MEST 1 Cross Media Study-Toy Story 3

5) What institutional issues are raised in the case study?

The key instituions involved in promoting and producing Toy Story 3 are Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar animations. Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at $7.4 million. Pixar produced Toy Story 3, along with the first and second edition of the film. The institutions funded the film and produced it using CGI (computer generated imagery) as it is an animated film. The other insitutions involved in Toy Story 3 are Walt Disney Studios and Motion Pictures, as they were the distributors. This means that they were responsible for marketing the film. They were involved in promoting as they set the release date for Toy Story 3, cinema release and when the film will be available on DVD, or whether it can be viewed online, in cinema and on DVD at the same time. In this case however, the cinema release was first (IMAX 3D, Disney Digital 3-D and Real D), the DVD released soon followed and then the film was aired on television and available online e.g Netflix.

Print media:
The official Toy Story 3 magazine is used to target children, whereas newspaper and magazine reviews and interviews with cast target an older audience. Billboards are publicly displayed, targeting children, adults, families. As the institutions involved in Toy Story 3 are well established and successful, they did not face any economic issues in this platform, funding was fully available within the budget for the film.

Broadcast media:
Radio interviews with the cast target a teenage/adult audience. TV advertisements target children, adults and families. The DVD includes the film and extras such as behind the scenes footage, targeting families again. As 3D televisions are now available, it provides audiences with new experiences as they can watch the film as if they are on set. Cinemas also provide 3D experiences. As the institutions involved in Toy Story 3 are well established and successful, they did not face any economic issues in this platform, funding was fully available within the budget for the film.

E-Media:

Social networking sites are used to target a teenage/adult audience. YouTube trailers of the film aim to target both children and adults, as both are aware of technology. The official Toy Story 3 website is dedicated to its younger fans (children) and includes video clips, pictures, games and quizzes for interactivity. Social networking sites such as Twitter allow audiences and fans to directly tweet the cast from Toy Story 3, allowing new experiences as this would not have been possible 10 years ago (founded in 2006). As the institutions involved in Toy Story 3 are well established and successful, they did not face any economic issues in this platform, funding was fully available within the budget for the film. Internet piracy did not have a harmful impact on the selling of the official Toy Story 3 DVD's. The film successfully sold 3,859,736 units (equal to $73,096,452) on its first week of release, on November 2nd-7th 2010, North America. 

Overall, all of the institutions involved in the production and release of Toy Story 3 worked well together successfully. Each company did their part in producing and marketing the film across all three platforms: Print, Broadcast and E-Media. Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar animations took the main responsibility of making the film, while Walt Disney Studios and Motion Pictures focused on distribution and marketing. Disney Interactive Studios also produced a video game based on the film, for Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PSP and Nintendo DS on June 15th 2010. This helped to reach the technology aware audience of children and teenagers.