Audience and Institution practice essay

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

In the film industry marketing is a prominent method used to promote a feature film. I feel as if distributing the films in unique ways such as cross promotion and synergy help to advance the income on the movie and allow for success. By using these methods, the film companies allow for exposure to both participants which will help promote and benefit both while using things that interest the audiences. 

Spiderman Homecoming was one of the many movies that included multiple uses of marketing techniques. The recent movie used a version of synergy to help promote two interconnected brands. Cinnamon Toast Crunch marketed the new Spiderman movie on their cereal boxes by including special toys inside, relating to the film. However, by marketing on these cereal boxes it attracts the younger population who might not be able to see the movie due to the PG-13 rating. This may not be the best marketing technique for movies that have an age restriction as they may not get the return on their investment.  Although, it does expose the younger generation to the existence of the movie. Not only did Sony Pictures use synergy but they included cross promotions and cross media. They partnered with Target to produce a children's toy to promote the upcoming movie.  They also created a soundtrack in the movie that could be streamed later.  In all, Spiderman Homecoming was ranked 18^th for All Time Domestic Box Office for Superhero Movies. The movie produced $334,201,140 which was generated through the help of synergy, cross promotion, and cross media. In my opinion, as a fan of this series, I think marketing was a huge advancement in the making of success for the movie, as I saw many advertisements that convinced me to watch my first Spiderman movie. 

The movie Black Panther was released around the world making $1,346,913,161 worldwide. As well as domestically making $700,059,566. This movie was promoted in so many ways as it was a newly produced series for Marvel. Firstly, Marvel Studios took a unique turn on ways of marketing. They hosted a New York Fashion Week which featured pieces inspired by the movie. The conglomerate used cross promotions to help promote the new movie as well. The trailer debuted during an NBA finals game for the viewing of a huge audience. Kendrick Lamar, a very well-known rapper for the younger population also performed a song from the movie's soundtrack at a college football game. By incorporating Kendrick Lamar in the movie, it not only appeals to the audience but also induces his fans to watch the movie. The soundtrack was not only used to enhance the movie but also to support marketing for the movie. It was number one on the Billboard 200 Chart and spent three continuous weeks at the number one spot. The movie was a very well promoted feature and allowed for many opportunities for new audiences.

Jurassic World became the third largest grossing movie of all time dominating the box office and was nominated for a substantial number of awards.  The team had to market the movie so that it was appealing to audiences, leading to the movie’s success. As a pre-existing famous movie, they had used this as leverage to market for the new version. Universal Studios used cross promotion to get Comcast’s Television companies to air the original Jurassic Park to excite fans. During this marathon they included sneak peaks of the new movie hosted by Steven Spielberg and Chris Pratt on NBC. Jurassic World also partnered up with companies such as Lego and Mike and Ike to advocate to the young generations gaining new interests in the movie as this generation would not have been alive at the time the original movie’s release. By doing this, not only did they rouse the old fans, but they also earned new ones. For people interested in the tech portion of the movie Jurassic paired with Sony Pictures to produce a commercial displaying sneak peeks of the park as well as how Sony technology made it possible. I feel that they used many smart techniques to help raise awareness of the new movie. Dairy Queen featured a Jurassic Smash blizzard in accordance with the movie. Personally experiencing this marketing strategy when I visited Dairy Queen, it sparked my interest in the film and I went to see it when it was released.  I think this was a very useful marketing strategy as it got the attention of all ages. 

On the other hand, marketing was not so helpful when it came to the movie Ugly Dolls. Ugly Dolls in general was a failure the industry. Trying to resemble the movie Trolls, Ugly Dolls hired many famous singers to take part in the movie in hopes of raising attention for the movie.  When STX launched the movie it only netted 8.5 million in total.  According to the article, STX Wanted ‘Uglydolls’ To Be A Franchise. Instead They Got A Flop, “The numbers aren’t pretty considering how widely it was released and how extensively it was marketed.” This demonstrated that the amount of money spent on marketing did not produce a return in profits from the movie.  STX used many strategies of marketing, however it didn’t bring in the money they were hoping for.  As a version of cross promotion, Cold Stone Creamery added two character- themed flavors to its menu hoping to appeal to the children ordering the flavor to see the movie.  Ugly Doll producers also aired a 30 second commercial during Puppy Bowl and a video for National Pancake Day describing how to make character shaped pancakes.  Another tactic they used, was making many posters featuring the characters and the famous singers which played them. They included a key message saying that the movie was going to be “The movie musical event of the year” due to the vast group of singers.  Through the online world Ugly Dolls held a “Meet the Ugly Dolls” where visitors can find out more about the production and enjoy online activities with the dolls. Ugly Dolls used many more strategies to try and get word out there about the production but in the end failed miserably. Even with the marketing strategies used for this movie, I still never heard of it.  As a result, you can see that marketing is not always helpful in the success of a film, however if done correctly it can be a very promotional way to help the prosperity of the movie. 

The use of marketing in the movie industry is extremely impactful to the production company.  After understanding the many different techniques used, such as, cross promotion, cross media, synergy, and cross media convergence I can now clearly see how important it is. Marketing not only raises money for the production company but helps to advertise the movie allowing for more opportunities for a higher success rate in the box office. Overall, my opinion on the importance of marketing is that I think it is very influential and significant. 

Extract essay

In the extract from the show 24, the director includes a very dramatic and intense scene of a cities fate in the hands of the woman he is interrogating. He conveys a feeling of intensity as he tries to pull information out of the suspect about a bomb. He creates a message that violence doesn’t always solve the problem. 

The first scene begins with the detective walking into the room angrily while the suspect sits there calmly. It opens with incidental music that continues through most of the extract. By including the music, it emphasizes the importance of the scene and the information she is withholding. The detective, Jack, looks at the camera in the corner of the room, where the director then uses the camera movement technique of zoom to show the audience that Jack knows he is being watched and cannot get too violent with her.  This foreshadows the future as he eventually loses his cool and starts to choke her. Jack then shuts the door which is a diegetic sound to the scene. This gives an underlying effect that something is about to happen. The scene then proceeds to display a close up of the suspect, Nina’s, face. This demonstrates the calmness that she holds in the situation showing that she has an underlying power. Jack walks closer to Nina, as she looks up at him it reveals a low angle of jack. This represents that he has the higher power as he is the detective and she is the suspect. 

The scene then switches from the interrogation room to the monitoring area outside of it. The director uses cross cutting to go back and forth from the two areas. This allows for the audience to see what is happening at two different places but at the same time. In this scene you can also see the costumes and clothing the actors are wearing. The professional business attire such as suits and sweaters make it look more realistic. This clip also includes a wide shot of the other detectives watching the TV monitors exposing what is taking place inside the room. This helps to show the area around them while including the actors. 

The scene then switches back to inside the interrogation room by using an editing technique called cutting. This acts as a transition for the two clips going from one area to another. Then director uses lowkey lighting in the interrogation room to dramatize the situation; this shows its mystery and dreariness. Nina looks at the clock in the room which is ticking loudly. This is an important prop showing that they are in a rush and by adding the sound effect technique it emphasizes the time limit. The two then start to talk about the bomb. This is called dialogue and it helps the audience understand what is going on in the scene. After Nina’s request, the camera focused on Jack’s angry face through an over the shoulder shot from Nina. This is one of the many shots that help make the clip interesting while showing the important features in the scene. While the two are talking the director includes a shot reverse shot in the room. This keeps the person talking in view which allows continuous action to remain on the screen. Jack and Nina continue talking when Jack gets mad and throws the table. He then goes close to her face and yells at her. This is a two shot which presents the actors’ emotional reactions to the situation. Acting is very prominent in this clip as it shows him becoming very furious making the scene intense. 

The scene then cuts back to the monitoring area. This scene includes a reaction shot of the two detectives watching them in the room. It demonstrates that they are uneasy about the situation, which can also foreshadow the coming actions of Jack. This short clip also incorporates a medium shot of the other male detective looking at the TV. By using a medium shot it not only shows his face emotions but his body language like his shoulders being tense and biting his fingers. This adds to the uneasy feeling. 

Once the scene switches back to the interrogation room the director includes a sound motif of Jack's reaction when Nina says he could be taken off the case. This creates more tension between the two. Jack sits down and stares at her thinking what to do next. The director uses a pan shot of them staring at each other. This allows the audience to connect to the scene by feeling what they feel such as tension, anger, and intimidation. This scene also involves a sound mix technique when Nina is talking with the incidental music behind her. It adds to the feeling of intimidation and anger. The scene proceeds with them in quiet with close ups of their face. This shows the makeup that they wear. This scene uses natural looking and not an exuberant amount of makeup as the director tries to make the scene genuine to the audience. It also shows a little bit of sweat applying that this is a stressful situation. 

The scene moves to an intense portion where Jack shoves Nina into the wall. The camera shows a high angle of him choking her. By using a high angle, it shows Nina is powerless in the situation making her vulnerable. It then goes right into a split screen showing Jack being violent in the room and the other detectives racing to get him off of her. This helps the audience visualize the separate actions simultaneously; it tells the same story in a more exciting manner by including the split screen. On one half of the screen it shows the detectives rushing to the room by using a tracking shot. Tracking shot keeps the audience engaged with the actions on screen by following the frantic detective. After the detectives and officer get into the room there is a long shot of Jack standing next to Nina gasping for air. This shows the cold and darkness of the room while also bringing attention to his body language. It displays the whole situation that is taking place including the setting and the work of the actors. While Jack is walking out of the room the director adds score music into the scene. This increases the level of drama while he walks out keeping the audience to think what happens now. 

The director uses a variety of camera angles, shots, camera movements, sounds, props, and editing to bring the point across that violence doesn’t always solve a problem. When Jack doesn’t get his way, he uses violence to try and get the answer out of her, however this didn’t work and caused more trouble. The director uses those techniques to dramatize and emphasize the effect of the problem they are faced with. 

TEA worksheets

Creative Critical Reflection

Here is my creative critical reflection in which I described my growth throughout the year through the use of 4 important questions. This included, How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?  How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?  How did your production skills develop throughout this project? How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project? I answered these questions in-depth in the video and went over the projects we completed throughout the year. I included pictures and videos of the process, blogs, and the movie. This was to help the audience visualize my progress. Even though the covid19 pandemic had halted some of our progress we adapted to the situation to figure out a solution and still make our movie. So even though the year was full of twists and turns we figured it out and I'm very proud of myself and my group for getting through it. Thank you for following me through my journey this year. 

Nightmare (final task)

This is our final task for Cambridge. My group and I chose to do an opening scene for a thriller movie. Although this movie was a struggle we still ended up learning many helpful media perspectives that could be made useful in the future of the filming business. This was our final project to show all the improvements and progress we made throughout the year through the production, filming, researching, and editing of this movie opening. In the end, looking back at this year I feel as if I learned everything there is for a beginner to learn and absorb. I know that I made new developments and learned many new things about media in general. This class was an eye-opener for movie production and I have gained an interest in pursuing this in the future because of this class.

Music video

Here is my second project we completed. This one was quite different in some ways. Firstly, my group was different; we had James instead of Amanda as our third person in the group. Also for this project, I definitely saw more progress in many aspects. I learned how to utilize more shots and angles to the right use. I also improved on the planning process by learning the right way to storyboard and plan the next steps before filming. There was also a lot of research that went into this video. I learned how to properly research the certain conventions of the video we were choosing; in this case, it was a rap video. As a result of efficient research, I feel like it was easier to plan our music video knowing the certain aspects we could include. I noticed many learning developments through this project compared to the last project in which I was excited to use for the final task.

Commercial

 

This was our first project of the year. My group and I decided to make a commercial promoting our school for incoming freshmen to come to our school. This video was shot during school hours which made it easier as we could ask our teachers questions for any filming problems or editing problems. I feel like as it was our first project it wasn't too bad but now looking back at it with everything I have learned, it looks like an amateur video. I learned minimal from making this video but I did make progress from not knowing anything to the basics of filming a commercial. We learned how to use mis en scene, different angles and shots to enhance the video, and new editing skills to make the video look more professional. However, this is just the first of my development, you will see the music video next.