Audiences and Institutions Essay

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

Gavin Orefice Period 5

When it comes to the media area, “film,” marketing is a very essential element to any film's production process. Without marketing, there would be no possible way for the outside world to be informed about a movie being released. Therefore, marketing is more beneficial to the film area of media because it allows movie corporations/companies to promote their media ideas in several ways before officially releasing movies and it allows them to get an idea of how successful their movie will be and how much money it will possibly make them. 

    To begin, marketing is extremely essential to media corporations/companies because it helps them draw attention to their film through promotion and publicity. Considering that technology has evolved drastically, it has ultimately become easier for movie companies to promote their films. For example, a mobile game for the movie, "Black Panther," which included its main actor, Chadwick Boseman, was created  by Marvel Studios in order to help promote the movie. Although this form of digital marketing may not have been as effective as Black Panther's "fashion week"(which exposed some of the costumes that some of the actors would be wearing in the film), promoting a huge franchise through a mobile app shows the several ways movie corporations can market their movies.  To go further, "Jurassic World" primarily promoted their film through posters, some deemed "limited edition." This allowed their audiences  to grasp a feel of how the movie would be, as well as allow the internet to spread their opinions about their first glimpses of the movie. Even though this form of marketing may have had a different approach, all film corporations and companies all have the same goal: providing their audiences with an intriguing view of their film. 

    Marketing is also essential to the success of movie corporations/companies because it provides them with a view of how the movie will end up doing online, in movies, etc. when officially distributed. This is important when it comes to the production process because it determines the profit/income that will totally accumulate. For example, before the movie was officially released in theaters, “Guardians of the Galaxy” cross promoted/partnered with the “Monopoly” to create a Marvel themed board game. This allowed Marvel to easily promote the ideas of their movie as well as sell merchandise. In fact, the movie ended up being ranked #1 in theaters, accumulating only a domestic income of 389,813,101 US dollars, 146, 510,104 US dollars on just its opening weekend. This proves how marketing can shape the future success of a simple media idea. Marketing also played a key role in the conclusion of the movie, “Fast & Furious 7.” Because one of their main actors, Paul Walker, died in the middle of their film-making in a car crash, their production process was delayed and the release of the movie was questionable. They therefore had to find ways to create a Paul Walker that their audiences could entirely feel/imagine. A song by Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa was created for Paul Walker and in fact helped draw a lot of attention to the movie when it was finally released in theaters and distributed on DVD and blu ray. These are prime examples of how important marketing is when it comes to the success of a movie, or if the movie company or corporation should release it. 

    To recapitulate, marketing is very beneficial to the success of movie companies because it allows them to promote their film before its release and provides them feedback on how their movie will do when it's distributed. Whether it be done through cross promotion, on social media, through merchandise, or directly through the internet, all movie companies are using marketing in very similar ways. Although they may not be the exact same, they are proven to be ultimately effective as they have made several different movie corporations billions of dollars. 

Extract Essay: 24

Title of Extract: 24                                                                                               Gavin Orefice Period 5

This extract of the TV show, 24, revolves around the interrogation of the criminal, Nina. Considering she is a female and her interrogator is a male, an ironic, but intense mood is created within the audience. As the man tries to get the woman to reveal information, he grows angry as she continues to try and manipulate him. Knowing that there is a time bomb in play, he acts unprofessionally out of emotion and attacks the criminal. Thus, the director was trying to show the audience that patience and professionalism can be hard to maintain in tight and stressful situations. He uses several different editing techniques, non-diegetic sounds, and a variety of different shots to do this. 

In the beginning of the extract, the director mainly focuses on establishing the situation of the scene. As the male interrogator opens the door, close ups of both characters are used to not only reveal them but to establish the situation's intensity. While the male looks angry and serious, the female criminal looks rather comfortable and relaxed. This helps to create a noticeable contrast between both characters as well as evoke uncertainty within the audience (as it is unusual that there is a female criminal). Before any words are spoken, a zoom in is used to capture a shot of a camera in the back of the interrogation room. Not only does this also help to establish the situation of the scene, it lets the audience know that the interrogation is being supervised. A jump cut that reveals an office scene and the interrogators fellow crew members (who look rather worried) lets the audience know that the investigation is quite serious. After the characters were done giving one another mean stares, words were finally spoken. The sound of the female criminal's voice helped to create a shift in the audience's view of the scene because it confirms that the mastermind is a girl; her words reveal that she has planted a bomb somewhere which adds to the intensity of the situation and the suspense in the audience. An eye-line match between the female criminal and a ticking clock (the sound is non-diegetic) helps  build the suspense and intensity by showing the audience that the interrogators are pressed for time and that their patience is running out. 

As the extract moves along, dialogue, followed by over the shoulder shots are used to reveal the character's conversation as well as their moods. The female criminal does not want to give the interrogator anything she knows. Instead, she tries to take control of the situation by telling the interrogator that she will help stop the timebomb if the investigation team can fly her to Vecilia. The interrogator doesn't buy into it, so she tries to convince him by implying that it is of her best interest to stop the bomb. This seems to make the interrogator even more angry, and a close up of his angry face followed by a series of jump cuts of the interrogator flipping the desk in the room are used to intensify the situation. The interrogator gets up in the female criminal's face and as soon as this happens, the extract turns to the office, where close ups of two characters in professional/formal attire reveal that they are worried that the interrogation may grow out of hand. An eerie, rather uncertain score is also made present when the scene shifts to the office, contributing to the suspense of this part of the extract as well as the undergoing idea that time is running out. 

After the extract shifts back to the interrogation room, the score begins to grow deeper and louder, intensifying the situation as the two characters continue to stare at one another and exchange small words. As the score begins to create more suspense, a close up of the male interrogator reveals that he is far from happy and a close up of the female criminal reveals her lack of seriousness. The female says: "I guess you'll just have to follow my lead." This set of words/dialogue helped to create a major shift in the extract. The suspense that was building finally broke through. The male interrogator had had enough and started choking the female criminal. The chains she is wearing helps to show that she is helpless in the situation. As soon as this happens, a split screen is used by the director to show the audience the office and the interrogation room at the same time. The investigation team is running down the halls of the office, revealing that they are going to separate the two characters and terminate the tension. Once the team appears, the split screen fades and the interrogator, Jack lets the criminal go. A deep, rather defeated score followed by a long shot of the female criminal (the first in the whole extract, the rest were close ups and mid shots) are used to suggest that the tables have flipped/turned. The interrogators' unprofessionalism and lack of patience with the criminal help to close out the extract by peaking its suspense and by consolidating the idea that the investigation is serious. 

To recapitulate, the director of this extract was trying to convey that professionalism and patience can be hard to maintain during stressful and tight situations. Considering that this episode revolves around getting the answer to the location of a timebomb, patience is a major theme. The intensity and suspense of this extract are made clear through the actions and expressions of the characters. The dark lighting and setting of the extract help build upon these themes by evoking emotions such as uncertainty into the audience. 

Video for Commercial (Project 1)

Music Video (Project 2)

Video for Final Task (Project 3)

CCR Part 4

CCR Part 3

CCR Part 2

CCR Part 1

Re-Filming Blog: Final Scene

     To start, it was extremely hard to get all my group members to come out to film the last scene of our film. We also had some things to re film but thats besides the point. Everyone’s parents are getting worried about the spread of the coronavirus so we had to agree on a specific date in which all of our parents would let us out. This date was April 1st. We all went over to my house to fix up some angles and shots that we could of did better on then headed to the cemetery for the final scene. To be honest, it wasn't necessary to bring have everyone present, but the group effort is what counts. I am the main actor, so I played my role while Maya and Thomas switched off filming. This scene was probably the easiest for me. All I had to do was act surprised and emotional. This was easy because I have lost someone I loved in the past so I could easily relate to this scene.
     After we finished filming, I suggested we film the same scene a couple more times. This was just in case we had to do this same thing again: re-film. In this way, we have several cuts and shots to choose from. More options allows for less mistakes. Although they did not want to film again initially, I convinced them. They agreed that it was smarter and safer to do so. Realistically, it will also save us more time. We only have a week until our final product is due and we cannot afford anymore re-film or re-edit meetings. This will only impede on how productive my group can be and can result in not only a bad grade from our teachers, but a bad score from Cambridge. I wanted to make it easier for all of us. Even though we stayed at the cemetery for another 20 minutes, it was ultimately worth it because it will make it easier for us to edit.

Re-Editing Blog

     Unfortunately, my group and I were unable to meet because of the coronavirus pandemic. Even though I’m allowed to leave the house, the rest of my group mates aren’t. Because of this obstacle, we had to resort to technology. Me and my group members had to hop on FaceTime to complete our re-edits together. Even though it seemed a little difficult at first, it went pretty smoothly. Everyone had an idea of what edits and sounds they wanted to include and it was not hard to compromise. After talking about it for about five minutes, we agreed that their should be a suspenseful soundtrack playing behind the scene where our main character is introduced. This will help to set the tone for out thriller. Once our main character goes to knock on the door, however, we all agreed that their should be a sudden silence. This will evoke q sense of uncertainty within the audience.
     To go further, we also agreed that our cuts should be similar and not too fancy. This will make our opening seem more movie-like. Although it would be cool to add some extra transitions, we agreed that it would be better to make our film seem more realistic. Considering it is about an important issue, we wouldn’t want to make it seem as if we were making fun of it. It would be best if we kept everything rather basic. To state something that I should have before, Amelia is the one editing our film. Therefore, all of the information I have listed here, I have told to Amelia. She continued the editing for our film with iMovie, and I trust her because she has lots of experience with technology. Overall, our re-editing “meeting” was a success. We didn’t argue, we finished quickly, and we didn’t really change much.

Editing Blog

          Although I was not physically present with Amelia and to edit our footage, I stayed on FaceTime with both her and Maya the entire time. Amelia was editing our film on iMovie, which was ultimately beneficial. We all have edited on iMovie before so we were relatively familiar with the editing software. i Movie also gives us access to a lot more transition and image effects that Pinnacle Studios does not have. This will give us the opportunity to spice up our film and make it more appealing to future audiences. When it came the time to actually hop on the phone and edit together, we realized we needed more footage. Our transitions weren't flowing smoothly, neither were they coming together the way we imagined. Originally, I imagined our film to virtually be movie-like, with several cuts and effects in between scenes. However, it wasn't quite coming out this way. There were long pauses and we didn't really have a lot to choose from in order to at least try and fix it.
          Because we realized a re-film date, I am going to dedicate this paragraph to our re-filming ideas and how we are going to incorporate them into the final product of our film (meaning fully shot and edited). Firstly, the scenes we feel like we need the most work for are scenes 3, 4, and 5. This is because this is where the first suspenseful part of our film emerges. This is also where a tonal shift in our film is created. We need to make sure we choose the right music to effectively create this shift. We also need to make sure that we make the tonal shift in our film clear. We can do this by putting more emphasis on a certain sound when its time for the shift to take place. In order to effectively create more transition effects, we have to make sure we have a large selection of footage. This will make it easier for us to have more cuts in our film as well as make less room for mistakes. It will also shorten the time needed to finalize our project because we will have to do less re-filming.

         
       

Peer Review

         
          Today, my group I started and finished peer reviewing another group's footage. This was quite helpful and insightful because it gave us something to compare our film to. This comparison gave us room for lots of improvement. For example, the transitioning presented in our peer's film was extremely smooth and realistic. We wanted to mimic these transitions and cuts in our film. We believe it will not only make our film run smoother, but it will make it more tolerable to fully watch. From watching our peer's film, we also concluded that we need to make the shots we are trying to include more clear. To be more specific, in the film we were reviewing tried to incorporate an eye-line match but it wasn't really made effective because the transitions were so fast. In order to fully emphasize what was being revealed, they could have zoomed in on it or let the shot run a little longer. This would have ensured that the audience was fully engaged in their film (this goes the other way too, meaning it applies to our group's film as well).
          From peer reviewing, I also learned that a strong and suitable introductory sound track is very important to an audience's perception of your film. In my peer's film, they introduced the characters in the beginning with this soothing music in the background. This made the beginning of the film appealing and therefore also made my group and I want to keep watching it. In order to make sure this same effect is created in our film, we have to decide upon a strong sound track. Since our film is thriller, we want to make sure the music we embed in our film evokes the fear and suspense that most thrillers create. Not only this but, our film starts off with a boy who is more than excited to see his biological mom (after 15 years). If we make a contrast between the music in the beginning of the film to when he finds out his mom is "dead", this could effectively create a tonal shift in our film. This will help build upon our genre because it will intensify our film's suspense. This contrast in music will also create two different feels to the movie. We want our audience to actually be engaged in our film (we don't want them watching it because they are simply forced to). Therefore, we will make sure we use these reflections to better improve our overall film.

Filming Blog: A Change in Plans

          Our plans to film on Wednesday were followed through. Every member of our group, including my neighbor, Nick, was able to show up and participate. We all went to my house together straight after school so it was extremely convenient. Upon entering my house, we realized that we didn't have someone to play the role of the old lady in our film. So, we started brainstorming a way to maintain the same conventions included in our genre with only two actors. We also changed the setting of our film. Instead of filming at my house, we are now filming at Nick's. We believed this will be easier for us since his house is bigger and is always illuminated by natural light. Although this meant that we had to re-film our first two scenes, it was ultimately worth it. This is because it would make our film better in the long run.
          Overall, we filmed about six scenes. Although they weren't all done chronologically, we made sure they were shot well enough to edit them together. Some shots we made sure we included were over the shoulder shots, a two-shot, a couple close ups, and a point of view shot. The over the shoulder shots and the the two shot were mainly used to illustrate conversation between Nick and I. The close ups and point of view shots were used to reveal specific characters as well as the setting of the film (Nick's house). Some shots and editing features that we need to include are an action match and an establishing shot. We plan to make the establishing shot at Nick's house. We also planned to create our action match in another way. Instead of pursuing the cup to knock idea, we decided to slightly change the ending of our film. Instead of the mom being dead, she is still alive which intensifies the dramatic irony asserted in our movie. We are going to use the action match to transition into the scene where we tell the audience she is still alive.

Filming Blog: Opening Scene

          Unfortunately, Amelia was unable to attend our first filming meeting as a group. This hindered how many scenes we could actually film (because we didn't have enough actors) and forced us to only be able to film the opening scene of our movie. Because we are now on a time crunch, we are planning to meet after school on Wednesday to finish filming. Hopefully all group members will be able to attend. Not only this, but we did not have a tripod or camera when we filmed on Saturday. This made it harder to incorporate some of the shots we wanted. However, we still made progress. For example, to film the point of view shot of our main character walking up to his grandmother's house, we wrapped two rubber bands around Thomas' phone and my head. Even though it was slightly difficult to get the phone situated at first, we were able to get the shots we needed. This was probably the hardest thing we did that day.
          To go more in depth about what happened on Saturday, it is important to note that Maya and Thomas were helping one another film while I was acting. I played the role of our movie's main character, Alex. Unfortunately, there were only two scenes that Alex played by himself in. Therefore, we were only able to complete a couple of scenes. In fact, because Amelia was not there, we asked my neighbor to take her place and play the uncle (instead of the aunt) of Alex. Considering these accommodations we made, I believe we were quite productive. We will also still be using my neighbor as an actor in our film. All we need to figure out now is who will be playing the grandma/old lady in our film. We are considering using my neighbor's mom or Thomas' grandma. We will have to further discuss this collectively to agree upon a median.

Filming Blog: My House

          Unfortunately, my group and I have yet to film. However, we are planning to film on Saturday at my house. Therefore, I am going to dedicate this blog to what my group and I are planning to do that day. This will include angles we would like to incorporate, back-up plans, and most importantly, the shots for specific scenes. I believe that even though we haven’t started filming, our final product will still come out how we want it. This is because I think we have prepared ourselves enough for this moment. I also think that we all have a good, general grasp of what we want our movie to look like. This is good because it will allow us to critique each other during the filming process. This will thus make less room for silly errors or mistakes in our final product. It will also speed up our re-filming process because we will already know what we need to make better or improve.
          To start, my and group and I will be splitting up our filming times. This is significant because this means we will not be filming everything this Saturday. We will only be filming the first five scenes. These five scene require all of us to be there. While Maya is going to be directing, Thomas, Amelia, and I will play the roles of the characters in our movie. To be honest, we don’t really have set acting roles because we made out actors flexible (based on gender, race, etc). Therefore, it doesn’t matter who plays who because we all know what is required of us if we are forced to play a character we don’t necessarily like or enjoy being. On the other hand, we don’t really have to worry about a set mis-en-scene or any unexpected obstacles. This is because we are filming at my house which will provide us with all the props, costumes, and lighting needed to effectively create our film. This in-house setting will also prevent any unplanned weather patterns to get in the way of our filming time.  I strongly believe our filming process with go smoothly because of all these factors.

Even if the weather channel is right and it rains on Saturday, this will not effect us because we will be filming inside anyway.

Planning: Storyboard

This is our storyboard for our final project. This year in AICE media studies was the first time our group was introduced to storyboarding. We have learned all about why they are important to a film. Storyboards help us plan our film ahead of time. Not only does it help with the planing aspect but the visual too. By having to draw every scene we think ahead. This helps us eliminate any issues we might run into for filming. This also helps our group work together. If one person visualizes a scene one way and everyone else is thinking something different then it could cause issues during filming. This way all of our group members are on the same page and we are ready to film.

Planning: Title Design

This is our title design for our final project. We decided to make a powerpoint and break up different aspect of our title design sequence to make it more organized. While allowing us to be more organized this also helps us plan ahead. By planning ahead we eliminate any mistakes we could have at the last minute and not be able to fix. We separated our design into font, color, spacing, and transitions. Using google slides also allows our plan to be easily shared with our group members. By using google slides we can also easily embed our slide into our blogs. We have easy access to our information and won’t lose our hard work. We did run into some problems while doing our title design powerpoint. But now those problems are resolved and my group has an idea and plan for what we will be doing for our final task.

Planning

This is the planning for the final project. In this power point my group and I go over the planning aspect to our final project. The power-point goes over; the locations that we will use. The music that will be playing and making sure that it cannot be copyrighted. The participants are labeled, positions such as the director, actors, filmer, and editors. It also covers health and safety in the film. Things such as how to prevent injuries and in the event of an injury what we should do. Our schedule is also detailed in the power-point. It is important for a schedule because of all the extra curricular that my group is involved in we need to organizer. That is what we discussed in the power-point.

Planning Blog: Sound Script

This is the sound script for final project.We separated our opening sequence by scene and indicated exactly what the audience will be hearing in each scene. We included the dialogue, voice over, any diegetic or non diegetic sound and the music heard in each scene. The importance of making a sound script is to ensure a smooth filming and editing experience. If we neglected this step in the planning process it would almost certainly result in error and many circumstances in which we would need to reshoot or re-edit. Due to a short time frame and a busy schedule we do not have the luxury of filming an abundance of reshoots or much time to re-edit. Another reason we do this is to organize our thoughts. Writing out the script for our opening sequence allows us to discuss wether we feel these sounds make sense in our movie and if the dialogue is clear and understandable for the audience. The sound is a major component in guiding the viewer in how to feel and portraying the emotions of the characters. For these reasons we found it necessary to write out our sound script before starting the filming process.