Media Homework, Due Wednesday 10^th October- Institution

In this piece of work, I will research the institutions behind one film; one television programme, and one magazine. I will do some background research into each of the institutions, decide what sort of institution they are, and research which other media organisations they own.

Film: The Holiday

“The Holiday” is an American hybrid genre film (romantic comedy) which was released in 2006, and stars Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Cameron Diaz and Jack Black. The institution behind the film is “Sony Pictures”, part of the Sony Company.

What sort of organisation are they? (What is their brand identity?) The brand identity of Sony Pictures (using their website for evidence) is that they are a successful, multi-national, and up-market. We can see this from their clean-cut website layout, professional finish and colour scheme, and presentation of all of their recent works. They also want to be seen as a organisation who will flourish long into the future, by their clear link to previews. Furthermore, they portray themselves to be very dedicated to their audience, by their use of links which read “win” or “get Sony pictures updates”. They are trying to feel connected to their audience. Finally, they present themselves to be current and modern, by their bold use of links to both twitter and Facebook.

Are they a large or small company? Sony Pictures are a very large company- they are transnational. The main way which we can see this is above their logo, we see the words “United Kingdom”. This shows they not only operate in the UK, but they are famous in other nations also.

What other media products do they own? Sony pictures is owned by Sony. Sony is a conglomerate. However, Sony Pictures also own other companies further down the chain, such as owning 20% of MGM studios.

Television Programme: Eastenders

Eastenders is a long running soap, and the institution behind it is the BBC. The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) is a very large organisation in the UK, with a very vast audience. This is because they are funded by the public’s taxes. They are therefore in charge of many different media platforms (TV, websites, magazines etc) of many different genres.

What sort of organisation are they? (What is their brand identity?) The main brand identity of the BBC is varied and family friendly. They like to portray themselves to the public to be knowledgable, trustworthy, and “part of the family”. They achieve this image by airing a wide variety of programmes; working in many different platforms including TV, radio, and e-media.

Are they a large or small company? The BBC are a large company in the UK, but they are not transnational. This is because they are purely for british audiences, and are funded by the British tax payer. In comparison to other companies, the BBC’s biggest competition for viewers, website users, and product buyers would probably be ITV. However, BBC are assumed to be the bigger of the two.

What other products do they own?. They own sister companies such as BBC, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC radio 1 extra, BBC films and BBC 4. These are all designed to appeal to a different audience to what BBC1 and BBC 2 do.  

Magazine: Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan is owned by Hearst Magazines (National Magazine Company UK). Hearst describe themselves to be one of the UK’s leading media companies.

What sort of organisation are they? (What is their brand identity?) Hearst’s brand identity is that they are a wealthy and powerful company in their industry/market area. They make it their mission to let the public know that they are wealthy, and own many well known UK magazine titles. They also show the public that they are current, modern, and embracing the digital age. They do this by listing all digital assets they are involved in.

Are they a large or small company? The above paragraph shows us that they are a very large company. Their website tells us that they also operate from America (where they own many other media products and are headquartered in NYC). This shows they are vast, wealthy, and very large in the industry.

What other media products do they produce or own? Their website states that they own 24 magazine brands, and 24 digital assets. As well as Cosmopolitan magazine, other magazine brands which they own include: All About Soap, Best, Company, Country Living, ELLE, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, House Beautiful, Inside Soap, Prima, Red, Real People, Reveal and Zest. Digital assets include the websites for all of the above magazine titles, along with many others including: digitalspy.co.uk, elledecoration.co.uk, netdoctor.co.uk, sugarscape.co.uk, and menshealth.co.uk.