Audience and Institution Practice Essay

Question: Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied?

  

    In film, marketing contributes towards the overall profit made by the movie. How the film is marketed during the production, distribution, and exhibition stages affects how large of an audience is reached. When more techniques and methods are used to interest people, the movie acquires a higher level of potential watchers who will benefit towards the box office rating. This ensures that the movie becomes more well-known and successful.

    Synergy is a technique that allows movies to advertise within their same parent company to reach larger audiences. By using synergy, subsidiaries can work together and market their movies. In the movie, Minions, released in 2015, synergy is used to promote it on different platforms. This movie was distributed by Universal Pictures, the major film studio unit of conglomerate, Comcast. Comcast took advantage of their subsidiary, NBC, and used this channel to spread awareness of the new movie on various different shows. Commercials including the minions were aired during The Voice, This is Us, and the Super Bowl. Not only was this an effective method of advertising the movie but, Comcast was able to target many different audiences rather than just one. This allowed them to expose people with various interests to the movie. Within the Universal Parks, a Minion 3-dimension ride was established to attract those who already watched the film and encourage others to start watching it. All in all, Minions made a total of approximately 1.16 billion dollars worldwide. Jurassic World, a movie produced by Universal Pictures as well, was advertised with a similar approach. A ride was made in Universal Studios after the release of the movie and NBC aired Jurassic Park movies as entertainment.

    However, marketing for movies also consists of cross promotion. Jurassic World would not have made almost 1.7 billion dollars worldwide if Comcast hadn’t worked with other companies. Merchandise was created through Frontier Developments videogames, Legos toy sets, Mike and Ike candies, and Dairy Queen Blizzards. These cross promotions were essential as they increased the visibility of the movie and provoked customers into wanting to watch it. Beauty and the Beast, a Walt Disney Pictures Production, used cross promotion as well to promote the movie on a variety of different platforms. Merchandise, like clothing and ornaments, were sold in many companies, including Target, Kohl’s, and Hot Topic. Tea brand, Twinings, promoted Beauty and the Beast on their herbal tea packaging. Morgan Taylor released multiple nail polish sets that were inspired by the film. Walt Disney Studios was able to target a specific audience, being women, who would be more inclined to watch a movie regarding fantasy and romance. By connecting with the audience, Disney was able to obtain better recognition for their new film. Overall, Beauty and the Beast made a total of almost 1.3 billion dollars worldwide. 

    Another marketing approach that movies take advantage of is cross media convergence. By promoting a movie on different media platforms, companies are ensuring that the movie is made public in the most possible ways. Cross media convergence appeals to people by showcasing movies on print, radio, music, and television. When all of these categories are used, the company is more likely to reach out to a wider range of people that have different interests and preferences. Black Panther, another film created by Walt Disney Pictures, published a variety of posters and magazines that intrigue viewers with graphics and sneak peaks. National Public Radio talked about how Black Panther was the first movie to be filmed in Saudi Arabia in thirty years. Furthermore, the movie’s soundtrack consisted of music by Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd, two popular singers that brought attention to the film. The song choice entertained younger audiences and those interested in R&B and hip hop. Black Panther made approximately 1.3 billion dollars in the box office. 

    Ultimately, synergy, cross promotion, and cross media convergence are three major forms of marketing that a multitude of conglomerates use to increase the amount of viewers that the movie receives. It is important to market a film in order to attract a larger audience and wide spread the film. By increasing the amount of marketing, companies are also increasing the level of profit that their film production branch makes.

24 Extract Essay

           Throughout the entirety of the 24 extract, it is evident that the director is trying to convey a suspenseful atmosphere. Tension is built up within each scene, allowing the video to capture the audience’s attention. Along with the creation of an ominous mood, the characters and their intents are developed. The techniques used in the extract increase anticipation and fuels one’s curiosity to continue watching the film. The director establishes a thriller genre with the techniques used. A message that the director seems gets across is to be careful of who you trust.

            In the first scene, two characters wearing casual clothing are introduced within dark lighting. The low lighting and shadows highlight facial features and expressions along with adding onto the ominous mood of the extract. Instantly, due to low incidental sound and the acting of the man and woman, it can be inferred that there is high tension between the two. It becomes evident that the woman is being held captive in an interrogation room in order for her to reveal information regarding a bomb. As the man enters the room, he looks up to a camera with an eye-line match, meaning that he may be disturbed by the idea of being watched. Close-up shots and medium close-up shots are both used within the extract, accentuating the expressions made by the actors. This demonstrates the seriousness of the situation and the contrasting attitude that both actors had towards it. Before dialogue is introduced, papers used as props are given to the women, the president’s signature apparently being on it. This signifies that the issue at hand can affect not only those in the room, but the nation as a whole, being that the president has a role. The diegetic sound within the first scene consists of the door opening and closing, footsteps, and rustling papers. This contributes towards an increase of curiosity of the audience, since there is no dialogue provided for explanation.

            The scene is then interrupted by a separate scene, introduced by cross-cutting. Within this scene, a woman and a man are observing those in the interrogation room through a computer scene.  Unlike those in the other room, these people are wearing more business-like clothing, suggesting a higher position of authority and professionalism. In the background, there are many computers and footsteps heard, creating a busy atmosphere. The purpose of including this segment was to show that surveillance is necessary in this situation, once again contributing towards the seriousness of the matter. There is another cross-cut back to the room and the woman looks up at a clock with an eye-line match, suggesting that the interrogation is a waste of her time. It may also signify that the woman is impatient, constructing her character. The woman breaks the silence by starting to talk in a concise manner to the man, asking him for exactly what she needs. The dialogue between the man and woman, shown with over the shoulder shots, emphasize the importance of the information that the woman retains. She is then introduced as Nina as the man confronts her about her loyalty. The anger of the man rises and he throws the table across the room while yelling at the woman. A reaction shot is used to show how the behavior of the two observers. Their body language consists of the woman nervously looking towards the man who is picking at his lips. These actions show that the actors are unsure as to what the destructive man is planning on doing.

            The scene cross-cuts back to the interrogation room and more dialogue is provided between the characters. A zoom in is used to accentuate the anger of the man as the woman warns him that his actions could result in his expulsion of the case. Another cross-cut is used to update the audience on the observers and their status and then cross-cuts back. The man tackles the woman against the wall, the diegetic sound including the chair screeching and him yelling. A split screen then is used to compare what is happening in both rooms and to highlight the urgency. Hand- held movement follows the man running towards the interrogation room that builds the intensity of the situation. As the woman is being choked, there is high incidental sound that concerns the audience of the man’s intentions. The girl looks desperately at the man who then orders the one attacking to stop. She heavily gasps and the incidental sound fades. As the man walks away, now introduced as Jack, he passes security, another aspect that adds towards the critical setting of the extract.

            Ultimately, each technique used contributes to the seriousness of the extract and the increase in tension that the director means for. The combination of mis-en-scene in each scene developed the overall mood in the extract. The message, being to be careful of who you trust, was reflected upon the attitude of the characters seen through the camera movements, angles, editing, and sound techniques. These techniques helped create an extract filled with suspense, the main aim of the director.

My Final Project and Critical Creative Reflection Questions

My Final Video

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distribuuted as a real media text?

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

How did you integrate technologies-software, hardware, and online-into this project?

Reflecting on my Progress: Best of Both Worlds Music Video

Looking Back at my Growth: The Gatorade Commercial

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues? 

The commercial that was made by my group and I was made in effort to promote

Gatorade. The typical Gatorade commercial revolves around sports and athletics. The

setting, as a convention for sports commercials, would usually contain a sports event,

focus on an athlete, and/or a sporting narrative. For my commercial, the setting took

place on a football field and a track and field. There were also three separate athletes

and three different Gatorade products. Our commercial did not only comply with the

usual Gatorade commercial, but extended the range of athletes and products used

which challenged the typical conventions. Each athlete was performing a different

workout to better demonstrate how Gatorade impacts different people and different

activities. In the background of the commercial, there was a voiceover serving as a

narrative for the entirety of the commercial. The voiceover included segments of

each athlete speaking as they were being shown to emphasize a more personal

connection to the audience. Additionally, sport commercials normally portray a

dramatic and powerful mood to accentuate the effectiveness of what is being

advertised. In my commercial, this mood is demonstrated by the difference between

the first half and the second half of the commercial. During the first half, the athletes

are warming up and preparing to begin the workout. However, in the second half, the

athletes are actually exercising to their best ability after consuming either a Gatorade

drink, chewable, or energy bar. This contrast demonstrates the Gatorade is the fuel

behind each athlete’s performance and the reason for their success during each

workout. 

The Gatorade commercial made by my group reflects on a variety of social groups

and issues in the status quo. Throughout the commercial, we wanted to be able to

represent a wide range of people in order to show Gatorade’s capabilities. In the

script used for the commercial’s voiceover, the first sentence immediately defines

the idea that everybody can be included in the following message. Written are

words that permit people from different backgrounds, ages, races, and religions

to share interest in Gatorade. The purpose of these words is to limit any

discrimination or injustice to any person. Furthermore, the commercial consists

of three different athletes who are shown doing three different sports. This

highlights the diversity in the commercial by demonstrating that one does not

need to partake in the popular and well-known sports, such as basketball and

football, yet can find interest in their preferred sport. There were also two

women incorporated in the commercial, removing any mention of sexism and

inequality in regards to gender.

2. How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text? 

The commercial made by my group is highly engaged with any audience. As

previously described in the prior question, this commercial can be applied to

whichever audience. This is evident to any viewer in the first few seconds of the

commercial, serving as an attention grabber. Moreover, the commercial

incorporates a variety of elements that my group integrated to keep the audience’s

attention. For one, with the inclusion of three different sports, there was a greater

possibility to interest multiple people compared to only having one sport where

the audience may not relate to the content or find it appealing. Also, diversity is

a concept that attracts many people because that means that the commercial can

be applied to wider range of people. The same idea goes with the products used in the

commercial. By using three completely separate Gatorade products, we are ensuring

that even if one is not interested in a specific type, they may find interest in the other

two, which according to the commercial, hold the same effect and will lead to

success in whatever sport devotion is putting into. We wanted to add a dramatizing

effect in the commercial. At the beginning of the commercial, all of the athletes were

shown at the start of their workout and/or stretching. This would make more of the

audience to watch the entirety of the commercial in order to see how Gatorade would

impact each athlete and their performance, which would be seen at the very end of

the commercial once all athletes have consumed their different Gatorade products.

In other words, the audience would identify foreshadowing at the beginning of the

commercial through the observance of the start of each workout and be excited to

see the effect of Gatorade on each person. This means that the audience would be

aware that at one point of the commercial, the athletes would be performing to the

best of their abilities and that is what most people are interested in watching. 

The commercial was produced through the use of Pinnacle Studios in order to edit

the takes and create one smooth video. In order to obtain the largest crowd that would

be interested in actually purchasing Gatorade products, the commercial would have

to be distributed to specific audiences. For instance, it would be more convenient to

show this commercial on a sports channel rather than a cooking channel. This is

because people who happen to be more involved in athletics tend to watch sport

shows. A couple of examples as to where this Gatorade commercial would have great

success are as a part of the commercials for ESPN Events, Fox Sports, and Olympic

channels. These channels would be preferred as they show sports that correlate with

our Gatorade commercial, being running, circuits, and gymnastics. Other channels

that may only focus on separate sports such as NFL channel or NHL channel may

not be as interested as the former channels listed. 

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project? 

Throughout this project, my production skills have definitely gotten better. At one

point during the editing phase, I asked my teacher to assist me in making a split

screen, as this was not taught to the class. I had to add two additional AV tracks to

hold the three different scenes. I also selected Open Effects Editor to fix each clip’s

position, size, and rotation to make sure that each third of the screen would be able

to be seen as even and balanced videos. The horizontal changes were in need of being

adjusted into the correct setting for both the position and size. For position, each

number for the scenes would be a larger number than that of the previous scene and

for size, each number should have been relatively the same. I also learned that when

scenes are cut too close to the beginning or end of it, a small sliver of a scene may

be left behind. These slivers can interrupt the rest of the video and can alter the

finished product. To delete these, I had to select a specific setting where a new

segment would appear on the screen showing each scene and every second that

corresponded with the scenes. By displaying each scene like this, it was less difficult

to identify the slivers and delete them.

I also learned the importance of takes during filming for the content in the

commercial. I had originally believed that it would be quite simple to capture the

perfect scene that had been envisioned, but after actually attempting to film, I

realized why it would be difficult to do well on the first try. One reason was for

the placement of prompts and how they were positioned so that the audience

understood their purpose. Another reason was misunderstandings within the

group as to how the scene was going to be executed. Timing was another issue

that we were concerned would be off, either being too slow or too fast in

correlation with the rest of the commercial’s factors, such as the music or thirty

second time limit.

I believe that every day into the commercial, I became more familiar with the

objectives that I was trying to achieve. In other words, at the start of the project, I

felt overwhelmed with the large quantity of work that needed to be done but at the

end of the project, I felt more satisfied with what I had done, knowing that I had tried

my best and put forward all of my listening skills to fully understand each task. I

liked that each day I learned something new that I can apply in the future for

upcoming videos and projects similar to this one.

Even though I know it was necessary for time management skills, I would have

preferred to receive more time to edit the Gatorade Commercial. I feel that if more

time was granted, our ideas would be better represented in our commercial and it

would have been finished as a finer product. I know that time wouldn't have

allowed me to suddenly grasp certain concepts but it may have allowed me to relax

and have more patience with myself and my group members, which could have led

to a better experience.

4. How did you integrate technologies -software, hardware and online- in this project?

Throughout this commercial, my group and I used a variety of different

technologies in order to create a seamless commercial. On the very first day that my

group began to film, we had to get a camera and a tripod from the storage room of

our class. Someone in our group already had an available SD card that we could

use to put into the camera so we were not required to obtain one form the class

supply. Previous to this day, we were taught on how to use the camera and how to

insert the SD card into the camera. We had learned the simple ways to handle the

camera and what to be done to acheive what we wanted. We had approximately

an hour to film our takes for the Gatorade commercial and within this hour to film,

we successfully had acquired a wide range of clips. In order to import our clips into

the computer, our group had to obtain an SD card reader from the storage room. We

inserted the SD card into the reader and made a file into the computer labeled

Commercial where we would place the takes without getting mixed up with other

files. Every clip in this file would later be imported into Pinnacle Studios.

Throughout the entire process of filming the commercial and editing the clips

necessary, we had to write updates of our progress on this app. Blogger will be

used to assess our work and to monitor how we have improved across the entire

year. In order to access Blogger, I had to log onto the computer and sign in

onto my Gmail account. Then, I would select the tools available on Google and

click Blogger, which took me to another tab. In this tab, I had to first select the

type of style that my blog would appear as, the preferred type being simple as it

would be easier to comprehend. After my blogs had their appropriate titles, I

would begin writing three paragraphs on my advancements from that day.

Throughout the entire project, phones were used for various reasons. On certain

days, I would not have access to computers to work on Blogger because other

students would be using them. In these instances, I would have to use my phone

in order to write the blogs necessary for the class. The main reason for the use of

phones however, was for communication. Each person in my group has each

other's phone numbers and we would text each other to ensure that everyone was

reminded of the tasks that they had to accomplish. Moreover, we used this form

of communication to share and express our ideas and classwork, including a

picture of our storyboard at the very beginning of the project.

To edit the commercial, everyone had to use an app installed into the laptops

called Pinnacle Studios. Originally, this app was to be used on the computers

available in the classroom. However, their software was outdated and the

server would not allow for Pinnacle Studios to work properly. This app is used

to incorporate a variety of effects and transitions into a video. With Pinnacle

Studios, we were able to edit all of the necessary takes into one video. For

approximately half of our work, we had to really play around with all of the

functions available to us. I was familiar with the different AV tracks and their

purposes as well as how to cut videos using the razorblade option.

Re-Editing Blog: Editing through the Complications

   Thankfully, when I got to class, the computer that I picked out worked perfectly. Like I have done various times, I downloaded all of the files from the SD card to the computer. From here, I imported these files into Pinnacle Studios. It took a while for the program to work and load. Once I deleted as of the clips from the example movie, I began selecting the takes that I would be choosing. This took me a while because my group and I had filmed many takes per scene. Once I had all of the scenes in order, I began to cut the unneccessary segments for several takes. This also took me quite a long time as I wanted to match each scene perfectly with the one that followed. I would say that I was working at a pretty fast pace since I was behind but, I also was relieved that I had an entire class period to edit. I left class thinking that I would have more days in class to edit with the same computer. I was prepared and knew exactly what I had to get done but unfornately, COVID-19 had other plans.
   School is postponed until May 1st at the moment and I have been spending the last two weeks trying to determine what would be the best option for my group. Nothing that I had edited was accessable as everything was edited on school computers. I would be lying if I said that this major change in the school schedule didn't stress me out. I have actually been extremely anxious wondering about my AICE classes and exams. Luckily, my group has our own SD card that doesn't belong to the school. I figured that the best choice would be to download Pinnacle Studios on my own computer and divide the cost between my group members. There are several advantages to this as I am able to edit on my own schedule and work at a quicker pace since my computer isn't so slow in comparison to those at school. However, there are also disadvantages. It is more difficult for me to express my concerns and ideas with Amy and Aitan since we can only talk to each other virtually. Also, I am on a tight schedule since so much valuable time has past. I am only hoping that I can finish the final video and have a great product.

Re-Filming Blog: Choppiness Reversed

  Once I had one class period to try to edit the entire video, my group and I noticed that the scenes looked choppy. Scenes that could have been combined were instead cut into multiple different scenes. I suggested that we choose a day to re-film  many of our scenes and make the video more cohesive. My teammates agreed so we had to determine a day to redo these takes. The best day that worked for everyone was the upcoming Sunday. Even though the scenes needed to take place while it was dark outside, I figured that filming during the day would be okay as long as the lighting within the house was appropriate. I made sure, prior to filming, that the camera was charged so that I wouldn't have to use the extension cord this day. Amy and Aitan arrived and I ensured that everything was in place to immediately get started. I had noticed in our film that only the first couple of takes needed to be re-done and other segments as well. This meant that nothing needed to be filmed in the dining room so that was one less room that I needed to clean.
   In order to fix the choppiness issue, I knew that many of the separate scenes could be merged into one. For example, at the very beginning of the movie, there were three separate scenes that all used the same camera angle yet it was obvious to notice that they were filmed individually. I fixed this by telling Amy to showcase each of the actions seen in the scenes into one take. This was completed successfully and I moved on to another similar issue with the following scenes. As I was filming, I also wanted to include every required angle that our film didn't already have. For example, a tilt was never made so I decided to incorporate one where Amy was standing up from her chair. We then moved to the hallway to fix some shots where the lighting had looked bad. Last time, a flashlight was used to show Amy walking but it was too noticeable on video. Since the sun wasn't totally down yet, I used this to my advantage and left one curtain slightly open and without shutters. This allowed for little sunlight to seep in and make the scene still look spooky and realistic. Once Amy and Aitan left and the sun began to set, I went outside with the camera and tripod to film an establishing shot with a pan shot, which we also had not included.