Case Study - Sony Synergy

The definition of High Concept cinema draws attention to another trend in Hollywood cinema, and one that actually encompasses much of the modern mass media: the trend of synergy, a new form of vertical and horizontal integration, and monopoly media ownership.

Synergy can be defined as a 'strategy of synchronising and actively forging connections between directly related areas of entertainment'. Synergy can take two interrelated forms.

1. Star-performer-product synergy. This can include the development or nurturing of a star persona and the merchandising of a star performer across a range of media sites and media texts. For example, a pop star may not only release singles and albums, but contribute to film soundtrack/scores, be re-imagined and re-presented in a range of merchandising opportunities, write books, be involved in rock documentaries, find their songs in adverts, television shows, etc. The pop career of David Bowie encapsulates this type of synergy: album and single recording artist, record producer, movie actor, movie score composer, Internet web designer, producer, writer, painter, photographer, etc.

2. Hardware and software synergy. Media institutions are not only increasingly global but also multimedia. Media institutions increasingly control or manufacture not only the technology that something is watched, or listened to on, or downloaded from, but they produce the talent, the products that are then 'played' on these technologies. Media institutions have begun to interconnect technology, entertainment and reception in new synergetic ways.

In this synergetic age, then, film and cinema becomes just one interconnected branch of a multimedia institution's output. Film production and distribution are constantly linked to how they connect with (selling) the institution's other software and hardware. If we take the Sony Corporation as an example we find that Sony owns and forges links together between its various media production centres:

This integration is supported by the technology that Sony manufactures: Computer chips, CD and DVD processing; radio, hi-fi, mini-disc, CD and Walkman production, film cameras, film stock and film lenses, televisions, video players, DVD players; all Sony products that you can buy online or in branded Sony 'Design Centre' shops.

So tonight I could watch a Sony produced film like Godzilla (1998) using my Sony DVD player on my 32-inch Sony, Digital Television. Later I could listen to the Sony produced soundtrack

(featuring Jamiroquai, a Sony recording artist) on my Sony hi-fi. And just before I go to sleep I could play the Sony produced Godzilla game on my Sony Playstation ...

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The growth of synergetic media institutions has accelerated over the last few years, with the major players trying to extend into telecom industries and the Internet revolution. The world has got smaller as these multimedia institutions have got bigger.

'A major studio spends to stimulate all of the revenue streams, from merchandising to video to theme parks. Look at the animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It will gross $300 million world-wide, but when you look at all revenue streams that number more than doubles.' (Bart, 1999)

Last Action Hero (1997)

Sony attempted to produce a series of synergies with the production of The Last Action Hero (1993) a High Concept movie, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and directed by John McTiernan.

The soundtrack to the film (released to coincide with its US opening) would feature artists signed to Sony Music Entertainment. These artists would both gain from the exposure the film would give them, but would also help to indirectly promote the film because of the airplay the singles would get. Bands featured on the soundtrack - AC/DC, Cypress Hill, Alice in Chains - were selected for their appeal to the target audience: 12 to 16-year-old males.

Sony products would become `active' parts of the film's storyline, gaining both from this explicit exposure and from the anticipated value transference of having an A-list star like Schwarzenegger use, for example, a new Sony cellular phone.

The narrative premise of the film and the key 'star' characters would be used, along with 'real' footage from the film, to produce an interactive video game (to be played on the Sony Playstation).

A roller-coaster theme ride amusement was produced with the intention of keeping the franchise possibilities of the film alive. The film was released in two formats: one format was released on Sony's new digital sound system as a way of marketing this system (above rival formats) to cinemas and theatres. And finally, a range of product tie-ins were negotiated including a major deal with Burger King, one of the premiere fast-food outlets.

Recent Changes in the Marketplace

The studios have to be able to move with the times and respond quickly to changing circumstances. Major recent changes in their operating environment have included:

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o The change in the audience demographic towards people aged between 16 and 22. The films put into distribution and their marketing campaigns have to reflect this

o The increase in marketing spend needed to open a movie. Their average spend on prints and advertising is now running up as high at $50 million , 80% of which is then spent in the three weeks leading up to the opening date and through the first week of release.

o The pressures of working in the multiplex environment where, if a film doesn't perform well in its opening weekend, it will be shifted to a smaller screen for the rest of its run.

o The development of smaller ‘indiewood’ operations within the studios to cater for non-mainstream tastes.

o The huge success of DVD which has enabled the studios to open up their libraries of old titles.

o The growth of the international market to the extent that it is now bigger than the US, which has encouraged the studios to focus on those elements of their films which will play well overseas.

o The move to more ‘Day and Date’ releases internationally so that overseas audiences do not have to wait to see films that have already opened in the US, reducing the danger of pirated copies of films entering these markets

o The need to combat piracy which is growing very fast in almost every country by devising alternative methods of bringing films to the paying public.

Possible Future Trends

Despite the growth in the DVD market and the improvement in the hardware for watching films in the home, going to the cinema to see new films will remain an important activity, giving audiences the only opportunity to see films in the format for which they were created. Digital cinema will become a reality and when it does, cinemas will be put to more imaginative use, showing sporting and other important local or national events and making better use of time slots which have not traditionally been popular with moviegoers.

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