Audience and Institutions Practice Essay

To what extent is digital distribution vital to the media area you have studied?

In films, digital distribution is very important to the success and longevity of products released within the industry. Digital releases ensure that the film continues to make studios some type of revenue even after the film is released. The use of digital streaming services also help keep the film in the public consciousness, and allow the studio to retain some type of relevance.

            Film studios like disney, especially in today’s time, are more than aware of how pivotal digital distribution is to their films. With movies like beauty and the beast, the movies are released a couple of months after release to bring in even more money with an additional release. They then released the movie on Netflix, and moved it later on to their own streaming service, which shows the importance of digital distribution to them. This allows them to keep the public wanting to see more from them, and allows them to continuously bring in revenue long after the movie is pulled from theaters. Several other studios do the same thing, like Universal with the fast and the furious, and several other franchises.

            In today’s time, having quick and fast access to products is what ultimately defines whether something is successful or not. With what seems like endless streaming sites, digital distribution is more important that it has ever been. I know from my own experience, I often find myself watching more films at home through Netflix, Hulu, etc. than I do at movie theatres. Perhaps the film industry will have to adjust to this change and focus more on the digital, and streaming side of the business, and focus less on theatrical releases. However, I believe that would lead to the loss of what makes movies great in the first place. The experience, going to a theatre has been a custom in our culture for a century, and it seems we are very close to losing it.

            Digital distribution is extremely important, and holds great prospects of revenue. It allows businesses to stay relevant. However, it may one day become more important than theatrical releases, killing off a great aspect of the industry. 

Game of Thrones Extract Essay

Emilio De Hoyos

Period 5

The theme in this extract is about power, and standing within society, and how it affects us. Specifically the power of banks, and how they ultimately have the last say in our lives. Here, we see Stannis, (the first man we see on the boat) have his fate decided by the bank, even though he himself holds power. The theme serves to show how little control one truly has over one's life.

In the first scene, we see an aerial shot of a boat on the water, and then a man on said boat, this serves to demonstrate that the man, Stannis, holds power and is approaching something of importance. High-key lighting helps to reinforce the grandeur of the ship, and further highlight Stannis. The shot we get inside of the ship is of two men, the aforementioned Stannis, and his ally, Davos. We see a two-shot of the both of them, with Stannis in front, the camera slowly zooming in on him, this again serves to prove that he is the one in charge here, and the others (Davos) follow him. We cut away to aerial shot, this time, transitioning to an establishing shot of a coastal city. This is the first scene, and it helps to establish that Stannis is a man of power heading to a coastal city, perhaps in search of something.

We then cut to the second scene, it begins in a low-key lit bank. The bank is large, with stained glass windows and a desk with three chairs in the middle, clearly meant for someone of importance. Again we see the characters in a two shot, Stannis again being the center of focus. A cut occurs, and we now see the width and size of the bank with a wide shot, and within it, see how small Davos and Stannis look, taking away the power we thought Stannis to have. Three people enter the bank, and the camera tracks them all the way until they sit. Their presence already tells us they have power. This thought is confirmed as they begin to have a dialogue. Davos attempts to introduce Stannis as the king but is shot down by the bankers, further diminishing Stannis’ power within the scene, and they continually find reasons to refuse his requests.  Within the dialogue we see a lot of shot-reverse-shots, as well as fast paced editing, this serves mainly to demonstrate that the people from the bank already have an answer, and they only hold the conversation as long as they have to. The scene ends as we see yet another two-shot of Davos and Stannis, he is, once again in the forefront, but this time, he seems defeated, showing that he no longer holds power, and even bankers hold more sway over decisions than he does.

Through the extract we see Stannis, a man of power, however, we quickly learn that he is not as powerful as we think. Through the dialogue, and angles, we see he is a man near defeat, and is desperate for aid. The bank holds clear power over him, and refuses his request, demonstrating that they are of more importance over him. Dooming any hope of triumph, Stannis is left a powerless man.

Final Task

unfortunately, this is all i have of my final film. Due to the coronavirus, and the orders given by the government I was unable to continue to shoot, as the shots I had planned took place outside, and changing that meant changing the whole movie from scratch so I was really disappointed. Additionally, the only way I could edit was from the school computer, and I no longer had access to that so it meant that this cut that I have here was going to have to be the final one. I am really disappointed because I really wanted to see it come to fruition, but things don't always go the way we hoped. I learned a lot in this class, and it was enjoyable while it lasted.

CCR Final Task

In this CCR i speak about the final task, as well as how I have grown throughout the class. I speak about conventions, production, and tech.

Music Video

This was the music video I did after the commercial. This was done in a group with three other people. I learned a lot while making this and it was a very fun experience. I learned how to better coordinate and shoot  a film, and it was great.

Commercial

This was the first task of the year. I have blogged about it before in the past but this is the finished product. It was both easy and a challenge. It was my first time doing anything of the sort, and I was doing it by myself. I learned a lot from this, maybe not while making it, but definitely after. It taught me about the actual process of filming and editing, and I believe I further improved during the rest of the year.

Filming Some More

I had a small shoot this time. I only shot like one or two scenes. I did not have much time this week to shoot more. I had very important things to do so my schedule did not align to shoot. I am mostly done, but still have to shoot some scenes. I headed out today and started shooting. It was fun and quick. I got doen fast and headed back home. It was good that I finished when I did, because the camera died right afterward. I took the footage, and downloaded it onto my computer.
This has been a very interesting experience. I am not done yet but it has been quite fulfilling already. With all that I have learned I feel I have improved quite a lot.I was very worried at the beginning but now I do not feel that way. I was nervous about working alone and it has been hard but I am proud of my work. i have just two more scenes left to shoot, and very little work left. It is comin along, and I cant wait to be done. Once I finish the main shoots and do more reshoots, it will look great.
I still have to edit the new shots and make sure it works. I am ready to be done with this.

Editing Continues

I continued to edit my project. I had made progress before, but I had more things to shoot and edit. The things I had edited were the non-talking scenes. They are mostly finished, but needed to be looked over again. They were mostly fine, but I would like to re-shoot some of them. Some of the ones I originally filmed were done in another location. I plan to do the re-shoots later. All my footage from before looked fine. I had to start adding titles. I followed the layout I had set out in my storyboard.
The new footage was the one with dialogue. I put it into the the editing software. I put them into the correct order. I cut them down into the right length. Finally, I made sure the volume and lighting looked correct and edited accordingly. It looks right at the moment. I finished editing for now and looked at the movie as a whole. For what I have right now it looks pretty good. I am unhappy with just a few things that I am going to have to re-shoot. Of course, I have things that I have not even shot at all, and plan to do so before starting my re-shoots.

Peer Review

We did a peer review in class for our classmates. We walked in the classroom and checked who our partner was who we had to review. Mine was Victoria. We sat down and she gave me her film to watch. She played and I watched it all the way through once without taking notes. I then watched it again while taking notes. I observed her film carefully, looking for what was necessary. I thought it was coming along great and looked really great. She told me she needed to add a couple of things, and edit, but it was really good so far. After that I asked her a couple more questions about her project so far. 

I then did the peer review sheet that we grabbed once we got into the classroom. It asked general questions about the contents of the film so far. It asked if it had a coherent story. It asked to identify and look for titles present in the film. It asked about lighting and if it looked good in the film. It asked about several angles and shots that we are supposed to have. She had most of them, and planned to incorporate the other later on in the process. We were asked what we liked about the film. And finally we were asked to make a suggestion to them.

Filming blog second shoot

I did the second session of shots today. I finished the first session and edited it. I was happy with the results so far. I got home early and made sure all my equipment was ready to shoot. The camera was out of battery so I charged it. I then headed out to buy a toy him to use in the movie. I returned home and everything was ready. I waited until night and headed out. By this time my camera had charged so I could film. I got the car, and parked it where I needed it to be. I took a couple of non speaking shots to have as back ups if I don’t like the ones I have now. I got into the car and set up the camera. I took a couple of close ups and then reset the camera. I then took some medium close ups. I switched seats and took the other shots. I have now shot all the shots that take place inside the car. I stepped out, and placed the camera on the floor on the tripod. After, I drove away to get the shot that will come last in the movie. I returned and took the camera. This was all I recorded for this session.

First Editing Blog

I have started the editing process with the footage that I have. I do not have much, but I rather have it ready and edited as I go. After I finished shooting the footage from the footage from the previous blog, I put it into my computer to edit it. I opened the editing which was Pinnacle studio. I transferred the files, and now I could begin to edit. I could only edit during class as I do not have the editing software at home. Once I got all the footage into the software I put it into order. Thankfully the shots I got were the very first one seen in the actual movie, so I could edit them completely. I organised the shots as I wanted and cut out the unnecessary audio from the shots. I then added quite an ambient and quiet sound of cars passing by, and things one would find on a normal street. After that was finished, I double checked the timing and organisation of the shots. Finally, I started to add the titles as I saw fit. I like how it is turning out as of now, even though I do not have that much done just yet. It's looking like I wanted it too, and its working the way I want to. I plan to start shooting the second batch of shots very soon. Once recorded, I will edit that and fit it into the footage I already have. Hopefully the process will not take too long. I expect to be done around Sunday or Saturday. This has been a good learning experience as of now, but it might get more challenging as it goes on. The next shots to film are those where I will actually have to act. I am somewhat nervous for those shots but have faith they will turn out good.

First filming blog

I have finished all my planning for filming. Now I have to make sure my schedule is correct and start filming. The first thing is to double check the schedule, which I did and I confirmed I was available to shoot on all dates. Then I had to get the camera supplies from my teachers. I came in the class, and paid attention as they lectured, then lined up to collect a camera. Once that was done I had my supplies ready to film. I decided to only do a couple of shots that day. I did the the opening scene with the establishing shot of the city. I did this by going up to my rooftop. The building I live in is right in the middle of downtown Fort Lauderdale so I was able to get a pretty good shot. This was how I got my first shot of my project. I then was a little indecisive on what to do next, but eventually figured it out. I decided to go downstairs and get a couple of shots of the car from afar. This was tricky as I had to call for my car to get taken down by the valet, and they can be a little unreliable in terms of the time it takes them to get it down. I eventually got the car and drove next to a building where I wanted to get my shots. This was relatively easy and I did it quite efficiently. The shots of the car looked good and how I wanted them to look in the storyboard. It was now getting pretty late since all my shots are during the night so I decided to wrap that day of filming. I would call it pretty efficient and I got a decent mount of work done for my first day. The shoot was fun and easy so I’m looking forward to doing it again. I think my project will turn out great and am excited for it.

Story Board

For this blog I had to create a google slide with all my storyboards. I had to make 10 sheets worth of storyboard detailing what the film will look like. I did one for each scene in the film, and elaborated on exactly what these scenes will look like. For each scene, I used the shooting script to base it off, and then elaborated upon that. The film is called Midnight, and the titles are shown throughout the story board. This really helped me get a very clear picture of what I wanted the film to look like. It also really helped my plans for editing, and what that will look like. Doing the storyboard was extremely helpful, and will expedite the process quite a fair bit. It gave me clear ideas of what the shot and for how long. This is my storyboard.

Location, Schedule, Health, Titles

This presentation was made to describe the location, health and safety, participants, schedule and participants. The location included describing where we would shoot. Health and safety is describing what we are doing to stay safe. The participants describes who is taking part in the project, as well as the characters. The schedule describes when and where we are shooting. And then the titles was a couple of slides. The first I described the working title and how I wanted it to look. The second slide I described the font contrast and spacing of the titles. And then for the final slide I described the titles specifically shown in the film. This is what we did for this google slide.

Sound Script

This was the sound script for the movie. This script includes all of the sounds that are featured in the project. It follows the same pace and order as the shooting script, and serves to complement it. It starts off in the rooftop and then goes to the man in the car. This film is not very dialogue based, and for the first couple of scenes, there is no dialogue. However, there are more sounds, featured, and the film depends on those. The dialogue does eventually start, but it takes place with the main character and a hallucination he has of himself. The sound script helps with story, and is very necessary for the actors. Sound in a movie can make or break it, so it is very important that I accomplish everything I set out to do in this script as perfect as possible. This is my sound script.

Shooting Script

This is my shooting script for the final project. I started by describing the first shot, which is the establishing shot. I then explained the following shot of the man in the car. For this google slides I explained all of the aspects of the project which are going to be visual. I explained the lighting, and my reasoning for it. I explained camera angles, and why I would use them at said times and moments. I also described camera movements. I described some of the editing there would be, and how would help in the narrative. The main thing though was the storyline of the project. This is what I am doing for my shooting script.

Title Research (Mission Impossible: Fallout)

• Total of 21 titles through the sequence
• Images of shots in the movie and fire to transition 
• The shots are very action based and establish that the movie will be an action thriller.
• The shots in the sequence are of the characters in action, shooting, punching, running etc.
• It teases the audience with what’s to come in the movie and makes them wonder exactly how they came to be in those situations
• As it is part of a franchise, the movie shows already established and beloved characters that are sure to bring back audience members that enjoyed the precious films.
• Technology is used to create the effects of the fire that transitions between shots, this is all done by VFX and is completely digital, the shots are also edited using technology.

Title Research (Pink Panther)

• There are 27 titles shown throughout the title sequence.
• Images of both the Pink Panther and the detective are prioritized throughout the title sequence.
• They are quite comedical in their connotation, as they revealed as the Panther does comedical things.
• The actions of the Panther and detective are very funny, and they establish that the movie will be a comedy.
• It introduces the characters of the cartoon, but not before zooming in on a diamond, establishing a mystery, and making the audience question the importance of the jewel.
• They use the classic cartoon characters to appeal to the older audience that grew up with the cartoon show.
• The panther and the detective are both hand drawn in their animation style, and the titles seem to be shot on film instead of being digitally place. So except from the diamond at the beginning, not much technology is used throughout the opening title sequence.

Title Research (Rango)

• The title sequence displayed 36 titles throughout it.
• Images of the different animals in the movie, and different colored backgrounds.
• They have a western style font, so they are somewhat aggressive.
• There are a lot of images of the desert, and images of guns and things usually found in western movies, as well as the usage of an old western font. 
• They introduce the character Rango, as he stumbles through the western imagery shown, creating a sense of intrigue into what the movie will be about, and how it will incorporate western themes in it.
• Usage of font, color, and imagery are what stand out to me, as well as the names of some very popular actors that are sure to bring the audience into the movie even more.
• The title sequence is all CGI, just like the movie, and it is used to create all sorts of fun angles, and cuts that would not work as well in real life. Such as following Rango from scene to scene, or as he falls down through the ground, and the camera follows him. It is very effective in the way it uses technology I would say.

Title Research (Daredevil (2003))

• There are seven titles displayed in the opening sequence of this film.
• They prioritize images of NYC buildings and braille.
• They have kind of a blurry and dark connotation that make it seem mysterious, and dramatic.
• The titles are revealed from blurry braille, and the rooftops of nyc are shown, which help to reinforce the superhero genre, as they are often seen going from rooftop to rooftop.
• The images shown are blurry, and constantly moving fast, creating a sense of discombobulation in the viewer, as well as creating a mystery, as of why it was displayed in that manner.
• The character Daredevil is blind, and the title uses braille to showcase that part of him and connect with the core audience that knows that aspect of him.
• All of this title sequence is done completely digitally, so there was a lot of technology, from the virtual NYC skyline, to the text appearing on screen and slowly fading away.