.No final dos anos 90, as receitas da indústria da música começaram a diminuir, principalmente devido à proliferação da Internet, que permitia aos consumidores piratear música facilmente. Discográficas e artistas começaram a travar disputas jurídicas e a investir em campanhas educacionais na tentativa de ensinar aos jovens o valor da propriedade intelectual. No entanto, os tempos estão a mudar. Em 2016, a receita associada à música cresceu 11,4%, o maior incremento desde 1998. As receitas de streaming já ultrapassaram as receitas dos formatos tradicionais. No entanto, ainda há um grande player no mercado ao qual vale a pena prestar atenção: a pirataria. A presente tese procura investigar o impacto que os serviços de streaming têm tido na pirataria de música, e compreender os hábitos e preferências dos jovens consumidores de música. Num questionário on-line, o estudo recorreu a uma análise conjoint para desvendar a estrutura de preferências dos consumidores. Também incluiu perguntas que permitiram avaliar as características e hábitos dos consumidores. Os resultados demonstram que a ética e o risco influenciam negativamente a decisão de piratear música. Por outro lado, maior ética e envolvimento estão associados a uma maior propensão a pagar por streaming. Além disso, à medida que a idade aumenta, a propensão a pagar por streaming aumenta, e a tendência para piratear diminui. Apesar dos consumidores serem sensíveis ao preço, este nem sempre é o principal fator de decisão. Finalmente, observamos que o streming ajudou a reduzir a incidência da pirataria entre os jovens consumidores de música

Sex Every Afternoon: Pink Film and the Body of Pornographic Cinema in Japan.

Sex Every Afternoon: Pink Film and the Body of Pornographic Cinema in Japan is a critical reconsideration of the modes and meanings of the Pink Film; a form of soft-core, narrative, theatrical adult film produced in Japan from the 1960s to the present day. Focusing on the period between the early 1980s and the early 2010s, I combine fieldwork with historiographical and theoretical reassessments to explore this industry through the three main dimensions of its contemporary existence—the pro-filmic spaces of production at shooting locations and in studios, the imaginary and remediated realms of the pornographic image on movie and TV screens, and the physical environments of the adult specialty cinema network in Japan. In counterargument to a growing body of knowledge that has, since the rapid spread of adult video formats in Japan in the early 1980s, emphasized the material and contextual specificities of Pink Film and reified the format as an essentially filmic, distinctly theatrical, and particularly Japanese cinema, I examine the ways in which Pink Film has acted instead as a (re)productive point of translation between presumably disparate moving image technologies and audiences. I challenge the assumption that pornographic film, as a ‘body genre,’ has the unusual power to directly address or affect spectators’ bodies. I argue that while Pink Film does exhibit an intimate relationship with the bodies of producers and performers that create it, the films themselves focus as much on the spectacular coupling of media technologies as they do the simulated sexual contact of actors in the frame. I also show how adult cinema customers often have no interest in the movie at all, and instead utilize these spaces in ways that are directly disputed by theater management and disavowed by filmic narratives. Sex Every Afternoon recalibrates the ‘bodies’ of this body genre to align with the real people who create Pink Films. It issues a challenge to film and pornography studies by arguing that a close textual and contextual evaluation of this medium reveals that the romantic relationship between the moving image and the living spectator is, at best, uncertain.PHDIndependent Interdepartmental Degree ProgramUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116708/1/maiku_1.pd