Pitch for short film

 Before a kid goes to exchange school his dad gives him a list of clues leading to treasure about his deceased mother.

How and why I chose my group

 Hello, blog! It's been one whole year since I've started media studies. Its been a long, but fun journey, and this year I've decided to take the A level class of media studies. Taking on this class will be a little more challenging than the previous year's version but I'm sure with the help of my partner and the guidance of my teachers ill be fine. For my group, I've decided to partner with one person. The person I've decided to partner with is Roscoe. The reason why I've decided to partner with him is because we partnered last year in the AS level and we already know each other. Since our other two partners decided to not take the A level portion of Media Studies we've decided to only have two people. We are already comfortable with each other already and we don't want to go through the process of finding new people for our group. We think we will do just fine managing the workload. The way we'll manage the workload is by splitting the work in half. Roscoe and I envision the same thing and we want the best quality possible for our final project. We have the same ideas and we trust in each other's effort. I will be working on all the technical aspects like filming, editing, and website design. Roscoe will be focusing on all of the design aspects such as storyboarding, ideas, and creative designs. The reason why I chose the technological aspects is because of my love for technology. I love filming and using the internet and it makes me happy. The reason why Roscoe will be focusing on the design aspects because he is extremely creative and he has great envisions for things. I am really happy I have a good partner for this project and I believe we will do great in media studies this year.

Audience and Institution Practice Essay

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

 

            Marketing in the film industry is very important. It is used to promote and promote awareness for upcoming films that are going to be released. However, many question whether marketing is truly essential for films to grow and gain money.

               To start, without marketing, most films would not have the traction it has today. Marketing is important because it can grow the audience of the film, and it can help the movie do better in the box office. For example, Spider-man Homecoming made $880,166,350 in the box office. This would not happen without marketing. The marketing techniques Sony Pictures used to promote this film was using synergy, cross-media promotions, and merchandising. They used synergy by partnering with cinnamon toast crunch to promote their film while people eat the cereal. This important to the film company because many people buying this type of cereal would see this branding and it might have pulled more viewers which would result in more money. They used cross-media promotion by making a music soundtrack and releasing it the same day as the movie. This brought in viewers to the film by using music from the artist Michael Giacchino. Some of his fans might have liked the music and could’ve checked out the movie. The merchandising helped the most. The marketing team used toys to promote the movie by getting into a younger audience for the film. The marketing team also partnered with Sony’s gaming market to produce a game for the PS4. This created a buzz for the movie and increased profit for the film.

               Another example of films that use marketing techniques to help build profits is Furious 7 and Jurassic World. They are both distributed by Universal Studios and released in 2015. Together they made $3,185,448,308 in the box office. Marketing did play a big role in this. They both had trailers and posters informing audiences of the release and both used many other different marketing skills. They used video games to broaden the audience and that brought in many other viewers. However, they didn’t use all of the same marketing skills. Because Jurassic World wanted to have a broad audience, they merchandised toys and figurines to attract younger viewers. Furious 7, on the other hand, used shirts and accessories to gain traction. Both films also used cross-promotion to promote the film, but Jurassic World branded on food while Furious 7 partnered with a phone company. As you can see these efforts to market both films paid off greatly maximizing profits for Universal Pictures.

               The last example is Lego Movie 2: The second part. The sequel did not make as much money as its predecessor. It only made around $100,000,000 in the box office which was around 270,000,000 less than its predecessor. The marketing may have something to do with that. The marketing consisted of the basic things that every other movie does including its predecessor. It used merchandising and cross-media promotion. They only released Lego sets and a video game which resulted in the movie not standing out.  People were not motivated to watch the film because they thought it might be the same thing as the first movie. They also partnered with a few companies to promote the film, but it still did not perform like the prequel. The lack of marketing resulted in a huge setback for the film’s release.

               To conclude, marketing is essential in the film industry. I have watched all of the movies except the Lego Movie 2. The marketing was an influence on me because I watched most of those movies because of the trailers and the promotions and the Lego Movie 2 did not stand out to me as the others did. Most films do well because of the promotion and traction it gains and it would not be like that without marketing.

Game of Thrones Extract Essay

The Game of Thrones extract constructs meaning through camera shots, angles, movement, editing, sound, and mise-en-scène in many ways. The different types of CAMS, editing, sounds, and mise-en-scene makes this extract stand out. While conducting this, the director developed an amazing theme. The theme that I felt was conveyed through this extract was the struggle to keep loyalty, while getting your superiors to agree with you at the same time.

The first scene is short, but it still builds on the theme of the extract. At the beginning of the first scene, there is an aerial shot showing a ship moving on the sea, with ambient sound in the background of seagulls and birds chirping. The people on the ship are wearing old fashioned clothes showing that this takes place long ago. This adds to the theme by showing the conditions that they’re in and shows the watcher what the people on the ship must go through to get to their destination. The lighting is gloomy but it’s bright enough to show the surroundings. Then, there is a jump cut to two men staring off into the distance to where they're headed. This helps construct the theme by showing the people getting ready to face what’s to come, building suspense. The score adds even more suspense. Then the camera zooms out to show the conditions they’re in and then transitions into an establishing shot of where they’re going. The establishing shot shows a large city, where the men are headed. When showing the city in an aerial shot the lighting quickly brightens. This builds on the theme of the extract in many ways. At the beginning the gloomy feel builds suspense and the quick transition to the bright lighting and the city heightens that suspense to show there is something to come.

Right when the second scene starts, the score cuts away. The two men are now in a room waiting for people to come. In a two-shot transitioning to a wide shot shows the two men start to talk about how far they came only to be waiting for hours in. This gives a background on what’s happening and adds to the theme at the same time. This builds suspense because they are angry. After all, this meeting was important to them. They came this long way to make a negotiation with their superiors and they haven’t shown up yet. The lighting is somewhat dark, but you can see the men pacing and talking. This creates a gloomy feel adding to the suspense and theme. The doors in the room open loudly and three men dressed elegantly walkout. They seem like they have authority over the men, telling them to sit down after they do on three giant chairs. The setting and the dialogue adds to the theme showing that this meeting is important. The two men sit down, but they’re hesitant because they were upset, they had to wait. This builds to the theme because it shows the struggle to build loyalty. The meeting starts and the dialogue between the men is hostile because they’re angry. This further adds to the theme. As the dialogue continues, we find out that one of the two men is related to the king and they’re trying to come to an agreement with the superiors. The CAMS change consistently showing different angles of this meeting. At one point the angle is a low-wide angle behind the two men showing the power difference. Another thing to note the man in the middle of the three superior men is talking calmly but condescending while the two men are starting to get angry. That furthers the buildup of the theme. While the two men are trying to negotiate the superiors decide that they don’t want to work with the two men. The two men get up and one of them starts to talk back to the superior trying to negotiate one more and build loyalty and trust. While this is happening there is a shot/reverse shot showing the conversation as it gets faster. This builds suspense by the rate they’re talking at. This also adds to the theme as the last struggle to build loyalty and getting the superiors to listen. In the end, the man talking to the superior is getting points in and the superior tries to stop the conversation, but it does not work. The man points at his partner saying they need to pick him and demanding change. The camera cuts back to the man surprised. This shapes the theme, furthering the struggle to build loyalty while trying to make superiors listen to them.

I feel like I am right on this theme because everything adds up together. The CAMS, sound, mise-en-scene, and editing combine to shape my theme perfectly.

Game of thrones Extract Worksheet

Final blogs: The final CCR

 Hello, blog. This is the final project for media studies. In this CCR I will explain how I completed my movie. This project took the most amount of effort and work. I made a news broadcast like a skit for my CCR. I used cuts, inserted clips from my movie and even added in a news intro.  It took me about 3 hours to write the script and the entire day to edit. I filmed using my iPhone 8 plus and edited it on my computer. I ran into some problems around the way but I'm very happy with how it turned out. The CCR falls into the time limit, so I was very proud of that too. This journey was been very fun and I am happy I learned everything I could this year.

Final Blogs: The movie

      This is my final project, the movie. This is the project that took the most time and effort to work on. For this project, Zeke and I decided to team up with our old group again because we wanted to perfect this movie. We made the first two minutes of a thriller movie. The reason why we chose this was that we wanted to make an interesting and suspense-filled film. We all liked the concept of making a thriller so we agreed on it. The plot we decided to do was this: The main character finds themselves involved in some dangerous business and goes on trying to escape their captures and keep themselves from life in a cell". It worked perfectly with our genre and we were able to create the perfect movie.
      By the end of this project, I can say I have improved all of my skills. At the beginning of the year, I was new to everything and I barely knew how to use a camera. Now I can make use of the environment, film in tight spaces, and even edit on different editing software. This journey has been exciting and I'm glad I had the opportunity to take this class.