RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Impact of web series and online content technology on an Australian screen work’s financing, production, and distribution.
(a) Purpose/ problem statement (50 words)

Several technological aspects have affected the Australian screen work either positively or negatively. The research proposal seeks to establish the impact of the web series technology on the Australian screen work financing, production, and distribution. The findings will help in mitigating the adverse effects of the web series technology while enhancing the positive effects of the web series technology.

(b) Literature review (500 words)

In recent research conducted in Australia for digital games, film, and television, it indicated significant growth in the web series. There has been an increase from an approximately one hundred web series at inception, to about four thousand in 2017. The growth of web series technology has continued to increase the number of web series being produced in Australia, a move that is impacting on the screen work in many ways. The increase in web series has seen the number of television dramas decrease significantly as well from about six hundred to four hundred hours. The number of television documentaries has had also reduced from about 500 hours to 400 hours with the invention of the web series technology. The advent of web series has given the producers and artist a more democratic space than the television and cinema platforms.
The invention of the web series technology has seen the authorities; relevant institutions recognize the platform and even come up with an award for the online videos. The recognition of online videos is a sign that the web series has made a significant impact on the Australian screen work industry. The Australian online video awards have since become one of the regular awards that are financed, and artists encouraged to participate. Initially, the participants in the event were usually young people who are excited about the more democratic platform where they can share their content. However, the experienced artists as well have since joined the industry and are doing web series about their work. There is a growing recognition of online content because of the convenience that comes with it. The entry experienced arts, actors and other stakeholders in the screen work industry has seen more serious content, and web series shared.
[1]The financiers as well have begun supporting the production of Online content because it has proven to be one of the best avenues from which talents can are quickly discovered. The production is also becoming easy because of the advanced technology that enabled the artists to do their production with ease. There are also training platforms for production and distribution of online content which can be easily accessed. The advent of the training programs is a confirmation that online content is gaining relevance. Many media houses and television stations are also moving towards the production of online content because people are giving it preference since it’s readily available and can be shared easily add as compared to screen works. Since anyone can produce the web series, the statistics indicating the growth of this type of content may not be giving the correct figure. There are chances that the increase is more than what has since been reported in studies because there are so many web series being produced and shared online. The production has become relatively more accessible, financing of web series has also become easier because potential financiers can easily see the type of work that an artist is doing and easily tell about a good talent. The financing of screen work has significantly reduced because some financiers have opted to support web series. The distribution of screen work is becoming difficult with the advent of web series because the use of internet makes it easier for an artist to share their web series faster than taking the recorded films to movie stores.
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(c) Argument structure (200 words)

The research will involve mixed research to establish the impact of web series technology on-screen work in the industry in Australia. The research will include film production companies and online platforms where artists share web series. The study will seek to establish the number of distribution stores, and financiers that are still supporting the screen work production and distribution. Studies indicate that the level of screen work has significantly reduced over time and many artists and production companies are moving towards online content production such as the web series.
Data will be collected from 50 film production companies, ten financiers of screen work and 50 screen work distribution companies. Data from the web series producers will be collected including the experienced artists. The data will then be correlated with what has been collected from screen work production companies to get the link between the advent of web series technology and the screen work industry. The analysis of the data will help in understanding the impact of the web series technology on the film work industry. Permission will be sought to collect data from the participants to ensure that all the ethical guidelines are adhered to during the research study.
(d) Provisional conclusion (200 words)

The advent of web series technology has had many impacts on the screen work industry production, financing, and distribution. The web series technology was previously believed to be for young people who are just joining the industry, but this has since changed. Experienced artists are also joining in the web series because of the convenience that comes with the production and distribution of web series. There has been reduced production of screen work ever since the advent of web series. This has seen the number of television series and dramas reduce significantly because artists can produce and distribute their content online through web series.
The financing of screen work has also reduced because online content is becoming more profitable and gaining preference in the film production industry. The financiers are scouting for talents from web series to support because they have proven to have high returns equally. The web series technology is also transforming the distribution of screen works because artists in the screen work are also embracing the use of the web to share their content with their target audience. The move has seen the advent of training programs to ensure that the content shared meets the professional standards for viewership.

(e) Further research (100 words)

There is a need for further research to be conducted to establish the exact growth of the web series industry. It is believed that the use of web series is killing the screen work industry due to the convenience that comes with web content, but further research should be done to establish the extent in which web series have impacted on the screen work. Establishing the exact growth of the web series and the number of artists from screen work that have moved to web series will help in further understanding the impact that web series technology has on-screen work.

Assignment two

Effects of web series technology on Australian screen work

In a recent consultation paper released by the Australian government which provided a review of the content available for the children and the Australian people, it was established that there is an explosion in the level of content that Australian access through the web. The increase and easy access to online content have caused some level of disruption to the traditional business models in the Australian screen work industry. There is no consensus on the right steps that should be taken to address the challenge that comes with the increase in online content. Experts say that a new industry is emerging where peoples who had no access to screen work production are creating their content, sharing the content in many platforms and establishing a global fan base. The content creators are establishing their brands in the media industry. The online platforms were previously considered an avenue for amateurs, but this has since changed over time because the amateurs have become experts in the production and distribution of their online content. The quality of content produced has also improved over time because the artists that were considered amateurs have gained experience and understood the content that their fan base is interested in. There are concerns from experienced industry professionals who think that the creation of web series cannot be a sustainable business because of piracy and other loopholes where the artists lose money and end up not benefiting from their content. This is contrary to what happens when the traditional business model is used where distribution is done from specific stores and content accessible through television and other traditional mediums. However, there are those that believe the advent of web series technology is an opportunity for Australian artists where they get an opportunity to showcase their content to the potential consumers or fan base.

There is a growing potential for online content in Australia and across the world. The high number of viewers is a confirmation that online content is gaining popularity with time. The convenience that comes with web content makes it highly preferable due to the advanced mobile technology and use of the internet where people can access such content using their mobile gadgets. Screen creators that are embracing web series through sharing g their content online have generated a high number of viewers. Producers such as RackaRacka in Australia have the highest number of viewership than any broadcaster which is a sign of how online content is gaining preference in the screen work industry. People are moving towards watching content online instead of using the traditional channels of accessing such a movie series. It is becoming more convenient and cost-effective to watch movies online rather than buying them from movie shops to watch back at home. The advent of web series technology has changed the production scale in conventional screen work. Many companies producing for screen work are opting to produce reduced content because people are watching content online. The number of television watching hours has significantly reduced because people can access the web series for documentaries and programs they prefer from the internet.

The advent of web series has increased the export of Australian culture globally, and many of the content creators are earning a good income from their online work through different avenues such as digital advertisement and even live appearances because of the high audience they can reach with their online work. The export of content across the globe through the web has increased the coverage of such work. The traditional channels of distribution for screen work limited the artists within a specific region and getting their content to global markets became difficult. The web content technology has made the distribution of screen work more manageable and costs effective as compared to before when there was no web series technology. People can get a feel of what they are buying through short web clips shared in the internet resulting in informed decisions before they make up their mind to buy the series. Previously, not all the screen work could be demonstrated for the buyer on television before the viewers could buy. Sometimes the buyers bought content they would not have purchased if they had viewed it in advance. The short web series has helped in increasing the confidence of the viewers on the content produced by different screen work professionals because they already have an idea of what they are purchasing from the web series.

Many artists earn from their YouTube uploads. There are more than 3000 YouTube channels that have more than one million viewers. There are close to 100 content creators in the Australian screen work industry who have more than a million subscribers watching their content. A majority of the subscribers for the content are viewers from overseas. This is a sign that the web series technology has increased the customer base of the screen work professionals from being limited to local viewers only to international viewers. Many of the YouTube channels subscribers about 90% of them that are viewing content from Australian artists are not local Australians as a sign the distribution of the screen work has significantly changed with the advent of the web series technology which allows people from all over the globe to access content produced by Australian screen work artists.

For the last 16 years, the number of content creators in Australia has doubled, and the online content is gaining preference by many artists, financiers, and distributors of screen work. Major screen work producers have moved into web series production to have a wider audience and offer the potential customer the convenience that comes with web series. The online content has turned out to be a good revenue generator for the screen work professionals who are paid from digital advertisements done together with their contents and sometimes physical appearance of brand endorsements. The online content especially the web series is attracting a good number of corporate sponsors who are interested in marketing their brands through digital advertisements and endorsements. Corporates are targeting artists that have an excellent online following and using them to do their adverts, and this comes with some form of support for the artists that include sponsoring their work or making the artists their brand ambassadors.

The high revenue that comes from web series and digital advertisements and brand endorsements by the artists has made many artists consider going online and invest in online content generation. This has seen an increase in the number of web series in the Australian screen work industry because the technological transformation is making people change their tastes and preferences on the type of content and the platform they use to access that content.

There is high corporate sponsorship that has been directed towards the production of online content for Australian screen work professionals because of the high returns that come from adverting using this medium. The increase in corporate sponsorship for an online content generation has reduced the amount of financing that goes to conventional screen work production. It is for this reason that the number of screen works produced for television has reduced while those for online stores and streaming platforms have increased. It is estimated that more than two hundred and thirty thousand content creators joined the Australian web content industry by the year 2017. The projections are much higher now that there has been technological transformation over the years. Studies also indicate that the online videos industry has created and approximately six billion Australian dollars in revenue generation as profits for the content creators so far and the figure continues to increase as the industry gains more relevance with the technological transformation.[3]

The growth of the online videos industries which comes with the web series technology has caught the attention of the Australian government, and there have been plans to regulate and support the industry in equal measures. The industry has proved to be a source of income for many young people as well as experienced artists. Online content has been one source of information for a significant section of Australians because of the convenience that comes with access to online information as compared to television broadcasts. The government is running programs in support of talents for the young people and experienced artists to ensure that they earn from the industry and the content created meets the quality standards to be viewed by members of the public. Content that tells unique Australian stories has received a lot of support from the Australian government and other state agencies that support art. While there exist some laws guiding the type of content that should be created and shared online by the screen work professionals, the government is still grappling on the regulation of the online content creation and the modalities of financing the content generation. While the conventional screen work continues to receive funding on production and distribution, the financing has significantly reduced because there is a lot of funding directed towards online content production such as web series.

The increase in the online content generation has seen interested stakeholders seeking strategic partnerships to help take the industry to the next level. One such stakeholder is the Screen Australia which has found collaboration with Google several times to run programs such as Skip Ahead that has been helping influential online content generators to scale their production and take their online work such as web series to the next level. The boom in online content such as web series has affected the financing of the conventional screen work because a lot of focus has been directed towards online content creation.

It is the advent of online content technology such as the web series that has seen the change in the distribution of screen works across in the industry. Online movies and video stores have been established to help in the distribution of the content created. The sustainability of such stores such as Netflix is dependent on the online content created by the screen work professionals.

The boom in online content creation has also contributed to the growth of internet television and other distribution channels such as YouTube. Internet television is gaining relevance because of the web series technology which enables media house to generate content for online and the television broadcast at the same time. The web series technology has triggered a discussion around special funding for the modern methods of content production and distribution. The technology has also brought up a debate on regulation to ensure that there is good public content and the screen work professionals have a sustainable career. These have contributed to reduced financing for conventional screen work productions and value chain to support online content generation.

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Annotated Bibliography

Taylor, Stayci. “It’s the Wild West out there: Can web series destabilize traditional notions of script          development.” In What’s This Space? Refereed Proceedings of the Australian Screen                         Production Education and Research Association Annual Conference, pp. 1-14. 2015.

The article talks about the possibility of web series changing the script development approach and conventional screen work.

Cunningham, Stuart. “Emergent innovation through the coevolution of informal and formal media  economies.” Television & New Media 13, no. 5 (2012): 415-430.

The article talks about the innovative practices in the content sharing by both formal media and informal content creators who create their personal media brands.

Ellingsen, Steinar. “Seismic shifts: Platforms, content creators and spreadable media.” Media              International Australia 150, no. 1 (2014): 106-113.

The article talks about the distribution of online content through different platforms.

Harris, Richard. “Film in the age of digital distribution: The challenge for Australian content.”                     Platform Papers 12 (2007): i.

The article talks about the change in the film industry and the distribution of films in the Australian screen work industry in this digital age.

[1] Taylor, Stayci. “It’s the Wild West out there: Can web series destabilize traditional notions of script development.” In What’s This Space? Refereed Proceedings of the Australian Screen Production Education and Research Association Annual Conference, pp. 1-14. 2015.

[2] Cunningham, Stuart. “Emergent innovation through the coevolution of informal and formal media economies.” Television & New Media 13, no. 5 (2012): 415-430.

[3] Ellingsen, Steinar. “Seismic shifts: Platforms, content creators and spreadable media.” Media International Australia 150, no. 1 (2014): 106-113.

[4] Harris, Richard. “Film in the age of digital distribution: The challenge for Australian content.” Platform Papers 12 (2007): i.