Courtesy of Taylor H.
Introduction
When I first reviewed this assignment, I knew right away that I wanted to be Presenter 1because I had the perfect idea of what media artifact that I wanted to choose. I also thought that having a lot of information about the media artifact and a great interest in it would also help spark the fire to write this essay. The media artifact that I chose was a television program that has taken ABC’s comedies to a new level, Modern Family. This hilarious new comedy was created by Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd. This comedy according to IMDB.com is, “One big (straight,gay,multi-cultural, traditional) happy family.(Modern Family, 2009).” This comedy airs every Wednesday night at 8p.m central time. Throughout the whole show you are constantly laughing and realizing how “normal” this family truly is. It is able to portray so many issues that families face, but not always publically. Also, at the end of every episode they have a more of a serious life lesson on how important family is, no matter how crazy or unconventional it may seem.
Thesis Statement
Throughout every form of media there many other forms of media that has sculpted and developed that form of media to what it is today. Whether it is through the production company, the clothes designer who designed the wardrobe for the cast in the show, or the local store that sells the DVD series, everything we consume is touched by many larger companies. Regulating or not regulating who can have an impact on a product is still a tough question up for debate; but it will always be certain that every aspect of media will always be controlled to a certain degree.
What Companies are Involved?
When thinking about every company that comes into contact with every aspect of a television show it is almost hard to fathom. There are the distributing companies, production companies, and also the casting companies that more than often go unknown to the everyday viewer. The first large corporation that you would associate Modern Family would be ABC, also known as the American Broadcasting Company. ABC is known as the distributing company for Modern Family. This means that this is the medium through which this television show is distributed to viewers. ABC was formed through the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC was fearful that NBC would create a monopoly, due to the fact that NBC owned NBC-Blue and NBC-Red. The Blue Network Company was forced to sell their company for roughly eight million dollars to ABC, which was then formed on October 12th, 1943. The owner of ABC was Edward J. Noble, who was made famous by the candy Lifesavers.
Production companies involved in the Modern Family television show are 20th Century Fox Television and Picture Day Productions. Twentieth Century Fox Television has also helped in the production of other popular programs such as the 2001 Victoria’s Secret Fashion show, and the hit television series M*A*S*H. On the other spectrum Picture Day Productions is fairly new and has just started producing with Modern Family, as one of its hit television shows.
Other companies that may not seem as apparent to the common viewer still have a great deal of importance to the success of a television show. CBS Digital serves as Modern Family’s visual effects creator. Also, some other companies are Central Casting which aides in the casting selection for the show; Movie Movers, which helps move the trailers for the cast members, Chapman/Leonard Studio equipment, which supplies the camera dollies and not last but least is Paws for Effect, which helps provide the show with trained animals. These last companies are companies that would not normally be thought of while watching the show but they all make a difference and help produce the show in their own aspects.
Are those companies owned by one large parent company? If so, which one?
These companies that are associated with Modern Family are not all owned by one large company. Twentieth Century Fox Television is owned by News Corporation which was founded by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch owns the 3rd largest media company which is News Corporation. The other companies involved with the show are not as large and therefore are not owned by one large parent company.
How do the different companies cooperate to cross-promote the artifact you have chosen?
All of these companies have to work together to help promote the show, but they also want to promote their particular company while doing so. This can cause certain problems when it comes to promoting a television show. Though 20th Century Fox is and Picture Day Productions are the producing aspects of the show, they tend to not have as much advertising that goes along with the television show.
Conclusion
Throughout every form of media there will always be many companies that are prominent in its development and ones that go under the radar. Though this can be a good thing, it can also lead to problems in the end. The trouble is finding the balance between the over publicized companies and the ones that are much more subtle but make do.
References
(2009). “modern family”. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442437/
Noyes, G. (2008). American broadcasting company. Retrieved from http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=americanbroa
(2009). Picture day productions. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/company/co0274299/
(2008, August). Resources; who owns what. Retrieved from http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=newscorp
