Audience and Institution Practice Essay

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

Marketing is an important aspect throughout all stages of making a film. When it comes to trailers and physical posters released before a movie’s release or the merchandise such as kids’ toys based around the movie after its release, both play an important role in terms of the audience. Forms of marketing not only bring more profit for the movie, but also increase awareness of the movie, allowing more audiences to become interested watching sed film.

One important role that is played in the marketing process is synergy. In Beauty and the Beast, synergy was exercised through Disney hosting a special edition of ‘The Bachelor’ which aired on ABC to promote the upcoming release of the film. Through synergy, the conglomerate can easily market their movie to a broader audience, whom may not have been exposed to much of the film previously before. In this example, Beauty and the Beast is a movie targeted towards younger audiences; however, it can also now become more exposed to an older audience of adults, garnering more attention for this audience to watch this movie. Not only does the film therefore gain more recognition, but the conglomerate also saves money by keeping marketing production in house. And in this case, the marketing may bring out a nostalgia towards this group of adults, further attracting them to watching this film. Synergy is an easy way for companies like Disney or Universal to spread awareness of their movie without having to spend a big budget on it either.

Marketing is also important for a film in terms of merchandise.  One example of merchandising in a film can be seen throughout the movie Jurassic World. Before the movie was even released, posters for the movie were made following the announcement of the movie; some of which were made limited edition. This entices the audience to pay more attention into the movie’s release as it places a ‘limited’ quantity into the product. Moreover, throughout the movie’s production video games, toys, and candies were created. Again, this further garners the attention of people as these kinds of advertisements can be commonly found in many stores. Following the movie’s release, the merchandising became an even bigger aspect as Lego sets, DVD’s, and more video games were released. Though Jurassic World made 1.67 billion USD in box office earnings, the film continued to make more profit as it earned over 100 million USD in DVD and Blu-ray sales. Not only is merchandising important in the marketing aspects because it attracts more viewers, but it can also increase the longevity of a film. This in the long run creates a much more successful film that can be therefore made into a larger sequel or franchise.

Cross media promotion is also a marketing strategy that is important towards bringing wider attention to a movie. One highly anticipated movie of the year 2018 was Black Panther. This movie shows exactly how important cross media promotion can be towards marketing a film. The film not only reached out to audiences through TV and radio broadcasts, but it also had exclusive magazines and a soundtrack made specifically for the movie’s release. Though I personally had no original intention in watching this movie, after hearing the soundtrack curated by Kendrick Lamar which spent weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, I gained interest and eventually watched the movie for myself. This proves that cross media promotion can garner attention towards a film and connect with an audience who may not have been the exact target demographic. By working with an artist such as Kendrick Lamar, the movie automatically opens the door and garners a new audience of music listeners, whom may not have had the intention of watching the movie in the first place. The movie proves to be successful throughout all its marketing strategies as it gained over 1 billion dollars in box office earnings.

Though marketing may be the key to success for many movies, for some films it may still fall short for its general audience, As stated by Adam Fogelson, “seventy-five per cent of a movie’s success is due to its marketing and its marketability.” Thus, he put together over 100 promotional partners to promote the movie UglyDolls. Some of these partners which included big brand names like McDonald’s, Walmart, Hasbro, and Pez Candy. Yet, with all these marketing partners, UglyDolls proved to be a failure as earned about $8.5 million upon its release. Considering how extensively the movie was marketed, these numbers prove to show that the movie had a disastrous start. UglyDolls demonstrates that although a company may have the prefect marketing strategy towards releasing a film, it does not guarantee a hit in the box office.

Aspects of marketing can be important towards every step of the way when making a film. The success of a film is almost always determined by the audience, making marketing an incredibly important aspect in film. There have been many successful films who have been perfectly marketed and reached out towards audiences of all kinds. Yet, there have also been some failures as well. Although heavily marketed, some films may not meet the mark they intended to hit or even break-even sometimes. Proving that although marketing hugely plays a part in gaining attention towards a movie, it is not always the key to success.

CCR Blog

For the next part of our Media Studies journey, we had to create a reflection video. In this video, we had to describe how our skills improved, what technologies we used, how we engaged with our audiences, etc. This reflection took many trial and error for me. Not only when it came to filming it, but also editing as well. Firstly, I began by writing a script for what I planned on saying for my video. Next, I began to record my video, which actually spanned over a duration if two days as I decided to reshoot because I was not happy with how the footage turned out. And lastly, it was time to edit. Editing is normally a difficult task for me as I am very picky with what my final product will look like. This left me editing for longer than I even anticipated before I started working on this component. Overall, it was just very time-consuming to complete, however, I finally worked on a result in which I am satisfied with. Throughout my entire year of being in AICE Media Studies, I have learned so much more than I ever expected to learn. I am glad I could make this video to see just how much I have actually grown in terms of being a media studies student.

Final Task Blog

For this next project, we were assigned to make the opening of a movie. In this movie, we had to leave the ending at a cliffhanger. Again for this project, I would still be working by myself. Similarly to the last project, working alone had many challenges involved. However, it does also have its benefits. This includes having full creative authority over what is made. Planning this project was very fun for me as it allowed me to express my imaginative side through film. Yet, when it came to things like safety and casting actors, this became a difficulty for me once again. I had originally planned to have my friend Cristy and I be actors in this film. However, this was unable to occur due to the Coronavirus pandemic that has caused all of us to stay home. The plan was for me to play the killer role and have me kidnap Cristy in the end. Changing the story was a pretty difficult job for me to do, yet I feel like I eventually came to an ending that I liked that also flowed with the original ending of my movie. Throughout this pandemic, I have adapted to these unforeseen circumstances and changed my film accordingly in a way that would still make sense to the audience. My skills in terms of filming and editing also improved throughout the process of me making this film. This project was the longest one I have had to do for this class so I had to be very patient with how I handled things. Eventually, I was happy with the final product even though it greatly differs from the story I had originally planned to film.

Music Video Blog

The next assignment that we were given to do was a music video. As previously stated before, I decided to work alone on this project. This was a new challenge for me as I am not used to working alone. However, I was determined to get it done even with the barriers that were placed. Planning and making a storyboard for this project was a lot more difficult than I had imagined. Because I had no help from other people, being creative and getting actors to play a role was very difficult for me. Thus, it led me to become an actor for my music video. This meant that I would have to get my friend Cristy to help me film and my brother. The filming process for this music video actually went by a lot faster than the commercial. Because my friend already had experience filming, it was easy to direct a scene and have her film it exactly the way I wanted it. And due to me already having experience with my last project, filming also became easier for me when filming the opening scenes alone. Finding the right filters and settings for the camera was still a process when filming outside for example. However, things like filming a pan or tilt shot did become easier throughout the making of my music video. Not only did filming become easier but so did the acting component as well. I learned how to keep a straight face throughout most of my filming which is something that was not present in my last project. Moving along to the editing process, this pretty much remained the same as my last project. Though this project, however, was much more time-consuming. Due to the music video having to be a minute long, editing took much longer to do for this music video. This also meant that I would need a lot more footage. With more footage, comes more uploading to my computer which again was a very time-consuming process. Moreover, although this took me more time to complete, I do believe it was worth it as it taught me patience and prepared me for the upcoming final task.

Commercial Blog

The first AICE Media Studies project that we had to make was a commercial. This commercial could be based on products such as Colgate, Nike, or Gatorade. For this assignment, my group chose to do Vans. Because this was my first filming project, I decided it would be more beneficial to work in a group. Thus, Audrey, Nerlande, Alicia, and I formed a group together. Getting started up was difficult because none of us knew what we were doing. Setting up the tripod and figuring out the workings of the camera was a process as well. Not only that but figuring out which angles and lighting worked the best took us time too. However eventually, things became easier. As you can probably tell, some of our camera movement was not the best during this first project. It took us time to get used to holding and moving along with the camera. This led to us having to do many re-shoots in order to get the shot that we wanted. Another difficulty for me personally was getting into an acting role. I found it hard not to smile between filming because I was not used to being filmed. However, this is something that I eventually get better at holding back following my final task. And lastly, it was time to do the editing. Out of all things mentioned, I already had the most experience when it came to editing. One challenged that I faced, however, was editing alone. Because I kept the SD card, it was my duty to edit most of the clips, which included trimming, cutting, adding music, and the graphic. This took a lot of work and I barely had any input from my group, which has led me to work alone for the next two projects. 

Editing Blog: Postponed For Now

Though I have about half of my project already completed, there is still a lot more to go. This not only includes filming but also more editing. Due to the current COVID-19 situation however, this process was halted for a while. Starting March 16th, my district had canceled school due to Coronavirus fears. Though this would have left me with more time to complete my film, another important situation blocked me from doing so. My roof had broken down meaning that I would have to stay at my aunt's house in the meantime. This lasted for about two weeks while the school was closed at the same time. Continuing on with the days, spring break also occurred where I was still left unable to complete my work. Not only did I still need to film, but I also desperately needed to edit. Yet again, the spread of Coronavirus continued among the United States. This meant that the school would remain closed for another month. One reason why I needed the school computers so desperately was because of its editing software. Pinnacle Studios, which was installed on the school computers, had the installs to create and edit titles which is what my editing software couldn't do. Without these computers, I feared that I would be unable to edit my film the way I originally wanted it to be. However, I tried to remain hopeful and continue on with my break. During my stay at my aunt's house, I decided I wanted to continue filming. Since I already had my camera and tripod, I figured this would be a great location to film because of its nice scenery. I decided to call my friend over to see if she was available to film. However, due to her concerns with the current virus, she was not allowed to film with me. Not only did this leave me with so much more filming left to do, but also editing as my story would have to completely change to connect with the current scenes I had already filmed.

Editing Blog: More Editing This Week

After getting a lot of my filming done last week, it was finally time to begin editing. The editing process for me began last week on Thursday. Due to this day is an early release for my school, not only was I able to get a lot of filming done, but I was also able to finally begin editing. After transferring my footage from my camera's SD card onto my laptop, I transferred it onto my iPhone. As explained previously, this was quite a lengthy process. Due to this, I did not get as much editing as I wanted to on Thursday. However, on Friday I decided to continue editing. Previously, all that I had gotten done was placing all the clips onto the editing software. This included me deleting multiple takes and cutting some clips. Although the uploading process took long, this part was tedious as well. However, I am glad I already got it done. This meant that the editing process for Friday would be made a lot smoother. On Friday, I decided to add music to my film. This is a requirement for our final task so I wanted to chose a soundtrack before it was too late. For this, I decided to use the song 'Good For You' by Blood Orange featuring Justine Skye. I chose this song because it gives off an eerie vibe. Although this is not a royalty-free song, I will make sure to give credit to the artists as part of my title sequences. This brings me to my next editing task: adding titles. After I finish editing all of my required scenes, I will then begin adding my titles. I chose not to add titles now because I do not want them to be out of order. As soon as I complete editing and cutting any missing clips, I can then match each title with the order in which each title is supposed to appear.