P1

Unit One - Analysing Media Products and Audiences 

Welcome to Unit 1, the essential unit in the Media Diploma course in which you will study some of the things that are desperately important when producing media products.

You will study and research the gaming industry whilst answering important questions such as, How does a company market/distribute their product? What departments does a games company have? who are the audiences and why? etc. 


Intro Task 1 

Read Through the company structure sheet to understand key definitions and understand basic elements of structure as well as the company structure of Apple

Intro to company structure/terminology  

Apple company overview PPT 

Intro Task 2 

Now try to answer the following document about DISNEY, you need to always think about these particular areas 

Disney Task

a) How different parts of the institution interact to the needs of the product produced

Think about the stages that surround a product, its not just about making a Pixar filming, how do they then distribute, who plays what role. Think about marketing, distributing. research the way a film is made and distributed. 

b) What do companies produce, types of products

Choose a range of films, what different types, reoccurring themes or styles? Biggest box office hits?

c) Which companies are the market leaders, the specialist providers in that industry 

Is Disney the market leader, how much do they own? What industry are they in? what is their USP?

d) Who are the direct competitors? Detail advantages/disadvantages over competition

Who challenges Disney, what do they provide that Disney don't? how much are they worth. Give three competitors

Useful Links 

Competitors 

Box Office Mojo 

Making Pixar

Unit one - Naughty Dog

Now we are going to start the case study for your unit one project.

Create a Google slide document showing your research for your unit one. Write both the Company (Naughty Dog) and the product (The Last of Us) on slide one of your google slide. This will be a continued work document for your whole unit. 

Unit one - P1 - Naughty Dog 

P1 is now the start of your Google Slides document. You need to just talk about the COMPANY, which in this case is NAUGHTY DOG 

Label a slide for each of a) to e) below 

a) Ownership 
b) Operating Model 
c) Products 
d) Market position
e) Competitors 




a) Ownership

Who owns the company? When did they take ownership? Is the company owned by a parent company (if so, who owns that?).
Are there shareholders? What is the ownership history?


b) Operating Model

Operating model is about how the company works, how it makes money, what the different departments are and how they work together. Think about different types of game productions. Watch this to help

It should be a flow chart or diagram of who is responsible for each part of the company, and how it makes money, and what the structure is. Use this if it helps.


c) Products

Should be more than a list - outline what they are. Explain 4-5 of Naughty Dogs top games, can be old or new 


d) Market Position 

Needs an outline of where the company sits in relation to other game companies. 

Look into similar games companies such as Ninja Theory, Frontier, Rare etc. 

You MUST ensure that you put a comparison in figures/productions

Use Vgzcharts for comparison  

e) Competitors

Companies going after similar audience, similar products, discuss who they are and how they are in competition.

MUST include at least 3 competitors.

Watch the Naughty Dog Documentary and use this to help with P1

Also use this Naughty Dog PPT to help with what specifically to write about 

P1 Learners investigate a media institution of their choice to find out about the institution’s: a) ownership b) operating model c) products d) market position e) competitors