This module will explore the ways in which we access digital media content has changed in recent years with the advent of Video On Demand and streaming services, and it will consider the marketing and branding processes that underpin the digital media landscape. You will explore the relationship between the contemporary media marketplace, and its historic antecedents, considering earlier iterations such as the studio system. It will provide you with a fundamental knowledge of theories and key concepts in strategic communication underlying the branding strategy of the media industries and will introduce you to the different contexts and areas of the application of branding. It will give you the opportunity to develop analytical skills around brand strategy analysis and consider these messages in terms of their communication strategy.

Lectures will cover a wide range of key topics from an exploration of the distinction between distribution and circulation, to a historical overview of the branding of the screen industries. It will consider the role of PR, marketing and advertising cultures within that. Through this module you will develop an advanced understanding of the main theories and concepts underpinning the markets of the contemporary screen industries and will develop a familiarity with a wide range of case studies exploring the contexts and meaning of each.

1. Portfolio [LOs 1,2,]:
The form of the paratextual portfolio is negotiated with the staff team and will function as a repository of information on which your presentation/video essay will draw. This repository will be made up of a combination of marketing materials, trade materials and scholarly work that will form the basis of the analysis in the video essay. Through this you will demonstrate a critical awareness and evaluation of current research, advanced scholarship, contemporary problems and/or new insights, informed by scholarly work at the forefront of the discipline. This should include an annotated bibliography with a mininum of 15 annotated sources at a maximum length of 2500 words
2. Video Essay [LOs 3,4]:
The Video Essay should consist of a study and analysis of some aspect of the contemporary screen industry specifically related to the marketing, distribution and circulation of film. This will make connections between the marketing materials, trade materials and scholarly work assembled for the portfolio and will demonstrate a critical awareness of contemporary perspectives.

The Markets, Distribution and Circulation module is a branding module that challenges you to think of the screen industries as a commercially motivated sector, and the media produced as a commercially driven product. To do this you will be introduced to key concepts in the study of the screen industries, drawing on work common to Media Industry Studies, Production Studies and to Marketing and Branding analysis. You will pick a particular company, brand or asset and will construct a digital portfolio of texts and paratexts associated with the entity, this will form the basis of a sustained analysis that will be delivered as a presentation. In this module, you will develop a familiarity with paratextual analysis and decoding the messages contained within branding communication across a range of contexts and applications. You will develop an awareness of the key issues and debates affecting the sector and will become adept at problem solving, critical thinking and creativity analysing brands. Through this process, you will develop an awareness of the business of the screen industries, and an understanding of the key drivers for branding success. This module is based on a mix of lectures, seminars and screenings with the lectures lasting one hour, the seminars lasting two hours and the screening lasting two hours. The lectures and screenings will be pre-recorded for you to access in their own time, while seminars will take place “live” and will emphasise a variety of ‘in-class’ activities, such as group activities, case studies, group discussions and hands-on analysis. This flipped classroom approach with allow you to engage with the assigned reading, the lectures and screening materiak and come to the class prepared to engage in sessions that will further your understanding of the material that you have begin to explore.

1. Build a critical awareness of marketing and distribution processes, developing an understanding of the ways the contemporary media landscape relates toearlier iterations of the industry.
Enquiry

2. Evaluate the function and success of a range of paratextual marketing materials for a media campaign of your choice.
Analysis

3. Create a clear and coherent argument that applies the knowledge learned in interesting and innovative ways
Application

4. Effectively communicate your conclusions in audio visual form, with particular attention paid to film grammar and scholarly convention
Communication

Alongside internally embedded resources such as the Virtual Learning Environment, Blackboard and Box of Broadcasts for screenings, the industrial focus of the programme means that you will be expected to engage with a variety of industrial and governmental bodies. Such as, but not limited to:
Arts & Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is a national funding agency supporting arts and humanities research and study in the UK. Website contains up-to-date developments, debates and discussions.
Arts Council England Arts Council England is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales
Arts Council – Creative Case NORTH Supported by investment from the Arts Council, Creative Case NORTH has been finding ways to embed the creative case across the arts and cultural sector throughout the north of England. The north area approach is important because it spans a wide geography and supports a huge range of organisations and types of diversity, embracing all the protected characteristics.
BFI Film Forever The BFI exists to promote greater understanding and appreciation of, and access to, film and moving image culture in the UK
BFI InView Here you will find over 2,000 non-fiction film and television titles from the 20th century to the early 21st. InView is easily searchable, comprehensively catalogued and clearly organised under six main Themes, each with an introductory essay by an academic historian
BFI Screenonline The British Film Institute's Screenonline is an online encyclopaedia of British film and television featuring hundreds of hours of film and television clips from the vast collections of the BFI National Archive, and several hours of recorded interviews with film and TV personalities. These clips are supplemented by rich and authoritative contextual material by expert writers, specially commissioned for BFI Screenonline alongside thousands of stills, posters and press books
British Council documentary resources The Foundation exists to nurture independent documentary filmmakers from the UK and around the world
British Council Film Collection The British Council Film Collection is an archive of 120 short documentary films made by the British Council during the 1940s designed to show the world how Britain lived, worked and played. Over 120 films were produced as 'cultural propaganda' to counteract anything the Nazis might throw out and to refute the idea that ours was a country stuck in the past. These films were designed to showcase Britain to the rest of the world, at a time when Britain itself was under attack.

The British Film Commission (BFC) The British Film Commission (BFC) is the national body in charge of attracting, encouraging and supporting the production of international feature films in the UK. With offices in the UK and the US, the BFC provides free professional advice to help make productions in the UK a reality British Universities Film & Video Council this site covers educational use of film and video in all academic subject areas, and is a good source of information on research collections and educational broadcast productions. Includes the catalogue of the British Universities Newsreels Project ScreenSkills as part of their remit as sector skills council, ScreenSkills is the definitive source for reseach into employment, conditions and skill levels in the IK film industry. Additionally, alongside the websites listed above, there are a number of important websites that contain more focussed articles on the film industry. www.deadline.com up-to-the-minute entertainment, Hollywood and media news www.variety.com : The most prestigious Hollywood trade publication. www.hollywoodreporter.com : Another very prestigious Hollywood trade publication. www.screendaily.com : Another important trade publication, its focus is mostly on the European film and media industries. www.boxofficeguru.com : A very valuable research tool. It uses box office data from Variety as well as from other major databases. It has hundreds of extremely useful links www.imdb.com : Extremely valuable tool in obtaining information about films (production companies, distributors, box office figures, reviews, filmographies, film trailers etc). It can also be used as a search engine to identify a corpus of films you might want to discuss www.the-numbers.com : Another very good site to obtain box office information and other important industry data

Specific Texts Berz, Jennifer (2016) Managing TV Brands with Social Media: An Empirical Analysis Caldwell, John T (2008) Production Culture: Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film and Television Crisp, Virginia (2015) Film Distribution in the Digital Age: Pirates and Professionals Gray, Jonathan (2010) Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts Hastings, Reed, Meyer, Erin (2020) No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention Havens, Timothy Black Television Travels Johnson, Catherine (2012) Branding Television Kerrigan, Finola (2009) Film Marketing Lyons, James, Tzioumakis, Yannis (2023) Indie TV: Industry, Aesthetics and Medium Specificity Lehu, Jean-Marc (2007) Branded Entertainment: Product Placement & Brand Strategy in the Entertainment Business Mayer, Vicki, Banks, Miranda J. Miranda J, Caldwell, John T (2009) Production Studies: Cultural Studies of Media Industries McDonald, Paul, Donoghue, Courtney Brannon, Havens, Timothy (2021) Digital Media Distribution: Portals, Platforms, Pipelines McDonald, Paul, Johnson, Derek (2022) Networks to Netflix: A Guide to Changing Channels Noam, Eli M. (2021) The Technology, Business, and Economics of Streaming Video: The Next Generation of Media Emerges Wesley, David, Barczak, Gloria (2012) Innovation and Marketing in the Video Game Industry: Avoiding the Performance Trap Wyatt, Justin (2010) High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood Zeiser, Anne (2015) Transmedia Marketing: From Film and TV to Games and Digital Media Introductory Film Texts Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson (various) Film Art: An Introduction Buckland, Warren (2003) Teach Yourself Film Studies Cook, Pam (1999/2007) The Cinema Book

Church-Gibson and John Hill (2002), The Oxford Guide to Film Studies Corrigan, Timothy and Patricia White (2004) The Film Experience Chapman, J., Glancy, M., and Harper, S. (2009) The New Film History: Sources, Methods, Approaches Davis, Glyn, Kay Dickinson, Amy Villarejo, and Lisa Patti (2015) Film Studies: A Global Introduction Etherington-Wright, C. and Doughty, R. (2011) Understanding Film Theory. Gibbs John (2001) Mise-en-Scene: Film Style and Interpretation Hayward, Susan (2012) Cinema Studies: Key Concepts Villarejo, Amy (2013) Film Studies: The Basics Film Studies Journals Alongside these introductory texts, there are a number of film studies journals that often contain more focused research on particular film, themes, and issues relevant to the study of Cinema: Camera Obscura Cineaction Cineaste Cinema Journal Deadline Film Quarterly Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television Journal of Film and Video Journal of Popular Film and Television Jump Cut (archive and current issues available online) New Review of Film and Television Studies Screen Velvet Light Trap

Markets, Distribution and Circulation is an interdisciplinary module that brings together approaches from Media Industry Studies, Production Studies and to Marketing and Branding analysis to explore the commercial focus of the screen industries. You will first explore the changing ways that we access digital media and the shift away from physical content to VOD and Streaming services, you will then consider the marketing and branding strategies that underpin those processes, selecting a case study through which you will develop a sustained piece of analysis.