Audience and Institution Practice Essay

‘Nowadays, everybody consumes media texts in the same way.’ 

     Media texts have become a staple for creativity. Films can become a representation of someone's culture, ideas, or art. However, it all depends on how the audience consumes it. The consummation of a media text can be thought of as how the way the audience receives the text and where they receive it.

      To begin with, each film can earn very different amounts in the box office. The consumption of a film can be related to how much the movie earns because of the sheer amount of people it attracts. Sometimes the audience watches a film and recommends it to their friends and family. A joint liking of a film can cause a mass conversation on social media platforms that motivate other people to go watch it. More people in the theater means more box office revenue. For example, largely popular films such as Spiderman: Homecoming, earned approximately 880 million dollars in the box office. Before the film was released much talk on social media platforms speculated how the new actor, Tom Holland, would play the character. After the movie was released, it was a must-see. The early watchers took to platforms to share their opinions which increased the number of people who went to watch it and therefore increasing the box office. However, we see other films like Fast and Furious 7 which did not perform as well in the box office although it also had a considerable amount of social media hype around it. To compare numbers, Fast and Furious 7 made approximately 400 million dollars. This movie had just as much conversation around it as Spiderman: Homecoming did because of the death of one of its main characters (Paul Walker), however, Spiderman did twice as well. This shows just how differently audiences consume different films. The difference in consumption can be due to how the audience sees different production companies. Spiderman: Homecoming was produced by Marvel Studios, a Walt Disney production branch, and Fast and Furious 7 was produced by Universal Studios. It could also be from the fact that Spiderman was the start of a new sequel and Fast and Furious is a long-running series of movies. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that people did not consume the same way.

      Additionally, the way different people are attracted to different films displays how they consume them differently. For instance, different methods of marketing are used to attract the audience that's most likely to want to watch the film. An example of this would be the live-action movie of Beauty and the Beast. To target female audiences, Disney had some of the actors host an episode of The Bachelor. This act of synergy promoted the movie to the largely female audience that tunes in to watch The Bachelor. Another way Disney marketed itself was with merchandise for little girls; this includes new costumes released for little girls. Disney also collaborated with Morgan Taylor to make movie-themed nail polish colors. Overall, Disney was quite successful in their promotion of this film. However, notice that most of their marketing strategies target mostly females. The reason for this is that different social groups interact differently with movies. In this case, Beauty and the Beast is a love story, these types of plots do better with a female audience; therefore, the marketing is targeting them. These products can sometimes motivate people to go watch the movie. For example, if a young girl is bought a costume and she grows to love playing in it, she'll want her parents to take her to see the movie, buy the movie, or constantly stream the movie when it's made available. We see marketing used in a different way to appeal to many different audiences with Universal Studios' increasingly wider range of films. For example, in recent years they have released thrillers like Get Out and Us, children films like Despicable Me 3, as well as comedy films like BlacKkKlansman. By expanding the types of audiences they are causing more people to watch Universal's films. In the future, the diversity of films will cause the audiences to branch over into other genres. The way people consume films is quite complex. However, we can see that different types of films attract different audiences differently, whether it's the genre or the way it is marketed.

      In conclusion, we see that people interact with films in different ways. Whether it's how much the audience watches the film, or they come across watching the film, people have their own ways of consuming films. Alternatively, they also all interact with people. Without an audience, filmmakers would cease to exist. What is the point of art if there is no one to appreciate it?

Practice Exam: Game of Thrones

AICE Media Extract Essay: Game of Thrones

            This extract shows two men entering a new city on the premise of making a request. It is likely that the request was to form an alliance. The lords of the kingdom refuse. However, after a discussion with one of the men, the lords will have the fulfill their request. All of the characters in the extract are reluctant and seem as if they would’ve liked to have avoided this new forced alliance. 

            From the beginning of the extract you can sense a sort of tension in the two men entering this new city. Right of the bat the non-diegetic music is completely dry of hope, which adds an ominous mood to the upcoming scenes. The aerial establishing shot that comes with the ominous music provides context to the scenes that follow it by showing the men arriving into the city; proving that they are not from there. Not to mention that the lighting in this scene is bright but drained of color. All of the characters clothing is dark, the city is dead, and the sky is pale. This shot is followed by the two men are staring off into the distance at the city with serious faces. There was no dialogue in this scene, but it was not silent: seagulls gawked in the background and so did the mumbling men sailors on the ship. Therefore, showing that the two men heading into this new kingdom are unhappy about being there.

            From the ship to the scene in the castle we see a jump in time. This jump cut along with some help from the dialogue that followed helped show that the men had been waiting a long time. Waiting a long time is often a sign of unfortune. The men came to the kingdom for a reason and seemed to be waiting on someone or something to complete what they set out to do. In the meanwhile, the men begin to talk. One of the men is pacing up and down while the other one is speaking to him. This two-shot shows one man’s anxiety in the background and the other one’s composure in the same shot. It can serve to contrast the two and how differently they will react in future scenes. The dialogue they produce introduces a superiority factor in their relationship. It begins to become clear that one of the men is the other subordinate. The lighting in the castle they’re in is very dark. As they were talking you could see the shadows from the man who is pacing. Overall, this scene serves to introduce the characters and a bit of how they are like, which foreshadows the scenes that are to come.

            After the men are converse a little, three new men come from a door in the room. As the door opens you hear a squeaky noise come from it which is immediately followed by the clopping of footsteps. The feet of the three lords are followed with a tracking shot which does not capture their faces. The close up of the feet introduce the new characters with a superiority complex as they sit at the table. After the lords sit down, they begin speaking to the two men. Only one of them speaks but when he does the dialogue, he uses immediately shows he believes he’s brunt and thinks lesser of the two men. As the men begin to converse their words are followed with a shot-reverse- shot. This technique was used to focus on each person as they talk. Another trend in their conversation is that all the men are shot at eye-level. This could be to show that neither of them is superior than the other. Their words might suggest that the three lords are indeed better at first, as it develops it appears that they need the two men as much as they do. It also becomes apparent that one of the two men is a lord as well. However, upon learning that his request was denied he quickly gets up to leave without arguing. His subordinate begins to defend him and while doing so the viewers get a better view of his clothes. In comparison to the four other lords in the room his clothes were made of cloth while theirs was made of leather. All of these factors develop the status of the people in the room and develop their characters.

            In conclusion, the extract showed two men going to a different kingdom in search of an alliance. Throughout these scenes viewers get to learn about the characters, their personalities and status, all while understanding that the situation they were in was not wanted.

Creative Critical Review

     I’m so happy that I am finally done with my opening sequence. It’s been a long journey. Reflection on everything I’ve done throughout the year feels quite special. Not only did I learn about the filming process, learning it itself had its own steps. I feel like I’ve grown a lot over all the past projects I’ve completed. I’m very happy to share this with you. My creative critical reflection was intended to be funny, so if you see some jokes in there please laugh. I tried my best to make it a bit entertaining but also informative. It's also edited and composed like a Youtube video, by a regular YouTuber. I speak about many different topics, including, technology, social groups, and conventions. I apologize if I speak too fast, I find the speed very normal. I’m very happy to have been able to take this class. I think it’s probably the most fun I’ve had making a project. I originally don’t like cameras, however, I also feel that’s beginning to change. I hope that in the future, once the world is no longer a mess, I can go outside and film with friends. Without this class, I would still not know how to use a camera. I wouldn't know how to edit. I wouldn't know how long it takes to film. I might sound dramatic but that's what I think. My journey throughout this class has been one I’ll remember for years to come. I'm not sure when my next blog will be, but until then I hope everyone stays safe and healthy.

The Opening Sequence/ Final Task

     This video is my movie opening. It's approximately two minutes long. I worked with new members for this project: Mariapaula, Darwin, and Rafael. My group and I started working on researching genres for this video back in January. It feels like it's been years since then. We had come up with many pitches but I'm glad we chose this one. After all, it was the one I had suggested. Mariapaula might say it was hers but I distinctly remember the call on which I suggested it. I probably remember it so vividly because I was very busy when she called I had to step away from my family for a second and stand behind some bushes. Returning to the subject at hand, the video shows a girl and a man getting ready at the same time. The girl is a regular teenager who plans on going to a party. The man is her driver who plans on kidnapping her. The opening sequence would show the before of what would happen in the rest of the movie. My plan for the scenes was to have their actions to be in sync. Whether this was accomplished or not, I'm not completely sure. Either way that was just an element I wanted, it was not necessary but I wanted it to be cool. The plot itself is solid, with or without the extra effects I originally wanted. Once we completed about two month's worth of research and planned out our movie opening accordingly, we began to film. The process began in mid to late February. Above, the product of that filming process is shown. During filming, my group and I experienced problems we never have before. We had a case where some of the footage we had filmed was accidentally deleted, a car go missing and a very slow actor.  Despite all the problems we faced, we got the job done. I'm proud of my group for getting this done in only two days. Filming has proved to be quite fun and I'm confident in saying that I'm glad I took AICE Media.

Remembering the Music Video

     The video that is shown above if the second project I did in my AICE Media studies class. I decided to work with the same people from the music video. We ended up choosing the song "We Are Young." This project was the most stressful of the three. I remember many problems arose when I filmed this project. In fact, I filmed it twice. The first time I filmed it I spent the whole day helping a different group with their project. When it came to filming my groups project, two of them left and I was missing one of my group members. I remember being extremely upset, honestly very passive-aggressive, and tired. I don't like being in front of cameras so I asked Mariapaula, which was apart of a different group, to be the female in the video. Before I did this, I was forced to film a couple scenes with me in them. I can't even put how I felt after that into words. Looking back on that day I'm so glad I didn't feel that way when I filmed my final task. The second time I recorded this, was the complete opposite of the first day. Everyone I needed was there and we actually had fun. As for the final product, I'm not one hundred per cent pleased. There were certain scenes that could've been better. For example, I expected more from the confetti scene, if the camera quality had been better it would be more pleasing to the eye. However, from this project, I learned how important having back-up plans are and how the absence of people you rely on can change your plans. To me, my commercial taught me about filming and this music video showed me something completely different. I'm very glad I did these projects because of the experience I gained off of doing them.

Looking Back at the PSA/Commercial

     At the beginning of the year, I did this project. It was supposed to be either a commercial or public service announcement. I picked my group based on the friendships I already had in class. This is the same group I did the music video with. This PSA is 30 seconds long, making an announcement on vaping and why you shouldn't do it. Looking back at it, I wished we would've picked a different topic. We chose this one to make it funny and mostly have fun. However, it proved difficult to fit all that we had planned into 30 seconds. We also could've done a fancier job if we had done a regular commercial.  At the end of the day, filming this PSA was really fun. I learned a lot about the filming process. Most of all I went from knowing nothing about how to use a camera to being a camera-woman. This was probably the most educational and stress-free project I did this year. I would have to be extremely pessimistic to look back at it and only feel regret. However, there are things we could have done better. To me, the biggest problem with this project was the plot. We didn't get to incorporate everything we wanted to so it didn't make much sense. I remember learning how long it takes to film. It also showed me being behind the camera isn't exactly easy. Having to position the camera steadily but correctly oriented proved to be somewhat difficult. It also demotivated me from trying to use crazy angles that I wasn't sure would work. Despite all the negative, I am very proud of this project. I only begin to doubt it when I compare it to the work of others, who didn't even do it on the same subject. What's important is that I learned so much from it and had a lot of fun in the process.

Editing: adding the titles

     My group and I are so nearly done with our opening sequence. After all the editing Rafael did, all he had to do was add the titles. When we wrote our story board many weeks ago, we had already decided where and how the titles were going to be placed. Most of what he had to do was just follow what we had already discussed as a team. In our previous plans we decided to add a red letter to one or two titles. He did tell the rest of the team and I that getting a certain red letter in the title proved difficult. He had to layer the red letter over the already existing word. These titles were placed at the end since one of them was "directed by"  and it was placed on the footage of the car driving away. After all, that is what we had discussed before. When he sent the video he had created, I thought it was pretty good. I was overall pretty happy with it. He also sent a message in the chat telling us to let him know of any anomalies. I hadn't noticed anything. However, Mariapaula realized the order of the houses was wrong. He fixed this quickly and matched the house with the corresponding character's scenes. We didn't think there was much to reshoot after we saw the final product because we had already re-filmed scenes we didn't like from the first filming day. There were certain things that could have been better. For example, the establishing shot was a bit shaky. However, with the global health crisis going on right now, none of us plan on going anywhere. We're all still in contact. I've talked to each of my group mates about 2-3 times each week since school has shut down. I feel like the corona virus has really had us very worried. Mariapaula and I have a lot of work to keep us busy and Darwin and Rafael have video games, so I guess we're distracting ourselves in different ways. I will still be uploading blogs in the future. I hope everyone can stay safe during this troubling time. Until next time.