Audience and Institution Practice Essay

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

            Marketing in the area of film is extremely important. It is used to help promote the film and bring attention to it, in hopes of it making money in the box office and having a large audience. Marketing in film is done in three large ways: through cross media, merchandizing, and cross promotion.

            Cross promotion is often used in marketing films. For the film ‘Fast and Furious 7’, the film was cross promoted by teaming up with the phone company OPPO. OPPO hosted events to promote the film and in return, the brand OPPO appears on some posters for the film. This way, both of these things (OPPO and Furious 7) benefit from using the other’s platform to gain exposure. Cross promotion also occurred with the movie ‘Ugly Dolls’. According to an article by Cinematic Slant, the film teamed up with many brands such as The Ad Council, Cold Stone Creamery, Hardees/Carl’s Jr., and Pinkberry. They did things such as adding two character-themed recipes to the menu of Cold stone. Unfortunately, according to Cartoon Brew, ‘Ugly Dolls’ was a flop, but this still serves as a good example. ‘Ugly Dolls’ partnered with numerous brands/companies in an attempt to gain exposure and advertise the film. This is an example where cross promotion may not have served as successful, but it is still important and can be very useful.

            Merchandizing is another marketing tactic used in marketing films. For the movie ‘Black Panther’, merchandizing was quickly utilized by the use of online shops. The film used Disney, Marvel, Amazon, and more in order to sell their products. Clothes were introduced as well as products that appealed to consumers of all ages. By introducing things such as toys and games for kids and shoes and clothes for adults, interest and speculation from the public increased. Another film that used merchandise as marketing was ‘Jurassic World’. Lots of merchandise was created both before and after the film was released. Many Lego sets were created as well as DVD’s, Video games, and an app. Toys were created, and even candy was distributed. By creating merch in different categories that could be made by different companies, both ‘Jurassic World’ and ‘Black Panther’ opened up more opportunities for exposure. By creating merch that appealed to different audiences, they increased the chance of the films having a large audience.

            Cross media convergence is the third thing used to market films. The film ‘Spiderman Homecoming’ came out with a soundtrack. This soundtrack included the voices of popular artists such as MGMT. By cross promoting to another area of media (music in this case), the film expanded its opportunity and the possibility of having a large audience. People who avidly listen to music will be able to see this and it will spark their interest in the film and cause them to want to watch it, especially if they enjoy the soundtrack. Another film that utilized cross media convergence was ‘Beauty and the Beast’. This live-action used a large amount of cross media convergence. A soundtrack was released as well and special iMessage stickers were created to send to people. Exclusive Twitter stickers were added to photos, the original cartoon film was aired more often on TV, and Cosmopolitan kept people updated by writing articles on the film. This was a lot of cross media convergence was used which aided the film in becoming a blockbuster. This is an example of cross media convergence that was very diverse, which is a smart marketing technique.

            Overall, marketing in the area of film is very important and has been proven effective in many cases. By using things such as cross promotion, merchandizing, and cross media convergence, films and their production companies are able to spread the word about their movies. They do this in hopes that their film will become a blockbuster with a large audience when it hits the big screen. Taking from these cases, can infer that the more exposure films get, the more likely they are to be successful overall.

TEA Essay

I watched an exert from the show 24. The excerpt, to me was about a traitor to a country named Nina, and an agent by the name of Jack. Jack goes to question Nina and quickly gets frustrated, causing him to (attempt to) get physical. I believe that the director is trying to create a suspenseful production, and possibly an action genre.

            The first scene begins with a close up that shows both Jack and Nina’s faces. This is used in order to portray the characters’ emotions for the audience to better read. This allows the audience to analyze the characters and how they are feeling about each other basically from the get-go. Next, an eye-line match showing Jack eyeing the cameras is used to demonstrate Jack acknowledging the cameras as well as his observers. This again gives the audience the impression that he is fairly cautious as a character and person. After this, diegetic sound is used to show the sound of certain objects. It is used to create a sort of intensity and sharpness to the production which goes hand in hand with it being somewhere in the action genre. Next, the monitor room setting so other people can monitor Jack and Nina is used to contrast settings and have people to intervene for when Jack gets angry. This creates suspense because the people in the room are just watching, making the viewer believe that they are almost waiting for something to happen. After this, dialogue is used to illustrate conversation between characters. This dialogue enhances the plot and leaves the audience intrigued like the director planned to. Last, the desk is used as a prop and allows Nina a place to sit. This prop acts as something that is wrecked to illustrate Jack’s anger. This is common in action films, because there is usually a lot of destruction. All of these things contribute to the spread of the director’s message.

            In the second scene, things start to escalate after Jack gets angry at Nina. This scene starts off with a split screen used to show two events occurring at once. This is used to provide more contrast when it comes to how the different characters are reacting to Jack’s anger. It gives the audience the memo that a lot is occurring, similar to how it is in other productions in the action genre. After this, an over the shoulder shot showing the agent’s perspective is used. This is used to show hoe Nina and Jack behave and what is going on in that room from another perspective. These aspects also contribute to the director’s message and genre as well.

            To sum it up, the camera shots and movement, sound, editing, and mis en scene used all contribute to the message of the director and the genre of the production. Throughout the excerpt common conventions seen in the action genre are used and when  closely analyzed, certain details used aloe the director to convey their message to the audience.

Final Task

This is the Final Task that my group-mate and i created it. I really enjoyed filming and editing it and I am proud of the way it turned out!!

CCR

This was the final thing I completed (after the Final Task), and I had to answer the 4 CCR questions. I decided to be interviewed in a talk show format where my Mom was the host. I edited it and put in slides from my genre research PowerPoint to help the audience see the conventions I discussed in the interview.

Music Video

This was the second project I had to do. I had to create a music video to a song of my choice. My partner and I decided to do the song 'Sunflower' by Post Malone.

Commercial

This was my first major assignment. I had to create a commercial on a product of our choice from a list. My partner and I decided to film a commercial on Zephyrhills water.

Reshoot Blog: Could Not Reshoot

As I stated in my previous blog, schools are closed due to the Coronavirus. I received news that I will not be physically returning to school until at least April 15th. Starting March 30th my county's schools will all begin online school for two weeks (at least). Thankfully, I have access to the news and internet so I can be updated on announcements related to this virus and able to do school online. My county also has programs like canvas still set up and running. This way, I am able to upload work that was assigned before schools closed. My teachers are also able to send me and my classmates messages on Canvas. My media teachers have sent me and my class multiple messages and updates. In the most recent one, they told us about the changed school dates and also alerted us that Cambridge is still on track and hasn't moved deadlines. I found this very helpful for two reasons. The first one is that by telling us the updated school dates, students who may not have known about this now do. The second reason is that it was very kind and helpful of them to alert us about Cambridge not changing dates and so forth. If it wasn't for them, I would not have known about that. Now onto reshooting. Shooting and reshooting are going to be a different problem than editing and editing. Editing and editing can be done over the phone or individually. Depending on the circumstances, shooting and reshooting most-likely has to be done in person. This makes it hard, especially if you're working in a group or with a partner like I am.  I may have to individually reshoot and my partner may need to do the same. Either way, we will find a solution and finish our Final Task.