Identify how media products from your case study make links with other media platforms. What are the reasons for these links?

The films in which I have researched for my case study are The Bourne Legacy and Source Code. Both of these films use a range of media platforms to try and advertise to their target audience by any means possible.

The Bourne Legacy broadcasts over e-media, and has its own official website. This tells us that it is a large institution that wants their audience to interact more with the film. The website has a section showing us the films presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many more social networking sites - and this is also to show people the extent of the fan base (It has nearly 2 million 'likes' on Facebook so far!).  This is also to encourage social interaction, as this acts as a form of advertising for the film. There are also many fan-made Facebook pages in which in itself provides advertising and helps the institution spread the word. According to the uses and gratifications theory, the audience would use this website for surveillance and to personally identify with the actors. It includes things such as video clips, constant movie image in the background showing the most well-known scenes, and to go along with that; non-diegetic intense music over the top. This website uses iconic moving images from the film  as a background, this links with print media as most of the images are featured on advertisements and posters. The institution made this link so that the audience can identify the film immediately and so that if someone happens to notice a poster for the film, they could access the official website easily.

Source Code is a film in which was produced by Summit Entertainment. It had more of a budget and a low advertising revenue compared to The Bourne Legacy, and we can already tell this because it doesn’t have its own official website- it’s only featured on the Summit website. It includes links on the feature page such as how to buy the DVD online, a brief description of what the film is about, and a video of the trailer. The background is a sweeping green colour; with the typical ‘Source Code’ font over the top of it. This links to print media, as all the Source Code posters feature the same font and colour scheme as this. This is effective because it allows the audience to recognise the film more easily.  The Source Code website page itself doesn’t feature any social networking links, as the film does not have official social networking sites because of the fact that Summit Entertainment tends to group up the more ‘underrated’ films and have them all under their name.  However, there are many fan pages and youtube videos that have been created that have promoted the film in some ways by encouraging people to talk about the film. Audiences would likely visit the Source Code page according to the uses and gratifications theory, if they wanted to gain a limited amount of surveillance about the film but that is really all there is to offer.