CREATING THE FRANCHISE

In relation to last week’s blog, we will be looking at how conglomerations and individual franchises are produced to a successful rate.

OWNERSHIP TO PARTNERSHIP

A success to producing franchise is to gain ownership and partnership across all media.

Particularly, Johnson (2013) expresses how there is three axes of gain corporate power. These comply of:

1. Brands – Brands have to rely on corporate ownership and management to protect corporate culture.

2. Exploitation – Franchises tend to exploit conglomeration services to gain money and interest.

3. Synergy – Partnership to allow same content produced to dominate across multiple media markets to generate income.

Thompson (2003, p. 82) expressed synergy as the process of “selling the same narrative over and over in different media”.

However, franchises can, and have, altercations that individually effect different media industries.

Examples of these changes include:

In the 70’s and 80’s, there was a decline of mass production in search for niche markets.

90’s becomes the up rise of synergy within the media conglomerates.

And lastly, in the 2000’s synergy amongst industries declined allowing for franchise partnership.

BIRTH OF THE FRANCHISE

proved very successful.

With the use of narrative, nostalgia and careful release planning, certain small films grew into large transmedia industries.

Examples of these large industries include Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), Rocky (1976) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). These films relied on smaller budgets to “play safe”, however all went on to be successful and further reproduce content to appease their audiences (Thompson and Bordwell, 2003).

The particular focus on nostalgia is important in producing a franchise.

Telotte (2001, p. 105) expresses in his book how nostalgia is an “homage to a great number of films and film types – the western, war films, Japanese samurai films”. Particularly Telotte focuses on how these factors are all seen within Lucas’ Star Wars.

The new found blockbuster films were also appeasing in producing stylistic films that take careful consideration into narrative and surroundings. Furthermore, this use of cinematography engaged audiences and critics to the media content (Wyatt, 1994. P. 20).

Examples of how these techniques produced instant and long-lasting success can be seen within the Star Wars franchise.

The first release of Star Wars was 1977 by Lucas Films, which had a budget of $11 million, but went to make a further $9.4 billion within the first year of release.

MERCHANDISE AND PLAY

BUILDING THE EXPANDED UNIVERSE – NARRATIVE

Narrative is a fundamental role within producing a franchise – the extended narrative allows for an interactive universe to be created.

The universe can be extended by adding additional stories, locations and characters.

A franchise that showcases this is Star Wars, particularly relevant with the expanding narrative presented within the newer films.

However, to understand the full universe, fans would have to engage with both main texts and paratexts.

These main texts comes in forms of books, and the para-texts can be anything from novels, additional programmes, reference books, comics and video games.

Again, the use of Paratexts serves as additional merchandise to the franchise, further feeding fan’s want for more Star Wars content.

Gray (2010, p. 180) expresses how “action figures underscore the plural in [Star Wars], declaring the central frame and theme to be that of a never-ending series of grand and cosmic battles of mythic proportions”.

All content created that contributes to the overall narrative and world created then become canon. Examples of canon content include comics such as Tales from Jabba’s Place (1996), where characterisation of Jabba is explored and also further unlocks previous-unknown locations within the Star Wars universe.

This universe was further engaged with Lucas Films’ contract with Disney, allowing for an attraction called Star Tours to be made at Disney Land. This included an immersive simulation ride, and a “life-size” AT-AT Walker outside the attraction, allowing fans to feel they are within the star Wars universe.

AUTHORSHIP AND PARATEXTS

CASE STUDY: BUBO’S TALE WITHIN STARWARS AS A TRANSMEDIA FRANCHISE

Looking into the Star Wars franchise, it can be easily recognised as transmedia.

According to Henry Jenkins’ world building (2006), transmedia forms of three elements. One of the particular elements is narrative:

Narrative is particular to transmedia to allow an interactive and wholesome world to be built.

The Star Wars has well-over one hundred characters, however, not all characters are explored in-depth in the main texts (films).

Therefore, Paratexts are produced to give further insight into the Star Wars universe.

The character, Buboicullaar, is only seen within one episode of the Star Wars main texts which is Return of the Jedi (1983).

Here, Bubo has an average air time of 3 minutes, however has zero lines throughout. Lucas Films saw this as an opportunity to expand their world and offer insight into the character. Therefor Mallett (1995) published an extract offering a story to complete the stories that occur within Jabba’s Place.

Adhering to Jenkin’s theory on transmedia, this short story offers three insight strategies of transmedia:

1. Continuity: Here, fans are relieved and celebrated on new found knowledge. Throughout the extract, we discover that Bobo is infact a spy and assassin that works in Grannish operative within Jabba’s Place.

The fact we learn about Bobo further continues the narrative, offering that there are employees within the Grannish operative. This means fans can speculate on the operation and question whether there is more employees and what their motive is. This means there is a demanded increase for further content within the industry.

2. Seriality: The brief introduction of Bobo in The Return of the Jedi allowed Lucas Film to produce more content in a serial manner, to uphold fans want for more content.

3. Drillability: The supplies additional media context that offers additional content to engage in anew complex narrative. This is seen through Bobo’s engagement with the Grannish operative.

This tells us that the Star Wars franchise is continuously expanding, meaning further narratives, characterisations and stories can be discovered.

This proves the success of the franchise, and the support it has gained from its fans.

The characters exposed within Paratexts help engage further knowledge involved within the franchise,

This means fans can fully understanding a text without questioning who, what, why, where and how.

Furthermore, the paratexts within the transmedia allows for further content which helps produce a fanbase and revenues for the franchise.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bordwell, D. & Thompson, K. (2003). Film Art: A Introduction. US: Harvard University Press.

Engelhardt, T. (1995). End of Victory Culture. University of Massachusetts..

Gray, J. (2010). Show Sold Seperately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts. New York: New York University Press.

Jenkins, H. (2006).Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NYU Press.

Johnson, D. (2013). Media Franchising: Creative License and Collaboration in the Culture Industries. New York: NYU Press.

Mallett, D. F., Et al. (1995). Tales from Jabba’s Place. Tongue Tied: Bubo’s Tale.

Telotte, J. P. (1995). Science Fiction Film. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thompson, K. (2003). Storytelling in Film and Television. US: Harvard University Press.

Wyatt, J. (1994). High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood. Texas: University of Texas Press.