The Gaming Industry

18.8 million people between 6 and 64 are estimated to play video games. On average gamers between 11 and 64 spend 8.8 hours playing video games per week in the UK. There is a wide percentage of things that people use to game on, here are the statistics;

Consoles - 21%
Handhelds (laptops etc) - 16%
Computers - 11%
Smartphones - 24%
Tablets - 24%

There are 36.4 million in the UK, which 57% of the total population. 61% of them spend money on games. The average annual spend per player is £80.

What is the role of PEGI

PEGI stands for Pan - European Game Information. This is a age rating system that was established to help European parents make informed decisions on buying video games. It was launched in 2003 and has replaced a number of age rating systems and now most of Europe on use one.

This system is used by major console manufacturers which includes Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft as well as other publishers and developers of interactive games throughout Europe.

Certain features that are involved in games will make the age rating go up, for example if a game includes lots of violence and swearing then it will be rated either a 15, 16 or 18. But if it doesn't involve anything like that then it can be anything below 15. There are certain rules like if a game has any smoking in it then it will automatically go up to a 15 even if it does not have any violence in.

Tax,Vat, National Insurance

TAX, VAT, NATIONAL INSURANCE

Tax

Tax is a fee that is charged by the government on a product, income or activity. The purpose of tax is to finance the government expenditure, this pays for things like public services and services such as street lights and street cleaning.

Tax goes to the government as then they can sort out where it needs to go whether it needs to go to 

Who does it go to

how much do you need to pay

what are the consequences 

VAT

National insurance 

Creative production management

Ideas

The video starts off with a clip of a video game, most of the shots are scenery, after the clip finishes there will be another clip that is following the movement of the video game, but this time it is in real life.

How media producers define audiences

How media producers define audiences

Why audience research is important

Media producers use research to learn about their audience before they go ahead and create a product, if they didn't do their research then it might not appeal to the costumers. This is because when companies do research on people, they use different methods of finding out their hobbies, interests, jobs and even where they live. These can all contribute to making a product designed for a specific purpose. When companies and businesses are trying to find their target audience they consider multiple factors like:

• Age
• Gender
• Religion
• Race
• Sexuality
• Education
• Occupation
• Annual income 
• Lifestyle
• Media interests

How audiences are profiled

Socio-economic status

This is a method used by businesses and companies to find the right economic class for their target audience. The three classes would be upper, middle and working class, upper class would be the wealthy people who have high paid jobs or even just born into a wealthy family. The middle class is somewhere in between upper and working class, and working class if for the lower paid jobs. This method of research doesn't necessarily work for everything, for example if someone was to make an advert for a high end product like a expensive car, then it will be focused more towards upper class people, but BARB estimates that 26.8 million households (roughly around 97% of all house in the UK)  own a TV, so the socioeconomic target audience doesn't matter. But in some cases it is useful, for example if a company is making a TV show, they will want to know who it will be most popular towards so that they can make them the target audience.

Psychographics  

Pyschographics deal with peoples behavior and personality, for example someone who is really extrovert would be in a different category to someone who is really introvert. Demographics explain who the audiences are whereas psychographics explain what they want to do. Media producers use psychographics do help profile their audience because just like demographic charts, they are much more detailed and offer a large variety of  audience to choose from. This is useful for when making things like music videos, as the company has to categorise their audience into standard occupational classification, Geo-demographics, age and gender.

Social grade		Description of occupation		Example
	A		higher managerial, administrative or professional		Company director
	B		intermediate managerial, administrative or professional		Middle manager
	C1		supervisory, clerical, junior administrative or professional		Bank clerk
	C2		skilled manual workers		Plumber
	D		semi- and unskilled manual workers		Labourer
	E		state pensioners with no other income, widows, casual and lowest grade earners		Unemployed
This is an example of a social grade with the different jobs sorted into each category.

Age and Gender

Age and gender is a very important part of choosing a target audience as for example if your making an action film then it is more likely to be targeted towards males rather than females, as stereotypically females dont like action films as much as men do. Age and gender is a obvious thing to think about when making a product as it  applies to every product. The age group depends on what the product is, for example if you make a film that has lots of swearing and violence in it will either be rated a 15 or 18, but if its a cartoon for kids then it wont involve any swearing or violence.

Sexual orientation 

Media producers have to make sure they show equality in their products. This is so you dont offend anyone as this can result is consequences. For example you should still include someone to use or watch your product no matter what their sexual orientation.

Regional identity

Regional identity is where media producers find out more about certain areas that may be for example featured in a film, if the film is set in somewhere like Middlesbrough, then they would have to do research about Middlesbrough, as of not to offend people as it needs to be as real as possible and not stereotypical.

Mainstream

This is where producers look into what is popular at the time. This is an important thing to do as lets say you creating a product and the design is quite old and well known, it will not sell as well as something that is new and popular. The same thing goes for films as well, if a certain genre is really popular at a certain time then all films that relate to that genre will be watched by many people. For example if a Christmas film came out in june, then its not going to do as well as it would if id came out in December. Also a lot of viewers get bored of watching the same thing so want new and exiting things, so its always a good idea to keep new ideas in mind when creating a project.

Niche 

Niche is basically the opposite to mainstream, for example there could be a certain amount of people that only like once genre of film and they will not change their mind about it, so when you create a film them people can either like it or dislike it.

Quantitative research

Quantitative research is one of the methods used by producers to decide on their target audience. BARB is an online website where TV channels give their figures on all the shows that have been broadcasted. Anyone can see these figures, but its mainly produces who want to start a new project, the only downside to BARB is that the data is only quantitative and doesnt give you any information about the audience that watch the channels. BARB does let you see how many people are watching a channel or certain program at anytime time. This helps producers find the peak times of day with certain channels, as not all the channels will have the same viewing peaks.



Qualitative research


Qualitative research is a more up front way of getting data, by asking people for their opinions so that the company can get facts and use them for statistics. Using this method requires the producer or an employer to go round to the public and ask them questions that will define their target audience. There are a few ways of getting this type of data, for example you can go out in the streets and have face to face interviews, this is a fast way to get information as it can be done quite quickly. Another way is to make a questionnaire that can be given for people to complete. This way of getting research can be more effective than quantitative research as you are getting more information about the viewers that you can work on when creating a show for example. Also this way uses primary research and not secondary so there can't be any errors.

Video Installation

Video Instillation

Video instillation is a contemporary art form that combines video technology with instillation art. Contemporary art is art made at the present period of time, and as Video installation uses projectors and screens it is classed as contemporary art.Video instillation art uses many things like projectors and lasers to map onto walls and other materials. Although projections don't have to be the main focus, sound can also be an important part, as sounds and ambiances can set the atmosphere.

This is a clip from 'Illuminating York' which is a festival which happens once a year. They project images onto buildings and make animations out of the art work. For example, this clip of patterns from various artists is being projected onto York crown court. The projection mapping makes it look like the building is moving and other content artists have created ( like patterns) need to fit the scale of the building. If the projection did not fit the scale of the building, it would not look as good and some of the effects and patterns might not work as well.

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ANTIVJ

ANTIVJ is a group of people who use projection mapping to make things appear as though they are moving, but in other work that they have done, they have used lasers as well which when combined with mirrors, can give off a certain effect on which they can experiment on. Mecaniques Discursives is an installation project which took place in France at a theater, the ANTIVJ group did a projection video making one of the walls look as if the little people on the walls were moving. They also made some 3D effects, which made things like the clock hand come alive with realistic movement. They show this projection by filming the wall, which it is projected onto.Then tracking upwards till they can see the top of the projection. 

They made this video by using quite a few different projectors that are projecting moving images on the wall, each projector has its own allocated space which it shines on too. They have tried to turn the boring stuff like cables and pipes that are on the walls and made them into more interesting things with random animations. To make these projections, they will have used projection mapping software e.g  MadMapper, Millumin, Resolume Arena 4 etc. This software is used to create all the little animations that are displayed on the wall. Each individual projector will have its own animations to play for the space it takes up. 

ANTIVJ use very technical setups to get the effect they want, they use lots of projectors and in other videos use lasers and mirrors. Compared to other people who make video installation projects, their work is very complicated. For example 'Box' is a video made by The Creators Project, the video shows a blank screen which is being moved by a mechanical arm behind it,  they created an illusion on which someone looks like they are pushing it by them self. As the video goes on another screen comes in to play and then the projector projects animations of movement that the two screens both share, for example towards the end the two screens come together and makes what appears to be a box which the person walks into and then gets lifted up. So even though the end product for 'Box' looks more professional, they used less projectors than ANTIVJ did.  

Personally i really like ANTIVJ's work, as they include good camera work as well as good projection mapping skills and and laser skills. For me this is important as you need to capture the audience into the illusions you are showing them, and if the camera work or projection mapping isn't good, then the audience wont be as entertained. Looking at their Vimeo page, there is a lot of good feedback from viewers wondering how they created it, this is a very positive thing leaving the viewers thinking about the projects as it makes them remember it compared to something that might not be as clever as theirs are. An example of this would be one viewer saying "Very very nice! What`s the technology behind the installation? Just 2 Beamers and semitransparent curtains?", it is clear that people enjoy watching these videos as if they were some sort of magic tricks.

PlayStation advertisements

Advert Concept

Initial ideas

1. The advert starts off with a scene of a forest, just looking at the trees and wild life. After this short clip ends, another clip starts but this time its game play footage of a forest, this clip follows the same movements as the clip in real life did. The rest of the advert goes back and forward from reality to gameplay. I like this idea because it shows how realistic some games can be, i show this by constantly switching back to real footage which i have mimicked from the game play footage. The advantages of this idea is that it can show the other side of gaming, which is that it doesn't all have to be gory first person shooters. The disadvantages of this would be how i film it, i would have to find gameplay footage then look for a suitable location that looks similar to my chosen clip, that may be a problem. Also depending on how long it went on it may become boring for the viewer.

2. My second advert idea starts off with a girl playing on her PlayStation in her room with the lights off. As shes getting angry at the game she throws down the controller on the floor. A black hole appears on the screen, she is intrigued by this and gingerly moves closer to see what it is, but before you know it she is sucked into the screen and the only this left behind is a controller. She gets up off the floor and looks around as she has been teleported into what appears to be the game she was playing just moments ago. The advantages with this idea is that it will be entertaining for the viewer to watch and lets me be a bit more creative with what i do, the downside is that it might take a lot of work especially if i have to learn to use special effects.

3. My third idea starts off with a family talking in the living room, everyone is there but the son. The son is upstairs playing on his play station, when his mam comes in and tells him he has to go downstairs to talk to the rest of the family that has visited. Once all the family are sat round the table that father says he has to go to the toilet, and walks off leaving the family. A couple of hours go by and the son is now allowed to go play on his play station, but when he walks in his room, he finds his dad sat there already playing on it.  I like this idea because it is quite a funny story but also this sort of thing is done quite a lot in adverts,

Final idea

The idea i think i will go with is going to be the second one where the girl is sat playing and she ends up inside a video game, i am going with this idea for a few reasons. I feel like this option will be able to test my ability to film and edit, this is because of the amount o research i will have to do a lot of research into Adobe After Effects so that i can find out what i need to do

Strengths

The idea i think i will go with is going to be the second one where the girl is sat playing and she ends up inside a video game, i am going with this idea for a few reasons. The first one is that i feel like this option will be a test for me and to try something new, as i have never worked with special effects before, so this is an opportunity to grow as a filmmaker. The strengths of this idea is that it will keep the viewer interested and focused on whats going on. Plus the idea its self isn't one that you see often, and if it is filmed and edited to a good standard then i think it will turn out to be very good.

Weaknesses

This might be a hard one to do, as i will have to learn quite a few skills along the way. For example i will have to learn new software like adobe after effects to be able for it to look more professional. Other than that i cant think of any other weaknesses for this project.

Opportunities

As i mentioned before there are quite a lot of opportunities that can come from doing this project. The biggest thing i will gain from this is experience. For example in the future, if a job ever comes up were i need to know how to use adobe after effects, then i will be able to, because i did my research about it. Also if it does end up being a good finished product i can use it in my portfolio which i can then show off the skills i learned whilst filming and editing.

Threats 

There are a couple of obstacles that i will have to face on the way, and one of them is the location which the girl teleports to. This is an issue because i was wanting to make the background look like its a video game, but i will only be able to make i look realistic in certain locations so finding one that fits the criteria might be difficult. Also i need to actually find someone who owns a play station 4 as i currently don't know anyone who has one.

Target Audience 

The target audience age for the PlayStation advert will be between 12 and 25. I have picked this age because most people who play video games are most likely to be teenagers or people in their mid 20's. My target age is also the same for the PlayStation 4 released by Sony. They said that their console was for people "Typically in their mid to late twenties, single and predominately male. Gaming is their primary leisure activity (10 hours or more a week)". My target audience will most likely play other video game consoles like the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox. This is because the people who buy a PlayStation 4 will most likely have had experience with gaming before, so they are going to want to upgrade from their old consoles.

Critical approaches

Demographics

Demographics is a study based on factors like age, sex and race etc. Most large companies use demographics in order to determine how to market their product. If there product is designed for a specific group then they will need to know what will attract customers.

Psychographics

Phychographics are similar to demographics, but rather than looking at data it looks at why the customer buys it whilst demographics looks at who buys it. Phychographics looks at social class and locations, for example Oasis: Supersonic which comes out soon will be aimed for people in there late 30's early 40's as they were teenagers when Oasis started, so it will be more appealing to them rather than someone who wasn't born yet.

Social grade		Description of occupation		Example
	A		higher managerial, administrative or professional		Company director
	B		intermediate managerial, administrative or professional		Middle manager
	C1		supervisory, clerical, junior administrative or professional		Bank clerk
	C2		skilled manual workers		Plumber
	D		semi- and unskilled manual workers		Labourer
	E		state pensioners with no other income, widows, casual and lowest grade earners		Unemployed

Geodemographics

Geodemographics is the study and grouping of the people in a geographical area. For example Oasis: Supersonic which comes out soon will be aimed a bit more to people from Manchester as that where they are from and the film is set.

Socio-economic status

NRS social grading

NRS is a system that puts occupations into a category

Assassins creed 

The target audience for assassins creed is 18 to 30 as you have to be 18 to play the game as it contains a lot of violence, and people after 30 don't really play games that often stereotypically. People who are younger than 18 might still play the game but the game originally is aimed at 18+. The game will be aimed at men more as men tend to like violent games more than women do, although there are women that do still play the game even if it is not aimed at them. For the economic groups it will be aimed to the social grade C1 and below, the C1 grade contains jobs like bank clerks and administrates, the jobs below C1 are jobs like plumbers and unemployed people as the higher people like company directors wont have much time to play games.




The Martian

The target audience for the martian is people 16+ as people under 16 will get bored easily

Downton abby


Game of thrones