Audience an Institution essay

Audience and Institution Essay

Film; Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied.

Marketing in the film industry is extremely important. You have to research your audience and how you can appeal to them. Marketing can determine whether or not a film will be successful, it is a way to attract different types of viewers and introduce the film to the viewers. 

Without a doubt, the marketing portion of a film is extremely important because it influences the chances of a film being successful or a failure. When studios put the time, effort, and money into their marketing strategies then they are more prone to a positive outcome. In an article written by Roos, Dave, “Why do movies cost so much to make,” it states that “Marketing makes up a huge chunk of modern movie budgets -- $35.9 million on average -- largely because the fates of many Hollywood releases are sealed in the first week.” Good marketing can boost a film's gross tremendously within the first week, because it allows more people to become aware of the film, and it gets them excited to watch it. If you don’t invest in your product then no one else will. That's why marketing is important, because you're investing in your film by showing it to the world and proving to them why it’s worth their money and their time. By doing this then you’ll gain the interest of the people, this is a way to guarantee that your film has a fighting chance. If there's no effort placed in the marketing of your film then no ones going to know about it, meaning that it will most likely fail. You cannot expect people to take the time out of their day to research into your film without giving them a reason to do so. 

In addition, the marketing of a film is very important because it is a way to attract all types of audiences. Marketing is a great way to make people feel like they were considered or that they’re special. When people feel like they were considered then it makes them more engaged. The movie Black Panther earned around $361 million in its first weekend alone by investing a lot of money in marketing. Marvel introduced the movie to the world as the first ever mostly  all black cast, superhero movie. It showed the african american community that they finally got the representation they deserved, it made them feel like they were finally appreciated. Black Panther also made money due to marketing by doing many commercials with Lexus, which introduced a new car that was inspired by the movie. They did a fashion show for people who are in the fashion industry, especially black designers,  they created games and toys based on the movies for the younger audience, and they debuted the trailer during an NBA Finals game, where they knew there was a wide range of viewers. They did many things as a way to market the film, but one of the most important ones was directed towards the citizens in Saudi Arabia; the film ended the 35-year long movie ban that was going on in their country. Another movie that proved that marketing had a huge impact was Furious 7. They did many things including cross promotions with the phone brand OPP, and the video game brandForza Horizon 2. They had many special events that allowed the fans to interact with the stars of the movie and interact with the movie itself. The biggest marketing strategy that occured was a song tribute, on the movies soundtrack album,  to the late Paul Walker, who was an important part of the cast and a role model to many people everywhere. Due to him passing away during the film process, many fans of him and the franchise watched the film as a final goodbye.

To sum it up, marketing is the best way to introduce a film to audiences. When films are new then they have to build a fan base because no one is interested in something they’ve never heard of, that’s where marketing comes in. Marketing lets people know what the film is about and it’s potential. It makes them more familiar with the film and in some circumstances it can be used to remind them of it. For instance the movie Jurassic Park first debuted in 1993 and ended in 2001, a lot of fans believed that the last movie was going to be the final one. Little did they know that Universal Studios was planning on doing another movie for the franchise 14 years later; if they didn’t market the movie then fans wouldn’t have been aware that another one was being made and they wouldn’t have earned much new fans. The new movie would’ve failed dramatically because there would’ve been no recognition, but to prevent this they partnered up with many toy companies, they made commercials that gave a preview of the park, they set up a movie marathon on comcast tv, they released the iconic music for the film, and set up a website.  An article titled “ Jurassic Park Franchise Box Office History,” by the numbers, states that “ It’s actually the biggest 24-hour Friday in box office history,” “ Jurassic World earned an estimated $64.3 million.” Due to it’s amazing choice of marketing it managed to break records and earn millions of dollars in a short amount of time. The same thing occurred with Spiderman Homecoming, the spiderman movies were originally all filmed with another actor that was older, and the franchise ended up ending. Fans missed it so much that marvel decided to rebrand the film with a new actor and a younger audience. They already had their previous audience but they were much older and they wanted to draw the attention of more children and teenagers. To do so they had to market to the younger audience, they did this by putting spiderman on cereal boxes, making new toys inspired by him, they even released the merchandise before the movie so they could gain more recognition. The numbers website stated that the film made $50.5 million on it’s opening day. By choosing to market to both kids and adults the film earned around $10 million more ,on it’s first day, than the original film.

In conclusion, marketing is very important when it comes to determining the success of a movie. Marketing is how people become aware of a film. I often find out about films by seeing commercials, ads, or movie posters when I’m coming out of the theater. When film studios make the effort to present their movies to me I often feel like I am considered and I get excited. I spend most of my time watching movies, so when I am presented with the opportunity to watch a new one I will most like look further into it, especially when I see an advertisement about it more than once. 

Essay Extract

For my extract I got to dissect a few scenes from the series Game of Thrones.  After viewing the extract I concluded that the theme the director was trying to convey is that what you seek is not simply given. You must earn it and justify your right to it. You cannot expect something to be given to you just because you feel entitled to it.

The theme of the overall extract was slightly introduced in scene one. Scene one starts off  by using an aerial shot to introduce that the actors location and scenery was on a boat in the middle of the ocean. During this scene the lighting is very low key, as if they were traveling for a long time and they arrived when the sun was starting to go up. The boat is the first prop we see, it creates the idea that they were transporting to somewhere. It is paired with the diegetic sound of the boat traveling through the water and the sound of the crew members doing their jobs. It then switches to an eye level two shot, with a zoom into a medium close up, with an eyeline match edit; we can see that the actors are male and they’re wearing draped medieval style clothing. Those camera movements and shots showed that all their focus was on what was in front of them because that was where they were going to get the resources they needed. The costumes asserted their title, it showed that the two men were in leadership. This relates to the overall concept of  him being the captain and thinking he is capable of leading a whole kingdom and getting the title of king, because he leads his crew members, despite barely being able to provide for them. The eyeline match edit helped to create the idea that the two men were looking at something that made them kind of anxious, it showed that they were awaiting the moment that they’d get to pitch, why they deserve the resources they seek. The eyeline match then went on to show that the characters were looking at the island in front of them, this was shown through an establishing shot. During the establishing shot we can also see a few more props like a statue and boats, these were added to create the idea that they were approaching a rich kingdom. From the two shot, with a zoom into a medium close up, to the establishing shot we hear a non diegetic sound, background music, which then goes into a sound bridge that creates a smooth and suspenseful transition to what’s about to happen in the next scene.

The theme of the overall extract was mainly introduced in scene two. Scene two starts off with a sound bridge and a jumpcut from the previous scene. The jumpcut showed that the time passed from when they were on the boat to them being in a different location with a brighter, but still low key, lighting, while the sound bridge connected the end of the previous scene and the beginning of this one. The wide two shot and medium shot of the two men who were on the boat was paired with dialogue to create the idea that the men were waiting for someone. The dialogue between the two men established the idea that the more superior man was impatient and upset that the other people were late, it also showed that he felt as if he was too superior to wait on others. The establishing shot of the set design showed that the new location was a medieval style meeting room. A low angle shot paired with a diegetic sound of both men turning to face the door and a cutaway edit of when it began to open, showed that the person they were waiting for had finally arrived. The three shot of the three men walking through the door and to their seats made them seem dominant to the guy who was waiting for them; it also showed that the guy in the middle was important because he had people on each side of him, and he was going all the talking. The medium close up on both men and the close up on his leader “Stannis,”  showed that he was unsure about whether he should sit or not. The main prop in this scene is the table and the chair, the table separates the two groups of men by who has more authority, while the chair suggests that they are about to have a serious conversation. You could also see that them telling him to sit, made him seem as if he is less than them. The wide shot of the “Stannis” sitting showed that he was kind of defeated, it showed that he obeyed them because he wanted something. The point of view shot during the dialogue of the man introducing his leader, placed focus on what the man was saying, it established why Stannis felt like he was so entitled. The medium close up on the more superior man speaking shows that he disagreed with the titles that Stannis was given because the titles were already taken. It then goes from a two shot of Stannis and his right hand man discrediting the current king to a close up and reaction shot of the more superior man’s face as he feels like he is being fed lies and Stannis isn’t worthy of his time.

 Scene two consists of a lot of dialogue between the actors. The dialogue of this scene is mainly executed through a shot/reaction shot of  Stannis, his right hand man, and the man with the gold to give. The dialogue is very important because it establishes the overall theme the director is conveying. The dialogue establishes the idea that the man by the name of  Stannis feels entitled to the other men's gold because of his blood right, but he hasn’t proven why he as a person deserves the support of those men, because they want more than titles, they want numbers. He hasn’t proven why he should be trusted with the gold or why he’s worthy of it, he just thought that by him saying he was the rightful leader and discrediting others then he would be rewarded. The shot then switches from a medium shot of the man discussing Stannis current issue with not being able to provide for the men who remain loyal to him, to a two shot of  Stannis and his right hand man trying to defend themselves to a close up and shot/reverse shot between Stannis’s and his right hand man’s face to show that they realized his quest failed and the. The scene then proceeds with a wide two shot of both men, this shows that they are out of ideas and are frustrated that they aren’t being granted what they asked for. The close up of Stannis' face shows that he feels disrespected that he's being called a thief. A wide two shot of Stannis’s right hand man shows that he supports his leader. He also demonstrates that Stannis is an honest man by showing his hand with missing fingers, this was executed through the use of special effects makeup, which was his punishment from “King” Stannis. The ending of the extract consist of dialogue between the man who vowed for Stannis and the guy with the gold, close ups of Stannis and his right hand man , medium shots of the guy who owns the gold iron bank, and shot reverse shots between Stannis’s right hand man and the guy who owns the gold bank. All these shots were used as a way to enhance the theme through the dialogue. They showed the expressions of the actors and how they felt about what was being said. 

To sum it up, the extract establishes my theme about how you cannot expect something to be given to you just because you feel entitled to it. I chose this theme because in the second scene the dialogue is mainly about how he feels he should be loaned gold so he can use it to become king but he doesn’t give them a valid reason on why he should be trusted, he just feels entitled because he was born with royal blood, and due to him not having the best track record they deny him what he seeked . The xextract used a great amount of dialogue, props, set designs, two shots, medium shots, close ups, wide shots, cutaways, shot/reverse shots, reaction shots, and many more to properly execute the overall theme. If the film didn’t have any of the camera angles, shots, lights, sounds, editing, and mise en scene mentioned, then it would not have made sense. Without these terms the film wouldn’t be as good, it would be missing it’s spark. 

Final Project CCR

This is the CCR to my final project. For this I tried to do an interview type of video where I was basically talking to the audience. I didn’t have anybody else to play the male character, so I thought I would give my video a twist and play both sides. Thank you for viewing video. 

Final Project

This is my final project, the movie. There are a lot of scenes missing from this and a lot of editing needs to be done. We were planning on editing it some more but we never got the chance. Before our last weekend at school we had just finished filming some more key parts of the film so they weren't really edited in their yet. We also wanted to swap out some of the scenes because we didn't like how they look. We were going to change how the titles looked because we felt like they weren't the best match for the film. I wanted to finished editing it or fix it up more, on quarantine, before the deadline but the new scenes weren't dumped on my flash drive yet, instead they're still on the SD card that I don't have, another member of my group has it. Either way we still wouldn't be able to dump the scenes because the SD card doesn't fit into any of our computers. 

Music Video CCR

Music Video

This was my least favorite project because I didn't like that song that much, I wanted to something upbeat but my group members wanted slow so we compromised. I definitely don't hate it because this song was my childhood, it brings back a lot of memories from middle school. This was kind fun to do but the beach water was cold and the tides were rough so we had a lot of issues trying to execute this video. People were being knocked over almost every shot and there was sand everywhere. 

Nike Commercial CCR

Creative Critical Reflection

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

To start off our Nike commercial, we had to do research. We looked at commercials from brands like Nike and other sporting apparel brands. Doing this unlocked a whole new meaning to what a commercial was for me. I saw that commercials usually have a meaning behind what they say and what they do. This made us want to have a meaning in our commercial. We saw it as a way to motivate others and that’s exactly what we wanted our commercial to represent. So we searched harder and we decided that our secret message should be to motivate people to start pushing for what they want. We wanted to influence people to work harder so  it made us a bit more excited to start filming. In order to capture this you have to figure out the Mise en scene, shots, angles, sounds, and the actors expressions. All of these parts come together to help demonstrate what the commercial wants you to take away from it. Mise en scene is used as a way to illustrate the person's location and what they’re doping. The shots and angles are used as a way to capture what they want you to see, or capture important moments in the film. The actors facial expressions and body expressions bring feeling and emotion to the film, it allows the audience to feel what you want them to feel. Without these parts my group and I wouldn’t have been able to convey our message. We used most of the conventions used in other commercials because we wanted it to be as realistic as possible. The commercial represents athletic individuals because it shows all the hard work and practice they go through to follow their goals and become the best they can be at what they do.


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

     The Nike product engages with the audience because it appeals to what athletes want. For my Nike commercial the aim was for generation Z athletes.  In the sports industry, it’s main focus is usually on the youth, mainly teens and young adults, so I thought that the commercial should focus on what attracts them and what they would want to know about the product. This generation is mostly obsessed with music so we chose a well-known song that fit our target group perfectly, to grab their attention of course.That was one of the best ideas to come forth because generation Z is all  about ‘turning up to lit songs” so of course we had to choose a song that would automatically make them want to watch the commercial.We couldn’t only depend on the song because eventually they’d get bored or just jam to the song and tune out the commercial so we had to make the commercial itself interesting. Usually athletes want shoes that have a comfortable grip and helps with their flexibility, while pushing them to their best abilities. We set up the commercial to show that the  product was built with all the necessities an athlete would need and want. We showed that it would help them perform better, which would automatically grab our target groups attention, because that’s one of their main wants. It specifically shows someone their age group going for a workout and [pushing himself to the best of his abilities, so we thought that would be a great way to engage with the audience, because it shows that he’s just like them. This was also a way to show his dedication and that Nike helped him fulfill his goal, so they would want to fulfill their goal too and what better way to do it than wearing some Nike shoes or apparel

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

Honestly, at the beginning of this project I had total confidence, I was always interested in film making and creating scenarios so I truly wasn’t too stressed  about. I thought I would go through kit with a breeze, and that the commercial would just be a fun activity but I was wrong. Reality hit me hard on the first day when we had to film. It was so complicated trying to figure out how to set up the camera, get the angles perfectly, and execute everything in the time frame. At first I was sloppy and slow, yes I wanted to get the commercial done, and yes I wanted it to look professional but I didn’t think I’d have  to work so hard on it. I can truly say that my production skills have improved dramatically, I went from not knowing how to film at all to shooting a  wide angle, establishing, over the shoulder, pan, close up, and zoom. IF that isn’t progress I don’t know what is. I also matured a bit, I learnt that this class isn’t just an easy credit but that you have to put in work to receive the results you want. I had to realize that this wasn’t just my grade but also my group members grade, so I wanted to pull through for them and myself. It amazes me because now I know how to edit and add music to a film, which can honestly help me so much in my outside life, so reflecting now I am happy about how far I’ve come in such a short time. I’m also grateful for the people who helped me learn and mature. In the beginning I was just a clueless girl, and now I'm on my way to success. This film has truly taught me a lot, now I know about all the different features to editing, and how much work editors actually put in to create the perfect craft. This project also pushed me to practice my shots and my angles, and sounds. It showed me that communication really is key, and that you can’t win unless you work together as a group. I learnt to contribute and illustrate everyone’s idea. I honestly appreciate this project, it’s helping me move one step closer to my dream.

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

When starting this project, I had no clue what pinnacle studios was, or how to shoot something on an actual camera. So this project was a  way for me to get familiar with all the technology and equipment needed to film a project. I used Pinnacle Studios and iMovie as a way to edit, without them I would’ve been in deep trouble. At first I had a lot of technology problems. If I’m being completely honest the whole class had technical problems but ours were somewhat superior. The computer wasn’t saving our commercial, and we couldn’t find it when we did save it. That problem ended up holding us back for a good 2 to 3 weeks. It started to shatter our confidence and we were  starting to get stressed about our grades. But eventually the computers started to cooperate and we were able to get it done.Pinnacle Studios did give a lot of trouble also but without it I wouldn’t have been able to combine the music and the film. I wouldn’t have been able to add a title without it either, so for that app I am thankful. iMovie really came through for me and my team when we weren’t able to finish editing in class. If it wasn’t for iMovie we wouldn’t have been able to edit anything because we couldn’t figure out how to operate Pinnacle Studios if our life depended on it. We used iMovie as a way to cut the film, it came in handy when we needed to get our commercial down to 30 seconds. The video cameras were also cool additions to our project. We wouldn’t have been able to film half the stuff we did without having the camera. The effects made it easy to zoom and tilt, and it gave us a steady stand while shooting. The camera was also a more realistic interpretation of what AICE Media studies actually is , and it helped us get into the working zone. The camera allowed us to have hands-on experience on what it’s actually like to direct a film.