Audience and Institution Practice Essay

Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied

                Year after year billions and billions of dollars in revenue is made from the film industry. Many people wonder how such an abundance of money is made. Marketing is the simple answer. The number of media outlets owned by companies has become less and less in recent years. Instead of thousands of small companies, there is multiple conglomerates dominating the scene through effective marketing strategies. These conglomerates use a variety of methods to market their films such as: cross promotion, merchandise, and home exhibition. 

            Various big-time companies come together with similar interest to promote their products using cross promotion. Toy companies, food companies, and department stores are all in interaction with film corporations. For instance, Jurassic World partnered with famous toy company, The Lego Group, creating dinosaur action figures. Additionally, Jurassic World also partnered with prominent candy company, Mike and Ike, producing Jurassic World themed candy boxes. Another example of this, is when the creators of multibillion-dollar corporation, Universal, released one of their most popular projects, Furious 7, and teamed up with the video game creators of Forza, to make Forza 2, which was based on the Furious 7 movie. In Furious 7’s first weekend of being released, it accumulated a whopping $143.6 million, and continued to collect $384 million worldwide later that week. The utilization of simple market strategies, strategies as easy as cross promotion, can lead to major success, and an amazing outcome.

            Hundreds of well-known film companies around the globe almost always distribute their movies through home exhibition. Famous enterprises like Walt Disney Pictures, Mandeville Films, which was previously a subsidiary of Disney, and Universal, have all brought their movies to households globally. The audience can finally watch the movies they love so much from their own tv screen. On September 15, 2015, Furious 7 was released on Blu-Ray and DVD. Likewise, on June 6, 2017, a couple years after the home exhibition of Furious 7, Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville films brought one of their most renowned movies, Beauty and the Beast, to homes everywhere via Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD, and On Demand. To add on, in 2018 the distinguished film was later released on one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world, Netflix. The extensive marketing of Beauty and the Beast led to a vast stream of revenue; the movie is ranked 76 all time, and collected approximately $1.3 billion worldwide. The amount of profit earned was tremendous, and could not have been done without substantial marketing, not to mention an immense portion of the earnings was ancillary revenue.

            Merchandise is most likely the most common and frequent form of marketing due to its success. World renown businesses such as Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, Disney and Universal all create merchandise for their newly released films. Most recently, Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios came up with a Spider-man Homecoming video game for the ps4 to raise their revenue stream. This game is familiar to kids and teens throughout the world that own a ps4 because the amount of sales blew through the roof, making it a definite topic of discussion. Furthermore, the two major organizations created action figures and games to get kids to want to watch the movie. Another prime example of this is Jurassic World; after the movie became a huge hit, many Lego sets, video games, and even an app were created to further market the product. Limited DVD sets were even being distributed with the addition of toys, figurines, and posters. Moreover, Disney is one of the best merchandise distributors on the planet. When their Beauty and the Beast film released, ornaments, clothes, dolls, etc. were also added to the Disney shop. Disney even teamed up with Target to create costumes, Hallmark to release Beauty and the Beast themed mugs, and Hot Topic released film inspired shirts, accessories, etc. The ancillary revenue of all these films is absolutely massive. Without merchandise companies can lose about half or more of their revenue from the film. Without a doubt, marketing is the most crucial part about making money in the film industry, without it there would be no profit to be made.

            In retrospect, the film industry is one of the most challenging industries to thrive in. The use of different types of marketing all contribute to the success of sensational film companies world-wide. Continuing to use effective marketing strategies like home exhibition, cross promotion, and merchandise will all be vital to a film conglomerates survival. Companies persistently pursue new approaches to marketing, to assist them in thriving in today’s demanding economy.

Extract Essay

                Today’s society is filled with tons and tons of social problems, one of the biggest issues is violence. Specifically, police brutality, the movie 24 is a perfect example of what is wrong with our law enforcement system today. The author was trying to portray how unnecessarily aggressive the cop was being to a helpless lady. He resorts to unneeded violence for no apparent reason, but personal interest. The extract shows multiple scenes giving context on how violent and dangerous the cop really is.

To begin with, the first scene shown in the extract the directors uses multiple techniques to help highlight his point. For example, he uses over the shoulder shots, dialogue, and the interrogation room. When the main character enters the room, he makes eye contact with the woman sitting down in the chair. The constant back and forth of the camera over each character’s shoulders, gives viewers a feeling of unease and highlights the importance of the conversation between the two characters. Eventually, they began having dialogue between each other, this gives everyone context on the situation, and why the two characters are there. The cop uses threats, and force with his words, showing how unnecessarily aggressive he is. This all takes place in an interrogation room which gives the whole scene its mood. If it were anywhere else, like in the middle of a bright sunny park, the whole dynamic of the scene would be ruined. It also gives the cop the opportunity to show how violent he is when no one else is around.

Furthermore, in the second scene shown in the film the producers use minuscule techniques that don’t seem important, but are actually vital to the scene. For instance, in this brief scene of these unrevealed figures in a computer room, the film maker uses eye line matches, and close-ups. The scene begins with a close-up of a computer or tv screen showing the cop interrogating the victim. This close up is extremely important because it emphasizes that the cop has to be monitored. It implies that his actions are unpredictable, and can hurt the woman at any time. The next thing the camera shows is two anonymous people viewing the tv in an eye line match. The eye line match shows the suspicion in the scene and gives the scene a serious mood.

To add on, the last scene I will be reviewing uses some of the most commonly used filming techniques. These techniques are sound mix, dark lighting, and action match. The scene has a mix of different sounds while everything is going on. The characters have dialogue while there is noise in the background. These different combinations of diegetic sound, ambient sound, etc.… all contribute to giving viewers a sense of anxiety and nervousness while watching. The dark lighting also plays a huge factor in the feeling the audience receives. Anytime it’s dark, people get a certain eerie and skeptical feeling. This is exactly what happens to people watching this scene with dim lighting. Additionally, action match played an essential role in the entire scene. The cop brutally shoves the woman’s chair all the way to the wall and begins to choke her. As he is pushing the chair the camera gets multiple angles of this happening. This technique gets multiple points of view of the uncalled-for ferocity and how scared the victim is.

In retrospect, these plethora of techniques and little skills the film maker utilized all contributes to the leading theme of the film which was police brutality. The main character could have had a completely different approach that was more positive to get the information he needed. Instead, he uses brute force and aggression which leads to a waste of time. These different film methods all help capture these horrific scenes and enhance them. This movie was created to show the audience the whole truth about police violence.

Critical Creative Reflection

This Critical Creative Reflection project was extremely tedious and time consuming. It was such a struggle to export my video. I finally finished it days prior to the due date. I waited a couple days to post it on my blog, but I realize its not as simple as I thought. Everything was giving me a problem so I had to figure out a solution. I finally found a way to upload through a different platform. In this video I get asked questions about the Aice Media Studies class. I answer these questions and give insight on the class and my honest opinions. I play the role of a podcast host and me, myself. I gave details in multiple aspects of the class as a whole. Being creative inside quarantine was tough, but I tried my best. I went back and forth between a podcast host and me. It's kind of like an interview. This video is one of my last projects so I put all of my effort into it. It took me days to plan this video. It also took me days to film it. Not to mention It was also a super long process to edit it. I hope everyone likes it. All I can do is put my maximum effort and hope for the best. This video is basically an overview of how I felt about the class.

Final Task Movie

My final movie task was extremely difficult. It took up a lot of personal time and effort. I drove miles and miles away to get this project done. I drove to my families house, because one of my family members decided to help me. It was also convenient that there was a park nearby which is where I wanted to shoot. This was a lot of trial and error for me. Not everything went perfectly how I wanted, but I still got the result I was looking for. I had many different shots, angles, etc. The basis of my movie was about a young teen who's a basketball player. He recently just lost one of his loved ones who was influential on his basketball career, before a big game. He goes through a series of flashbacks, and memories to remember his loved one. I had the film all planned out. The only thing I had to do was execute. I got a series of family members to help be in the film, and shoot. After I got all the clips I needed, I started to edit. The editing process was a tedious one. I had to spend hours at my computer and phone just to get the transitions, and effects I wanted. I put forth my maximum effort and time. All I can hope for is that everyone will enjoy it. This is a movie put my time, effort, and heart into, and I'm proud of it.

Filming blog: Dreaded quarantine

I've been in quarantine for quite some time now. It has been over a month now and I'm beginning to get worried. At first I thought this "break from school" would only last after spring break. Looking at me now into weeks and weeks of quarantine I'm extremely scared. I've been hearing rumors of not even going back to school for the rest of the school year. This whole virus has struck the world by storm, and cost the lives of thousands. It's ruined the plans of everyone. I was planning on playing basketball for my travel team this summer, but my plans were ruined. The disappointing part is this was supposed to be a break out year for me. This just goes to show that not everything will go as you expect, so live everyday as if it were your last. I also planned of going back to the Philippines, where I was born. There's still a possibility of me going, but it's highly unlikely. School from online is harder than I thought it would be too. I thought being in school with a teacher was hard enough, but this is like a horror film. I have no physical person to guide me through the lesson, so it slows my learning process. If I have to continue doing online school the rest of the year who knows what my grades will be like. I'm trying my best, but there's only so much I can do. I feel worse for the people in other parts of the world that have it worse than I do. I can't imagine what they're going through. I think we should use this time to all come together as human beings. This is one in a lifetime things not many people go through things like this. I hope everyone gets better and we can all recover from this.

Editing blog: nothing’s changed

It’s been over a week on lock down. I still haven’t gone outside the house. I can’t lie completely hate this. I feel like the whole world is still. I also think this has to be the worst break from school I’ve had. Not only me but my classmates as well dread this time. During this time we’re usually out of this house having fun. We’d be going to the beach, mall, etc. I feel like I'm locked in a little prison cell. There's only so much I can do at home. I've been trying to entertain myself by playing video games, watching movies, and eating. If this continues to happen I might go insane. I don't know when we're going back to school, or even if we are. I used to complain about how I hate going to school. Now it's the complete opposite, I miss seeing my friends and having human interaction. The most I can do is text and face time my friends. Everyone seems to be with their family though. I hope this virus doesn't get any worse than it already is. If everyone just listened and stayed inside maybe this would all be over. All I can do is hope for the best.

Filming blog: still at home

These past couple days have been rough. I’ve been at home all week. All of south Florida is basically on lockdown. I lost power a couple times and my internet went out. I’ve been trying to pass the time by playing video games, basketball, and watching movies. Nothing seems to satisfy my interest. I haven’t had any word from my school. Only news I’ve got, is that we’ll be resuming classes online. I’m not sure when but I’m assuming after spring break. Online classes has to be one of the worst things that happen to me. Myself as a learner needs to be hands on. I don’t learn best through a computer screen. I need physically help from a teacher. I don’t even know how we are going to learn online. I’m contemplating on if we’re going to video chat our teachers. Another option is we start with brand new teachers all over again. That would be terrible. Hopefully this virus calms down and everything can resume normally. I hope they don’t take away time from our summer because of this problem. Anyways, I never really appreciated school until now. I hope everyone is safe and doing well. 

Editing blog: The virus

Well this whole project has been crazy for me. I’ve been through ups and down. There have been so many road bumps and things preventing me from progressing. In the latest news, a recent virus named the Corona Virus has had everyone scared. The whole world has been on alert. My family and I have been diligently watching the news to see what our government is telling us. This virus has everyone scared. I haven’t been going out to public places because of this virus. I’m currently sleeping over a family friends house. I want to be careful with who I interact with. Also lack of human interaction isn’t fun either. I’ve been really confused about how life is going to change. They’ve shut down school and other things as well. They even closed down my local gym. When I first heard the news I was shocked. It still feels surreal to me about everything that has occurred. My mom is a nurse so she’s on the front line of this epidemic. I fear for her, I don’t want anything to happen to her. Hopefully everything can come back to normal and we can live out everyday lives. Even if it doesn’t I hope everything works it self out.

Editing blog: Actually editing

Prior to my peer review I had the opportunity to edit my film. After filming I had multiple clips of my scenes. I choose the ones that I thought were the best. I also choose the ones that I thought meshed well together. Editing my movie was not as easy I thought it would be. There are many things you have to take into consideration. Transitions, effects, and sounds are some of these essential parts to editing your film. I wasn’t really familiar with editing, because this was my first time really doing it myself. I utilized the iMovie app to help me edit everything together. If I’m being honest I had to search up how to fully use the program to its full ability. I had to learn to shorten scenes and increase audio. I used multiple transitions, effects, etc. I used fade-in, fade-out, slide, wipe, and other transitions to change from scene to scene. The different transition also helps emphasize the change in time, and smooth change in scenes. I also used a black and white effect to help demonstrate time change. The difference in color resembles a flash back in time that the main character is having. I also increased the sound of most scenes, because of the diegetic sound affecting dialogue. You could barely hear the actors speak, because of all the wind and sound in our vicinity. All in all, editing was very challenging, but I eventually got the result I wanted. There is still more I have to add, but with my first result I’m happy with the outcome.

Filming blog: Actually filming

Days prior to my peer review assignment, I had the opportunity to film my movie. Everything went smoothly and efficiently. I got to the park and began setting everything up. I also found different places to my camera to capture different angles, shots, etc. I couldn’t have asked for a better day to film. The weather was perfect with lots of sun and clear skies. Another great thing was the basketball court was empty. We had a lot of time to get the film done and do everything. I began with my opening scene with a low angle of my feet walking. As I’m walking I begin to dribble the basketball between my legs. The next scene is of me walking on to the basketball court. I have multiple flashbacks with a passed loved one. After each flashback I would come to reality and mimic basketball moves. Keep in mind all of this is before a big basketball game. The main character is just reminiscing on past times. He feels a deep pain and sorrow for the person he loves that’s no longer alive. He’s comforted by his sister as she comes in a later scene. Him and her share a loving sibling moment. In retrospect, the film came together amazingly. There are some things I need to change here and there, but for my first shooting it went better than I expected.

Peer Review

On class this Monday I was ready to with my film to begin peer reviewing with classmates. As I walk in I realize there’s a list on the board to see our peer review partners. I walked to the list and found my partner which was Kayla. When I asked around for Kayla, to my surprise she wasn’t to be founded. She was absent and I had no film to review. Luckily, I was able to have someone review my film. For the most part I had all of the requirements. There are a few things I need to re-shoot and edit to enhance my film. This group of two watched my film for about 5 minutes. They played it over and over again. They did a deep analyze on my movie to give me the best advice. They loved my film, but told me I still needed to get some more work done. I took all of the things they said into consideration. I’ve made a list of things I need to add and improve. I’m trying to organize everything so I can add stuff to my film. It was great that I had the opportunity to get multiple opinions on my film. Without this advice I probably wouldn’t have as good as a film as I would like. This group really helped me and I’m thankful for them. Since I didn’t have any film to review I took a sneak peek at theirs. They had great qualities also that I would like to use.

Filming blog: Days before shooting

The clock is winding down before it’s time to finally film. This is what I’ve been preparing for. I have everything ready to go for the big day. I gathered all my props and supplies that I’m going to utilize. I have clothes, shoes, basketball, etc. I’ll be making the drive up to the set tomorrow after school. It’s going to be about an hour or longer depending on traffic. I’ll be staying over night at family friends house. We’re close, practically family, so I’m with them very often. I plan on staying over night and filming the next day. I’ll go over the plan with them the night before so they’ll be prepared. They also have a couple of lines they have to say so they’ll memorize it by the nights over. The next day we will venture over to the park where we will be filming. We’ve been there plenty of times so I’m familiar with the area. The filming will take place on the basketball court. We will have to find a good time where the court is empty to film. If there’s people there I’ll just improvise and adjust to the situation. I’ll have plenty of people to assist me there and get this film done swiftly, but perfectly. Nothing will be guaranteed but I can just hope for the best. I’m super ecstatic to begin this process and can’t wait till it happens.

Editing blog: Family in town

My filming progress has been the same since last week. I haven’t been able to film anything, because of my family in town. It’s both good and bad that they left just recently a couple days ago. Good, because I can finally focus on my project. Bad, because I won’t see them for some time. To be quite honest I haven’t put in any progress since my last blog. All my time had been going into my family. I’m planning on filming this up coming weekend. My filming set is farther than I would like, but hopefully things will work out. I plan on driving about an hour up north from where I live. This is where I’ll meet my cast. We will then travel to a local park where my film will take place. We have to gather a couple of props that will be featured in my film. I’ve already contacted my cast about meeting together. They agreed to start the process sometime this weekend. Without a doubt I need to begin filming or else I’ll fall far behind. I’m actually excited to work on this, because this is my first time creating a video alone. If everything goes according to plan I’ll be just fine. Of course something’s may change, but I’ll just adjust to the circumstances. I’ll continue to stay organized and be ready to film my movie.

Filming blog: Not Filming

Planning this whole project and everything in it has been extremely time consuming. It took hours and hours to do my storyboard, scripts, etc. Over weeks and weeks I’ve been building a blue print for my final task. With overwhelming work and stress executing has been difficult. I need to find time to begin filming my movie, but it’s been hard. Just a couple days after I finished planning, I was bombarded with a multitude of projects and work from other classes. Not to mention I have family in town so time has been hard to come by. Most of my time has been occupied with my family. If not with family it’s been doing school work. Also, coordinating a certain date to meet with my film members has been hard because of the change of plans. Adapting to changes is one of the most important elements that I have to master. Not everything is going as I planned so I have to be accustomed to the circumstances. I still have to find a new convenient time for my film members. I’m going to text them and figure things out. Since I haven’t been able to film, I’ve just been organizing everything I’m going to do. I’ve planned everything out in my head, so when we finally film, things will be perfect.  I’m continuing to review my notes and everything I’ve planned. Things will stay fresh in my mind and if any new ideas come into mind I can integrate them. All in all, I will begin the filming process soon. After I film I’ll begin editing and continue with the whole process.

Storyboard Planning for Final Task

In these slides I have my entire storyboard from beginning to end. The images go scene by scene. Each picture describes what happens during the scene. I include a multitude of details that effect the film. For instance, I state the angles, shots, and some of the dialogue included in the movie. Also, the action of the characters are mentioned. Many of the pictures are similar because of the film setting. For a majority of the film I will be recording in the same area. Only short bits and pieces are not in that area, but rather right next to it. This storyboard is the blueprint and guide to my entire film.



 

Title Design

In this presentation everything about my title sequence is explained. There's multiple aspects I include in my titles. For instance, I include font, spacing, contrast, etc. My titles are an essential part of my film that take time and effort. It takes a strategic plan to effectively use my titles to their full potential. There's various techniques and tricks I'll use to enhance my film. Editing and audio will play a huge part in my titles content. Specifically editing, because I'll be using a multitude of editing tricks to assist my title making process. Creating these titles won't be easy, but will be definitely worth it. This presentation is a guide for me, a blue print if you will, to a perfect title sequence.



      

Pre-filming plan

In this presentation there's a variety of different elements for my film. Location, participants, schedule, health and safety are all included. I go over the procedures in case of emergency. Also who will be there for medical assistance. Furthermore, I also include who will be acting in the film and filming. Multiple people other myself will assist me in this process. Pictures of my location is in my presentation also. My schedule for when I will be executing these things are in my slides. I'll be doing these things over the span of a couple months. All these things come together to help my filming process.



 

Sound Script

This presentation is about the sound elements in my video. Everything from diegetic sound to non diegetic sound is included. I include dialogue between different characters. I also include music to enhance the film. Natural sounds from the outdoors are going to be in the film because of the location. These slides also include specific statements the actors make. Sound due to actions are also a part of these slides. To create the perfect audio I want I'll use various props. Also, the camera I use will record the diegetic sound involved. In conclusion, sound is an enormous part of my film and I'm going to try to get the best audio I can.


 

Shooting Script

These slides are about the shooting aspect of my film. Acting, scenes, non in depth examples of sound are all included in these slides. I outlined my film and came up to about 11 scenes. This is just an estimate of how many scenes I will shoot. There may be small details I include as improvisation to enhance my video. I mention the main character and everyone around him in this presentation. I also include a setting and other props. To capture these scenes I'll use a variety of different camera angles, movements, and shots. I'll also have specific actions that the actors have to practice for the film. All in all, everything in these slides covers all of the physical aspects of my video.


 

Title Research: Snow White and The Huntsman

I found the title sequences for the film "Snow White and The Huntsman" on the website "Watch the Titles."

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequence film?

In the film, "Snow White and The Huntsman" there is a total of 28 titles. The titles contain directors, producers, actors, editors, etc. The very last title is an overview of everyone involved in the film. The film is directed by Rupert Sanders and is a Roth Films Production.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? 

The main images being prioritized is a knights armor. The camera is zoomed in on specific parts of the knight such as his sword, breastplate, gauntlets, etc. In the sequences the knight seems to be slaying some sort of creature with wings. From my observation it appears to be a dragon or a bird of some sort.

What connotations do the images carry?

The images carry a dramatic medieval connotation to them, because of the very detailed knights armor. I'm not quite sure of the real representation of the knights armor in the title sequences, but it may symbolize the protection of humans. Every angle caught of the armor is dramatic, because of the cameras movement around each part.

How is the genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The genre of drama and history is perfectly depicted in this outset. The film uses knights armor to represent the protection of our body from the outside world. The armor could also represent a knights values such as honor, courage, and chivalry. The technical codes used were also marvelous. The camera captured every angle and shot of the armor in such a captivating way. Behind the images there was audio of a woman beautifully singing. Her voice brought so much emotion and drama making viewers feel a connection to the film. The editor was also very smooth transitioning from one part of the knights armor to the next. He used many different techniques such as fade-in, fade-out, and cutaways to amplify the film. All these variables contributed into the films genre from the outset.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? 

There is no real enigma to the film, there's only drama. The outsets combination of audio and imagery come together making things sound so heroically dramatic. There's nothing to puzzling or mysterious about the outset, besides the lack of knowledge on the films plot and story.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 

The use of olden times in the film is extremely appealing to audiences that are historians, philosophers, or just people who enjoy history. The title sequence is also exceptionally eye-grabbing, engrossing viewers in the movie. The captivating imagery will leave people wanting to watch more.

How has technology been used effectively? 

The way technology was used in the outset is profound. From camera movements, to editing, to audio in the sequences everything lined up effectively. All the technical codes and symbolism involved in the film magnified the greatness of the movie. The CGI was used to perfection and the film would be nothing the same without it.