Audience and Institution Essay: Assess the importance of marketing in film

Marketing is one of the most important steps in film making. Yes, a film can be a masterpiece that is extremely well made. But if no one knows about the film, then no one will go watch it. Without marketing, filmmakers would not reach a wide audience of people and would not make much or any profit from the film. On the flip side, a decent or mediocre movie could make triple the profit that it should make if it had greatly executed marketing.

First of all, movies flop all the time due to bad marketing. “V for Vendetta” was a movie that suffered from its trailers. According to an article by the Taste of Cinema, “‘V for Vendetta’ was loved and hated by fans of the novel and eventually found an audience through home media, but the misleading trailers confused and disappointed a wide selection of cinema fans.” Another example is “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.” Its marketing was basically non-existent. With only small ads and a toy line, the film made less than half the money the original made.

Secondly, average movies can make a ton of money from ingenious marketing. “Jurassic World” is a film that became the third-largest grossing movie of all time dominating the box office and was nominated for a considerable number of awards. Even though the film has a Metacritic score of 59 and is widely considered not to be as good at its predecessors. It made this amount of money through its clever marketing. Superbowl ads, mobile games, an online treasure hunt, the list goes on with how many marketing strategies it employed to grab the world's attention and make known that it exists.

In conclusion, it goes to show how important marketing can be for a film. Great films fall to the bottom, making only scraps of money and barely breaking even. While other run-of-the-mill films reach record-breaking numbers and roll in cash. And it is all because of marketing.

Practice Extract Essay

In this extract, 24, I believe the director’s vision is to engage audiences in this with a heated interrogation scene. The director uses many filming and editing techniques to involve the audience in the situation. The use of camera movements and shots along with sound and set design really grab hold of the audience’s attention and does not let go.

The the entire scene involves the Detective walking into the interrogation room where the Suspect is already there, chained up and sitting. The use of an eye-line match shows the detective sees the camera and knows that people are watching them. The score is an ominous track setting the scene with uncertainty and caution. Over-the-shoulder shots are used almost like POV shots and shows the suspect looking directly at the Detective. Close-ups are widely used to display the expressions on each of the characters' faces. And the use of low lighting shrouds the characters in mystery, almost like someone putting a flashlight underneath their face to tell a scary campfire story. The dialogue starts a little later in the scene which reveals the motive of each character. The Suspect wishes to be taken to a separate place where someone there will tell them where the bomb is. The Detective wants to know who the someone is while the Suspect wants to keep that a secret. Zooms are used in conjunction with eye-line matches to show that a character notices something. For example, The Suspect looks at the clock before she starts talking because she notices she is running out of time. After the Detective throws the table across the room, it cuts to a reaction shot of Observers, worried about the instability of the situation. The score also plays into that worriedness of the Observers when it shows a close up of their faces. When the Detective finally loses his cool, the scene breaks up to a split-screen. One of the situation in the interrogation room and another of multiple shots of the observers running to the room to try and break up the situation. The score increases in volume and handheld shots are used to immerse the audience into the scene. When the Observer finally breaks up the commotion, the score settles down just like the Detective.

Overall, the director uses multiple methods to engage the audience into the scene. All of these elements are used to increase the intensity of the scene and grab the viewer's attention.

My Final Task CCR

        It took a while for me to make this CCR. The whole record yourself aspect of it frightened me and made my delay recording. But after I made my script and pushed the recording button, I finished it in a jiffy. Honestly, the hardest part of the CCR was the editing. We were told to make it creative and not just 12 minutes of ourselves talking into the camera. I decided to make it creative by doing the thing I know how to do best: editing. I included many stock image photos to try and relate to what I am currently saying in the footage. For example, I would be saying that my product will engage with teenagers, then show a stock image of teenagers. It was pretty hard for me to hit the minimum time limit of 12 minutes. I could not reach it with the base 4 questions. I had to add some questions of my own. I also put in some snippets of the actual title sequence. In the end, I barely made it to 12:01. I am not that much of an actor. I am very shy on camera. It took me about 5 tries for each filming segment. I stutter a lot so it was really hard. I also had a hard time looking at the camera. You can notice in the CCR I would look at the script or look at something in the room. My family would also walk in on me so I would be distracted and retake the whole segment. So yeah, this was the toughest assignment of AICE Media Studies.

My Final Task

              This is my Final Task of AICE Media Studies. I worked with new people for this last project. I still worked with Emily, the director/camerawoman for my last projects. The new people I am working with are Mariapaula and Darwin. Mariapaula was the love interest for the music video I recorded. She also was the one to let us use her house for that exact video. Darwin is someone that Mariapaula worked with for her own projects. With this group of people, I feel as though we could get stuff done. Everyone played a part in this project. No one was slacking. It was all hands on deck. Emily played the same role she did for the last projects: director/camerawoman. I assigned myself to the editor role. Mariapaula was the star actor/producer: since we used her house. And Darwin was the co-star. I used my previous knowledge of editing and fully went all out on this project. I used precisely timed transitions. I made sure each and every title was clear and to the point. I fully mastered the audio and customized it to please the audience. I fully cracked my knuckles and felt proud when I finally finished this project: My Final Task.

My Second Project: Music Video

        This was my second project for the class. I made a music video using the song "We Are Young" by fun. Here I felt as if my editing skills really improved. I learned a lot of new techniques. This time around there was not much editing. I played a minor character in the video so I did not really "act." My other groupmate Angelo was the main character of the video. A friend of ours, Mariapaula, let us use her house as a setting. She also agreed to play the love interest in the video. Emily was still camerawoman and was doing a fine job at it. This project was a bit more stressful than our previous project. We had some complications with Angelo. He couldn't show up on the first filming day because of personal reasons. I remember vividly Emily being enraged that day because of him. Thankfully we got all of our filming done the second day. I used some pretty neat editing tricks for this video. I slowed down some shots. I would also speed up other shots. I did this so the actions in the footage would be in sync with the rhythm of the song. It was pretty challenging. But in the end, it was a great learning experience.

My First Project: Commercial

          This assignment was a great learning experience. This involved filming an infomercial about vaping in school. Angelo was great at acting and Emily was getting the hang of the camera. At first, I was a bit nervous about my acting. I would stutter a lot and mess up my lines. I was not sure if Media Studies was the right class for me. But once I started to edit, I felt much more at home. It is then when I realized that I mainly belong behind the scenes for videos, not in front. I was able to manipulate the video just the way I wanted it. If I needed to change anything I could do it in an instant. I wouldn't have to rely on someone else to get the finished product. And since I am the one editing, I can be super critical without having to worry about hurting anyone's feelings. Once I started editing, everything I envisioned while my group was coming together. Each small detail that I wanted to add in was put in place. It worked out pretty well for my first project. The acting was a bit on the rough side. So to compensate the subpar acting, I tried to make it look and sound as cheesy as possible. I was the one who made the fake mustache for Darwin. I also included cheesy sound effects. I think getting the video down to 30 seconds was the hardest part of the process. We filmed a bit too much and the video was like a story. If we wanted to remove something, it would have made the later scenes make no sense.

Editing: Adding the Song and Messing with Sound

          It has been a long time since I last blogged. The whole pandemic put everything on hold for a while. Luckily I have the luxury of editing while at home. After I finished trimming the film, I needed to add the background song. We discussed what song we should use during our planning phase knowing that one would be required. We decided on a happy-go-lucky song awhile back. Darwin suggested it because it would contrast the eerie mood that would take place on screen. While I agreed with him back then, I'm on the fence about the song choice now. Although it does fit Carolina getting ready in the morning, Kenny does not do anything sinister so the contrast Darwin talked about is not really there. The song Mariapaula suggested was "Summertime"-by Egozi. It pretty relaxing and chill and fits the morning scenes just right. After I added the song in, I had to mess around with the sound. I wanted to make sure you can hear everything in the scenes I want you to hear. The song was really loud in the beginning, so I had to lower it quite a bit. I muted some scenes that I found the sounds unnecessary. Also, I lowered the song during scenes that contained dialogue so you can hear what the characters are saying. The red audio track contains the sound in the scenes. The teal audio track contains muted scene sounds. The purple audio track is the music. And finally, the small yellow audio piece it a slight sound that I wanted to keep in and make it louder than anything else in the scene.

Editing: Trimming and Changing Footage Speed

           I mentioned last blog that the video exceeded the time limit. In this blog, I will talk about how I addressed this issue. Also, I will talk about my thought process and methods I used to combat this issue. Forty seconds was a lot of time that needed to be chopped off. I remember back when I edited my commercial, time was a challenge. I had to cut off a lot back then. In the end, I didn't very much like the final product. Thankfully, that did not happen with this video. At first, I tackled the very long and drawn-out scenes. These included the clothes-throwing scene, tooth-brushing scene, and the establishing shots. I cut off the awkward pauses and irrelevant actions. I also made sure everything transitioned smoothly between each scene. If someone walked out of the frame for the last scene, the next scene should start with them walking in the frame. After I cut the problematic and a few scenes down, I had to do something else. I went and did the only other thing I could do: speed-up the footage. I sped up certain scenes that went by a little too slowly. Darwin's scenes were particularly slow. Not trying to be mean, but he was not the greatest of actors. Scenes that I sped up include: shower scene, tooth-brushing scene, and the closet scene. In the end, the footage turned out to be a minute and 57 seconds long. That is just under the time limit. 

Editing: Combining the Footage

           So after we finished filming all of our footage, it was time to edit. I have an editing software at home that I use to edit videos. I had previously used it for both my commercial and music-video. I thought that maybe since I was in a new group I would get a different job. But no, I still had the editor role. It is fine, I love editing. It is just that I wanted to maybe do something different for the Final Task. Well, it might have been better for me to stick to what I am good at. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. Anyways, a few days after the last filming day, I stretched my fingers and got to work. I had Mariapaula send me the footage to me through Gmail. My laptop does not have an SD card reader. That means I cannot transfer the footage straight from the SD card to my editing software. So I asked Mariapaula to get the footage as files instead. After a few minutes of downloading the footage, I dumped it into my editing software. I then just placed the footage in order. I used the storyboard as my reference. I can get confused from time to time. However, when I finally combined all the footage, it was way over the time limit. The time limit is 1:50-2:00 minutes, but the ending result was 2:40. This footage definitely needs to be edited down.  

Filming: The Last Few Scenes

          After we finished filming the scenes that took place in Mariapaula's house, we went to go and film the final scenes. The final scenes of the video take place outside in a neighborhood street. Mariapaula took us to her neighbor's house. It was the one we used to film the establishing shot previously. We did not have much daylight left in the day, so we were on a timer. What we filmed first was a scene of Carolina on her phone waiting for her ride. A car then pulls up to her driveway and she walks towards it. Carolina then walks up to the car and asks the person who is driving their name. This is all one take and it took several attempts to get it right. I took some pictures for the blog of Emily getting ready to film said scenes. Emily, Mariapaula, and Darwin were all involved in the filming process. I did not play much of a role in the video itself. I was more like the camera's assistant. For example, I would signal Darwin, who is driving the car, to pull up because no one else could. Mariapaula would be busy acting in the scene. Emily needed to hold the camera steady. After those couple of scenes, we would then film a conversation between Carolina and Kenny. However, instead of filming one scene of one line said by the actor, we would have the actors say all of their lines in one take. Then afterward I can edit the lines to go in order and make sense. This was done to save time since the sun was barely up at this point.

Filming: Additional, Additional Filming

          After school on Friday, my group and I (along with Macy) carpooled with Mariapaula to her house to continue filming. Before heading directly to her house, we stopped by her neighbor's house. We used that house as Carolina's house in the video. But we filmed everything in the inside of Mariapaula's house. Two different rooms and bathrooms are used. So that makes the illusion of the characters getting ready in two separate homes. When in reality, the characters are about twenty feet apart. When we finally got to Mariapaula's house, we decided to change some things. The razor cutting scene in the original storyboard proved to difficult. Darwin had trouble being fast enough to shave. Also, a lot of his movements were awkward. We concluded that a tooth-brushing scene would be easier to film and less of a hassle film. I took a photo of Mariapaula and Darwin getting ready for the take which can be seen down below. Still, in the end, the scene came out a bit too slow and sluggish. It will be fine, I can just speed it up in editing later. We also filmed a scene of Darwin putting a few tools into the trunk of a car. The initial scene involved "Kenny" placing a rope in the trunk instead of tools. However, like many scenes involving Darwin, the movements were very languid. So we filmed the shot using tools instead of some rope. It still took a while to get the perfect take.

Peer Review: Captured

          Attached is my peer review of another group's final task. They gave our group what they currently have done for their final task and each of us gave our personal opinions. I really liked their final task. It, however, definitely needs some more work. They said that it was far from done and it is what they were able to put together the night before. One thing I really like about their video was their opening scene. It is a moving shot of the camera coming into a close up of books on a bookshelf. The books are removed and two boys peek through the hole where the book was. It is revealed that the boys are leering at a girl sitting down enjoying a book. It was a really dynamic shot and my favorite out of the video. However, the title of the movie, "Captured" does come up out of order during the scene. They will have to move the title or add some scenes beforehand in order to make it right. One suggestion I have towards the group is to try and avoid filming people who are not supposed to be in the film. During one of the car scenes, you can see a person in the back of the car. That person is most likely the cameraman and not one of the characters. There are other things, like lighting and sound that need fixing. During some scenes in the car, the sun outside the window is blindingly bright. And some dialogue scenes outside the car, wind can be heard. They can fix this while editing, and they can add voice over for the dialogue scenes. Overall, a great video! I can't wait to see the finished product!

Filming: Helping Hands

          My four-person group filmed alongside another, 1-person group: Macy. We were able to use her Nikon DSLR camera. The footage it takes looks really crisp. Way better than the school Sony cameras and my iPhone XR. After we filmed all of our footage, we went on to help Macy with her Final Task. I was an actor in Macy's Final Task known as Assistant #2. Assistant #2 is a side character. I was the assistant to one of the main characters. I show up in the film only once during the opening. My scene included me talking to one of the main characters. The shot was an over the shoulder shot. It then transitions into a close up of my face. My takes were pretty short. I got it down by the third time filming it. The dialogue was the one part messing me up. If we needed to, we could record voice over for the scene if Macy doesn't feel its adequate. We then filmed everyone else's scenes in Macy's Final Task. I can not really talk about them here. I did not help out with those scenes at all. All in all, we recorded around half of Macy's Final Task.

Filming: Additional Filming

          This is my experience for our second time filming. One scene we filmed was a trunk shot outside of Mariapaula's house. In it, Darwin/Kenny takes some tools out of the trunk of a car. He would then shut the trunk on the camera and it would cut to black. I was able to go in the backseat of the car and take a picture of Mariapaula and Darwin setting up the scene. In the picture, you can see Darwin holding cables on his arm. Emily wasn't able to get in the trunk through the backseat, so we decided to film it the way we filmed the closet scene. We would hit record and then place it in the trunk. We then hope the camera doesn't fall over when we close/open the trunk. Another scene we recorded was the dialogue scene. We recorded it just before the sunset. You could see how low the sun was in my picture of Emily recording the scene. It was the scene of the conversation between Carolina and her mother. Mariapaula's acting during the scene was solid, she would just forget her lines a bit. Also during one of the takes, Mariapaula accidentally closed her phone. So throughout that entire take, she was talking with her phone off. If need be, we could record a voice over for that one scene. We managed to record two-thirds of our final task. The footage we have so far is fine, but some need re-shooting. Put together, the footage was over 2 minutes. We will need to cut the footage down a whole lot.

Filming: Presidents' Day Filming!

            February 17th (Monday) was a day off of school. Our group took full advantage of that day off to start filming our final task. I carpooled with Emily to Mariapaula's house. We arrived around 1:20pm and Darwin was already there. We waited for twenty-minutes for Macy to arrive, then we started filming. The time was important because we want it to be sunny outside for all of the shots. It wouldn't make sense for someone to "get ready for the day" during the dead of night. I was not that involved in the filming portion of the final task. I was not an actor and Emily was the main camerawomen. I did, however, help out whenever I could. If my group needed me for anything, I was there right away. I especially helped with taking the pictures for the blog (seen below). I took pictures of the scenes from a different angle. The first scene we recorded involved Mariapaula throwing clothes on to her bed. Her dog Milo was also on the bed which was pretty cute. The scene took forever to record, however, due to that decision. While they were recording the scene, I took a "behind the scenes" picture of one of our takes. Afterward, the next scene I was involved with was Darwin's shaving scene. I took another "behind the scenes" picture of Mariapaula putting on the fake blood on the razor. In the picture, I captured Darwin standing there awkwardly with a small grin.

Planning: Storyboard

Attached to this blog is the storyboard of our final task. Each slide contains a sheet of what we will be filming. There are 10 pages for the storyboard template and each page has 6 boxes. The 6 boxes have specific drawings of every action. The camera’s movement and the location are described with angles and shots, for example, high angles and tracking shots. The actions of what the actors should be doing in each scene are also included. Sound is specific, especially diegetic and dialogue between characters. The titles are written in black pen to have an idea of where they should be placed in the scene. It also helps to plan out what titles we want to use for our final task. Hopefully, our group would not have to add more scenes because it is a short opening sequence. 

Planning: Location, Sound, Participants, Safety, and Schedule

Attached is the location, sound, participants, safety, and schedule of our final task. The locations used for our film will be Mariapaula's house and her neighbor's house. We will mostly be using the inside of M's house as the setting for both the Driver and the Victim. We will use different rooms to add the illusion of the Driver and Victim getting ready in different houses. We will mainly only use the outsides of the house for establishing shots. The sound used will be royalty-free background music used throughout the entire two minutes. Other sounds will be mainly sound effects like doors opening or faucets running. Participants will be all four of us. Darwin and Mariapaula are the actors, while Rafael and Emily will work behind the scenes. One slide on the slideshow is the overall schedule of the project, while another slide is the filming schedule in detail. In the slideshow, we covered many practices we will be doing to make sure we are safe at all times. For example, one scene involves the Driver shaving his face. During that scene, the razor being used will be dulled to prevent cuts.

Planning: Title Design

Attached is the planning for our title design for our final task. We want our titles to be unique and eyecatching. We do not want them to be just some words we throw at the bottom of the screen. We decided on using different fonts depending on when and where the titles will pop up. For example, a chilling font will be used for titles that go up during the Driver's scenes. And for the victim's scenes, a happier font will be used for those titles. The main title will be bold and large to attract the audience's attention and so that you will not be able to miss it. Most titles in the two minutes will be monochromatic, meaning it will either by black on white, or white on black. The spacing for only the main title will be different since the font we are using puts the letters too close together. The titles will fit the background and most will last 2-3 seconds, long enough for the general audience to read.

Planning: Sound Script

Attached in this blog is the sound script for our final task. This is the script for every sound made, including dialogue, music, and any form of noise made. Each slide contains at least 2 scenes from our film, which describes all the sounds made in that particular scene. It shows whether or not the scene is playing music, and describes what genre or mood it makes if there was any. As well as any form of exchange in dialogue between characters, or a noise that someone makes. The sound script also includes sounds of objects or movement in the scene. For example, if the shower were to turn on, the slide would describe the sound of the handle, as well as the sound of the showerhead itself. If there happens to be no dialogue of any sort in the scene, it will be mentioned. Additionally, it also states the kind of sounds that are occurring: diegetic or non-diegetic. Diegetic meaning that both the characters and the audience can hear the sound happening in that scene, and non-diegetic meaning that only the audience hears what the characters cannot.

Planning: Shooting Script

Attached is the shooting script for our final task. Each slide contains the general shooting details of each scene. For example, the second slide is for scene 1. It comprises the type of shots and angles in the scene. It has what the character(s) or subject(s) are doing in the scene. It also has the lighting; whether it is bright and cheery or dark and gloomy. The entire slide show is thirteen slides: one slide for the title and twelve slides for each of the twelve scenes. A majority of the scenes are morning-routine scenes from both Carolina's and Kenneth's point of view. Their routines are cut together to compare and contrast their preparation for the day. For example, while Kenneth just messes with his hair really quickly, Carolina puts thought into how she looks for the day.