QUESTION 1: cross media convergence.

1. The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice.

Vertical Intergration: the company controls and owns every company to do with its products production and development.
problems: if one thing goes wrong in one of the sub companies, the whole system crashes down.
e.g if the factory goes bankrupt, the product will not be released as it cannot be mass produced and the company would collapse.

Horizontal Intergration: Where the company has many other businesses so if one fails, the other can be fell back on. e.g Virgin
problems: the companies do not as strong a control over its sub companies.
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Budget Comparison:
Inglourious Basterds: $70,000,000 budget
funded by Universal Pictures, a sub company for the media conglomerate and top of the 6 biggest media conglomerates, General Electric.
production companies involved: A Band Apart, The Weinstein Company.

This Is England: £1,500,000 budget approx.
funded by the UK film council.

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Production Companies involved:
Inglourious Basterds:
The Weinstein Company: http://www.imdb.com/company/co0150452/
A Band Apart: http://www.imdb.com/company/co0019267/
Both of these companies have experience in both minor indie films/documentaries and major blockbusters(mainly tarantino movies but still).

This Is England:
Big Arty Productions: http://www.imdb.com/company/co0135852/
EM media: http://www.imdb.com/company/co0091923/
Both of these companies have not been involved in a major blockbuster, only minor British independent or Indie films,which suggests a lack of experience.

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Cross Media Convergence:
Inglourious Basterds:
General Electric own MSNBC, America's largest tv network which would allow for major TV advertising for the film. NBC also own 26 other television channels which could broadcast trailers and DVD release schedules for promotion. on the Internet, it could be premiered on Hulu.com, a video site shared by GE and news corp. they could also add magazine advertisments in a magazine they own, SciFi magazine. after the films release, posters + merchandise could be sold on ShopNBC.com

This is England:
 Film4, being one of the production companies, could premiere trailers on their channel, and their owners channel, channel 4. this is not a very large audience, so it would rely on people's opinions and forums and reviews on the internet to give this film free promotion.
n T.V. E.g. film 4 & channel 4