Film Industry: The end of MGM as we know it?

The famous Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio has been looking for a way out of their financial problems for a while now.
This is MGM Wikipedia entry.

In 2005, MGM was acquired by Sony and other investors.

Back in March 2010, it looked like Time Warner might take over:
Time Warner leads pack in race for MGM (The Sunday Times)

A few days ago, it looked like Lions Gate would be the successful in a merger with MGM:

"The details of Lions Gate's proposal were released just days before MGM creditors face a Friday deadline to vote on an alternative plan to merge with a unit of Spyglass Entertainment. The Spyglass deal would see MGM creditors, owed more than $4 billion, own more than a 95 percent stake in a company worth around half of that."

Yahoo News

However, now Spyglass Entertainment is taking over the control of a bankrupt MGM:

"The studio said MGM creditors "overwhelmingly" approved what amounts to a prepackaged bankruptcy plan, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The plan includes having Spyglass Entertainment co-founders Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum take over as co-chief executive officers, the Journal said."

UPI.com, full article here

James Bond fans now hope that production of the next film will resume...

Preparing for the Media Conference

The materials to look at before the conference have been made available and we've been asked to have a quick read ahead of the day in order to better understand the topics dealt with.
You can read them here. (You will also get a hard copy on Monday)

We have been asked to complete one short task in preparation for Julian McDougall's talk. It is to put together a pitch for a new TV Talent Show. We will bring it with us and hand it in on the day.
Here it is below:

Online media: Cleggmania and the Cowell Factor
Your task:
With a partner, or on your own:
• Brainstorm an idea for a completely new TV Talent show
• Give it a title
• Summarise it – in under 140 characters including spaces
• Be prepared to ‘pitch’ your task to the Judges Panel – and win the contract!
…………………………………………………………………………………………...................
Title of show: ...
Pitch


Number of characters: ...

Finally have a look at this video (or at least parts of it) featuring Tony Benn as he talks about this great principle - DEMOCRACY (Tony Benn discusses the history of democracy, how it has been undermined, and how it can be strengthened).

You need to understand that listening to the likes of Julian and Tony Benn is a real eye opener and treat!

Map - From Euston station to the Institute of Education:

All instructions are ON THE LETTER (see post below).

The Media Conference - AS and A2

Many of you simply must bring your EV7 and payment as soon as possible as it is making the booking process a nightmarish logistical problem.

The expectation is that you are all to attend.

If you have lost the letter, here is a copy of it below. If you have lost your EV7 form, please get one from reception.
I have already put a link to the outline of the day and the Conference details in a previous post here:
STUDENT MEDIA CONFERENCE FOR ALL AS AND A2 STUDENTS

Please act promptly. I will need to phone home this week otherwise.
Thank you.

Brand new OK GO video (A2 Students please have a look)

Here is a news story from NME.Com about the band OK GO's amazing new viral video which is stacking up the hits as we speak on Youtube. The video is at the bottom of the story. It is another choreographed masterpiece featuring the band and some dogs! Have a look......................................

James.

STUDENT MEDIA CONFERENCE FOR ALL AS AND A2 STUDENTS

Dear all,

We are booking seats for everyone to attend the Mediamag Conference on Thursday 21st October. The cost is £20 per person and all the details can be found by clicking the following link:
http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mediamag_conference/index.html

The letter to parents comes out this week and you are asked to pay promptly and bring back the EV7 form at the same time.

Everyone is expected to attend. It will be a great opportunity for all to hear different views and voices. Furthermore, Pete Fraser and Julian McDougall are key speakers that day; Pete Fraser is Chief Examiner for OCR Media Studies and McDougall is a principal examiner for A Level Media Studies and authors of the official OCR Media Studies book.

Article on "Toy Story 3"

Here is a story about Toy Story 3, how it has become the highest grossing animated film of all time.

There are also some links to a whole host of TS3 related media, including "The Making of Toy Story 3". Please click here for the full article.

James Hiett

The biggest flick-flops: The ones that lost money

Read the whole story here.

Hollywood Most Bankable Stars

Read the full article here.

Wikileaks - a good thing or not?

This is such an important topic! Should we have such documents leaked onto the internet? Is it putting informants and soldiers at risk?

Listen to Julian Assange, creator of Wikileaks, by clicking on this link from Ted.com.

You will find number of divided opinions in newspapers and online about this debate.
Besides being a fascinating story (and controversy), it also makes a great case study for A2 Media in the Online Age.

Information from Ted.com about this debate:
The controversial website WikiLeaks collects and posts highly classified documents and video. Founder Julian Assange, who's reportedly being sought for questioning by US authorities, talks to TED's Chris Anderson about how the site operates, what it has accomplished -- and what drives him. The interview includes graphic footage of a recent US airstrike in Baghdad.

A2 story - a spoof video pulled from YouTube

This is an interesting story from many angles for A2 students. Read the story of the spoof video pulled from YouTube; the culprits were thought to be EMI but the spoof's writers were actually the ones who took it down. Many debates emerge...

The first headline from guardian online said:
Newport State of Mind forced off YouTube
Music publisher issues takedown notice to video for Jay-Z and Alicia Keys spoof Newport State of Mind

Now the update:
Newport State of Mind: songwriters pulled the video from YouTube
We've identified the culprit behind the Newport State of Mind takedown – and it wasn't EMI Music Publishing

Read the full story and see the video for "Newport" (spoof of Jay Z and Alicia Keys' New York).

Post-Raoul Moat. What happened next?

Raoul Moat GTA story makes Daily Star look like idiots
Wednesday 21-Jul-2010
source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/
Read the article here:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=256635

Charlie Brooker's Guardian column:
Offensive Facebook groups such as Raoul Moat's are 10 a penny. Yet sympathy is in short supplyRaoul Moat group is idiotic on many levels – not least for calling him a 'legend'
Read the column here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/19/charlie-brooker-offensive-facebook-groups

EMI - especially for A2 students

Start researching record labels such as EMI. EMI's story is an interesting one.
You will find an excellent archive of recent goings on at EMI at the guardianonline.
Receny headlines include:
EMI defends Duran Duran remasters
EMI go into reverse
EMI boss resigns after three months
Terra Firma close to finding £105m to keep EMI
and so on...

An older article from The Telegraph online is also an eye opener:
EMI and Warner Music should simply bite the bullet and merge
It is the story that's been running for a decade and once again the "will they, won't they" talks between EMI and Warner Music have failed to reach a deal.

Read the full article here.

How the internet really affected the election - Guardian.co.uk

A very interesting article, particularly for A2 students, since it is an interesting case study for your Critical Perspectives - Media in the Online Age unit
How the internet really affected the election

Adam Buxton - keep an eye out for him!

Adam Buxton knows a lot about the media and music. I keep an eye on his blog and I can only urge you to do the same! For example, did you know about the fabulous screen writing software Moviemaker? Do have a look; it's really funny.

Adam Buxton also hosts the regular BUG gigs where artists come to talk about making music videos among other things. Get some tickets and go see the next BUG show. Below is a link to the BFI website with a clip from BUG 17 where Buxton interviews some video directors about their "crowd sourcing" technique for their latest video.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/290

You can also check out the BUG site's archives to see some unusual and low budget music videos.
http://www.bugvideos.co.uk/show-archive.go

Charlie Brooker

Yes, he is irreverent and might use too much foul language for your taste, but he does make a good point. You really should watch his series Screenwipe and particularly Newswipe (most of it can be found on YouTube), all good materials in preparation for A2 Critical perspectives. His take on reporting the news is already a classic. If you still haven't seen it, here it is, followed by today's column in the Guardian's Guide on how the media reported on Raoul Moat.