Distribution Channels P4(a)

According to the website businessdictionary.com the definition of a distribution channel is the path through which goods and services travel from the vendor to the consumer or payments for those products travel from the consumer to the vendor.

In Paramount Pictures company Paramount Home Media Distribution department is in control of the distribution of media products produced by Paramount. PHMD had agreements with a lot of studios including DreamWorks Animations for DVD/Blu-ray distribution of various programs, several films and TV series based on franchises owned by Hasbro.

As an example I will discuss Shrek 2 that a was really successful movie and since it appears one of the parts of the Shrek trilogy. The movie was released and shown in the theatres on the 15th of May in 2004 in Cannes and on the May 19th in United States and the rest of the world. It is known as 17th highest tickets selling animated film of all time. In the first weekend Shrek 2 was playing in 4,163 theatres in the United States and 3,700 theatres showed the movie at the first day after release.
Shrek 2 was released on DVD and VHS on November 5, 2004 and also on Game Boy Advance Video on November 17, 2005. A 3D version was released with some Samsung 3D TVs in 2010. There were other releases such as DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack in 2011 and a Blu-Ray version released in 2011.

In general Paramount Pictures products are distributed through all the world using different ways:

Cinema

As the company is generally producing animated media products the first place where these are shown are cinemas. This is done in order to increase revenues of the company by protecting the media product from illegal copying. 

Blu-Ray/ DVD disks

After a certain period of time since the movie was released in the cinema it is released on DVD and Blu-Ray disks. 

DVD shops

Although this market is currently having a recession media products of the company are distributed through DVD shops that are still popular places in some countries. 

Internet (Social Media)

This way of distributing media products is extremely popular now. As a modern company, Paramount pictures advertises its products through social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Internet distribution also includes online stores such as Amazon.com where consumers can by a DVD containing all the parts of Shrek series. 

Advertising P4(b)

Advertising is the act or practice of calling public attention to one's product, service, need, etc.,

Shrek 2 was widely advertised on the TV and a lot of related products such as serials and cookies was launched.

Here is a video where a number of video clips promoting Shrek 2 are put together.
In the first clip which is aimed at the younger audience there is a funny story about Donkey and Shrek. Where in the end when the child is attracted by the cartoon the product appears. The product has Shrek image on it and this is definitely may attract child's attention at shop when he or she is in there with their parents. The story is shown on screenshots below:

Also a number of trailers were released before the release of the movie to attract target audience. Here is one of them:

The trailer introduces all the main characters and shows some funny jokes. It also tells who are creators of the movie (DreamWorks).

Here is another promotional video - teaser. Teaser is usually shorter than trailer and tells less of the story of the film to prevent any spoilers. Is is generally used to "tease" the audience, make people interested in the movie and attract target audience.

Premiere

At the premiere in Cannes all the stars that contributed to the creation of the movie were invited. These were mostly the actors and famous people who spoke for the heroes in the movie. On the photo below you can see Antonio Banderas with a statue of Shrek on the premiere of Shrek 2 movie waiting to watch it. 

Also here is a picture of Angelina Jolie that also was involved in creation of the movie posing on the premiere. 

Posters

Posters are also a powerful tool for advertising media products. For example posters near the cinemas can inform audience which movies come out soon. Shrek 2 is not an exception and a lot of posters was done to promote it. Here are some examples of them: 

 

Each of the posters represents all the main characters. 

  

 Also the target audience is attracted through social media. On Dreamworks.com there is a link that allows consumers to "connect" with all the products distributed by the media company.

The product’s impact and effect on the audience P5(a)

Media products usually have a particular effect on audience. As Shrek trilogy is a cartoon it has a strong influence on children that can not be avoided.

7-11 years old.  As Shrek trilogy has loveable characters it can easily make children to believe in the fairytale universe where all these characters live. It may be good for them because when young, children have to believe in something like this. Also, good always defeats evil in this imaginary universe and this fact may encourage children to feel safe and protected from bad things in life. Shrek is also can be a role model for some children of this age as he always acts like a positive hero and gives an impression of a good person overall. Children of this age can learn the main lesson of this movie : "No matter how you look, if you act good you will be good".
There also can be negative influence on children of this age. For example young audience can think that sociably unacceptable behaviour that Shrek shows sometimes is not a problem and behave later in the same way. There were a lot of cases where children were influenced by movies or cartoons badly and then behaved in a way evil characters behaved in these cartoons. For example a young boy studying in class 2 received a warning from his school after he got caught for beating up a fellow student. When asked for explanation the child replied, “I was just showing my friend one of the moves I saw in a cartoon the night before.” His family members told journalists that they did not control what their child watched on TV.
This story at some point proves the point of view that younger children nowadays are influenced by animated movies that such companies as Dreamworks produce.
There is also point of view that animated films offer children intricate teachings about race and sexuality, guiding children through the complexities of highly racialized and sexualized scenarios. This can be seen in such movies as Shrek as well if going into really deep analysis. For example although Shrek 2 can be seen by children from 6 years old there are scenes where heroes kiss or even jokes about sex and relationships. These kind of jokes can not be understood by children of this age.

11-16 years old.  Children of this age are less likely to be affected by the movie, but their behaviour still can be influenced by the media product such as Shrek. This age group generally includes teenagers. In this age children start to believe less in what they see and more often watch movies rather than cartoons. This actually means that they will be much less affected by the Shrek trilogy as they have their understanding of the world by this moment. They are less likely to follow the behaviour of the characters of the cartoon (good or bad) and these characters are less likely to become their role models. However these teenagers can feel sad or happy in some moments of the cartoon. For example when Shrek and Fiona are divided in the first part of the trilogy, audience of this age can feel frustrated of even cry. This actually depends on the gender of the audience as female teenagers are known to be very emotional.

16-25 years old. People of this age are not likely at all to be somehow influenced by the product. At this age a people are usually can make decisions by themselves. 

Issues of Representation P5(b)

When talking about movie that I have chosen which is Shrek 2 I would like to discuss the representation of a number of main characters.

The first one is obviously Shrek himself who is an ogre. Ogres according to the research that I have done are creatures that are much bigger than a usual man, they are green and ugly. Ogres kill people sometimes just for fun or more often to eat. Some say that ogres are stupid and some say they are clever, but this can not be known as they do not exist.

In Shrek 2 as well as in both other parts of the trilogy ogre whose name is Shrek doesn't look scary. I would say he is opposite of scary. As you can see on the left there is a drawing of an ogre from ancient mythology where on the right there is a picture of Shrek from Shrek 2. Shrek has some similar characteristics such as long sharp years, green skin and bad clothes but overall he doesn't look like a creature that eats people for fun. I suppose the outlook of the ogre was changed by designers so that children could believe that Shrek is actually is a positive hero and so that he could be their role model perhaps. 

From the beginning of the trilogy Shrek always fights with his alter ego that wants him to be a frightening ogre and kill everyone whom he doesn't like, but in the end it always comes out like he is the same as us. It comes out that behind this outlook of a scary monster he has a strong personality of a kind man who is ready to fight evil. And so he does. 

To sum up. A Shrek in Shrek trilogy is a clear example and prove to the audience that no matter how somebody looks you should always look inside.

This picture clearly represents the real Shrek's nature. He loves his friends and his wife and he is not a scary ogre. This is a good theme for children and even adults to think about when they watch Shrek 2.









The second character I would like to discuss is Dragoness.
In the first part of the Shrek trilogy she first appears as a frightening dragon that has killed thousands of knights in its life. When Shrek and Donkey come to rescue princess Fiona, Dragoness tries to kill them several times. Then Shrek and Donkey get separated and being alone with Donkey she shows her true face. When Donkey starts to say her complements she saves him life and later they fall in love. So out of this story we can see that authors of Shrek did not want their heroes to look like they used to look in fairytales and other stories. They tried to change the image of their heroes so that they look different from the stereotypes. We can see the dragon that loves and wants to be loved. This tells young audience that no matter who are you what is your nature, you can find friends and even a person who will love you as you are. In Shrek 2 Dragoness appears in the end of the movie with her children. She looks really happy and nothing can tell that she has to be a scary dragon. This probably suggests that everyone can change and become better.

On the left there is a picture of Dragoness that doesn't look scary at all besides she is a dragon.








On the picture on the right Dragoness cutely kisses Donkey.









Lastly, the people in the kingdom are presented as vain people who judge Shrek on how he looks. In the scene in Shrek 2 when Shrek arrives to the castle of the king and the queen the crowd that looks silently at him and his wife. They look at them as at ogres, not as personalities. This illustrates another problem in the movie. 

Legal and/or ethical issues P5(c)

The ownership of intellectual property by the item's creator. Copyright law gives creators of original ideas, art, etc. the exclusive right to further develop them for a given amount of time, at which point the copyrighted item becomes public domain. (according to the website investopedia.com) 

Copyright holder for Shrek 2 is 2004 DreamWorks LLC as DreamWorks has produced this movie. This actually means that DreamWorks receives payments from those who want to somehow refer to Shrek. Also, this means that copy the name "Shrek" or any ideas and narratives from the movie is illegal and DreamWorks can sue people or company that will do it. To have copyright is really useful in order to protect the product from competitors such as Pixar or other less known media companies that would have probably copied it if the copyright haven't existed. 

As Shrek 2 is rated as "U" that stands for universal there can not be any extreme violence of scenes with violence at all. So this excludes the fact of existence of any offensive material in the movie. This is beneficial for the movie as more people of a wider age range can watch it without any consequences. 

There are a lot of well known fairy tale heroes in Shrek 2 such as Puss in Boots or others. This may involve stereotypes about characters behaviour and things that they say. Some of this characters might be associated with certain ethical groups and these stereotypes may be involved again. By this certain ethical groups may be offended and this may be unpleasant for them. 

Role of Relevant Regulatory Bodies P5(d)

According to WikiPedia BBFC (British Board of Film Classification)is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films within the United Kingdom.

Shrek 2 was given a classification "U" according to the BBFC specification. The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged 4+. However you can not predict the certain impact on particular child that will be caused by such things as violence or swearing in the movie. 

U classification means that there will be only mild bad language used such as "damn" or "hell". In Shrek 2 there is no bad language but there is some sort of mild bad language such as comic uses of 'ass' and 'butts' and two uses of 'bloody'. The word "bloody" is used two times by an evil character probably to show that she is a nasty person. 

"Characters may be seen kissing or cuddling and there may be references to sexual behaviour." says the specification at the BBFC website. In Shrek 2, characters (Shrek and Fiona) cuddle and kiss in some moments but there is no direct reference to sexual relationships. Except a couple of moments. For example in on moment a wolf looks at the magazine called "Pork Illustrated" featuring a pig in bikini. Such kind of jokes is aimed more at adults than at children as they might not understand the humour. 

"Violence will generally be very mild. A U film may include brief fight scenes or moments where characters are placed in danger. However, moments of emotional stress or threat will be quickly resolved and the outcome will be reassuring." says BBFC website about using violence in "U" rated movies. In Shrek 2 there are some there are comic fight scenes where none of the characters actually gets hurt. Also no injuries or death is shown in the movie. This means that the movie suits the "U" rating been given to it. 

There is no reference to real drugs as in "U" rating there can not be any. 

According to WikiPedia The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom sets as its objective the protection of the UK population from harmful or offensive material. It regulates what people see on the TV, in the cinema etc. It is also involved in licensing, research, codes and policies, complaints, competition and protecting the radio spectrum from abuse. The movie Shrek 2 in of rating "U", this means that people under 4 years old can not see this movie, and if they do, they have to be with their parents or those who over 18 years old. The film can be shown in cinemas at all times of day as its rating is "U" but it probably will be shown from 9 am to 5 pm as its target audience are children and there is no point of showing it in cinemas at the late evening when all young children are tired or sleep.
Ethical issues in the film are related to the fact that Shrek receives negative attitude from almost all the people in kingdom just because he is ogre.