Audience and Institution Practice Essay

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

Marketing plays an essential role when discussing the success and recognition of a film. When I'm introduced to a newly released film it's mainly by the company's marketing strategies. Some of these strategies include commercials, merchandise, cross-promoting, and promoting on social media. Not only do these strategies grasp the attention of many viewers, but it also makes these individuals want to invest in the film. 

         One commonly used technique that I have recognized in the marketing of films is cross-promotion. The movie is known as “Fantastic Beasts” used cross-promotion in various ways. The Warner Bros. partnered with AT&T to establish the creation of the film for it to be promoted worldwide. This strategy helped boost the recognition and publicity of the film as AT&T displayed posters within many stores and launched a preview on DirecTV. The main reason why I was interested in watching this movie was that I saw a preview for it while watching television. This proves that this is an effective marketing technique as it catches the attention of individuals who may be interested in watching the film like myself. Another way “Fantastic Beasts” established cross-promotion was through partnering with google. Google distributed ads which consisted of specific portions of the trailer to motivate the audience to be interested in the movie. This strategy helped expand the recognition of the movie to audiences worldwide. The last way “Fantastic Beasts” used cross-promotion was the creation of a Harry Potter-themed game that was released days before the movie was released to the public. As a result of the creation of this game, audiences were seen to have a higher interest in watching the movie when it was released. These examples from “Fantastic Beasts” show how cross-promotion is highly beneficial and crucial in the marketing process when promoting a new film.

         Another commonly used technique that I have recognized in the marketing of films is the creation of merchandise. The popular movie is known as “Spider-Man: Homecoming” produced a multitude of merchandise to promote the upcoming film. The sales team from Spider-Man: Homecoming used toys and other items as a way to get children to want to watch the film. They were also using the PS4's new Spiderman game to generate excitement for the movie. Before the film came out, to generate publicity for the film, they launched merchandise and when it was released, they had a massive premier. In order to produce a healthy profit, they released the film in all cities worldwide. Spider-Man also partnered with Cinnamon Toast Crunch to give out free water web-shooters with every cereal box. This attracted the attention of the younger audience, one that is more inclined to go watch movies like the aforementioned one. These merchandising techniques increased the public awareness of the film, creating a larger platform and gathered a hefty viewership. Marketing the film this way allows productions like Spider-Man: Homecoming to become well-known and profitable.

         Synergy is another commonly used technique in marketing strategies. The production of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 relied heavily on the use of synergy. This movie was produced by Disney, a conglomerate that owns a significant amount of smaller companies and networks. Guardians of the Galaxy used this to their advantage. It was produced by Marvel, a newly bought Disney subsidiary. In order to promote the movie, Marvel created animated features on the ABC network, using the characters from the movie to create suspense about the plot of the movie in these shorts. Disney also owns ESPN, so during the Super Bowl, Marvel released an all-new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer to peak the interest of an entirely different audience. A few days before the release, Marvel released a game online created by Disney Imagineering. This game was created to produce excitement and develop buzz around the movie premiere. Using synergy exposes the movie to a wider fan base and allows the company to save money on marketing, creating a cost-effective strategy that actually works. 

         The final marketing technique I will be talking about in this essay is cross-media convergence. The movie Furious 7 used two different types of media to promote their movie: print and radio. Many actors from Furious 7 were featured on the covers of Vibe magazine. In their feature, the actors promoted the movie by referring to behind-the-scenes features that were sure to pique the interest of those who were invested in the series from the start. Not only is this sure to recruit old audience members but it will also attract the newer audiences that read the magazines. On the radio, the producers released a certain amount of tickets to be raffled off to select listeners. It is known that people love free things, so using this tactic was to motivate people to call in for tickets, creating invested consumers in the process. There was also a soundtrack released with various artists such as Florida, Prince Royce, Wiz Khalifa, and others. These artists promoted their music on their pages that are highly followed, ensuring that millions of people would hear about the movie. Cross-media convergence works to integrate films into all aspects of a potential audience member’s life. 

Companies use these marketing techniques because they are the most proactive and the most efficient. They decrease the need for excessive marketing all the while increasing audience sizes.

"24" Extract Essay

The extract that was provided by my instructor mainly displayed excitement and thrill. This was because the main setting took place in an interrogation room along with the two main actors identified as the investigator and victim. The investigator desperately needed information from the victim who refused to say any information which soon lead the investigator violently choking the victim until he was forced out of the interrogation room by three overseers. This extract was known as “24.” The message that the author is trying to convey is that it can be challenging to contain your anger in stressful situations however, letting your anger get the best of you could ultimately ruin your opportunity to achieve your goal. This theme was conducted by the use of multiple techniques throughout the extract such as camera angles, camera shots, camera movements, sound, editing, and mis en scene. 

            In the beginning of the extract, the initial shot that was used was an over the shoulder shot. As the investigator first walked through the door to the interrogation room, an over the shoulder shot was used to show his unpleasantly angry look towards the victim sitting at the table. The usage of this shot allowed the audience to see the investigator’s angry facial expressions towards the victim. This shot also assured the audience that the investigator was looking directly at the victim and nothing else. Furthermore, a prop that was displayed in the beginning of the extract was I small stack of papers. The stack of papers were tossed on the table in front of the victim by the investigator soon after he walked into the interrogation room. The usage of this prop gives the audience a hint that some type of investigation is occurring between the investigator and the victim sitting at the table. The last technique used in the beginning of the extract was a sound technique known as dialogue. Dialogue occurred throughout the whole film however, it was first used when the victim started to have a conversation with the investigator soon after he placed the papers on the table. The usage of this dialogue allows the audience to have a clear understanding of what happened prior to the extract given and the reasons why the investigator is severely agitated. 

            During the middle portion of the extract, the initial shot that was used was a long shot. The long shot took place as it showed the victims full body, revealing that the victim was tied up to the chair she was sitting in after the investigator and victim started having an argument.  The usage of this long shot allowed the audience to intake the knowledge that the victim may have committed a crime or is capable of being dangerously destructive. Additionally, the final technique used during the middle portion of the extract was diegetic sound. Dietetic sound was used as the investigator angrily attacked the victim, forcefully pushing her against the wall while choking her. The usage of this diegetic sound allows for the creation of more suspense to fulfill the audience and help the audience understand occurring events. 

            During the last portion of the extract, the initial editing technique that was introduced was a split screen. The split screen took place when the two observers watching from the observation room were rushing to the interrogation room shortly after the investigator started to choke the victim. The usage of this split screen allowed the audience to visualize the conflict occurring within the interrogation room as well as the two observers that were trying to force their way into the interrogation room at the same time. Additionally, the second editing technique used during the last portion of the extract was an eye-line match. This eyeline match was used when the two observers stormed into the interrogation room and one of them conducted a head gesture expressing “let’s go” or “come here” to the investigator after he was forced away from the victim by the security guard. The last and final technique displayed during the ending of the extract was the overall view of the main setting which was the interrogation room. After the whole film took place mostly in the interrogation room, the audience would come to the conclusion that the interrogation room was the overall main setting and that the victim was most likely in there for doing something bad.

            In conclusion, the main idea of the movie was constructed through the usage of camera angles, camera movements, camera shots, editing, sound techniques, and mis en scene. In result of the investigator angrily attacking the victim in that stressful situation, he was punished by being removed from the case making him unable to question or work with that victim. The ending of this extract is what helped construct the theme that the author is trying to present to the audience; suppressing your anger in stressful circumstances can be difficult, however, allowing your anger to get the best out of you could eventually ruin your chance to achieve your main goal.

Final Task CCR

 


            When starting my CCR I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me. Before I started filming, I wanted to make sure that I had an appropriate location to film in. I wanted the location that I filmed my CCR to be very quiet with good lighting with a good background. After searching around my house, I decided to set up my filming location in my bedroom on my dresser. This was the perfect location as I  automatically knew I wouldn't get distracted or interrupted by any of my family members. When I started filming my CCR, there were four main questions that had to be discussed and answered. These four questions played a big role throughout creating all of my films. When filming myself answering these important questions, I had to start over multiple times on each question as I made various types of mistakes. Although I had to re-film many times, I had a lot of fun overall. Filming and answering these questions made me feel like I was in a talk show speaking to a cloud of people that were interested in what I had to say.
            When referring to editing, this was also a lot of fun. I was able to make my video very unique and creative just the way I wanted it to be. Editing all of my raw footage was also very time-consuming. When editing my footage, I imported many photos and videos to correspond with what I was talking about. This was very time consuming as I had to trim and crop my photos and videos before inserting them. Adding in specific photos and videos is what made my CCR unique and creative. Without these photos and videos, my CCR would be very boring for the audience to watch as it would be 13 minutes of only talking. Towards the end of my presentation, I decided to incorporate music. The music that I inserted was the music that played at the beginning of my horror film. At the very end of my film, I added a short clip that consisted of a black screen saying: "Thanks for watching." I incorporated this clip to smoothly wrap up the video and show my appreciation to my audience.

Final Task: The Taunting

          After filming the music video, I was excited to move on to the final task. The final task was the last thing that would be filmed for this class. I was so excited to begin working on this because movies are one of my favorite things to watch. In particular, I love horror movies. I knew this would be the genre I would want to focus on because of the love and compassion I have for it. After collaborating with my group, I discovered that they also enjoyed this genre as well. I couldn’t wait to begin filming and editing! With the help of my group, I thought of many different storylines for the introduction of a horror film. After lots of thinking and eliminating ideas, my group and I found the perfect idea. We selected the idea that would have the most potential for a horror film.

          After selecting an idea, I was eager to begin filming. The filming process was a lot of fun to experience. It felt as if I was in a real-life horror film. This was such a thrilling feeling because of how much I love horror films. Not only was it fun to film, but it was also a lot of fun to edit. Adding in the music and title sequences was a lot of fun, but it was also new to me. I was unaware of how to add text into the scenes on to iMovie. After conducting some research, I was able to easily learn how to add in the title sequences. I also had to trim the sequences to the right amount of time however, this was very easy to learn how to do. Overall, this task was a lot of fun and I learned lots of new tips and tricks that could be useful in later life experiences.

Music Video Overview

          After filming the commercial project, I was super excited to begin filming the music video. Music videos are so much fun to watch because there is so much creativity put into them. One of my favorite artists is Khalid so I knew I would want to a music video to one of his songs. I am so glad my group and I chose to use the song “Location” because it had such a peaceful and fun vibe to it. Luckily, this time when we filmed, I had previous knowledge, so the filming and editing process went much smoother. I was able to learn from the mistakes I made on the first film to help myself grow and improve on this project. Overall, filming this music video was a lot of fun. I learned a lot of new things and created such an amazing and unique film in the end.

Gatorade Commercial overview

This is the Gatorade commercial that was filmed closer to the beginning of the year. This was the product that was created by my group and I. Ever since we created this film, our production skills have gotten so much better. I have learned so many new skills and techniques about filming and editing from the other films that I created after this commercial. Overall, I am still proud of my gatorade commercial but, now that my skills have improved, I see some mistakes that I didn't see in the past when creating this film. The most importing lesson that I learned from creating this film was not to use my school's cameras as iPhone cameras seem to be much easier to use and record better quality footage.

Re- edit Blog: The Spread of COVID19

          Due to the rapid spreading of the coronavirus, schools have remained closed. There was a recent announcement that schools will be closed until the end of April AT LEAST. Individuals are now recommended to stay indoors and resist contact with all other individuals to stop the spread of this deadly disease. My groupmates and I decided to respect these new rules and regulations. As a result of this, my group and I were not able to reshoot leading to the conclusion of not being capable of re-editing any new footage. Although this was upsetting, we all knew it was for the best of our safety. Soon after this news was discovered, my group and I all joined into a group call as we knew this would be much safer then if we were to meet up in person. In our call, we discussed our opinions and future ideas. After some discussion, my group and I realized that the few editing mistakes found within are film could be easily fixed without re-shooting or re-editing. We knew that it wasn't going to be as good as actually re-shooting and re-editing, but it was all we could do to improve our film during the pandemic.

          When my group and I went back and reviewed our film, we realized that our film met all the necessary requirements. Our film only had a few small issues that could easily be improved without having to have new, raw footage. When we were in our group call, each of us decided to take one task to improve the quality of our film. My task was to make sure all of the transitions used were smooth and fit with each scene. Jade's task was to make sure that the title sequences remained on the screen for the correct duration of time. Sophia's task was to make sure that title sequences were in the correct order. Last but not least, Katia's task was to make sure that none of the scenes were burry and that they were all in the correct order. After we all completed our tasks, the quality and outcome of our film improved significantly. We were very happy that we decided to split these final tasks between all of us as it made this process much easier. Once we would finally say that our film was completed, we were very proud of the amazing film that we were capable of producing during this dangerous and devastating time.