audience and institution essay

New movies are released every day, some make it big, some don't, but what

is it that really fluctuates a film? Well, a good film is definitely one factor, but the

concept that brings a movie to light and creates chatter is marketing. Marketing

is a very strategic and important aspect when starting and completing a film.

Of course, without an audience there is no film. 

Marketing includes many factors like, distribution, trailers, ads, merchandise, games

and much more. For example, Jurassic park , it is the third largest grossing movie

of all time bringing in over a billion dollars since released. Now, people wonder

why it did so well, it could be the advanced technology, the acting and even the

directing. Logically, the quality of the movie won't be known without an audience,

this is where marketing takes over. Jurassic park used cross promotion to display

old movies and commercials of jurassic park on NBC, so that the audience will

feel more inclined to want to watch the newer version. They released many

posters, some which were limited edition, they came out with video games

and toys to promote the movie. This kind of marketing is vital to a film, it targets

different age groups, different states, and even different countries. 

According to Daniel Kehrer, an advanced marketing analyst, Studios spend an

average of $30 million to market the typical PG-13 action film in the U.S. The

movie spider man homecoming had a budget of 175 million, worldwide they

made around 880 million in gross. If this statistic applies, a big portion of the

budget was used to market the movie. The idea that big productions strategically

use a portion of their money on marketing, shows how crucial it is to creating a

popular movie. Spider man homecoming, used cross promotion by selling

spider man figured with logos of the new movie in stores like target. They also

created their own soundtrack, people could download and listen to it on their

own, cross media is a really good way for people to keep thinking about the

movie even after it is released. 

When marketing, there are many ways to do it, special events are one way, but

not every film does it. Fast and furious used special events to promote their

film by getting attention from not only the audience but the press. They held a

special red carpet event called, “Road to furious 7: Trailer launch event”. It

allowed fans to ask questions about just the trailer itself, this brought even more

attention to the film before it was released. The directors even created a website

to host contests, post videos and pictures. This is a smart way to market towards

their fan base. It keeps fans engaged and excited for the film. 

Another film that helped special events was Black Panther. They used marketing

to target fashion, they hosted a New York fashion week event that was inspired

by outfits displayed in the film. Marketing is done in a very strategic way, they need

to be able to reach different fan bases. Black Panther got over a billion dollars in

gross domestic product. Those numbers are very high and it was due to the

marketing and the different people that it reached. 

Overall, there are many factors that make a movie popular and create lots of

revenue, but without marketing and its importance, the film industry would not

surplus as well as it does. Marketing has aspects that target many different people,

kids, adults, fashion industry and teenagers. Personally, I am not in touch with the

film industry and the release dates of films, but marketing is what makes me

encouraged to watch films that come out. 

extract essay - game of thrones

The extract of ‘game of thrones’ creates a tone of suspense and action. The use of shots, mis en scene and sound is done so in order to resemble a film shot in the medieval times. These tools were also done to make the audience feel that sense of suspension which could also imply the genre to be action. 

  In the first scene, it starts off with an aerial shot to give the audience an understanding of what is occuring. An old style boat is shown, depicting the old theme of the film. The next clip is a mid shot of two characters, this close up allows a clear shot of the facial expressions of the characters. Their faces expose a sense of confusion, sweat, anger and stress. This emotion plays into the idea that there is something suspenseful going on or foreshadowing a suspenseful situation. Based on sound, there is use of diegetic sound like the waves and the birds, this is done to give the audience a realistic feel of the scene. It engages the audience deeper into the film, which allows the director to amplify any feelings. The ambient sound that the film uses is the chatter of the men while the boat is sailing, as well as intensifying music, this in itself gives the scene a suspenseful feeling of what is going to come next. 

The next scene starts off in a dark hall where three more characters join and an intense conversation arises. There is a jump cut from the boat scene to the building scene as the time where the boat arrived is not filmed. This is done to show how the scene is being rushed and there could be a situation crucial to the characters. Here lighting and costumes is important to proving the theme. The lighting is dark and mysterious which prompts suspension and questions for the scene. The audience tends to wonder what bad thing may occur due to the lighting and shots. The costumes are dark, black, and include armors and robes. This supports the idea that the film is trying to replicate the medieval times. The reverse shot reverse was shot to film the dialogue scene. The intensity of the characters' conversation really created tension and suspension. The close ups and the attitude of the dialogue revealed the tension between the characters.  Lastly, point of view was a good set of evidence to show the tension in the situation. The shot where the audience gets the point of view of the  three characters sitting in a chair is powerful. It shows that those three men hold power over the other two, this raises tensions which leads to a rise in suspension and confusion. 

Overall, the director does a great job of creating a tense and suspenseful situation. He does this while creating a film to resemble the time era he wanted. With these tones and evidence to support them, it's inferred that the genre to the film is action. Action includes tense conversations, sweat, dark lighted scenes, dialogue about war, etc. Although within these themes there is no violence it can be inferred that violence will be shown in following scenes.

CCR for a bit of love

The three separate clips above is the CCR for the movie a bit of love. I actually worked really hard on answering these questions and editing. Editing took me a long time, I tried to find pictures that matched with the topic I was speaking about. All of my answers to the questions were blunt and honest. I tried my best to go deep into each question and discuss something good and something bad in each topic. I personally am really proud of my CCR as I was very creative in making this.

a bit of love - final movie part 2

This blog includes the second part of the beginning clips of our movie, A bit of love. There is another blog titled "a bit of love-final movie part 1" that contains the first part of the movie. The reason for this was that the blog would not let me post the entire thing because it was too big. I decided to cut it in half and upload it into two separate blogs as it made it efficient. The final piece was a lift off the shoulder. It took about three months to complete two minutes of a movie called a bit of love. This was a very challenging project as there were so many aspects to it, like an original idea, storyboards, filming, acting, copy right. It gave us the slightest idea of what a real movie production could look like, if two minutes took us three weeks I can only imagine what 2 hours would take. Overall, I would say the film was okay, i wasn't completely pleased with the flow of the movie. We did work hard on it and I know I worked hard but I feel as if smoother filming would have came a long way. With smoother filming, editing could have been a lot easier. The story line in general had very good position but I feel is harder to create than it seemed. There was a lot we could have done if the film ran longer but unfortunately two minutes is all we had.  The idea was to capture the audience in those two minutes. I hope our film suffices, I personally watching back feel like it did just that. Even though some confusion could be expressed by the audience, it allows for more attention. Something that would be underrated is the effort for each scene. The food scene was especially our favorite as it took hours to make and is supposed to resemble body parts. The setbacks we experienced were like no other. Due to the corona virus we could not reshoot as a team or have the cameras available to us. Since I had to edit on Imovie I had to work with what i got, titles were quite difficult to make as the source did not let me move the titles however i wanted. We got through the downs and created a movie we feel looks great.

a bit of love - final movie part 1

fly me to the moon- music video

At the beginning of the year my group and I worked on a music video project. We chose the song fly me to the moon by Frank Sinatra. We tried to portray an LGBTQ couple that is in love and dances while they bond to the song. We shot this film at a local middle school. With more time a different location would have been ideal. The classic, gave us many opportunities to create a film that had old fashion style to it. We were able to create the film in black and white which set the tone for the time the song came out. I was actually an actor for this music video, where as in the final project i focused more on editing. We were actually really proud of this film, we thought it was very smooth and simple. If I could change something I would probably get a few more scenes to add into the film. Scenes with certain angles that really helped create a romantic genre. This film taught my group and I a lot about how we would proceed with the next project. Blogging was something that became easier, as I learned how to get in depth with my project step by step. In general it helped our group as we got used to the camera. I got used to being in front of the camera. Emily was used to filming and learning how to use the tripod. Jaheim edited most of this film, he did a really good job and got used to pinnacle studios. This project also helped us understand all the technology we use for creating these films. We learned that the laptops in school are very slow, similar to the apps at the school. But, we also learned that we have to be able to back up our data and send it to each other so that it is not lost. That is actually how we have this film available , because we had emailed the music video to each other.

reshoot- final choices

Recently, there was a pandemic that stalled many things. This included our reshooting which affected re-editing, but we have come above these problems.Emily decided to take control of the re-shooting. She herself decided to re shoot the parts we needed. This was due to the fact that no one could go to her house and help her due to social distancing. She still did it, and sent it in the group chat. The part that she re shot was the shattering of objects. Her primary focus in this filming was safety precautions. She added many things to her filming like, wearing glasses and breaking the glass on top of a trash bag. When we initially filmed this scene, pieces were everywhere. This was dangerous because although we cleaned up, there was no promise that all the pieces were picked up. When something shatters it leaves remnants which probably remained on the ground. This time Emily broke a cup and a plate on top of a black trash bag. Now, she can just secure the bag and the pieces would be completely picked up. This avoids anyone getting cut from stepping on something. The original shooting of breaking glass was okay, but the background made it really hard to put into the film. There was alway someone or something in the background that was completely out of character. It did not look good and we figured it looked better without it then with it. The new film didn't have random items and people in the back. The lighting was also a lot clearer than the original clip. Emily then forwarded the videos via message and I saved them onto my laptop.

Delay in movie

There has been a huge change in the world as well as school, which has affected all my classes including aice media. The corona virus is an epidemic changing all things little and small. The next step for our movie was reshooting. This was now a lot kore difficult to due since we could not get the cameras from school. We also cannot meet up to reshoot or meet up to discuss anything. When it comes to editing, this is also harder as we cannot use the laptops from school. Now we will need to edit fully on iMovie unless something else is available. Help is also something that is negatively affected. Even though we have been led on the right path by our teachers, getting help was crucial to the movie. Being able to ask little questions to our teachers and group members was really important. Due to the inability to have contact with anybody, we look to social media to help us. We have the ability to text or email our teachers as well as text our group members. The internet is definitely our friend through this tough time. It’s allowed us to keep contact with everyone through this journey. One positive thing about this is being able to stay home and have more to time to complete editing. I will be doing this on my laptop hoping to perfect things. As for reshooting, I do not know when I will receive the film or how it will look. This means I need to edit to my best ability waiting for more film. This is not something anybody expected and there will be much change in everyone’s lives. Hopefully we will be able to proceed with the movie as well as being able to focus on school and keep up with my classes.

planning to re-shoot and re-edit

This week, my group and I are discussing the next steps to the film. There are a few scenes that need to be reshot, as well as new ways we want to edit. For the reshooting, I will be out of town so unfortunately they will have to do it without me . I know we are focusing on the shattering of the plates scene, since they were not smooth. Even though we have a film edited and ready, it could have a lot fo work done to it. This is where I come in. My job is to edit with Jaheim and really focusing on making a smoother film. This includes the style of titles. Since some of the work I edited was on Imovie the title style was different. I wasn't able to move the titles around where I wanted them. On pinnacle studious, it is a little different. We want to try setting up the film on Imovie, to have quicker cutting and piecing together. Then, we want to transfer the film to pinnacle studios which Jaheim will focus more on. Since I have worked with Imovie before and it is my laptop, it seems to fit the plan better. I want to focus on colors for the titles. Some scenes blend in better with white or black but I want to be able to have a theme with the titles instead of just fitting it to each theme. Another thing is size. The titles in our film already, do not match the importance of the size that I feel it could. It will be my job to make sure the sizes of the titles also align with the scene and job. As for filming, I will not play an important role there. 

Peer review : leaving dreams

Two days ago, we got the chance to peer review somebody else’s film. It definitely helped me put a new perspective to my own movie. Watching this movie, I got the chance to see what lighting and angles looked smooth and what didn’t. We looked at how he filmed and the many different shots he took. We saw he had a lot of the names and the right format. He had a nice subtle font that gave a calm effect to the movie. The lighting was very good throughout. The natural lighting gave it a very real feel. The music was calm until the end. This gave suspension to the film zoom was added to make the people watching notice what was important. There was many details that were in the movie. The picture at the beginning alluded to the end which showed the man in the beginning missing. The thints he needs to work on is dialogue. When they are speaking to each other you cannot hear it clearly. I had trouble hearing what they said. If that were to be fixed, the movie would definitely improved. Overall, sound was the only issue that I saw. Everything else seemed to work out very smoothly.

editing blog: the rough draft

Our first filming day is complete. We have every part we need to start putting together the film. We will be editing on pinnacle studios. The first step was to take all the film and put it on google drive. Jaheim did that. I was going to start the editing. We were on a short time period since our peer review was due in the next few days. Our main focus was getting the right clips into the app and to have them structured properly. There was tons of film which made it harder for us. This was probably the most time consuming. I was in charge of finishing up the edit. I had to add the titles for each scene. It didn't always align which made the editing process longer. I do not think the final film will match up to the powerpoint we had previously made but as long as all the information is included, it works. Due to the shortened of time, we had to transfer our film onto  I movie. I had to do it onto my laptop, and finish up editing. Personally I felt as if, editing on I movie was easier than pinnacle studios. Overall, the film turned out okay, re-filming and reediting is definitely going to be crucial for the final movie. Music still needs to be added onto the film, to create a more suspenseful tone. As well as, Putting more editing for the car scene.

filming : outside

For this next scene, we filmed a car and outside scene at the clubhouse of Emily's neighborhood. To begin, we brought two cars but only used one. I drove my car to drive a few people so that Emily could film the two actors in the back seat of the other car. I helped lay out the red carpet and tell Emily the best shots to get. Finding a good place for the red carpet was important to fill the famous look. Similar to the inside filming I had my phone with different things set up to film. I pulled up the script, the scenes and the story board for this part. I had to remind Emily to shoot the car pulling up as well as some scenes on the red carpet. A low angle shot was important to our storyboard and I helped Emily get the shot perfectly. This was part of my co-directing job. All scenes were accounted for and if we wanted any extras, we shot them. One downfall during this was the rain, we didn't necessarily have anything planned for lighting but we would have preferred it not been raining. In the end it worked out fine as the rain didn't intensify until after filming. I also helped make sure the outfits looked good during these shots. The heels, hair and dresses needed to look prepared for this scene. Another main job I had was to be the paparazzi. I held two to three phones and I kept clicking the flashlight to interpret a camera. I tried to do this near the camera instead of near the actors so that you can see the flashing. During this, I also had to shout out to the "famous couple". I said things like, "yes work it" seeming like I am filming them. This is done to show their social class.

Filming: inside the house

Inside the house 

Over the weekend we filmed the inside scene, to film the main food scene. This filming took place at Emilys house. There were many things to set up before this scene started, including outfits, food, plates and the table. I had to pull up a few things on my phone. I had the pictures of the storyboard, the google slides of the script and the shooting. Since I was not acting it was important that I was around to help remind the person filming and the actors what shot we want to get. The food scene is about the only scene shot inside. I helped Emily direct the film and shots. While the food was getting set up, I helped make sure everyone was in their right positions. I did this by looking at the story board and seeing if the actors, Jaheim and Victoria were in their proper seats. I then explained to Emily what we had in mind for which angle to shoot the shot. When it was time for their lines about the food, I pulled up the script. I reminded Jaheim and Victoria what they each had to say. This was important as they were constantly forgetting which line to say next. My importance here was not too hard, I enjoyed helping out the person filming and the actors. Co-directing, I would say is a good title for my role. Some other things that were a part of the food scene, was correcting certain things. For example, the plates positioning and when to put the food where. As well as making sure the camera was in an angle that did not include mirrors, or blocked out anyones face. Due to to tightness of the dining room with mirrors on both sides, we had to make sure the camera was set perfectly centered. 

Filming blog: pre-start

Unfortunately, my group and I have not started filming. This has to do with the fact that the blogs that were due in the last few days, including the 10 pages worth of storyboarding. Stretching out each scene to fit into 10 pages was probably the most difficult part.  Although I am confident in our script, it was hard to make each scene in this much detail. I personally had some trouble putting both the script and storyboard together. I knew the work was being done but I needed to sit and match each one to have a better understanding of what we will be filming. The group also raised some concerns as to whether our script would clearly match the storyboard for the filming. Due to this hesitance we have not yet filmed. We took this class period to come up with a schedule that works for us all. I drive, so location is not an issue for me but one factor that made it difficult for me to schedule well is my work. Since this filming needs to be done as soon as possible, this weekend was our best bet. i work all weekend, so I am making it my responsibility to switch a shift around to be able to make it. We are creating a schedule that all four of us can attend, since two of us are actors, one if filming and then I will be helping with props and extras in the film. Even though we do have a location, we found another one that may fit best. This is another reason why we took a while to film, because we wanted the best possible spot. We have decided instead to film at our group members grandma house. We want to meet up on Saturday around 12-1. We also needed props and food prepared before we started filming. Food is important to set up since it needs to resemble body parts and more time to set this up, the better. Also, more time allows us to set up the house to get rid of anything we do not want in the shot as well us set up anything we do in the shot.

planning blog: storyboard

The storyboard for my film was done by two of my group members. In order of each scene, the following is drawn out: 

The first template shows a sketch of the film. protagonists (the married couple) in their wedding photo, before slowly zooming out to glass surrounding it as a foot steps down and shatters it, the couple will also be yelling at each other in the background as this happens although we didn't write that out explicitly. The camera will then cut to the couple arguing and yelling at each other. The next shots will be of a plate flying across the screen, followed by a bowl, and then a wine glass. Shots of each object breaking will be shown in between. The next scene is a scene of the protagonists in a fancy car. An establishing shot is used, and then a two shot showing one character looking at the driver, then jump cutting to the other looking outside the car window. The car then pulls up to the venue and quickly finish the drinks they were having before opening the door. One foot comes out followed by another with the camera zoomed into them, staying zoomed as the character walks down a red carpet with cameras flashing. Paparazzi will be shown accompanied by a bright camera flash that will then show the characters smiling. The second to last scene returns to the couples' home, showing food on their dining table. The female will look at the food, quickly looking away to meet eyes with the male before returning to the female as an eye-line match. As the final  scene, he food will then slowly be shown, revealing that what the characters are eating is... not quite right. This will take a bit longer to make the viewer intrigued, before ending the film (or well, the final scene of its beginning). 

planning blog: location, participants, health and schedule

In this google slide a lot is discussed. This all basically sets everything for filming. The location is know, which is one of our groups member house. The schedule is there, which we do not have a specific day yet since our group has to coordinate. Most of the schedule just provides a general time line of when we are going to film each scene. For the health portion, having a first aid kit is the main thing that we have. Since we will be in one place almost the whole time, there isn't many health hazards that are in our way of filming. The two actors are Victoria and Jaheim. They are playing the role of husband and wife, which comes with many parts. Lastly, sound is described for each scene. This is done to keep the scene structured, especially to include all the other factors.

planning blog: title design

For this title blog the different things we’ve added will help make the film stand out. The fonts will stay the same. The colors will change due to background. The only thing that will be different will be the directors title and the different fade in and outs of the names. With the name that showed up with the flash it will pop out at the audience. This will make the name stand out wile also keeping it creative. The ways the names will show throughout the film depends on the scene. This also means it depends on how the scene will flow. The scene will shift with the names and how they blend in or stand out. This is how we will make our movie intro feel and look creative.

planning blog: Sound&Dialogue

 For this google docs, the focus remains on the script for sound and dialogue. Again, it will be split based off of scenes in order to make the filming and editing easier. With audio, these slides will be important during the editing phase, since sound can always be added in. These scenes align with the shooting scenes, which we can combine to make a smooth film. This planning will become very useful when it is time to start filming, and will save us as a group a lot of time.The sound is very important because we need to distinguish sounds we have to create, sounds of crowds and two people dialogue. The slides where there is no dialogue is also just as important so we know that music is necessary. The idea of creating non-diegetic sounds for things like the car pulling up, will be really interesting for the group. The idea of when music will be played is also important. This is not stated very specifically in the slides but the group decided suspenseful music should be added in when the couple is being showed. This is to bring a certain feeling every time the couple is shown.

planning blog: shooting script

 We made this google docs in order to lay out scene by scene what we will be doing. This has the purpose of making filming a lot easier, as well as finding a location and gathering actors and props. Now we are pre-prepared when we start to film as well as after when we are editing. Each scene is important because it signifies something new coming. For example in the first scene we begin with a couple fighting but by the last scene, they are eating "dinner". This change in plot is important when it comes to putting them into groups or scenes. Another reason this slideshow is important is the fact that it includes shots and angles. Each scene has the angle that we are trying to accomplish to make the tone of the scene exact. The last part of each slide that is crucial, is the time. Each scene has a certain amount of time with it, that helps us know how long it should be and helps us get to two minutes for our film.

Title Research: Married to the mob

Married To The Mob

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? 
 A total of twenty-six titles were used in the opening sequence, most of which were the names of the participating actors, the rest being a credit to producers sound supervisors, custom designers, the artist of the opening song, the casting crew, and directors.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequences of the film?
 The opening sequence is a montage of train track and lights with miscellaneous people scattered about.

What connotations do the images carry?
 The images give a sense a fast-paced and dangerous situation

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
 The opening gives the audience a clear sense of danger, introducing them to a presumed theme of the movie.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
 By introducing, arguably nothing, until the opening credits end, the audience is left anticipating the end of the tracks; being stimulated for the entirely of the opening with no clear rhyme or reason.  

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
  Music was used in the opening scene, it's fair to assume that the music used must have been favorable or at the very least recognizable to the audience of that time. (1988)

How has technology been used effectively? 
 The opening sequence is shacky, and loosely put together; being filmed in odd angles. Like super low (face down) when on the tracks and centered angle for higher placed objects like the light lining the tracks. The nature of the effectiveness creates a sense of reasonable unease disorienting the audience with no clear purpose but to introduce danger.