Audiences & Institutions Essay

Marketing is a very important part of the film production process. It greatly influences how much money the movie makes and it also controls the film’s relationship with its audience, making it a major role in the overall success of the film. The amount of exposure the film gets heavily affects the money it makes and its relationship with its audience.

First off, marketing is very important for films because it increases the amount of money that the film makes. People need to know about the film in order to attend a showing and buy the merchandise. Along with the amount of marketing, the strength of the marketing strategy is also key to the success of film. For example, the film Black Panther (2018), used many types of marketing to make the movie known across different media types. One part of their strategy was to feature unique fashion pieces inspired by the film at a New York Fashion Week event hosted by Marvel. Merchandise was another aspect of their marketing strategy. Clothing, toys, accessories, and more were all sold in order to reach out to their audience and get them excited for the upcoming movie. Also, Lexus teamed up with the film to make an advertisement for the 2018 Lexus LS 500, which was partly inspired by the movie. Black Panther made strenuous efforts to make sure they got their name out there across different media styles. Websites, posters, radio shows, and soundtracks were all made to go along with the movie. 

In contrast, the effort put into the marketing of the movie Ugly Dolls (2019) had much less strength than that of Black Panther. Many digital posters were made for the cartoon, along with the usual trailers, but no great efforts were made in getting the movie out. They could have created a website for kids with interactive games that featured the characters and setting of the movie. This would get children more involved in the movie. The movie partnered with multiple food service businesses, such as Cold Stone Creamery which added two flavors to their menu that were character themed. Although they did make some efforts, if more marketing had been done before and during its release, the film would have been more successful. This can be shown when comparing how much money each film made. Black Panther made around $361 million in its first weekend, while Ugly Dolls only made about $31 million worldwide. This difference could have been lessened, had the marketing been stronger for Ugly Dolls. 

Additionally, marketing is very important to the film process because it builds relationships between the film and its audiences. For instance, Beauty and the Beast (2017) started their marketing journey long before the movie released, just to get their crowd riled up. The poster of a single rose encapsulated in a glass jar gave the audience something to look forward to. As the release date came closer, merchandise began to be mass produced out of stores like Target, Hot Topic, and the Disney shop. This merchandise targeted people of all ages. Kids costumes, T-shirts, mugs, and figurines were all produced to help engage audiences with the film. Additionally, the soundtrack for the movie was released just a week before the movie was released. This allowed audience members to indulge in the music even before they saw the movie. Stickers were made for iMessage so that people could text using the stickers in their day to day life. Lastly, synergy was utilized when a special episode of The Bachelor was aired which was hosted by the stars of Beauty and the Beast. All of these efforts were made in order to connect the film with its audience. 

Another film that also strived to engage their audience through marketing was Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). Just like Beauty and the Beast, the movie featured a sound-track which got fans excited for the movie. Marvel has already created a great relationship with their audience, but along with the usual trailers and merchandise and such, a video game was also released before the movie was. This got the gamer fans of the movie excited and ready to watch it. Not every movie has a video game to go along with it, and this was another great way of getting in touch with their audience. To get the younger kid’s attention, the movie exercised synergy and partnered with the cereal brand Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Spider-man was featured on the box and small toy web shooters were found in the boxes. They aimed to encourage all ages to join the fandom and get excited about the new movie.Engaging fans is a really important part of having a successful movie released and marketing allows it to happen.

In conclusion, marketing is very important to films because it makes the film more profitable and it helps connect the movie to its audiences. Without marketing, no one would ever know about all the amazing films that have been produced. In film production, marketing is just as important to the process as actually filming the movie scenes for the overall success of the film.

Practice Extract Essay

In this “Game of Thrones” extract, the director is trying to create an imagery of a fictional story in a real-life time period that did exist at one point. The mis en scenes were included in order to make the scenes more realistic. The director conveyed this with specific shots, angles, and sounds. They were able to blend the elements of these scenes with editing in order to manifest a particular idea. This all goes into showing the audience the setting and context, which includes location and era. 

The first scene starts out with an aerial shot in order to unveil a massive ship carrying many passengers. The ship is very large which is why an aerial shot is needed to capture the entire image. The ship is used to show the context of the upcoming scenes because is modern times, it is not usual for people to travel by ship. When people see a large ship, they often relate it to pirates or more medieval times when traveling by ship was efficient. The aerial shot then zooms into the characters aboard the ship to emphasize the focus on those characters. This shows their importance to the scenes. This scene also includes an establishing shot which shows the audience that this story is taking place somewhere in Europe. The establishing shot reveals an overview of where the ship is going as it zooms out from showing a close up shot of the characters on the ship.  It then shows a large statue, what seems to be a Trojan warrior, which is what gives the indication that they are in Europe. The music in this scene accompanies the action going on very well because it is very deep and low. It creates suspense for the audience as they sail to their destination. 

The second scene abruptly starts with a two shot in which two men begin a conversation. Within this time the music fades which leads the audience to infer that the mood is becoming more serious. All non-diegetic sound has faded and all that can be heard are the dialogue, the echo, and light footsteps. The echo from their voices shows how large and empty the castle-like building is. The size of the building is also shown by a wide shot taken of the men and where they are talking to each other. In the shot, the audience is shown the medieval architecture from the stone construction, to the details in the windows as well as the very high ceiling which are not often seen in working class structures. Therefore, this adds to the fact that the director trying to capture the essence of this time period in the most realistic way possible. The director mostly utilizes cross cuts within these scenes to show the two men speaking from different perspectives. 

In the next part, the men seated behind the table are going back and forth in conversation with the same men who were aboard the ship. To show the physical back and forth in their conversation, shot reverse shots are used. The men had all foreign accents which portrayed their origins whether it was their current location or not. This adds to fact that this story was taking place somewhere in Europe. The costumes that the actors were wearing consisted of heavy coats, gloves, and boots. This dress code would not normally be seen in our modern era. These clothes are closely related to medieval times which further confirms the fact that the director wanted to closely resemble this time period in the most realistic way. 

In summary, the director’s vision for the scenes in this extract were to recreate medieval times and portray realistic story lines. They did this using specific angles, shots, and sounds. The mis en scenes play a very important part in conveying this time period because they visually show features specific to the era in these scenes. The location and characters also play a huge part in conveying the right ideas to the audience. All the elements of film are crucial in portraying the theme for the audiences’ understanding and enjoyment. 

Practice Extract Worksheets

Final Task: Movie Opening + CCR

"No Scrubs" Music Video + CCR

Vans Commercial + CCR

The Effects of COVID-19

     Due to the virus outbreak of COVID-19, school closed a week early for spring break. The virus is very serious. Due to social distancing, my parents are keeping me pretty much in full quarantine. Everything is cleaned around the house daily. I have to wash my hands constantly, which isn't really the worst thing. If that's all I need to do to keep the virus away I'll do it gladly. Blogging our journey wasn't required over spring break, but I figure I would update you guys.
      For us, not being able to see each other is not a huge deal. Our movie is fully done. The next step is the creative critical reflection (CCR) questions. It has to be a 12-15 minute video answering 4 questions. Originally we were going to do this together, but now that is not possible so I need a Plan B. I decided that I was going to do something in relation to the fact that we cannot really see anyone outside our families at this time. A talk show would not be ideal for this idea because that would include people seeing each other. Talk shows typically do not include another family member as the interviewer. So, I am going to set up my desk in my room facing a plain wall. I will put 3 relatively heavy boxes on top, then put my laptop on top of those. I'll use my laptop as a stand for my phone so I could film myself. This is better than getting someone else to film me because it will be more still. This is similar to a DIY tripod. But I can't give you every detail, you will have to see for yourself.