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This is for my AS Level Media project so I hope you enjoy my blog and enjoy the future of filming which is Deep Sea Productions...

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Dale Stewart

Music Case Study

Twinight Records (Small American Record Label)

Twinight Records was a minor American recording label, founded in Chicago 1967 by Howard Bedno and Peter Wright, who later added E. Rodney Jones as a partner. Specializing in R&B and soul music, for a few months the label was called Twilight Records until it was discovered that another company already owned the Twilight name. Over five years, the label released (or at least recorded) 55 singles and charted seven times. The label’s star was Syl Johnson, an established R&B performer who had had a number of hits for King Records and who would have his biggest hits for Hi Records in the 1970s.

Syl Johnson was the star of Twinight Records and he was also one of the main producers for other acts on the company roster.

Johnson’s hits at Twinight included "Come on Sock it to Me" (1967), "Sorry ‘Bout Dat", "Different Strokes", "Is It Because I'm Black" (1969), and "Concrete Reservation". Some of these songs were recorded with Willie Mitchell in Nashville, which would later prove the undoing for the company, as Mitchell would ultimately lure Johnson away to Hi Records in 1971.
The success of Johnson's music permitted the company to scout and record local Chicago talent, making numerous recordings of varying quality. Johnson proved to be an able producer as well as performer, and he often produced the songs on behalf of the company. While many of the artists never went on to later fame, some standout material was produced including singles by Nate Evans (who later joined The Impressions), The Perfections, Velma Perkins (later charting as Vee Allen), Krystal Generation, Johnny Williams, The Notations, The Radiants, and Annette Poindexter. The house band was called Pieces of Peace. Donny Hathaway got his start at Twinight, penning songs for other artists on the roster before moving on to better things.
Except for Johnson’s hits, the only other artists to chart were The Notations ("I'm Still Here") and falsetto Renaldo Domino, whose “Not Too Cool to Cry” reached Number 7 on the Chicago R&B charts in in 1970. As a rule, the Twinight singles were all relegated to the “lunar rotation” of late night radio, which virtually guaranteed them a place in everlasting obscurity. Within a few months of Johnson’s defection, the label folded early in 1972.

The Twinight name was recently revitalized by Syl Johnson's daughter, the vocalist and songwriter Syleena Johnson, who used the label for some of her early releases.
In 2006, the Numero Group issued a compilation of Twinight recordings.

Film Case Study

Media Studies

Film Case Study – Distributor

UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Universal Pictures or Universal Studios are one of the biggest distributors for films in the world. It’s universally famous and holds many studios around the world mostly placed in America.

History
The founder of Universal was Carl Laemmle, a German Jewish immigrant from Laupheim who settled in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he managed a clothing store. On a 1905 buying trip to Chicago, Illinois, he was struck by the popularity of nickelodeons. One story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the take for the day. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, he gave up dry goods to buy the first of several nickelodeons. For Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for any Trust-produced film they showed. On the basis of Edison's patent on the electric motor used in cameras and projectors, along with other patents, the Trust collected fees on all aspects of movie production and exhibition, and attempted to enforce a monopoly on distribution. It was believed that the productions were meant to be used for another company but they turned it down.
Soon Laemmle and other disgruntled Nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures. In June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe and Julius Stern. That company quickly evolved into the Independent Motion Picture Company (IMP). Laemmle broke with Edison's custom of refusing credit to actors. By naming the stars of films, he was able to attract many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system. In 1910, he actively promoted Florence Lawrence, and then known as "The Biograph Girl," in what may be the first instance of a studio using a film star in its marketing.
On June 8, 1912, Laemmle merged IMP with eight smaller companies to form the Universal Film Manufacturing Company--the first appearance of the word "universal" in the organization's name. Laemmle was the primary figure in a partnership that included Mark Dintenfass, Charles Baumann, Adam Kessel, and Pat Powers. Eventually all would be bought out by Laemmle. Baumann and Kessel later partnered with Mack Sennett for their highly successful Keystone Film Company. The new Universal studio was a horizontally integrated company, with both movie production and distribution capacity (the company lacked a major circuit of exhibition venues, ownership of which would become a central element of film industry integration in the following decade). The company was incorporated as Universal Pictures Company, Inc. in 1925.
Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its production efforts in the Hollywood area. Its first logo was an Earth with a Saturn-like ring and the text in a bold Kentucky font. In later years it was replaced by a filmed 3-D model, leading ultimately to today's logo which uses CGI animation. In 1915, Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, on a 230-acre (0.9-km²) converted farm just over the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood. Studio management now became the third facet of Universal's operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists. Universal became the biggest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in small towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas westerns, and serials.
Despite Laemmle's role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew, Laemmle chose not to develop a theater chain. He also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. This policy nearly bankrupted the studio when actor-director Erich von Stroheim insisted on excessively lavish production values for his films Foolish Wives and Blind Husbands, but Universal shrewdly got some of its money back by launching a sensational ad campaign that attracted moviegoers. Character actor Lon Chaney became a huge drawing card for Universal in the 1920s, appearing steadily in dramas. His two biggest hits for Universal were The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). During this period Laemmle entrusted most of the production policy decisions to Irving Thalberg. Thalberg had been Laemmle's personal secretary, and Laemmle was impressed by Thalberg's cogent observations of how efficiently the studio could be operated. Promoted to studio chief, Thalberg was giving Universal's product a touch of class, something it seldom had during the silent era.
Louis B. Mayer lured Thalberg away from Universal with a promise of better pay. Without his guidance Universal became a second-tier studio, and would remain so for several decades.
In 1926, Universal opened a production unit in Germany, Deutsche Universal-Film AG, under the direction of Joe Pasternak. This unit produced three to four films per year until 1936, migrating to Hungary and then Austria in the face of Hitler's increasing domination of central Europe. With the advent of sound, these productions were made in the German language or, occasionally, Hungarian or Polish. In the U.S., Universal Pictures did not distribute any of this subsidiary's films, but at least some of them were exhibited through other, independent, foreign-language film distributors based in New York, without benefit of English subtitles. Nazi persecution and a change in ownership for the parent Universal Pictures organization resulted in the dissolution of this subsidiary.

"Oswald" fallout gives rise to "Mickey Mouse" and Disney empire
Contentious business dealings involving Universal over the drawing of a cartoon character may very well have affected the course of animation history.
In 1927, Charles B. Mintz, a film producer and distributor, took control over Margaret J. Winkler's Winkler Pictures after marrying Winkler. He commissioned an all new all-animated series for production that would be distributed through Universal Pictures. The series, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, was created by animator Ub Iwerks, an original partner of famed studio magnate Walt Disney. A young Disney, in the years before gaining worldwide acclaim with his own studio, earlier entered into a creative contract with Winkler for producing cartoon shorts like "Oswald." Disney tried negotiating a higher fee for the shorts he was making.
Yet while Iwerks created the "Oswald" character, which had enjoyed a successful theatrical run, Universal - and not Disney - owned the rights to it. This gave Mintz leverage in actually demanding that Disney accept a lower fee for producing the property or he would produce the films with his own group of animators. In the end, Disney refused the offer. As an alternative, he and Iwerks created what became Disney's flagship trademark, Mickey Mouse, which contained some of Oswald's features and soared to popularity following the duo's producing of its first talking short, Steamboat Willie. This moment effectively launched the Disney empire, while Universal became a relatively minor player in movie animation after Oswald.
In 2006, after almost 80 years, NBC Universal sold all Disney-produced Oswald cartoons back to Disney, in return for the release of then-ABC TV sportscaster Al Michaels from his contract so he could work on NBC's Sunday night NFL football package. However, Universal kept the Oswald cartoons that Walter Lantz produced for them from 1929 to the mid-1930s.

Keeping leadership of the studio in the family
In 1928, Laemmle, Sr. made his son, Carl, Jr. head of Universal Pictures as a 21st birthday present. Universal already had a reputation for nepotism—at one time, 70 of Carl, Sr.'s relatives were on the payroll. Many of them were nephews, resulting in Carl, Sr. being known around the studios as "Uncle Carl." Ogden Nash famously quipped in rhyme, "Uncle Carl Laemmle/Has a very large faemmle."
To his credit, "Junior" Laemmle persuaded his father to bring Universal up to date. He bought and built theaters, converted the studio to sound production, and made several forays into high-quality production. His early efforts included the 1929 part-talkie version of Show Boat, the lavish musical Broadway (1929) which included Technicolor sequences; the first all-color musical feature (for Universal), King of Jazz (1930); and All Quiet on the Western Front, winner of the "Best Picture" Academy Award for 1930. Laemmle, Jr. also created a successful niche for the studio, beginning a long-running series of monster movies, affectionately dubbed Universal Horror, among them Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Mummy. The 1931 six-sheet (81-by-81-inch) poster for Frankenstein is considered to be the most valuable movie poster in the world. There is only one copy of this poster known to exist. Other Laemmle productions of this period include Imitation of Life and My Man Godfrey.

The Laemmles lose control
Ironically, Universal's forays into high-quality production nearly broke the company. Taking on the task of modernizing and upgrading a film conglomerate in the depths of the depression was risky, and for a time Universal slipped into receivership. The theater chain was scrapped, but Carl, Jr. held fast to distribution, studio and production operations. The end for the Laemmles came with a lavish remake of its 1929 flop Show Boat, featuring several stars from the Broadway stage version, which began production in late 1935. However, Carl, Jr.'s spending habits alarmed company stockholders, especially after the costly flop of the western epic Sutter's Gold earlier in the year. They would not allow production to start on Show Boat unless the Laemmles obtained a loan. Universal was forced to seek a $750,000 production loan from the Standard Capital Corporation, pledging the Laemmle family's controlling interest in Universal as collateral. It was the first time in Universal's 26-year history that it had borrowed money for a production. Production problems resulted in a $300,000 overrun. When Standard called the loan in, a cash-strapped Universal couldn't pay. Standard foreclosed and seized control of the studio on April 2, 1936. Universal's 1936 Show Boat was a great success financially and is widely considered to be one of the greatest film musicals of all time. However, it was not enough to save the Laemmles, who were unceremoniously removed from the company they had founded.
Standard Capital's J. Cheever Cowdin took over as president and chairman of the board of directors, and instituted severe cuts in production budgets. Gone were the big ambitions, and though Universal had few big names under contract, those it had been cultivating, like William Wyler and Margaret Sullavan, now left. By the start of World War II, the company was concentrating on smaller-budget productions: westerns, melodramas, serials and sequels to the studio's horror classics.
Producer Joe Pasternak, who had been successfully producing light musicals with young sopranos for Universal's German subsidiary, came to America and repeated his tried-and-true formula. Teenage singer Deanna Durbin starred in Pasternak's first American film, Three Smart Girls (1936). The film made a fortune and restored the studio's solvency. If any one star can be said to have kept Universal in business during the late 1930s, it was Durbin, despite her often being woefully miscast as a young teenager when she was, clearly, a fully adult woman. As Durbin outgrew her screen persona and pursued more dramatic roles, the studio signed 13-year-old Gloria Jean for her own series of Pasternak musicals; she went on to star with Bing Crosby, W. C. Fields, and Donald O'Connor.
Universal could seldom afford its own stable of stars, and often borrowed talent from other studios, or hired freelance actors. James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Margaret Sullavan, and Bing Crosby were some of the major names that made a couple of pictures for Universal during this period. Some stars came from radio, including W. C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, and the comedy team of Abbott and Costello (Bud Abbott and Lou Costello). Abbott and Costello's military comedy Buck Privates (1941) hit like a bombshell, catapulting the former burlesque comedians to unprecedented popularity. They became the biggest movie stars in America, improving Universal's bottom line even more than Durbin's glossy productions had.
During the war years Universal did have a co-production arrangement with producer Walter Wanger and his partner, director Fritz Lang, but their pictures were a small bit of quality in a schedule dominated by the likes of Cobra Woman and Frontier Gal. Universal's customer base was still the neighborhood movie theaters, and the studio continued to please the general public with low- to medium-budget comedies, musicals, adventures, westerns, and serials. The studio also fostered a number of series: The Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys action features and serials (1938-43), the comic adventures of infant Baby Sandy (1938-41), Hugh Herbert comedies (1938-42), horror thrillers with Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, The Invisible Man, and The Mummy (1939-45), Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in Sherlock Holmes mysteries (1942-46), teenage musicals with Gloria Jean, Donald O'Connor, and Peggy Ryan (1942-43), and screen adaptations of radio's Inner Sanctum Mysteries (1943-45). Since Universal made mostly low-budget films for many years, it was one of the last major studios to begin using full Technicolor. The studio first made use of the three-strip process in 1942, when it released the entertaining Arabian Nights, the first of a series of Technicolor spectaculars starring Jon Hall and Maria Montez. Technicolor was also used in Universal's 1944 remake of the classic melodrama, Phantom of the Opera with Claude Rains and Nelson Eddy.
Occasionally, the studio still made what might be considered a "big" picture, such as the aforementioned 1943 Phantom of the Opera, or 1943's all-star film Flesh and Fantasy, featuring such stars as Charles Boyer, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson in three stories of the supernatural, elegantly directed in black-and-white by Julien Duvivier, and linked together by the device of having comedian Robert Benchley advising a nervous club member about his recurring nightmares.

Universal-International
In 1945 the British entrepreneur J. Arthur Rank, hoping to expand his American presence, bought into a four-way merger with Universal, the independent company International Pictures, and producer Kenneth Young. The new combine, United World Pictures, was a failure and was dissolved within one year. Rank and International remained interested in Universal, however, culminating in the studio's reorganization as Universal-International. William Goetz, a founder of International, was made head of production at the renamed Universal-International Pictures Inc., which also served as an import-export subsidiary, and copyright holder for the production arm's films. Goetz, a son-in-law of Louis B. Mayer decided to bring "prestige" to the new company by stopping the studio's low-budget production of B pictures (films under 65 minutes) such as musicals, comedies, and westerns as well as serials, and curtailed Universal's famous "monster" and "Arabian Nights" series. Distribution and copyright control remained under the name of Universal Pictures Company Inc.
Goetz set out an ambitious schedule. Universal-International became responsible for the American distribution of Rank's British productions, including such screen classics as David Lean's Great Expectations and Laurence Olivier's Hamlet. Broadening its scope further, Universal-International branched out into the lucrative nontheatrical field, buying a majority stake in home-movie dealer Castle Films in 1947, and taking the company over entirely in 1951. For three decades, Castle would offer "highlights" reels from the Universal film library to home-movie enthusiasts and collectors.
Goetz sold Universal's pre Universal-International film library to Jack Broeder's Realart Pictures for cinema rerelase but Realart was not allowed to show the films on television.
The production arm of the studio still struggled. While there were to be a few hits like The Egg & I, The Killers, and The Naked City, Universal-International's new theatrical films often met with disappointing response at the box office. By the late 1940s, Goetz was out, and the studio reverted once more to the low-budget fare it knew best. The inexpensive Francis the Talking Mule and Ma and Pa Kettle series became mainstays of the new company. Once again, the films of Abbott and Costello, including Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, were among the studio's top-grossing productions. But at this point Rank lost interest and sold his shares to the investor Milton Rackmil, whose Decca Records would take full control of Universal in 1952. As well as Abbott and Costello, the studio retained the Walter Lantz cartoon studio whose product was released with Universal-International's films.
In the 1950's Universal-International brought back a series of Arabian Nights films, many starring Tony Curtis. The studio also had a success with monster and science fiction films produced by William Alland with many directed by Jack Arnold. Other successes were big budget melodramas produced by Ross Hunter and directed by Douglas Sirk. Amongst Universal-International's stable of stars were Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Jeff Chandler, Audie Murphy and John Gavin.
Though Decca would continue to keep picture budgets lean, it was favored by changing circumstances in the film business, as other studios let their contract actors go in the wake of the 1948 U.S. vs. Paramount Pictures, et al. case. Leading actors were increasingly free to work where and when they chose, and in 1950 MCA agent Lew Wasserman made a deal with Universal for his client James Stewart that would change the rules of the business. Wasserman's deal gave Stewart a share in the profits of three pictures in lieu of a large salary. When one of those films, Winchester '73 proved to be a hit, Stewart became a rich man. This kind of arrangement would become the rule for many future productions at Universal, and eventually at other studios as well.

MCA takes over
By the late 1950s, the motion picture business was in trouble. The combination of the studio/theater-chain break-up and the rise of television saw the mass audience drift away, probably forever. The Music Corporation of America (better known as MCA), mainly a talent agency, had also become a powerful television producer, renting space at Republic Studios for its Revue Productions subsidiary. After a period of complete shutdown, a moribund Universal agreed to sell its (by now) 360-acre (1.5 km²) studio lot to MCA in 1958, for $11 million, renamed Revue Studios. Although MCA owned the studio lot, but not Universal Pictures, it was increasingly influential on Universal's product. The studio lot was upgraded and modernized, while MCA clients like Doris Day, Lana Turner, Cary Grant, and director Alfred Hitchcock were signed to Universal Pictures contracts.
The actual, long-awaited takeover of Universal Pictures by MCA, Inc. finally took place in mid-1962 as part of MCA -Decca Records merger (Universal's then parent company), with MCA as surviving corporation. Universal-International Pictures, the production subsidiary reverted in name back to Universal Pictures. As a last gesture before getting out of the talent agency business, virtually every MCA client was signed to a Universal contract. In 1964 MCA formed Universal City Studios, Inc. to take over the motion pictures and television arms of Universal Pictures Company and Revue Productions (officially renamed Universal Television in 1966). And so, with MCA in charge, for a few years in the 1960s Universal became what it had never been: a full-blown, first-class movie studio, with leading actors and directors under contract; offering slick, commercial films; and a studio tour subsidiary (launched in 1964). But it was too late, since the audience was no longer there, and by 1968, the film-production unit began to downsize. Television now carried the load, as Universal dominated the American networks, particularly NBC (which later merged with Universal to form NBC Universal; see below), where for several seasons it provided up to half of all prime time shows. An innovation of which Universal was especially proud was the creation in this period of the made-for-television movie.
Though Universal's film unit did produce occasional hits, among them Airport, The Sting, American Graffiti, Earthquake, and a blockbuster that restored the company's fortunes, Jaws, Universal in the 1970s was primarily a television studio. Weekly series production was the workhorse of the company. There would be other film hits like E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future, and Jurassic Park, but overall the film business was still hit-and-miss. In the early 1970s, Universal teamed up with Paramount Pictures to form Cinema International Corporation, which distributed films by Paramount and Universal worldwide. It was replaced by United International Pictures in 1981, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer joined the fold. UIP began distributing films by start-up studio DreamWorks in 1997, and MGM subsequently dropped out of the venture in 2001, letting 20th Century Fox internationally distribute its films. In 1990, MCA created MCA/Universal Home Video Inc. to enter the lucrative videotape and later DVD sales industry.

Matsushita and Vivendi
Anxious to expand the company's broadcast and cable presence, longtime MCA head Lew Wasserman sought a rich partner. He located Matsushita Electric, the Japanese electronics manufacturer. Around this time, the production subsidiary was renamed Universal Studios Inc. Matsushita provided a cash infusion, but the clash of cultures was too great to overcome, and five years later Matsushita sold control of MCA/Universal to Canadian liquor distributor Seagram. Hoping to build a media empire around Universal, Seagram bought PolyGram in 1999 and other entertainment properties, but the fluctuating profits characteristic of Hollywood were no substitute for the reliable income stream of hard liquor.
Western set at Universal Studios Hollywood
To raise money, Seagram head Edgar Bronfman Jr. sold Universal's television holdings, including cable network USA, to Barry Diller. (These same properties would be bought back later at greatly inflated prices.) In June 2000, Seagram itself was sold to French water utility and media company Vivendi(which owns StudioCanal). The media conglomerate became Vivendi Universal. Afterward, Universal Pictures acquired the United States distribution rights of several StudioCanal's films, such as Mulholland Drive (which received an Oscar nomination) and Brotherhood of the Wolf (which became the second-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last two decades). Universal Pictures and StudioCanal also co-produced several films, such as Love Actually (a $40 million-budgeted film that went on grossing $246 million worldwide.

NBC Universal
Burdened with debt, in 2004 Vivendi Universal sold 80% of Vivendi Universal Entertainment (including the studio and theme parks) to General Electric, parent of NBC. The resulting media super-conglomerate was renamed NBC Universal, while Universal Studios Inc. remained the name of the production subsidiary. Though some expressed doubts that regimented, profit-minded GE and high-living Hollywood could coexist; as of 2007 the combination has worked. The reorganized "Universal" film conglomerate has enjoyed several financially successful years. As presently structured, GE owns 80% of NBC Universal; Vivendi holds the remaining 20%, with an option to sell its share in 2006.
In late 2005, Viacom's Paramount Pictures swooped in to acquire DreamWorks SKG after acquisition talks between GE and DreamWorks stalled. Universal's long time chairman, Stacey Snider, left the company in early 2006 to head up DreamWorks. Snider was replaced by then-Vice Chairman Marc Shmuger and Focus Features head David Linde.
Over the years, Universal has made deals to distribute and/or co-finance films with various small companies, such as Imagine Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment, Morgan Creek Productions, Working Title Films (and DreamWorks), StudioCanal, Shady Acres Entertainment, Marc Platt Productions, and Beacon Communications LLC.

Universal's library
Universal, like any other major movie studio, owns a considerable library. It owns almost every feature and short produced by the company with the following exceptions:
· Most of Universal's silent film output (some under copyright, others in the public domain), are now at the hands of other independent companies.
· The 1931 version of Waterloo Bridge and the 1936 version of Show Boat, both of which now belong to Warner Bros./Turner Entertainment.
· The 1947 film A Double Life, and almost all Cary Grant films originally released by Universal, belonging to Republic/Paramount Pictures, with CBS Television Distribution handling TV rights and Lionsgate handling the video rights; Charade, another Grant film, is in the public domain, but Universal (in conjunction with the National Film Museum), holds the original elements.
· Watchers, now owned by StudioCanal, the successor-in-interest to original producer Carolco Pictures.
· All the ITC Entertainment films originally distributed by Universal in conjunction with Associated Film Distribution, such as On Golden Pond and Sophie's Choice--successor Granada International now owns ancillary rights, with theatrical distribution handled by MGM, with the exception of The Dark Crystal, whose theatrical rights have been retained by Universal, and The Great Muppet Caper, now owned by The Muppets Holding Company/The Walt Disney Company.
· The television rights to The Last Starfighter (those rights are owned by Warner Bros. Television, successor-in-interest to production partner Lorimar) and 1941 (those rights now stand with Sony Pictures Television, whose sister company, Columbia Pictures, co-produced the film with Universal).
· The international theatrical and domestic television rights to Flash Gordon--those are respectively owned by StudioCanal and MGM.
· The theatrical and television rights to Flower Drum Song, held by MGM by virtue of acquiring the holdings of former owners The Samuel Goldwyn Company--however, Universal (which produced and originally distributed the film) has retained the film's copyright and home video/DVD rights.
Through subsidiary NBC Universal Television Distribution, they own the following:
· Almost all TV shows Universal made, except The Millionaire, and the black-and-white episodes of My Three Sons (those rights now stand with CBS).
· Almost all of the pre-1950 sound features originally made by Paramount Pictures—these films came under Universal ownership in 1962, when MCA bought US Decca - MCA, in turn, had purchased the films in 1957 via its in-name only division EMKA, Ltd. (This library also includes the 1948 MGM film State of the Union, which was acquired by Paramount after its purchase of Liberty Films)
· Much of the post-1973 NBC library of shows and made-for-TV movies.
· Most of the Jack Webb produced shows which carry the "Mark VII Productions" logo, with the exception of Pete Kelly's Blues, and The D.I., which are owned by Warner Bros.
The company also owns the libraries of:
· A few Alfred Hitchcock features originally released by Paramount, except for To Catch a Thief.
· Walter Lantz Productions (including Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy, and other popular characters).
· Focus Features' ancestors USA Films, October Films, and the 1996-1999 films by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (MGM owns most of the pre-1996 PolyGram library, though Universal owns a few films from that era as well such as Backbeat, An American Werewolf in London, and international rights to The Hudsucker Proxy) and its subsidiaries.
It also owns several films made by others, including some pre-1952 United Artists material, an Alfred Hitchcock feature originally released by Warner Bros. - Rope, and the UK rights to most of the RKO Pictures library. Through its Focus Features division, Universal owns most ancillary rights to The Return of the Pink Panther (originally a UA release). Universal also owns the film rights to the Hanna-Barbera characters of The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear and Dick Dastardly and Muttley.

Video Game Case Study

Media Studies

Videogame Case Study - The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

BASICS
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform(s): Nintendo 64, Nintendo Gamecube, iQue Player, Nintendo Wii Virtual Console
Release Date: November 21 1998
Genre: Action-adventure
Mode: Single Player
Series: Legend of Zelda
Ratings: ELSPA - 3+
ESRB: E
OFLC: G8+
PEGI: 7+ (N64, GCN), 12+ (Wii)

The videogame that has been critically acclaimed as the best game that has ever been made. The game that changed the face of videogames for ever. The game that innovated 3D gaming and exploring RPG. This game is called The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time released on the Nintendo 64.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released in Japan on November 21, 1998; in North America on November 23, 1998; and in Europe on December 11, 1998. Originally developed for the Nintendo 64DD peripheral, the game was instead released on a 32-megabyte cartridge, at the time the largest-capacity cartridge Nintendo had produced. It was re-released on the Nintendo GameCube as part of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Master Quest and The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition compilations, on the iQue Player in 2003, and on the Virtual Console in 2007.
Ocarina of Time is the fifth game in The Legend of Zelda series in terms of release, but is set before the first four games. The player controls the series' trademark protagonist, Link, in the land of Hyrule. Link sets out on a quest to stop Ganondorf, King of the Gerudo, from obtaining the Triforce, a sacred relic that grants the wishes of its holder. Link travels through time and navigates several dungeons to awaken sages who have the power to seal Ganondorf. Music plays an important role—to progress, the player learns several songs for Link to play on his ocarina or the Ocarina of Time.
The game received wide critical acclaim and commercial success. It won the Grand Prize in the Interactive Art division at the Japan Media Arts Festival, and won six honours at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Despite a November 1998 release, it was the best-selling game of that year, and has sold over 7.6 million copies.


PLOT
The events of Ocarina of Time take place before those of the first four games and are set in the fictional kingdom of Hyrule, the setting of most Zelda games. Hyrule Field serves as a central hub connected to several outlying areas with diverse topography. Some of these areas are populated by one of the races of Hyrule: Hylians, Gorons, Zoras, Kokiri, and Gerudo.
The game opens as the fairy Navi awakens Link from a nightmare, in which Link is seen on a stormy night as a man on horseback chases Princess Zelda, who is being escorted also on horseback by a woman. Navi brings Link to the guardian of his village, the Great Deku Tree, who is cursed and near death. Link breaks the curse, but cannot stop the tree from withering. The Deku Tree tells Link a "wicked man of the desert" has cursed him and seeks to conquer the land of Hyrule and that Link must stop him. Before dying, the Great Deku Tree gives Link the spiritual stone of the forest, the Kokiri's Emerald, and sends him to Hyrule to speak with the princess of destiny, Zelda.
At Hyrule Castle, Link meets Princess Zelda, who has been having dreams about the future of Hyrule and foresaw Link's arrival. She believes Ganondorf, the Gerudo King of Thieves, is seeking the Triforce, a holy relic in the Sacred Realm that gives its holder god-like power. Zelda's description of Ganondorf matches that of the man who killed the Great Deku Tree. Zelda asks Link to obtain the three Spiritual Stones, one of which he already possesses, so that he might enter the Sacred Realm and claim the Triforce before Ganondorf reaches it. Link goes to Goron City, where he meets Darunia, the leader of the Goron race. After Link kills King Dodongo, the boss of Dodongo's Cavern, Darunia gives him the Goron's Ruby, symbolizing brotherhood. Link next obtains the Zora's Sapphire from the Zora Princess, Ruto, after rescuing her from the belly of Lord Jabu-Jabu (a whale-like creature sacred to the Zoras).
Link returns to the castle, where Ganondorf is pursuing Zelda on horseback, as in his nightmare at the start of the game. Spotting Link, Zelda throws the Ocarina of Time into the castle moat and telepathically teaches Link the "Song of Time". After Ganondorf rides off, Link retrieves the Ocarina and uses the song together with the Spiritual Stones to open the door to the Sacred Realm. Through the door, Link finds the Master Sword, a legendary sword forged to fight evil. As he pulls the Master Sword from its pedestal, Ganondorf appears, having followed Link into the Sacred Realm, and claims the Triforce.
Seven years later, an older Link awakens in a distant room and is met by Rauru, the ancient Sage of Light and one of the seven sages who protect the location of the Triforce. Rauru informs Link that his spirit was sealed for seven years until he was old enough to wield the Master Sword and defeat Ganondorf. The seven sages can imprison Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm; however, five of the seven sages are unaware of their identities after Ganondorf transformed Hyrule into a land of darkness. Link returns to Hyrule and is met by the mysterious Sheik, who guides Link to rid five temples of Ganondorf's monsters, allowing the power of the temples to awaken the sages.
After awakening five sages, Sheik is revealed to be Princess Zelda and the Sage of Time. She tells Link that Ganondorf's heart is unbalanced, causing the Triforce to be split into three pieces, as predicted in an ancient prophecy. Ganondorf kept the Triforce of Power, while the other two chosen by destiny carry the remaining pieces: Zelda gained the Triforce of Wisdom and Link obtained the Triforce of Courage. After Zelda bestows Link with the magical Light Arrows, Ganondorf traps Zelda in a magical crystal and takes her to his tower. The remaining six sages help Link enter the tower, where Link battles Ganondorf and frees Zelda. After escaping the collapsing castle, Link is trapped within the castle area by a ring of fire and forced to battle Ganondorf once again; but this time, using the power of the Triforce of Power, he transforms from his human form into a boar-like monster referred to as Ganon. After holding off against Ganon without his sword, Link eventually retrieves it and, with the aide of Zelda's paralyzing light, delivers the final blow that defeats Ganon. The seven sages trap Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm; still holding the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf vows to take revenge on their descendants. Zelda uses the Ocarina of Time to send Link to his original time to live out his childhood. The game ends with Link and Zelda looking at each other in the castle garden.

GAMEPLAY
Ocarina of Time is an action-adventure game with role-playing and puzzle elements. The player controls Link from a third-person perspective in a three-dimensional space. Link primarily fights with a sword and shield; he can also use projectile weapons, bombs, and magic spells. The control scheme introduced techniques such as context-sensitive actions and a targeting system called "Z-targeting" In combat, Z-targeting allows the player to have Link focus on an enemy or other objects. When using this technique, the camera follows the target and Link constantly faces it. Projectile attacks are automatically directed at the target and do not require manual aiming. Context-sensitive actions allow multiple tasks to be assigned to one button, simplifying the control scheme. The on-screen display shows what will happen when the button is pushed and changes depending on what the character is doing. For example, the same button that causes Link to push a box if he is standing next to it will have him climb on the box if he is moving toward it. Much of the game is spent in battle, but some parts require the use of stealth.
When the player uses Z-targeting, the view shifts to a letterbox format and arrows indicate the targeted enemy. Link gains new abilities by collecting items and weapons found in dungeons or in the overworld. Not all are required—Ocarina of Time has several optional side-quests, or minor objectives that the player can choose to complete or ignore. Completing the side-quests usually results in rewards, normally in the form of weapons or abilities. In one side-quest, Link trades items he cannot use himself among non-player characters. This trading sequence features ten items and ends with Link receiving an item he can use, the two-handed Biggoron Sword, the strongest sword in the game. In another side-quest, Link can acquire a horse. This allows him to travel faster, but attacking while riding is restricted to arrows.
Link is given an ocarina near the beginning of the game, which is later replaced by the Ocarina of Time. Throughout the game, Link learns twelve melodies that allow him to solve music-based puzzles and teleport to previously visited locations in the game. The Ocarina of Time is also used to claim the Master Sword in the Temple of Time. When Link takes the sword, he is sealed for seven years, until he becomes an adult, and therefore strong enough to wield the Master Sword. Young Link and ad ult Link have different abilities. For example, only adult Link can use the Fairy Bow, and only young Link can fit through certain small passages. After completing certain tasks, Link can travel freely between the two time periods by replacing or taking the sword.

DEVELOPMENT
First shown as a technical demo at Nintendo's SpaceWorld trade show in December 1995, Ocarina of Time was developed concurrently with Super Mario 64 by Nintendo's EAD division. Both were the first 3D game in their respective series. Nintendo planned to release Super Mario 64 as a launch title for the Nintendo 64 and later release Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64DD, a disk drive peripheral for the system. Nintendo eventually decided to release Ocarina of Time on a cartridge instead and follow it with a 64DD expansion. At 32 megabytes, it was the largest game Nintendo had created.
Shigeru Miyamoto was the principal director of Super Mario 64, but was a producer of Ocarina of Time, in charge of several directors. Individual parts of Ocarina of Time were handled by multiple directors—a new strategy for Nintendo EAD. The team was new to 3D games, but assistant director Makoto Miyanaga recalls a sense of "passion for creating something new and unprecedented". Miyamoto initially intended Ocarina of Time to be played in a first-person perspective, so as to enable the players to take in the vast terrain of Hyrule Field better, as well as being able to focus more on developing enemies and environments. However, the development team did not go through with it once the idea of having a child Link was introduced, and Miyamoto felt it necessary for Link to be visible on screen. The development crew involved over 120 people, including stuntmen used to capture the effects of sword fighting and Link's movement. Some of Miyamoto's ideas for the new Zelda title were instead used in Super Mario 64, since it was to be released first. Other ideas were not used due to time constraints.
Ocarina of Time originally ran on the same engine as Super Mario 64, but was so heavily modified that designer Shigeru Miyamoto considers the final products entirely different engines. One major difference between the two is camera control. The player has much control over the camera in Super Mario 64, but the camera in Ocarina of Time is largely controlled by the game's AI. Miyamoto says the camera controls for Ocarina of Time are intended to reflect a focus on the game's world, whereas those of Super Mario 64 are centered on the character of Mario. Miyamoto wanted to make a game that was cinematic, but still separate from movies. Takumi Kawagoe, who creates cut scenes for Nintendo, says that his top priority is to have the player feel in control of the action. To promote this feeling, cut scenes in Ocarina of Time are completely generated with real-time computing and do not use pre-recorded or full-motion video.
Customers who pre-ordered the game received a limited edition box with a golden plastic card affixed, reading "Collector's Edition." This edition contains a gold-coloured cartridge, a tradition for the Zelda series that began with the original game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Demand was so great that Electronics Boutique stopped pre-selling the title on November 3, 1998.
Later versions of Ocarina of Time featured minor alterations in the final build of the game after its initial release. These alterations included the removal of a Muslim chant in the background music of the Fire Temple and the moon and star symbol that was on the Mirror Shield and other objects scattered throughout the game (signs, blocks, etc) for their Islamic references. The moon and star symbols were replaced with more generic ones. Ganondorf's blood was also altered from red to green.

AUDIO
Ocarina of Time's music was composed by Koji Kondo, the composer in charge of music for the Zelda series since the first game. In addition to characters having musical themes, areas of Hyrule are also associated with pieces of music. This has been called leitmotif in reverse—instead of music announcing an entering character, it now introduces a stationary environment as the player approaches. In some locations, the music is a variation of an ocarina tune the player learns, related to that area. Beyond providing a backdrop for the setting, music plays an integral role in gameplay. The game is cited as the "first contemporary nondance title to feature music-making as part of its gameplay". The button layout of the Nintendo 64 controller resembles the holes of an ocarina, and players must learn to play several songs to complete the game. All songs are played using the five notes available on an ocarina, although by bending pitches via the analogue stick, players can play additional tones. Kondo said that creating distinct themes on the limited scale was a "major challenge", but feels that the end result is very natural. The popularity of Ocarina of Time led to an increase in ocarina sales.
The soundtrack of Ocarina of Time was produced by Pony Canyon and released in Japan on December 18, 1998. It comprises one compact disc with 82 tracks. A US version was produced with the same tracks but different packaging artwork. Many critics praised the music in Ocarina of Time, although IGN was disappointed that the traditional Zelda over world theme was not included. In 2001, GameSpot labelled it one of the top ten video game soundtracks.

RECEPTION
Ocarina of Time was released to universal critical acclaim and commercial success. It sold 2.5 million copies during the 39 days it was available in 1998, and became the best-selling game of that year. During its lifetime, it sold 7.6 million copies worldwide, excluding ports and re-releases. Upon its initial N64 release, Ocarina of Time received perfect review scores from gaming publications such as Famitsu, Electronic Gaming Monthly, GameSpot, and IGN. The reviews praised multiple aspects of the game, particularly in the areas of level design, gameplay mechanics, and sound. GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann wrote that Ocarina of Time is "a game that can't be called anything other than flawless", and IGN called it "the new benchmark for interactive entertainment" that could "shape the action RPG genre for years to come". After publication, Ocarina of Time was featured on a number of compiled lists of most influential games, including those of Electronic Gaming Monthly, IGN, and Nintendo Power as of February 2006. GameTrailers' editors named it the best game of all time in a February 2007 list of the Ten Best and Worst Games of All Time. They said that "industry standard" features like Z-targeting have enabled it to become a "walking patent office."
The graphics were praised for their depth and detail, although reviewers noted they were not always the best the console had to offer. Game Revolution took note of the faces, the "toughest graphical challenge on 3D characters", saying that the characters' expressions and animation featured "surprising grace". IGN felt that Ocarina of Time improved on the graphics of Super Mario 64, giving a larger sense of scale. Impressive draw distances and large boss characters were also mentioned as graphical highlights. Although excelling in the use of color and the visibility and detail of the environment, reviewers noted that some graphical elements of Ocarina of Time did not perform as well as Banjo-Kazooie, a game released for the same platform earlier that year. IGN said that the framerate and textures of Ocarina of Time were not as good as those of Banjo-Kazooie, particularly in the marketplace of Hyrule Castle, which was called "blurry".
Gameplay was generally praised as detailed, with many side quests to occupy players' time. IGN said players would be "amazed at the detail" of the environment and the "amount of thought that went into designing it". EGM enjoyed that Nintendo was able to take the elements of the older, 2D Zelda games and "translate it all into 3D flawlessly". The context-sensitive control system was seen as one of the strongest elements of the gameplay. Reviewers noted that it allowed for simpler control using fewer buttons, but that it occasionally caused the player to perform unintended actions. The camera control was quoted as making combat "second nature", although the new system took time for the player to get used to.
The game's audio was generally well-received, with IGN comparing some of Koji Kondo's pieces to the work of Philip Glass. A large number of atmospheric sounds and the use of surround sound were said to effectively immerse the player in the game world. Many considered this a benefit, calling them "retro".
In 1998, Ocarina of Time won the Grand Prize in the Interactive Art division at the Japan Media Arts Festival. It also won six honours at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, including "Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design", "Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering", "Console Game of the Year", "Console Adventure Game of the Year", and "Console RPG of the Year".
It has also won countless “Greatest Game Ever” in many different critics such as the “IGN 100 greatest games of all time which it came first. In NOM magazine, the 150 greatest game of all time, it also finished first.

Scores
Publication
Score
allgame
5 out of 5
Computer and Video Games
9 out of 10
Electronic Gaming Monthly
10 out of 10
Famitsu
40 out of 40
GameSpot
10 out of 10
IGN
10 out of 10
Nintendo Power
9.5 out of 10
RPGamer
5 out of 5
Thunderbolt Games
10 out of 10
GamePro
5 out of 5


Aggregate Score
Aggregator
Score
Game Rankings
97.6%
Metacritics
99%


So there you go, there is The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, arguably the greatest game of all time.