The increase in hardware and content in media industries has been significant in recent years. Discuss the effect this has had on institutions and audiences in the media area you have studied.

Within this essay I am going to be discussing the topic of how hardware and content within film has developed in recent years whilst referring to Working Titles “The Theory of Everything”.

Within the stages of preproduction of this film there were listings on websites, revealing that this film was going to be created and released in 2014. There were also photos released online which were leaking behind the scenes shots. The increase of hand held camera quality recently, has allowed these photos to be taken and released to the world at a relatively high quality, which could be up to HD standard for a low price. It can be that people are paying up to only $500 and be able to produce a picture up to 3k quality. The prices of the cameras and the computers that are available to allow this to take place are extremely cheap compared to years ago, as filmmaking has become more common within today’s society.

The production of “The Theory of Everything” will have been made easier de to the increase in the quality of cameras they could access with their budget along with all of the other equipment such as lights and sound they could access. It means that overall the final product which in this case is the completed film will have better image quality, sound quality and many other key elements, that helped to make this film so successful. The upgrade in the quality will attract more audience members, because overall it will make the film appear better as a whole. By having this quality available to Working Titles it may be thought hat this will come with an extortionate price tag but, actually it won’t have made as much of an indent on the films $15,000,000 budget. As now this high level of quality is available at reduced prices which makes it easier for Working Titles to make a high quality and appealing film with less of the budget that Universal has provided them with. Meaning that more money can be put towards the funding of pyrotechnics.

Within the post-production stage of “The Theory of Everything” there were computers available from companies such as Apple, HP and Adobe - who upgrade their systems every two years - to the editors and special effects team that have highly effective software on so that the final product that was produced, could be attained easily and still show the beauty of the film to the audience. This meant that they were able to effectively watch the story of Stephen Hawking, whilst being impressed by the animations that were created to show space and how

Stephen’s theories developed throughout he film. By having the computers and software available to them the post production team were able to create both titles and animations, which include the eye in the fire, which links to the sun. Which all linked well to Hawking’s story and helped the audience members to understand what his theories were visually. The costs of the computers that can have the editing software on them available are around $2000 with a following $1800 for the editing software.

Distribution will have been able to be done easily for this film, as there wasn’t any production of film reels, which were delivered to the cinema, for this film it, was available for them to digitally distribute this film to homes and cinemas. This film was originally distributed to around 1,220 cinemas across America and brought in over $35,000,000 globally. These figures wouldn’t have been achieved if it wasn’t for the computers and machines (Software) that have been created for this film to be distributed. In recent years digital technologies have changed the film industry. The film industry has to adapt how it distributes films due to the rising popularity of devices such as broadband internet and devices that play films such as iPods, iPads, mobile phones and laptops. This means that they have to adapt the way that they distribute the film so that it can enter the new are of modern day film viewing which is online in places such as Netflix and Amazon Prime and to the cinemas globally. By having this available to the distributing team they have managed to successful distribute a high quality film, for a cheaper price due to the use of digital distribution.

Over recent years as the hardware and content have increased it allowed this film to be marketed effectively, which resulted in large audience numbers. By having the production equipment such as cameras and boom microphones they are able to produce trailers and featurettes that are posted on YouTube and on the films official website that was created so that they could gather interest about the film. The use of special effects that were used in creating the animations for the film, was also used in marketing when it came to the films poster, where the universe was shown above the two main characters – showing the audience clearly who the film evolves around and what the main subject of the film is.

To exhibit this film there will have been a lot of machine burning disks for both normal DVDs and the even higher quality of Blu-Rays, so that the audience can purchase this film and watch it within the comfort of their home successfully and watch it within the comfort of their home successfully and watch it at the highest standard they can. Making their expieience as close to a cinema one as possible, whilst been at

home. There is now also technology available to get the film available for download on iTunes and other online sources. By having these sources available it means the film can be watched on tablets, laptops and phones, which appeals to an even larger audience. Finally the soundtrack that was created for the film. Has been put onto Spotify, is available to buy and listen to on YouTube and iTunes which shows how technology available has allowed film to become more accessible.

Within the future as the machines and quality available continues to progress it will mean that all aspects of production will be done more and more effectively and to the highest standard, meaning that the audiences will be left satisfied after watching the film productions of the future.