"Analyse how media institutions are using different platforms to engage with their audiences."

In the film industry, there are 5 big conglomerate companies that dominate and these conglomerates consist of smaller companies as such that come under one big company and these are referred to as subsidiaries. The big 5 was once known as the big 6, however, Disney acquired Fox in 2019, so Fox became one of Disney's subsidiaries. These big companies use different platforms to engage with their audiences to be able to reach their target audiences more effectively and efficiently. Something important to note is that the big 5 consist of Disney, universal pictures, paramount pictures, Warner bros pictures and sony.  These different companies connect and engage with their audiences through different means. Each company may uniquely have a specific method they use and that may be passive or active. Stuart Hall's reception theory touches on the idea that companies are actually encoding and decoding text within a film to create meaning and messages in the film. There are 3 types of readings according to this theory, the first one is the dominant reading, this reading, this is where the audiences is given a chance to decode the message for themselves, and see the reading that the producers actually want them to see. This is so that all the people who watch the film are on the same page. This type of engagement with audiences is commonly used in Disney movies as their age target audience is definitely on the younger scale so it would be appropriate for them to have their films made in a way where the meanings could be understood universally and easily. For example with movies such as Frozen, there is no intense other meaning, it is just what is shown and that is how the producer intended it to be. The second type of reading from Stuart Halls reception theory is negotiated reading and this is where the producers do have a specific message they're tying to include however you adapat that as the audience to your own beliefs and such. This is a technique commonly used with sony as they have made movies such as spectare and the davinci code. These films have a basline ideal response they ellicit however many people interpret it differently. The third type is oppositinal reading, this type of reading is where the audience rejects the message the producers are trying to pursue, because they have their own interpretation already, despite knowing what the producer wants them to think. A company that tends to move towards making films with this type of reading is universal pictures with movies such as 'old' which is a prime example of a film that can be taken as a oppositional reading. 

Shirky came to a conclusion that overall there is the overarching idea that audience behaviour has adapted and changed in a way that shows them to be more adaptive to the films that they watch. In the sense that the audience now produces media and this is called being a 'prosumer'. As times have evolved, technology has advanced and grown to the point where anyone, any amateur can create a film if they want to so we have gotten to get used to the idea of getting the idea that we want, so now when we watch films we are no longer a passive audience - according to this theory. Shirky believes that we are more active audiences nd this is because of the age in which we live, where everyone has access to a lot of media so now we are the most active audience there has ever been as our generation interacts with media more than any other generation. Now audience behaviour is not so. predictable which can make it difficult for producers to actively get their own message out to the audiences however this does mean more leeway for audiences to have a more enjoyable experience as filmmakers are adapting to the fact that audiences' thoughts and perception cannot be controlled.