Audience and Institutions Essay

Audience and Institutions Essay

5) In relation to the media area you have studied, discuss the ways audience consumption has changed over time.

The way audiences consume films has changed incredibly over the years. With the rise of streaming, this is especially true. Once, people would pay to go a theater and watch a single movie. Through streaming, people can now pay roughly the same price as a movie ticket and watch as many films as they want all month. This has led to a wider audience being able to watch movies at a much cheaper price.

Traditionally, audiences consume films through movie theaters. Going to the movies is relatively pricey; the average ticket price in 2019 was $9.11. Locally, I have seen prices go up to around $11. Counting the additional prices for snacks, going to see a film could cost anywhere from $15-20. Despite the somewhat high price, many people go to theaters to watch movies because of the exclusivity of being able to watch films before they are released digitally or on DVD. Releasing through theaters has clearly been successful: Jurassic World made approximately $1.67 billion through the box office. Black Panther made approximately $1.34 billion worldwide with a theater release.

On the other side of the spectrum is digital distribution- the antithesis of theater releases. The most popular and most successful form of digital distribution is streaming. With the rise of technology, we are now able to easily access whatever movies we want whenever we want by paying a monthly fee. Streaming services have massively changed the game for audience consumption. The ease and convenience of being able to easily control your movie-watching experience is seen as more tempting than having to leave your home and sit in a theater. Streaming services aside, digital distribution has allowed for audiences to even consume media through advertisements. An example of this happening is during the advertising campaign for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. On Black Friday in 2018, after a few trailers were released, Warner Bros. put the first Lego Movie in its entirety onto YouTube as an ad that played before videos.

The ability to easily watch content wherever and whenever is a game-changer for the film industry and has proved itself very successful. Wanting to throw their hats into the ring, every big player in the film industry has developed their own streaming service. Thus, streaming has become so segmented and difficult to budget and has ultimately looped back around to being just as expensive (if not more) as a trip to the movies. Paying for Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max would cost about $37 a month without any bundles. This is a big factor in the rise of piracy. Though an illegal method of consuming media, many people flock to torrenting sites to watch films for free. Piracy is becoming more accessible to the average person who doesn’t know how to download torrents. There are websites where people can easily and freely watch movies and tv shows without any fees or viruses.

In 2020, the greatest weakness of theaters was exposed: they’re physical places. When theaters are closed for extended periods of time, the film industry suffers because studios can’t release their films. This causes a domino effect that leads into heavy delays and pushed back release dates. In fact, Disney’s entire 2020 and early 2021 lineup was pushed back out of fears that releasing those films exclusively on streaming would make them lose money. However, one movie proved the film giant wrong and is sure to become a landmark case in the seemingly inevitable death of theaters: Trolls World Tour. Solely through digital distribution, the film made nearly $100 million in its first 3 weeks. The first Trolls movie made $157 million in the box office without digital distribution. While it wasn’t as successful as the first movie, Trolls World Tour is an example of how it is possible for digital distribution to be just as successful as box office releases.

In short, the way audiences consume film is ever-changing. The film industry is at a turning point for how audiences watch films. Though it seems like an inevitable battle between streaming and theaters, both have proved that they can be successful in their own ways. Ultimately, no matter how the film is distributed, the important thing is that audiences can watch films how they want, whether it be in a theater, through Netflix, or from piracy sites.

Game of Thrones Extract Essay

I think the theme of the extract is power. The characters talk about who should be in power. The camera angles and lighting complement the dialogue and show the power of certain individuals. The man with the black beard- the character with the power- is framed with a low angle to show his dominance over the others. The shot of the island makes the setting look massive, which emphasizes the power he really has.

To begin with, the extract opens with an aerial shot of a boat. On this boat, we see two characters: Stannis and Davos. The shot then zooms out into an establishing shot. This establishing shot shows how small the characters and their boat are in comparison to the island, which makes them appear weaker. The zoom out transition has a similar effect. The boat becomes increasingly smaller and the island’s size is slowly revealed, which adds to the weakness of the characters. It detracts from their strength and therefore their power.

After transitioning to a new scene with a cut, the characters are now standing in a large, empty room. This location helps establish the weakness of Davos and Stannis; they seem small when standing in it. This room is lit with low-key lighting, which makes the room dark and foreboding. The characters standing in this dark room in the center of the frame make them seem small and isolated, which are not powerful traits. A new character enters the room: a man with a black beard. He seems to be the head of the building. When he is sitting down, the camera is positioned as if it were placed on the table. This low angle puts the man with the black beard higher than the rest of the characters, which shows the power and dominance of the man in comparison. This is when the meaningful dialogue begins. The characters talk about who should be in power throughout the extract, which portrays the theme in a non-visual way. During this conversation, Davos points at Stannis and an action match is used. It follows the point and puts Stannis as the focus of the frame. The action match emphasizes the pointing, which represents a shift in power. This effect is more evident when combined with the dialogue regarding Stannis being the rightful king who should be in power. 

In conclusion, I believe the director’s vision in making this sequence was to convey the theme of power. The extract starts off by developing the weakness of Stannis and Davos. The initial establishing shot shows that the island is massive and makes their ship small in comparison. Once the characters enter the meeting room, the dialogue begins. The dialogue conveys the theme by having the characters talk about who should be in power. The new character, a man with a black beard, uses dialogue to express his power by denying the characters what they need. Camera angles, such as low angles, are used here on the bearded man to create the sense that he is the most powerful in the room. Combined, all these elements help portray the theme of power.  

"Place of Honor" CCR

This is the CCR for my final project. In my CCR, in addition to answering the required questions, I talk about the inspiration behind my film. The title of my film is Place of Honor. This is a reference to what inspired my idea. We have nuclear waste buried across the world. This waste won’t decay and will be dormant for centuries. However, people in the future won’t realize this, as everyone who was around when the nuclear waste was first buried will be dead. So, the United Nations wrote a hypothetical message to warn future generations about this danger. It’s called the long-time nuclear waste warning. It essentially simplifies the situation into a short message about how “something dangerous” is buried and that everyone should stay away. In this message, they say, “This is not a place of honor”. This line resonated with me and really inspired me to go with this idea for my final task. The inspiration is also present in the shooting script, but I wasn't able to see that idea through because of my inability to get the props in time.

"Place of Honor" Final

This is the finished version of my final task. Place of Honor is an apocalypse movie about a girl who finds out the deadly secret of a nuclear waste site and must deal with the aftermath.

With my final task done, I can reflect on my year in media studies. Overall, my time in this class has been productive. Watching myself progress from making a short, 30 second commercial to a full, 2 minute film opening has been satisfying. I think that my final task is a culmination of everything I’ve learned. Throughout the year, I learned that my favorite part of the film making process is the pre-production phase. I find conceptualizing ideas and storyboarding them out is fun. Actually having to go through with those ideas, though, is a frustrating process for me. I don't enjoy the production or post-production phases. I think having to edit my final task and its CCR was my least favorite experience in this class. Even though I didn’t enjoy the process, I’m proud of my work, especially considering the restrictions I had throughout this project, whether it be budget, time, or a pandemic. I’m glad I went with this pitch idea and I’m glad I got to create this film.

Music Video

This is the music video I worked on during Quarter 2. The song I selected was Cabinet Man by Lemon Demon. It was completed on Dec 5, 2019.

The CCR I completed for this project is embedded below.

Commercial

This is the commercial I made for Dunkin' Donuts. It was finished on November 12, 2019.

I wasn't able to embed a word doc into my blog, so the CCR I completed for this project is copy pasted under the cut.

Reshoot Blog: Quarantine

    All filming for my project has been cancelled. I can't reshoot anything because of stay at home orders. The only location I had to film at was the beach. Therefore, I have to keep all my footage as is. Thankfully, I edited everything at home so all my footage is saved to my personal computer, so I can work with everything available. The main problem I'm facing now is that I can't shoot anything to help make my story more clear. I will have to rely solely on editing to tell the story. I did all I could do while re-editing to make the story clear. Between my inability to film further and adding some edits to my film, I have decided that my final project is complete.

   Because I have nothing left to do, I'm beginning to think about the creative critical reflection. The questions I have to answer are:

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?
2. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
3. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?
4. How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text?

   I'm not sure how I will answer the first question, but I know that I will discuss working around sudden, unpredictable problems for question 2. Through the coronavirus crisis, I have developed the skill of being flexible when it comes to scheduling and planning. For question 3, I'll discuss how I had to try out multiple different editing programs and how editing from home was in general. For the second part of question 4, I would distribute my film through streaming services. I think I'll talk about how having to self-isolate further pushed my decision to release content on streaming sites.