Audience and Institution Practice Essay

Section B: Institutions and Audiences

Media area chosen: Film
#6- To what extent is digital distribution vital to the media area you have studied?

It is no surprise that many sources of our entertainment are distributed through this time of the “digital era”. With many resources exposed to the audience, including the many ways that these real text media are shown for our viewing pleasure, it has virtually changed and enhanced the way we view, watch, and listen to our favorite and upcoming films. The digital distribution of these films has never been easier and more accessible to the public. In more ways than one - through our downloads, video sharing, and social platforms- digitally distributing media has been crucial in reporting the latest films. As theaters become more irrelevant, our films are brought to us closer to home in various aspects such as on-demand streaming, pirated sites, blu-ray, DVD's, networking stream platforms and so much more. But the true extent of this can be assessed in a deeper scope.

To begin with, in what ways can a consumer watch a film? But even more so, in what ways can this film be made known to the general public? It's simple: digital distribution. For instance, under the article ‘How is Digital Technology Reshaping the Film Industry?’ by Rosie Harman, it states “Digital market has infiltrated almost any type of industry you could name. That includes the film industry as well..” To understand the extent of digital distribution, it is vital for any film institution to understand the grasp of how the audience will view the said film. These include a range of technologies that enhance the viewing of these films, including 4K 3D cameras, video editing, and even 3D rendering. A lot of the way we view these upcoming films is through distribution on social platforms, such as YouTube, as expressed in the article ‘How Tech Has Shaped Film Making’ by Charles Matthau. But how exactly can these films be digitally distributed? A crucial question with an impactful answer.

Take the article ‘The Ins and Outs of Hollywood Film Distribution’. Most filmmakers will create their “own production company” in order to ensure the intellectual property of their films. Therefore, this allows the owner of the film to have some control over how their film gets distributed. Steven Spielberg, a director, created his own production company called “Amblin Entertainment” which allowed him to handle the intellectual property copyrights to films like E.T. (1982) and Back to the Future (1985). Then, the company would work out contracts to sell these films to the “Big Six” who would handle the distribution from there. It is then up to the distribution subsidiaries to secure a national and global distribution of the films. So now comes to play to which ways can these films be viewed.

Digital distribution can take many forms. For instance, let's examine the case study of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” directed by Davis Yates and released in November of 2018 by Warner Bros. Pictures. The advertising of these films was used in several ways through cross-promotion of the film. For example, fan screenings were distributed all over the internet which allowed viewers to watch the movie “early”. Even more so, Google engaged in providing footage from the trailer of the film. Partnering up is even an impactful strategy, such as the synergy tactic of AT&T and Warner Bros teaming up to digitally promote the film through marketing campaigns to boost the excitement and hype over the film's release. Furthermore, it brought the audience an easier way to watch through a home exhibition, as the film released on Amazon Blu-Ray for online viewing, as well as selling through Walmart and Target stores. Worldwide, the film profited a whopping $653.7 million USD.

Even more so, the case study on the “Beauty and the Beast”, released March 2017, directed by Bill Condon and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Showcased a major digital distribution of the film. In a fun and whimsical way for the audience to be engaged in the release of the film, the company created a cross-media convergence that allowed individuals to send messages using special ‘stickers’ from the film as well as releasing the soundtrack for people to listen and enjoy. The film enjoyed a hefty profit of $1.3 Billion USD. Another case study that shook the box office and home entertainment was the release of “Black Panther” in February of 2018, which was directed by Ryan Coogler and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures Motion Studios. Cross-promotion revealed an exciting commercial that featured the Black Panther with the new 2018 Lexus LS 500 car. Creating this visual association of the film to this new car benefitted both the film and car company to reach a broader audience, digitally distributing the image and brand name to the public. BET was even able to release an old animated version of this film, which only garnered more attention to the film. 

Furthermore, in the article “Universal vs. Disney,” it states that “The Jurassic World and Fast & Furious franchises are Universal’s crown jewels of intellectual property.” What does this imply? The underlying message is that competition is only beneficial to how we view our films through various media, meaning the next best film should be loud, dramatic, and right in the audience's visual realm. This brings us to our last case study; Jurassic World. Released in June of 2015 and directed by Colin Trevorrow, with distribution by Universal Studios, this film made a major dent in trailers, with up to 4 main trailers for the film. Even more exciting is their distribution of their ‘website’ showcasing Jurassic World as a fully functional theme park to the audience. The engagements produced from this film were outstanding, even including an online Easter egg hunt for users, completely online. As a result, the film made record sales with a total of $1 Billion USD from Blu-Ray expansion packs to DVDs and more.

So to conclude, it is evident that the digital distribution of films created a major dent in the way we view and enjoy these media. They come to us on multiple platforms, with ease at our fingertips. In so many ways, I contribute to these audiences on how I immerse myself in these films with checking release dates, watching the newest trailers, and even reading on the feedback through critic sites such as rotten tomatoes. Without digital distribution of films, it would be more complex for the film companies/institutions to each their targeted audiences and for the audience itself to know what's to come for the future of film.

Extract Essay- Game of Thrones

Carla Choukroun 4/20/20 Period 2 Candidate No. 0102

  1. Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs meaning through the following:
-Camera shots, angles, movement and composition.
-Editing.
-Sound.
-Mis-En-Scene.

In the Games of Throne extract, there is a theme that prevails of mystery and most apparent, uncertainty. The vision that the author captures is through various aspects that begins in the very opening scenes, as the uneasy and rocky waves provide the first glimpse of an unknown atmosphere that will set itself for the premise of this extract.

To begin with, the first scene begins with an establishing shot of the large ship and powerful waves that surround it. Here, diegetic sound can be heard of the seagulls and waves crashing against each other as they overlap from the ships forward movements. During this scene, the camera diverts its attention to the two main characters, with the camera zooming in on them. Incidental sound intensifies, as the zoom allows the audience to examine the facial expressions of the two characters and showcasing their costume design of medieval set attire in formal wear. They show signs of being uncertain, timid and overall anxiety of what lays before them. This shows that the author was trying to capture these exact emotions with the zoom to enhance the theme, making the character and the audience alike uncertain of what events are foreshadowed as a crane shot tilts up of an entrance with a large, towering, statuesque figure of a warrior/soldier .

As the music slowly fades, the next scene is shown of the two main characters in a large dimly lit room, with a great big single horizontally-elongated medal table, accompanied with three large chairs and two small, cowardly looking stone benches on the other side for the two main men. As one of the main characters paces back and forward, the author shows this action as a way to add how uncertain the men are, with one pacing and the other trying to comfort or reassure the other. The camera is kept at a medium close-up to keep the camera focused on the men’s weakly lit faces. Finally, three men emerge, known to be the “bankers” in this scene. There is a moment of hesitation that the men are faced with, as they were met abruptly, even though they were waiting eagerly for these other men. They were plainly dressed, with only one of the “bankers” addressing the men collectively.

Now, the next scene begins with dialogue and shot/reverse-shot of all the characters discussing the matter at hand: heir to money. As the characters go back and forward, arguing and bickering, it is still clear that the author is portraying the uneasy atmosphere displayed amongst these men as it seems an agreement cannot be made. Another theme presents itself here: power. The only “banker” speaking appears very calm and collected and seems to be holding a higher ground than the two main characters. He is unbothered by their claims of who owns the right to the money lost and the heir to the throne to be titled as a Lord. Therefore, the author is presenting that the power is being held at a firmer grip amongst the bankers than the two main men.

With the next scene, the two main characters seem to be defeated of trying to argue with the banker. However, this is until one of the main characters stands to speak up. As the bankers are still seated, one of the main characters is shown in a medium long shot as he speaks in an upright position, which the author created to impose a sense of authority. As the men continue to bicker on grounds of loyalty and who holds the true title to aiding in the lost money, a main event is shown during this scene. One of the main characters uncovers his glove to show the banker. The author added this scene to create depth on the situation, which questioned the other main characters’ integrity, intentions and overall loyalty to the title of being a Lord. Upon removing the glove, the audience was met with a butchered hand- the fingers had been cut or amputated down to the joints of the fingers. A reaction shot was shown of the banker, his face mortified and shocked. The author provided an understanding and background by doing so to prove that the other main character was worthy of the title and the chance to the heir of money to the banker.

Conclusively, through these scenes, it is apparent that the author was trying to show how the theme of uncertainty followed these two main characters in the events that unfolded. They did not know what to expect, in more ways than one. The main characters did not know what the response would be from the banker, the audience did not know either, but even more so, the banker was not expecting of the actions of one of the main characters, with his justified arguments and points, which left the banker searching for words. Therefore, this solidifies the view and intentions of the author when creating the theme of mystery and uncertainty.

CCR for Film Video

This is the CCR I did for my film MUTANT. This was done in an interview style. I got into depth about my personal journey and the many ways I improved. The video length is 10 minutes long and I really incorporated all my progress into this reflection. It was definitely a fun and creative take on CCR’s that I have done in the past. I grew so much, especially at a time we are under with so much going on in the world today. Film productions around the world have stopped, theaters have closed, etc. So this is a very impactful time for film history especially! Nonetheless, I continued to use the resources I had at home to make the best out of the situation as you will see in my CCR for the film. I really tried to show my creative side to this. The interview style was a nice twist and was different. I added a lot of gifs to make it more comical and fun. I wanted it to be capture almost like a silent film. When something happens and then a text is followed. It was fun to film because I had my dad as the interviewer and my brother as the one filming. I had to reshoot the CCR about 5 times because I kept laughing. I’ve also never talked to a camera for 10 minutes straight. I’ve only ever done about 7 for another class, AICE global. But it was still fun and a bit out of my comfort zone. I hope you enjoy the CCR and find it informational.

Film Blog Video

This is my opening sequence for my film MUTANT! I really enjoyed making this film with my group and it was surprisingly the easiest to film. There is currently a lot going on in the world so I will admit, as a perfectionist, I wanted to do more editing on the titles. It truly disappointed me that I could not make the titles how I originally wanted to because it would have added so much more to the film! But, I was still super proud of the outcome. I came a long way to be able to film such a project, with all my hard work and skills coming together in the end for this final product! The biggest thing for me during this film was the acting. In my previous products, I never had to really act or go off a strict. With this, I had to pay attention to detail. This included the way I spoke, my tone in my voice, my facial expressions. Not only that, but making sure everyone was on the same page. So they had to practice likes and facial expressions with me. I will admit it was not entirely easy. We did our very best because at times you can notice smiles creeping in. This shows how much fun I had but how hard it was to be serious. Because after all, this is a horror film, not a comedy. It was not the easiest to be my character because I’ve never done something like it before. Regardless, I think I did a really good job. It was interesting and the storyline is there. But you can decide if it’s scary enough for you!

Music Video with CCR

Not only was this actually my hardest film, it was also the funnest for me. I genuinely enjoyed myself whilst filming this with my group. It was mostly hard for me because I had trouble with two things. For one, it was hard to get the film to match up with the audio of the music. This caused a bit of choppiness that I couldn't fix. The second thing was the editing I did. The split screen was interesting but still kind of difficult. My favorite part though was the cool jump cut/transition I came up with the idea to jump from one location to another. This video really got me frustrated a few times. This was the first time I used two different locations as well. The park and then the beach. THIS was the video I truly got out of my comfort zone. I had so many people looking at us whilst filming. For this video, I even called the park prior to filming to confirm if it was okay to film. I organized a lot of props. From flowers, to the love letter, I even designed costumes. It was important for me to capture a very light and sunny look on the actors. This video had a ton of retakes though. People would interrupt us and cause us to reshoot. This was a great learning experience and overall just really fun.

Commercial Blog with CCR

This is my commercial blog. I also attached the CCR I made for this video. This was the very first filming I did in AICE Media. Although it was the shortest film I did, it was also second to being the hardest to actually film and edit. It was difficult to reach the time because it was so minimal. I kept going over the time requirement. Since it also was my first time even filming, it was the first time I brought actual props, which was pretty fun. I enjoyed the music I found, which was also my first time ever converting songs to mp3. I did have a few friends help me with some editing as it was all still very new to me. It’s amazing to see how far I came with my directing, filming and editing skills. I remember I used to get so frustrated and would lose patience with editing. Something always was going wrong when I edited. This filming took place at school as well. So I wasn’t YET outside of my comfort zone. I did not know anyone really in the class also. So, I had to shake off the shyness and put myself out there. I found a really great group out of it. All of our products came out great too. It was hard work but it was fun nevertheless. This was my first step in the journey to come. Overall, I really enjoyed filming this commercial.

Editing Blog: Finalizing all edits Part 2

All editing has been successfully completed. Now all I had to do was go through the film in its entirety. So what I did was check on each scene. I first started by looking at each scene's lighting. The lighting looked good so I just made a few tweaks here and there. Like the killer scene, I added an extra lighting to it in editing. These were mostly last minute touch-ups. Then the next thing I looked at was sound. The sound in each clip was clear and understandable. During last minute editing I even considered adding some special effects. Since I was limited with my at-home editing software, I could not add any really nice special effects. The special effects I went through were fake rain, thunderstorm effects and loud crashing noises. None of these however worked out. Therefore, none of them were used. Thankfully, there was no more choppiness or lagging in the final product of the film. I also reviewed the soundtrack of the film. The music was really good and really corresponded with each scenes. I had a calm soundtrack, a build-up soundtrack and a major climax soundtrack.This editing was divided into two parts because they were done on the same day. Now, the final product has been completed.