task 3

BBFC

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation, founded by the film industry. They are responsible for the national classification and censorship of films within the United Kingdom.
When the BBFC reviewed the film for "the interview" they did have a few issues with it. one of the main issues was the strong verbal sex references throughout the film which at one point included bestiality. Also some visual sex references, including a couple having sex however this was not in strong detail. along with this there was also strong bloody violence, which is used for comical effect.

Throughout the film, strong language is very frequent and theres three uses of very strong language however none of it is delivered aggressively. 

The film also contains use of Ecstasy tablets, female breast nudity, "toilet humour", few racist and homophobic remarks and brief comic sexual violence references. No cuts were made before the release of the film by the BBFC and the film was rated 15 meaning people of the age 15 and over can watch this film. 

FDA

Film Distributors (FDA) is the trade body for theatrical film distributors in the UK (companies that release films for UK  cinema audiences).

The VSC was established in 1989 and has 2 roles, one role is that it must 

• It is a standards body for the video and video games industries and has a Code of Practice designed to ensure that both industries show a duty of care in their dealings with customers and the public generally. It provides its retailer members with a staff training course dealing with age restricted videos, DVDs and video games. 

•   It acts as an administrator of the PEGI system of age rating for video games. PEGI is used in over 30 countries. It is the UK regulator responsible for the age rating of video games supplied in the UK (using the PEGI system). In fulfilling this role it uses the name Games Rating Authority (GRA).

The explanations, advice and guidance contained in this website are given in good faith. All questions requiring a definitive interpretation of the law should be answered by referring to the legislation itself or obtaining professional legal advice .

task 2

I will be creating a report investigating the legal and ethical issues of some films.

The interview by columbia pictures (owned by Sony) was a very controversial film and was in the media a lot due to many different issues with the film. I am going to look at media legislation, ethical issues and legal issues all surrounding this film.

The Interview is an action comedy staring James Franco and Seth Rogen who in the film run a popular TV show called "Skylark Tonight." When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a fan of the show, they get an interview with him, their plans then change when the CIA recruits them to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

Sony executives considered making the ending less violent. In an email they said “There is no face melting, less fire in the hair, fewer embers on the face, and the head explosion has been considerably obscured by the fire, as well as darkened to look less like flesh.”

Copy right is the exclusive legal right, given to the a person who created something to print, publish, perform, film or to have for musical material. If a person was to then use this copyrighted material they would need permission from the creator to use it. A problem that Sony encountered with this film is that they unlawfully used an unlicensed song in “The Interview.” by a Popular K-pop singer called Yoon Mi-rae's. Her song “Pay Day” appears in the film however Sony never paid for the rights. 

A lawsuit was also held due to Sony and Columbia pictures being accused of putting the actors in this film in danger. This was classed as an infringement of human rights. 

Another film that has had trouble with the law is "A Serbian film". 

This film is about an ageing porn star who is struggling to provide for his family therefore agrees to make a film that, however he is not aware the the film contains themes of pedophilia, necrophilia and may end with his death.

The film did not conform to the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. 

It was decided that a lot of cuts would be made before the film could be rated 18.  Their were many issues with this film. The main issue being scenes of sexualised violence and scenes juxtaposing images of sex and rape with images of children. The makers of the film did however make the effort to avoid showing the children doing anything classed as disturbing or indecent and had offered to show evidence of dummies and props used in the film's most difficult scenes, however portrayals of children in a sexualised or abusive context would still need to be cut from the film. 

LAWS

Official secrets act 1989: its an offence for a Crown servant, Government contractor or member of the public who has official information in their possession, to disclose official information if the disclosure is made without lawful authority or is damaging.

Broadcasting act 1990: An Act to make new provision with respect to the provision and regulation of independent and sound programme services or other services on television or radio. 

Obscene publications act 1959: Its an offence to publish any content that will tend to "deprave and corrupt" those likely to read. This could include images of extreme sexual activity such as bestiality, necrophilia, rape or torture.

Films act 1985: Laws concerning the finance of films and defining British films.

Video recordings act 1984: An Act to make provision for regulating the distribution of video recordings. 

Race relations act 1976: This is to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race. Items that are covered include discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and national origins in the fields of employment.

Human rights act 1998: Rights that belong to every person.

Licensing act 2003: This only applies to England and wales: to ensure broadcasters avoid any infringement of privacy in programmes

Privacy law: The right to be left alone and to keep you're own information to yourself.

Copyright and intellectual property law: Protects a persons work from being copied. Another person must have permission to use another persons work. 

Libel law: Slander and defamation cannot be aimed at one particular individual or group.

task 1.

This blog will explain to you how the media institutions "Disney" and "Sony" are structured.

To start of I will be taking about Disney, a major institution within the media.

Disney are involved with many platforms and sectors for example, aside from being one of the most well known institutions for children's films that are family friendly and suited for everyone, Disney have a wide range of platforms and sectors that they are involved with.

Disney have many sectors in the industry for example one of the biggest industry sectors for Disney is television, Disney have a lot of shows that they distribute on only their channels, some of these channels include; Disney channel, Disney junior and Disney XD. Some full episodes are available to watch online at disney.co.uk. Disney's TV shows are some of the most popular shows for young people gaining millions of views every day. The channel stop showing programs at around midnight meaning their audience can watch late into the night, its also a world wide channel therefore their audience is on a massive scale.

Another of Disney’s biggest sectors is film, Disney have made hundreds of films from 1923 starting with black and white silent films such as "plane crazy" a six minute film to the sound of happy music as Mickey mouse attempts to learn how to fly a plane and ends with him knocked out by a lucky horse shoe, up to current day with films such as frozen, a high definition colour film lasting 109 minutes telling the story of a princess soon to be queen with powers that turn her city to ice leaving her sister to go on a journey to find her and solve the issues. Disney have a variety of films from animation to live action and even live action films involving actors and animated characters. Their films are shown world wide and in cinemas everywhere, their is also a TV channel originally called Disney cinemagic however has since teamed up with sky which is Disney's first ever involvement with a co-branded linear film channel anywhere in the world and is now called sky movies Disney. Films are also available on DVD's, blue ray and home videos made by Walt Disney home entertainment. 

Pixar is currently a subsidiary of Disney and have teamed up to create many films such as; cars, up, finding Nemo, the incredibles and toy story. 

A third sector is interactive media, this is a service on digital computer-based systems video, audio, games, etc. Disney have a very well known and popular online virtual world called club penguin where young people can join for free to live a virtual world as a penguin. For bonus features people can pay for a club penguin memberships which can be bought online and in shops that sell gift cards such as Sainsburys and Asda. Memberships are available for one month for the price of $7.95 or you can buy a 6 month membership for $39.95 making it $6.65 per month or their cheapest offer for a years membership costing $59.95 making it $5 per month. Along with this online world and lots of other online games you can play at disney.co.uk, their are also a lot of video games which are hugely popular and made by disney interactive studios. Games for the PC are available to buy for download on the disney website such as the one below. 















Radio is big sector in the media industry, Radio Disney is an American radio network that is owned by The Walt Disney Company that is aimed to preteens and teenagers under the age of 16. Radio Disney was launched on November 18, 1996 (coinciding with the 68th anniversary of the debut of Steamboat Willie. The radio show plays music from those who are know in america as "teen idols." the show has many different features such as "NBT" which stands for "next best thing" they also have a 60 second feature with different actors and artists and a feature called "radio rewind" where they play a song backwards and people will call in to guess the title and artist of the song. 

Due to many disney films having a lot of music in them, disney have made multiple albums of soundtracks of certain films and also have albums such as the "disneymania" a CD containing all of the most well know classic songs from disney films performed by well known artists at the time for example Christina Aguilera, S club and Hillary Duff. 

the final sector I looked into was marketing, a very popular way that people try to sell their product is to make and sell merchandise for example when disney created frozen, they also brought out figures and dolls of each characters along with teddy bear versions of the characters too. Thousands of merchandise was made for this brand including lunch boxes, childrens bedding, clothes, dressing up outfits of the characters, drinks cups, books, singing toothbrushes and many more products designed to help sell the film and be sold with the film to make a higher profit. All of these things can be found at the disney store which you can also access online at disneystore.co.uk. Here you can find merchandise from nearly every disney film made, although aimed at children the disney store have widened their target audience by selling things like collectors items, disney themed homeware and clothes in adult sizes. 

Stages of production	Company (Disney)
Production	Disney Disney pictures  Pixar  Marvel comics  Marvel studios Touchstone
Distribution exhibition.	Disney channel  Cable TV  Disney movies
Exhibition
Further access to customers	DVD/ home video  Walt Disney home entertainment
Conglomerate reach through integration creates synergy	Music	Print publishing	Internet	Retail	Other
	Soundtracks Walt Disney records	Marvel comics  Disney books	Disney infinity Online gaming e.g. Club penguin	The Disney store	Disney theatrical group.

The second media institution I will be talking about is Sony. 

Sony is a very well known and popular media industry, its a Japanese multinational conglomerate. Sony was founded in japan and began as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, or shortly, TTK (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company) however people and businesses from Europe and america became interested they soon changed their name to sony meaning this buisness could now go world wide. They make many products including films, music, games and more. 

Sony Pictures Entertainment are the tv and film production and distribution unit of Sony. Throughout the years has made and distributed,or co-distributed franchises such as Spider-Man, Men in Black, Underworld, and Resident Evil. 

In 2011 Sony Pictures' computer network got hacked meaning nearly 1 million accounts associated with SonyPictures.com were leaked.This revealed that in December 2014 Sony Pictures computer network was compromised by people called the Guardians of Peace, disabling many computers. 5 movies were leaked including some that haven't been released yet like Annie. also confidential information about 47,000 current and former Sony employees was leaked. The hack also revealed some other plans, for example a partnership with Marvel Studios. On December 16, the hackers warned threats to attack anyone who sees The Interview urging people to "remember the 9/11 incident" Sony cancelled the original release date of The Interview due to hacker threats. 

From this hacking it was also leaked that Sony's mobile division were getting involved with a well known James Bond film where the  Sony Xperia Z4 smartphone would be used by Bond himself. The email that was leaked showed a design for the Xperia Z4 before it came out. The designs and email were taken from the inbox of Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. The email was written by Sony's executive vice president of consumer marketing George Leon. The subject of the email was about the fees that Sony could receive with product placements for theJames Bond film. For example a $5 million fee that Daniel Craig could collect for posing for a picture while using the Xperia Z4.
According to the email, Sony's electronics division has already budgeted $18 million advertising commitments, the $5 million fee to Daniel Craig and a $5 million production budget. The email also talked about doing a promotion for the Xperia Z4 however it would not be with James Bond. 

Skyfall was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures. Columbia Pictures is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, therefore having Sony products in the film isn't a coincidenceBond used Sony Vaio laptop and Sony Xperia T mobile phone. Sony didn't do any close ups of the brand name or make the product placement obvious, instead you only see the name of the laptop and a small amount of the phone when its being used.

Sony Music Entertainment is an American music corporation that is owned by Sony Corporation of America which is a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Corporation. In 1929 it was founded as American Record Corporation then was renamed Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938, In 1966 it was reorganized to become CBS Records. In 1987, Sony Corporation of Japan bought the company, and in 1991, renamed it sony music entertainment. It is now the world's second largest music company, it operates in 43 countries and territories worldwide.  
Sony Music entertainment have 3 record labels 

• Columbia Records

• RCA Records

• Epic Records

In 2011–2012, Sony Music expressed their support for the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act which caused controversy in the entertainment industry. Controversy also surrounded Sony when Sony and Taylor Swift had Shane Dawson's Blank Space parody taken off YouTube for violence, copyright material and saying that they didn't like it.

Sony Computer Entertainment America do the research, development, production, and sales for the hardware and software for the PlayStation line of video game systems. It is also a developer and publisher of video games and cover the company's largest markets, North America, Europe and Asia. Since January 2015 they've sold approximately 449 million consoles.

Stages of production	Company (Sony)
Production	Sony Music Entertainment columbia pictures sony pictures entertainment sony pictures classics
Distribution exhibition.	sony entertainment network cinema sony movie channel sony pictures television
Exhibition
Further access to customers	DVD/ home
Conglomerate reach through integration creates synergy	Music	Print publishing	Internet	Retail	gaming
	sony music entertainment		sony mobile	The Sony store	Sony Computer Entertainment America

Both disney and sony are worldwide institutions that both reach out to a very large audience.