Audience and Institution

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

    In the film industry, marketing is very important to have the movie be seen. Many films that do not go through the complete marketing process tend to not be as successful as their counterparts. This is because marketing is the way a film may build its traction. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, for example, was produced by Walt Disney Studios. This production company is very big and therefore, was able to make many connections to market the film. Their cross-promotion partners included many food companies and miscellaneous companies including Geico, Ford Motor Company, Hanes, and Lego. There was also a soundtrack for the movie released titled “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Awesome Mixtape Vol. 2.” This generated buzz for the upcoming public release date of the movie. In collaboration with Hasbro, Disney released a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 version of Monopoly. This built excitement leading the audience to believe that if they saw this movie, they would be a part of the select few who would get to play this game.

Spiderman: Homecoming was another Marvel movie with an affiliating soundtrack. The soundtrack included MGMT and The Rolling Stones, whom both have audiences constantly excited. The marketing team also used toys as a way to grab the children’s attention. They released both toys from exclusively Disney stores and teamed up with Target to release action figures. The only other marketing strategy that Spiderman: Homecoming used was partnering with Cinnamon Toast Crunch to add some Spiderman images on the box and a themed toy inside. This movie spent fewer resources on marketing than Black Panther did, possibly leading to the lesser success of Spiderman. 

Beauty and the Beast is also a Disney movie, however not affiliated with Marvel. Disney recruited Khol’s in creating exclusive offers and merchandise. This created interest in the movie as related toys and clothing items could reveal a bit about what the movie would look like. Audiences were anxious to know more about this because remakes of older cartoon Disney movies were only just beginning to become popular, each looking different than the last. Disney also had the original Beauty and the Beast playing more often to spark interest in seeing the newer one. This was an especially outstanding approach at marketing due to the unique circumstances of recreating an older movie.

During the distribution process of Jurassic World, Universal Studios put out a Jurassic World website, treating the scene as if it was a real place in the world. They a trip planner, weather information, and even a schedule of feeding times of the dinosaurs. Although the website is still available today, it presented a countdown until the movie was released. The movie was highly anticipated by audiences as Jurassic World was the third-largest grossing movie of all time. Jurassic World also had many other marketing strategies. Lego distributed Jurassic World themed playsets which unarguably appealed to younger audiences. NBC, USA, and the Sci-Fi Channel all aired the original Jurassic Park in a special whilst Chris Pratt and Steven Spielberg hosted.

Marketing is vital to films of any genre. For instance, the difference between the amount of marketing that goes into superhero films relative to the success they accumulate is proven in the box office contrasts in Black Panther and Spiderman: Homecoming. Marketing initiates anticipation, excitement, and builds traction.

Intruder Alert: Finished Project

This is our finished product, Intruder Alert. It is a thriller film about an intruder who breaks into a young girl's home. She is captured and tied up. She is then told not to make any sounds if she'd like to live. After she makes a sound, the screen goes black in order to create suspense.

Intruder Alert: Finished Product (CCR)

Commercial Blog

Our commercial was the first film project that we completed in our AICE Media Studies Class. Unfortunately, we were unable to recover our commercial. This is because we did this assignment on our school computers and film equipment. This ensures that we do not have access to our footage and filming. The pandemic of COVID-19 has forced us to be quarantined at home, therefore we are unable to enter school to retrieve those necessary items. After we first finished our product, we emailed it in to our teacher. We thought, in hindsight, we would be able to access the video through the email. This proved to be an embarrassment to our thoughts. However, consoling us, this has happened to many other students in our class. I would have preferred to include the video. It would show our improvement. However, we still have blogs to show.
 

Music Video Blog

I completed this 1:13 second video with my group of three. This music video was very fun to make because I got to listen to this fun song with my friends. While we were dancing to the song it worked out great because we were able to add that footage into the film.

Re-shooting- Intruder Alert

Since my groupmate and I did not need to reshoot, we could get straight to re-editing. We could not get together in person because of the Coronavirus outbreak. We just wanted to be careful because of how contagious the disease is. So, we decided to edit our film together over FaceTime. We used iMovie to re-edit our film, just like we did when we originally edited it. I edited the film on my computer, while FaceTiming my groupmate on my phone. We watched the film together and then talking about what we thought needed to be fixed. First off, we decided to fix the lighting. I made the entire film a bit brighter by using the brightness tool on iMovie. We made sure the lighting was bright enough for the viewer to see, but still dark enough for it to seem like a nighttime horror film. Once we were satisfied with the lighting, we moved on to transitions. We originally made the transitions sort of choppy to create anticipation. But, our peer reviewers said the transitions looked a little too choppy. So, we made some of the transitions look smoother, but still left some “choppy” to create a shot reverse shot effect. We then moved on to fixing the titles. We changed the font and positioning of the titles to make them easier to read. We also fixed the timing of the titles. Some of them were too close to one another and looked sort of rushed and cramped. So, we spaced out the titles better to make them flow nicely with the film.

Re-shooting- Intruder Alert

After doing peer reviews with our classmates, it was time to reshoot. Based off of the peer review we received, we didn’t feel the need to reshoot any clips. The feedback we received was mainly about editing and fixing lighting and titles. We also were unable to reshoot because of being in quarantine due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Luckily, we didn’t need to reshoot. We were able to fix our movie to make it the best it could be without having to refilm anything. Before the coronavirus outbreak, my group mate and I did plan on refilming just incase we decided we didn’t like some of our clips. But, since it wasn’t a necessity for us to reshoot, we figured it was best to just stay in quarantine and not re film. Based off our peer review, the mistakes we made can all be fixed by editing. We need to fix the lighting a bit, but that can be done in iMovie. We intentionally made our film a bit dark since it is a horror movie. We plan on making the lighting a little brighter so it is easier for the viewer to see. We also need to fix the timing of our titles because they seem a bit rushed. We are going to change some of the transitions as well to make the title sequence and film look smoother. My group mate and I shot a lot of extra clips when we originally filmed our video. This makes it good for us so we don’t have to reshoot anything. While we are re editing, we can always use one of the different clips if we really do not like a clip we used in the film originally. Because of the coronavirus, it is better to be safe than sorry, therefore we won’t be getting together to reshoot.

Editing Blog- Intruder Alert

After completing filming our film, it was time to edit. Out of my group mate and I, I am more experienced at editing videos. For this reason, I edited the majority of our video. First, I imported all of the clips into iMovie. My group mate and I had decided which clips we were going to use prior to beginning editing. After importing the clips, I went through and cropped each clip to the correct length. After that, I added transitions in between each clip. I made the clips seem kind of choppy on purpose to add a shot reverse shot cut and to crest anticipation. I made some of the transitions fade unto black, like when the victim is awakening from being knocked out. I then added the titles into the film. I put one title every one to three shots. I didn’t want the tittles to seem rushed or too close together. I also added sound effects, like a thump or creaking door. I then added music. I searched “Copyright free horror music” on YouTube. I then picked the sound I thought would be best for our film. It was difficult to get the music on the film. I recorded the sound of the music onto my phone. I then played back the sound on my phone as I did a voiceover on the film. After I did that, I saved the video to my computer, and emailed it to myself and my group mate. My group mate watched the edited video, and said that it was good and did not need any altercations at the moment.

Peer Review Blog

This week, our class did peer reviews on each other’s films. Each group was assigned a number. We then looked at a list to find what number group we were reviewing, and what number group was reviewing our movie. We had put the movie onto a flash drive. We gave the flash time to the group flashdrive from the group that we were grading. We were given a piece of paper with questions listed with criteria to grade the groups film. First, we watched the film without answering any questions. We then proceeded to watch the film while answering the questions on the piece of paper. While watching the video, I paid attention to angles, movements, and shots. I also wrote down the times in the film each angle, movement, etc. occurred. After finishing the movie, we handed back the flash drive. We’d let them see our peer review so they could process the feedback. Then, we got our flash drive back from the group that graded us. We took a look at what feedback they’d given us. They suggested an improvement on lighting. We’d purposely made our horror film a bit darker to emphasize the suspense, but we will make it a bit lighter so it is easier to see. That and any other improvements or feedback will be fixed in the re-shoot and re-edit section of our movie.

Filming Blog: For Real This Time

This afternoon, after school, my teammate and I went to her house. We filmed the first scene in the kitchen, downstairs. We filmed the other scenes we needed to film downstairs. We’d shot the scenes in the kitchen, hallway, and living room. We filmed each clip multiple times just to ensure the take was the best of all the shots. We then moved upstairs to continue filming. We filmed on the stairs, in her bedroom, and in the hallway just as we did downstairs. We filmed each seen a couple of times. Some of the scenes were difficult to shoot because it was only the two of us. We did not have anyone to help us film, so only one of us could be in the shot at a time. It ended up working out and making the film look more interesting and dramatic. We’d filmed all of the scenes we needed for today, but we plan to get together again on Sunday and re-film some shots. We will do this to get some better ones if possible and to also have extra clips just in case. On Sunday, we will also plan to edit the majority of our video. On Tuesday, in class, a few classmates will be watching the first draft of our edited video. They will be peer reviewing our video and giving us feedback on how to make it better. After that we are going to re-shoot and re-edit any necessary clips to make our movie the best it can be. 

Filming: Almost There

Today after school my teammate, Jordyn, and I went to her house to film. Unfortunately, no takes that will go into the movie were recorded. I was told to go home by my mother due to urgent family issues. However, our time this afternoon was not unproductive. We still were able to take some shots that were beneficial to our film. With the shots we measured angles, fixed lighting, and reset some camera settings. 

We first stared with our first scene. We had decided to go in chronological order of scenes because we had known that we were only testing the lighting, angles, acoustics, camera settings, etc. to start with. Our first scene was the most difficult out of all of the scenes we filmed. This was the result of many specific, explicit details. Some include the lighting which was difficult to get because the location we’ve determined for that scene had hard-to-adjust lighting, so we had to adjust it ourselves. Another aspect was the acoustics were much too loud for a scene that was supposed to be quiet. This is a predicament that we are still working through. However, our most likely solution will be to lay down a few rugs and/or blankets on the floor. This will soften the sound and muffle the acoustics. The last predicament is the lack of space. This will prevent us from efficiently moving around to get the correct angles, but we’re already thinking of way to move around the tight squeezes. 

Storyboard Blog- Intruder Alert

Our story begins with a young girl washing dishes in a dark kitchen, in a dark house. She hears a loud noise. She wanders the house. She investigates the noise. She walks into her bedroom. She spots an intruder. They don’t see her so she backs away quietly. Suddenly, she makes a creaking noise. The intruder spots her in undeviating eye contact. The rest will he revealed in an exciting thriller.

Title Design

In this google slide document, we included all the information about what our titles will be in our opening sequence of our movie. We included each title name and what we will be calling it. We included what font we are going to use, as well as color and size. We also showed the spacing between letters. The working title of each title is also included in the google slide. We said how the titles will transition into the movie, and how long they will each appear on the screen for. The point of this google slides is to inform and plan how we will be creating our titles when we are editing our movie. We wanted the titles to look uniform throughout, so the same size, color, and font will be used for each title. Same goes for transitions in and out, and the duration each title appears on the screen.

The Details

The following is a Google presentation made to further explain the details of our horror movie project. The presentation includes the location of where we’re filming, which is a teammate’s home. It also includes the health and safety precautions we will be taking to ensure our well-being. The participants of the film are directed. Finally, the schedule is outlined. There are 3 processes: the planning/preparing, the filming, and the editing. Each are planned to take about a week, give or take. The planning will end on 2/14/20. The filming will end on 2/21/20. The editing will end on 2/26/20.

Sound Script- Intruder Alert

As opposed to our Shooting Script, this presentation is not separated by each scene. However, every 3 scenes are on a different slide. This is because our film has much action. But it does not have as much sound. Some scenes has the words “no dialogue.” This is not meant to signal that there is no sound in the scene. This is meant to signal that no characters say anything in the scene. Most scenes have a moment where a noise, big or small, has taken place. The specific causes of the noises offscreen have yet to be decided. However, they will remain true to the story on screen.

Shooting Script- Intruder Alert

Our shooting script is essentially a written storyboard. It explains the plot of our film and tells the story. It separates the movie by each scene. Every scene has its own slide. On each slide includes the scene’s camera angles and character actions. Each slide also has the lighting and its procedures. While the Sound Script will contain more in-depth sounds and sound procedures, the Shooting Script has a short explanation of most sounds. Almost every action any character takes is included in the presentation. Almost every effect of said actions are also included. There are 12 scenes in the film.

Genre Research: Us

Us was an absolutely terrifying psychological thriller by Jordan Peele. It is hard to explain the plot as it left almost every audience's head spinning. The costumes ranged vastly. From all red suits to fashion from the 1980s to present-day fashion. Lighting was also ranging highly. There were scenes at night, during the day. Some scenes had mood lighting. Other scenes had harsh, artificial lighting. The significant difference between the natural lighting and the artificial lighting highlights the completely different worlds the clones live in. The makeup was a very interesting aspect of the movie. In horror movies, it is very common to have the makeup of the actors progressively become more intense or tired. However, Us took a new perspective on that. Towards the end of the movie, you find that the person who you thought was the original copy the whole time, was actually the clone. What an audience might not have noticed is that the "original copy's" white shirt became more and more red as she was killing more people. While this might seem normal, an easter egg in the movie was that her shirt was turning red, just like the red suits that the clones wore. The setting was almost pre-apocalyptic, however only in the United States. The experiment was never tested in other parts of the world, so there were no clones anywhere else.
Camera angles used mostly consisted of eye-level angles and high angles. The only recognizable repeated camera movement was panning. Camera shots included close-ups, medium shots, landscapes, and long shots. Common editing included jump cuts and eyeline match.
Some elements of horror that the film included are wicked or malicious characters and a shocking plot twist. The wicked characters are the clones who attempted to kill their original copies. While they were seeking revenge, it was not reasonable. Everyone but the character that Lupita Nyong'o had been unaware of the clones' existence and had not done anything to hurt them directly. The clones were simply following Adelaide/Red. The plot twist was the fact that Adelaide was Red and Red was Adelaide the whole time. This was shocking despite the clues that were dropped throughout the movie. It was an unnecessary but beautiful detail. Both elements enhanced the film.

Genre Research: A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place was an extraordinary film that was almost completely silent. This was quite obviously an enormous challenge. The costumes were meant to be almost torn into rags as this movie took place post-apocalyptic. The lighting was dim and was meant to make the audience uneasy. The casting was exceptional as one of the stars of the film is deaf in real life. The film also featured Emily Blunt and John Krasinsky as partners, who are actually partners out of the movie. Many props were used to create an eerie sense of danger and unknowing at any point. The crew added in "emergency lights" which stood out creepily. They were to guide the family back to there home, without needing to use words. A water tower was also used and played a large part in the movie. The setting consisted of a post-apocalyptic world where the family thought they were the only living people left.
While camera movements barely occurred in the film, camera shots were immensely ranged. From extreme closeups to landscapes, the movie had it all. There was not a wide variety in angles, but most shots were taken from either an eye-level angle or a high angle. Sound was not very common in this movie. Apart from occasional (scripted) slip-ups from the actors, the only sounds came from times before the monsters roamed the world and eerie background soundtrack. The absence of sound, however, was not only a phenomenal idea but a very peculiar one as well. It truly made the story stand out from all the other horror movies when released. The concept that an apocalypse would force survivors to remain mute in every way without medical disorder is almost profound. As if society would be doing this to minorities metaphorically. Common editing techniques used include jump cuts and fades. The use of fades increases suspense significantly.
A Quiet Place uses relatively few elements of horror but nonetheless conveys the story without strain. The elements that it does include are the malevolent creatures and intensity. The malevolent creatures are those that now roam the Earth. They do not have eyes, so they listen very closely to see when prey is nearby. They eat anyone who gets in their path without mercy. This shows that they intend to harm. The silence in the movie increases the intensity as the audience can pick up better on what is not being said.

Genre Research: The Turning

The Turning was a paranormal thriller surrounding the idea that a house was haunted by its last, sexually assaulted, keepers. Its mis-en-scene was kept in the same range as many others in its same category for the most part. The costumes were more based on the 1970s to 1990s fashion, although taking place in the present day. However, a few characters were dressed more conservatively and victorian. Every main character was white and pale, adding into that victorian theme.  All main characters (characters that were living in the aforementioned house or had previously lived in it) were made up of even paler makeup, however, given dark and almost bruised eye bags. They all had a sickly look. The props included rusted, old mirrors, vintage furniture, and frightening porcelain dolls. The setting was a scary, rotting old house, with the nearest town being miles away and very small.
The camera techniques did not vary much throughout the film. The camera angles mostly consisted of close-ups, extreme close-ups, and medium shots. While sometimes a pan movement was thrown in, the only other camera element that was in the movie was jump cuts. However, sounds were used widely throughout the movie. There was an excellent use of waterphones that induced anxiety almost every time they were played. The background soundtrack was very eerie, as expected and many creaking sounds were highlighted. In some instances, a split-screen was used to show a telephone call. This occurred more than once in the film. Jump cuts were almost overused in an attempt to induce anxiety. Fades, however, were placed expertly throughout the story and created suspense.
The film included many common elements of the horror genre such as eerie music, dim lighting, paranormal phenomena, arousing disgust, and a sudden plot twist. The dim lighting highlighted shadowy figures, created tension, and made a blind spot for the audience to question what was happening. Paranormal phenomena is technically a subcategory on its own but is also an element of a wider range of horror movies. While paranormal phenomena should have been the plot, a different one arose when it was revealed that the main character who had seen the said ghosts had actually imagined the whole thing due to her mental illness. The paranormal section of the movie consisted of ghosts and dolls who would come to life. There were just two ghosts in the house though, a rapist and a rape victim. The plot twist raised many questions and left the audience members thinking even after the movie had ended. Although some might disagree, this was a very good addition to the film. The music had truly made the movie much scarier and was also a very nice touch. However, invoking disgust was unnecessary.

Genre Research: The Purge

The Purge- Election Year is just one of the many terrifying Purge films. Camera angles included in The Purge- Election year are high angles, low angles, and wide angles. Camera movements used were zooms, and tilts. Camera shots used in the movie were close up, wide shot, extreme close up, and long shot. Many different creepy costumes were used in the movie. Some of those costumes include The Purge Mask, clown costumes, bloody clothing, American Flag covered clothing, and more creepy and murderous masks. The lighting in The Purge- Election Year is always dark and eerie. Some actors in the movie are Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson, and Betty Gabriel. Makeup used in the movie included clown makeup, bloody makeup, and other horrifying masks and faces. Props used in The Purge- Election year were guns, chainsaws, drones, and knives. The setting is Washington, D.C. 2020. Common sound used in the movie was dialogue, creepy music, screaming, gunshots, and engines revving. Editing used in the movie included cutaway, special effects, and flashbacks. Elements of horror films are dark lighting, eerie music, suspense, creepy setting, and the fear of death. I like the elements of the dark and the fear of death. I do not like the element of suspense.

Final Decision!

Our opening sequence will be of the horror genre. We chose horror because we both like to watch horror movies. We are also both interested in how horror movies are made. We find horror movies extremely interesting because there is a lot of effort and aspects that go into creating a horror movie. We believe we are going to be doing a sort of kidnapping horror movie. We chose this because we think i'll be fun and interesting to film. We are excited to learn about and be able to create part of a horror movie.

Considering Our Options

For the first genre, I chose comedy. Common camera angles in comedy films low angles, high angles, eye level, or dutch angle. Some common shots in comedy films are extreme close ups, long shot, medium close ups, and wide shot. Some common camera movements include tilt, pan and zoom. Common costumes in comedy are normal, everyday looking clothes, clown costumes, and other-worldly costumes for space films and such. Common lighting in comedy includes bright lighting and dim lighting as well. Common actors in comedy films usually include famous actors who have been in previous comedy films, such as Adam Sandler, Kevin Hart, and Jim Carrey. Some common makeup in comedy is normal, everyday makeup, and space or costume makeup. Common props in comedy films could be funny glasses, phones, and other comedic and entertaining objects. Common sets used in comedy films are schools, homes, malls, etc. Common editing used in comedy include zoom, flashbacks, cross cutting, and cutaway. Elements of comedy films include humor, laughing, falling, awkward characters, mean characters, "comedian" of a group of people, in a school, home, or other place. Some comedy films include Daddy's Home, Deadpool, Step Brothers, and Superbad. Common sound in comedy is funny sound effects, laughing, and dialogue. The elements of comedy that I like are the humor and dialogue. An element of comedy that I dislike is that it is sometimes corny.

For the second genre, I chose science fiction. Common camera angles in sci-fi include wide angles, high angles, and low angles. Common shots are wide shots, close ups, and long shots. Common camera movements include tilt, pan, and zoom. Common costumes in sci-fi are space suits, alien costumes, and metal suits. Common lighting includes dark light, colorful lights, and lighting from stars. Common actors are Tony Stark, Scarlett Johansson, and Carrie Fisher. Common makeup could be space makeup, alien makeup, or natural makeup. Common props are space ships, later guns, and labs. Common sets are space, Earth, or other planets. Common editing is flashbacks, zoom, and cross cutting. Elements of comedy are wars, fighting, invasion, and a mission. Science fiction movies include Avengers, Star Wars, and The Martian. Common sound is yelling, dialogue, war sounds, and loud explosions or bangs. The elements of science fiction I like are the intergalactic fights and the mission to save something. An element of science fiction that I do not like is that often many good characters die in the movies.

Genre Research (feat. PowerPoint)

At the beginning of the year, my group did a project relating to a genre given to us. The genre my group go was crime. We created a powerpoint for this project. We had to create slides talking about different aspects of the crime genre. The first aspect was Common Lighting in Our Genre. The second aspect was Common Camera Angles in Our Genre. The third aspect was Common Movement in Our Genre. The fifth was Common Mis en Scene in Our Genre. The sixth aspect was Elements of Our Genre. The seventh aspect was Films in Our Genre. The eight aspect was Common Sound in Our Genre. The ninth aspect was Common Sound in Our Genre. The last aspect was Elements of Our Genre That we Like/Dislike. For each of these slides we included bulleted lists of each aspect.