Friday, May 8, 2020

Component 2 Essay

Films can be digitally advertised on social media platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, and various corners of the Internet. This has revolutionized the way in which films can be marketed and therefore greatly affected the potential profit margin they can generate. As technology takes the lead in this day in age, almost every distribution process is carried out digitally from film screenings to digital streaming. This impacts the profit cinemas can make from film screening, but does make film screening much more easier and convenient to view content than ever before. From this, film and streaming companies can garner more sales. Digital distribution largely affects the marketing and consumption of media products in the film industry to the extent where most films undergo distribution to a streaming service on top, resulting in more profit for production companies.

One case of a film practicing digital distribution, was the 2017 film was Beauty and the Beast, made by Walt Disney Pictures. Released both globally and domestically on March 17 of said year with no prior ‘Thursday Preview’ the film grossed approximately 1.3 billion world wide. Such a profit could not have been reached without digital distribution. The processes of digital distribution has allowed for global participation in the direct consumption of this film. As well as native territory, many people may experience circumstances where they cannot physically buy a ticket at the box office. Beauty and the Beast was Released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on June 6, 2017. Largely in favor of those with up to date media viewing platforms, the movie was also distributed to Netflix and On demand. Netflix with a growing subscriber count each year now with 182.8 million, making it one of the world's largest entertainment services, has added to the film's profits along with other popular streaming services where it was circulated. The distribution of this film has directly affected media marketing. One form was through social media including platforms such as Twitter. Under the social media handle “@beourguest” the film has created its own verified account to take part in promotion of the film, featuring teasers and clips prior to the release of the film. With over 142.8 thousand followers, many of which are actors of the film and large media corporations, this leaves room for cross promotion across other accounts associated with the film. It has even converged with twitter to make available specialized stickers promoting the film to its approximate 330 million monthly users.

Digital distributions as though seen on opposite spectrums with box office, actually make box office screening possible. Most of the films which are screened in theaters are delivered digitally. Entire films can be delivered to desired screens in seconds with the power of a simple internet connection. Digital distribution meant that films such as Spider-man Homecoming could be sent to theaters in forms of 2D,3D and IMAX format far and wide. It grossed $334,201,140 at domestic box office and $545,965,210 internationally. Its success can notably be awarded to the approach in which Marvel derived their marketing strategies based on their distribution tactics, reinforcing the idea that digital distribution largely does impact marketing and consumption of media products in the film industry. Marvel decided on releasing merchandise before the release of the movie, a very common marketing tactic, in order to create hype. Spider-man Homecoming’s market team used toys and other products as a way to get younger children to want to watch the movie. Sometimes this needs to be done because children may be too young to have developed a love for marvel or movies in general. By associating their toys with a movie they garner interest in seeing it. For older fans, the team also created a Spiderman game for the ps4 to add onto the film's anticipation. Mixing the use of marketing and partnering with companies, for example Cinnamon toast crunch which featured a prize promoting the movie inside, the hype had been created and the movie had a huge premier. It was released worldwide to the most possible cities for the largest profit possible. Once its time in box office was done, Spider-man homecoming was released onto xfinity stream and various other streaming sites. This equals more profit for the streaming services and production companies. However, for some movies that do not encounter much of a hype, many people choose to wait for the digital release which has negatively affected many theaters across the country and certainly other parts of the world.

In 2019, film studios produced several blockbusters including Disney's Avengers: Endgame. Its April release, grossed $2.8 billion worldwide.That placed it just ahead of the $2.79 billion created by Avatar in 2009 to make it the highest-grossing film ever. But, even with Endgame and other Disney films at the global box office producing more than $1 billion, the industry's cumulative domestic gross of $11.45 billion from 2019 is projected to fall short of the previous year’s record of $11.88 billion. Many in the film industry expect a pattern to continue as movie producers increasingly are allowing streaming services to release their films, which otherwise would have increased profit made at box office. One said streaming service is Disney+, a subscription video on-demand streaming service launched November 12, 2019. That same day, a Lady and the Tramp remake was present on the service, becoming the first Disney remake to forgo a theatrical release in favor of on-demand streaming. The streaming service has continued to do this another number of times, denying box office potential and adding to the already 3.8% box office shortfall. 

Digital distribution has largely affected the marketing and consumption of films to the extent where most highest grossing films undergo a digital distribution. It has altered the way individuals interact with marketing and obtain their digital media. For the general public, this has created an incredibly convenient form of viewing film. On demand streaming likely has grown popular amongst them because it is easily adaptable to one's life. A movie could be streamed at any point in time an individual chooses to do so for a much longer time that any theater would allow for, as long as the streaming service does not remove it. Still, it offers a much larger window for viewing than box office ever has. This will continue to plunge sales at box office, however production companies are indulging in a new age economic opportunity. Individuals are more willing to pay to stream their movies at home than view them elsewhere which has proved to create even profit for them.

Friday, March 20, 2020

Re-edit

Today is March 20, 2020. Today we re-edited our film. For the most part it was close to being complete. However some vital parts were missing. We found we still had some titles that had gone missing. We went back through the requirements and checked off the titles did have and inserted the ones we didn’t. This was all done from home. Each of us collaborated online. We each also overlooked the film as we continued editing. Overlooking helped us spot choppiness. We found shots which could be shortened or placed in a slightly different manner. The goal was to improve the flow of the film. We wanted to overlook it til it was closest to perfect as we could get it. There was some error with the audio where when we voiced over the video it did not match the film. For this we had to detach the audio and reposition it correctly. After going through the video each time there were less visible mistakes. We also edited the qualities of our font. At first it wasn’t the easiest to read. We made it bigger and more clearer for ease in reading. It also went more with the film.


Reshoot

Today is March 20th, 2020. We are amidst the corona virus epidemic. Although this taken away extra time from our filming it has dedicated more time towards editing. The Corona virus has caused many jobs and school to shut down all over the country. So being that most of us are not going to school and working, we have more time to dedicate to our assignment. Also considering that we are supposed to keep in self isolation my group members and I called and collaborated on editing instead of having to meet up in person. We edited based off of our critique we received from the peer review. So a few days ago when conditions weren’t as bad we all met up and reshot some scenes. We found that there was things which could be improved upon involving Darren and I’s scenes. It was pointed out to us that the lighting and camera quality was not the best. Darren did film part of his scene in a dimly lit closet. It wasn’t the worst lighting but wasn’t the best. My lighting also was not good. In my room I don’t have a stable light that is attached to the ceiling. I have other sources of light like my lamps and the natural light from outside. This has affected the appearance of the shot. So do to this we went over to each other’s houses and reshot some of the scenes with a different source of artificial light. We brought wireless light sources to manipulate the camera quality. In doing so the camera quality improved vastly. We did not have to reshoot Madison’s scenes as hers were good. Our film looks much cleaner now.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Filming - Wrapping it up

Today is March 12, 2020. We are currently piecing together the footage we have collected over the past few weeks. The last date we filmed was on Tuesday. We filmed scenes six through ten. We used our spare time after school. Madison ended up driving us to our filming locations. Our first filming location was an elementary school nearby. Weeks prior to filming we made sure we were granted permission to film on the school's grounds. There we filmed the end of the film where we all meet up for school as well as our own individual entrances into the scene. It was funny watching some of the shots we took because they were over-exaggerated but in a comedic way. Our comedy is genre after all. Afterward we headed to the bus stop across the school to film the bus scene. This is where Darren misses his bus for school. We were so glad that while we were filming the bus actually came. We had to act quickly. Madison quickly grabbed her phone and started filming. Darren then started to run after the bus as soon as it started to take off. That is how we ended up getting our bus chase shot. Afterwards we sent each other the footage from that day. We went home and started adding the new footage to the film. We just need to add some final touches.

Monday, March 9, 2020

Filming Continued

Today is March 9th, 2020. We have participated in another day of filming. We developed a systematic pattern of working. First, we figure out which days are most convenient to our group members by referring to our past schedule plan as well actively having discussions. If no date can be found we make sure to compromise. Compromise, I found, to be a large component of working in a group. I am sure it has greatly boosted our ability to work as a group. Today we worked after school. School let out at 2:40 and we got to my house around 3:10. I live fairly close to the school so that helped in managing time.  We drove to my house to finish up the last scenes that pertain to my segment of scenes one through five. Referencing back to our storyboards we were able to follow a consistent plan for our film. We made sure to take several shots of my scenes. This way when Madison would go home since she wasn't working she could review the footage. Since we were at my house we decided to just upload the files onto my computer since it was available us which I would use to review later as well. I made sure to give it to Darren as well to review when he got home from work. Because Darren takes the bus Madison drove him home. For the most part we did not experience any issues filming. At one point my curtain blocked proper lighting from the sun to come through so we had to clear. I made sure to tidy up our filming space to ensure we didn't get any unnecessary objects in our shot. For our next filming date we will be working on scenes six through ten. Over the past few days we have worked together we have acquired a sufficient amount of footage. Since we all three have the footage available we will continue our filming process. Over the next few days we are aiming to having a completed film.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Peer Review Sheet



"What is ONE thing you really liked about the film?"

I really enjoyed the story that the opening sequence told. I thought it was a unique take on a regular thriller movie. For being a high school film, I appreciate that they decided to tell a bold story because I know there could have been easier concepts to do.

"What is ONE suggestion you would make it the film?"
I would for the actors to speak a little louder. They need to project their voices more. When we were viewing their film at first it was a little difficult to understand from dialogue but clear from acting.