Key Terms For The Film Industry

Major Film Studio	A major is a movie and distribution company that releases a substantial number of films annually and constantly commands a significant share of the box office revenues in a given market.
Conglomerate	Large corporations dominating the communications industries and have significant stakes in a range of media markets eg: Apple, Virgin, Sony, Disney
Subsidiary	A business that is owned by a parent company and managed under its direction.
‘The Big 6’	20th Century Fox Paramount Warner Brothers Columbia Universal Disney
Multi National Corporation	A company that has large scale investments in two or more countries.
Synergy	The relationship between different media products in which one is used to improve the exposure of another. I.e. CD release of the sound track
Vertical Integration	The major studios maximize their profits by controlling each stage of a film's life: production (making the film), distribution (getting the film out to people), and exhibition (owning first-run theaters in major cities).
Independent Production Company	A company that produces a films outside of the studio system and is responsible for the development and may also be directly responsible for the raising of funding for the production .
Distribution company	An independent company who secure placement of the film on screen and create the marketing strategy for the film.
Exhibitor	A movie venue that screens the films. These can be independent or apart of a chain.
Globalisation	The process of societies, and cultures becoming more interconnected through a global network of political ideas through communication.
Cross Media Convergence	Hardware and software coming together across different media making the distinctions between the media increasingly fuzzy
Tie In	Special marketing displays and gimmicks that relate to the theme of an ongoing advertising campaign. This might include a give away.