Audience and Institution Practice Essay

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

Digital Distribution is vital to the film industry, especially in current times. In recent history, digital distribution has become increasingly important. At first, movie exhibition took place entirely in theaters, then VHS, BETA tapes and eventually DVD’s were available to rent or buy and movies played on cable TV channels. Then, digital services entered the industry and people could rent or buy movies and subscribe to streaming services that allowed them to view films without ever leaving their home. Now, movies are skipping theaters altogether because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Currently, the coronavirus has had a large influence on increasing the digital distribution of films, to a point where the industry almost entirely relies on it. For example, studios like Walt Disney Pictures, who have their own streaming service, are using synergy to capitalize on global theater closures. Disney had a movie, Onward, scheduled to be released in movie theaters, but instead of delaying the release of the movie, they released it digitally. Disney made the film free with a subscription to their streaming service, Disney plus, and made it available to rent or buy on other streaming services. While this film was successful, it may have been even more successful if it was released in theaters. According to Box Office Mojo, Onward made around $61,500,000 while The Angry Birds Movie, which was released in movie theaters made about $106,000,000 domestically. From personal experience, I can say that I have a subscription to ‘Disney Plus’ and I watched Onward without any surcharges, meaning Disney did not make any additional profit from me.

Beauty and the Beast, released in 2017, made almost 1.3 billion dollars worldwide and some of those earnings can be attributed to digital distribution. Beauty and the Beast was released on Digital HD almost 3 months after it was released in theaters. The movie was also released onto ‘Netflix’, but taken off quickly, because Disney decided not to renew their contract. Disney made this decision because at that time they were brewing ‘Disney plus’ and wanted to keep the film ‘in-house’. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, made a lot of profits digitally as well. For example, while the movie was available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray on August 22, 2017, you could buy the movie on Amazon Video and iTunes on August 8. The film was released digitally first, because it is much more popular to buy movies from home instead of on a DVD. Now, the movie is available to buy or rent on many different services and is available with a subscription to Hulu, showing that digital distribution is still making Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 profitable even three years after the movie was released.

            Overall, digital distribution is vital to the film industry. Before the pandemic, digital sales had shown their worth through popularity and profits. Not only do many production studios rely on digital sales to make their movie successful, but now many rely almost entirely on digital sales. Although only releasing a film digitally may not be as profitable as also releasing it in movie theaters, it may be a better alternative to delaying the release for an uncertain amount of time. In conclusion, the film industry is always evolving and digital distribution is critical to the industry’s future.

24 Extract Essay

            The theme of the extract from “24” is about compromise. In the extract characters, Jack and Nina both want to stop a bomb. But since they have different motives they don’t trust each other and spend their time arguing. Jack, who has a deep hatred towards Nina, holds the power in this situation because Nina appears to be incarcerated. He ends up using his power against Nina to try to get information from her, instead of working with her to reach an achievable compromise.

            The first scene begins with a fade-in. You see a questioning room with a girl, Nina, she is tied to a chair when a man, Jack, enters. The location, the questioning room, shows that Nina is Incarcerated and Jack holds power over her. Once the two of them are in the room there is a cutaway to the clock on the wall. The zoom on the ticking clock represents a shortage of time to stop the bomb. Jack slides a piece of paper to Nina, making a sound. The diegetic sound draws attention to the paper, making it seem important, which it is because it is from the president. As the extract continues, Jack and Nina begin to talk. As the two converse, there are many close-ups of their faces and a shot reverse shot. The close-ups show Jack and Nina’s emotions and the shot reverse shot is used to show the two arguing instead of compromising. Next, there is some cross-cutting to show people who are outside of the room watching what is happening inside through a surveillance TV. The prop sends the message that the conversation inside of the room is important.

            Throughout the extract there is a score. The score consists of an intense sound, that displays the tension between Jack and Nina. This sound is played at a higher volume when Jack chokes Nina to try to get her to give him information. The people watching what is happening inside the room from a TV start to run to the room. There is a split screen of the people running to the room and of inside of the room, showing that Jack abused his power. Once the people arrive Jack stops choking Nina and there is a pan of him leaving the room. To end, the extract there is a fade-out.

            Overall, the director’s vision for this extract is to show that the tension between Nina and Jack is preventing them from reaching a compromise. Although the conversation began civilized it quickly escalated, making it apparent that the two have a past. Whatever this past may be, it is hindering their ability to work together and reach a compromise. Jack and Nina’s unresolved issue has built more suspense about if the bomb will be stopped.

Seized Creative Critical Reflection.. a long process

    Attached Below is my final creative critical reflection, or CCR on my group and I's film opening, Seized. I formatted my CCR as a talk show, where my mother was the host. The 13 minute interview begins with an Introduction to the Talk Show. I created this to serve as a modified version of a title sequence. Because it was modified, it did not include some important roles like producer and editor, instead it just said the talk show title, host and guest star. Next, we have the host ask the guest star (me) a series of questions about my film. I split up the four CCR questions into 5 clips, then edited them all together. Once the questions are answered, the two minute clip of my movie plays. As the movie is playing at certain parts it stops and you see me talking and referencing questions I had previously answered but now the viewers could see what I was talking about. I think this was a unique way to include visuals from my movie so that the viewer can understand my responses in full depth. After the clip is over you see the talk show again and the host and I give our final statements.
     I used the dissolve transition for all of my transitions because I wanted to keep consistency. I also incorporated some sound, like when I am talking about the Intense music in my film you can hear it playing in the background. As for the actual production and editing of my CCR it was very difficult. Since I had to do this project entirely at home because my school is closed I had a few issues. The largest issue was with my wifi connection. I needed wifi to send clips taken on my phone to my computer. I have wifi, but the connection is not always the best which proved to be very hard to work with. For example, in order to get the CCR onto blogger I need to put it in a google slides presentation and then embed the presentation into blogger. I could not get the CCR onto the google slide because I didn't have a good enough connection. Instead I uploaded the video to youtube then put the link on here. The reason for this long uploading time was a combination of the long length of the video and unstable internet connection. Overall, my CCR is creative but still has order and is a great representation of my group and I's creation process of our movie opening for Seized.

Final Project: Seized

     At last the movie opening you have been waiting to see... it's seized. While this movie beginning could of been better if my group and I were not restricted by social distancing orders and the Coronavirus, I am proud that we still pulled it together. Our movie is about the kidnapping of a boy. It begins with the boy walking down the street. He gets a text from his mom to come home so he starts to walk faster. He puts his headphones in as he keeps walking home. Next you here a phone call saying that "the target is in bound." Then a truck drives up behind the boy but he can't hear it because his headphones are in. The two kidnappers step out of the truck with a bat. They run up to the boy and knock him unconscious. They throw him into a truck and the next time you see him he is being tied up. When the boss comes in it is revealed that the kidnappers have taken the wrong kid. The rest of the movie goes on to show how the boy escapes the kidnappers and ends up saving the other boy who was supposed to be kidnapped. The first two minutes is where some action happens and it sets up the rest of the movie. The first two minutes would be a good sneak peak into the movie because it leave you wanting more. Attached is the first two minutes of the film. We had planned to reshoot some of the shots. For example, the scene where the kidnappers tie up the boy because it was very slow and we wanted his hands to be ties as well. Since we could not do this I sped up the tying scene so it looked better. We adapted to our environment and still finished our film opening, which is attached below.



  

The Music Video

     We thought that in order to give Cambridge the best sense of what we have been doing this year that we should show them our commercial, music video and movie opening. In this blog I will be showing you my music video. For this project I worked with just Roscoe, instead of our previous group of four. While working with just one person was much easier than working with a large group I liked our commercial better than our music video. Our music video is to the song, "My Girl." The idea of the music video was that a girl loses her dog. When they find each other they are happy and the chorus begins. At the end it shows a bunch of people happy with their dogs in the park. I thought this idea was very fun and cute. I think that we could of executed this project better, but I still liked the finished product. The music choice and unique idea to go with it makes our music video stand out.
     For this project we used an iPhone to film and iMovie to edit. This was much easier then using the school provided equipment. I could edit at home instead of being limited to the time I had in class. I also liked this better because it was easier to import the footage and work with it once it was in iMovie. For this film we didn't need many props, we just needed actors. We not only needed human actors but we needed dog actors. Luckily for us our friends were willing to donate their time, and their dogs. I think that the part in the end with many dogs helps to show that dogs bring joy to many people. Overall our music video was very playful and fun to watch. It is attached below so you can watch it.
   

Our Commercial!

     Due to the Coronavirus my group and I will not be able to complete the first two minutes of our movie to the best of our ability. Because all four of us are practicing social distancing we can't reshoot some of the shots that we would of liked to. Since our movie beginning is not the best it could be we have decided to show Cambridge our commercial through this blog. Our commercial is for nike shoes and is attached below. We had made this film as our first project of the year. For this project we used the schools hardware and software. We also did all the filming for this video at school. That is what sets this project apart from the rest. This project we did entirely in school. I had the same group for this video as I did fro the final project. In the video we go through three reasons why nike shoes are the best to buy. The first reason we ring up is that they are good for running and athletic activities. The second reason we bring up is that they are comfortable. The last thing we bring up is that they are stylish and colorful. We felt that showing many different reasons nike shoes are the best was the best way to appeal to a large audience. This project needed a lot of nike shoes to use as props. We used a total of 5 different pairs of shoes in this film. Overall, this was my favorite project. The filming process was fun and I liked the final product with the exception of a few sound issues. Overall, our first project turned out well for it being our first time using equipment and software we were unfamiliar to.

Filming Blog: Not Now, Not Ever?

     Today my blog will be a little bit different from what I usually blog about. I will be talking about the Coronavirus or COVID-19 and how it has affected our filming and editing progress. Our high school was canceled. It started on March 16 and will resume at the earliest, April 15. We had previously thought that only a few school days were being canceled. We did not take the virus that seriously and we continued to film. Now that the pandemic is becoming more widespread we do not know when or if we will film again. The good news is that we completed all of the necessary filming for our movie. We had planned to film more to make our movie the best it could be but do not know if filming will be a possibility. It will all depend on if the virus gets contained in our county and if our parents will allow us to meet in person. Some of us are already practicing social distancing and are only allowed to leave for important reasons. 

     If we do not see each other in the upcoming period of time we will be able to finish our project electronically. However, I would have to complete all of the editing. I would have to do this because I have the movie and editing software. No one else in my group has an apple computer so they cannot use iMovie. I hope that we do not have to do this, but I am prepared to finish the project if I have to. I may ask some of my group mates to do whatever they can to help. I might ask if they have ideas for some things or if they can find and convert music and sounds. Hopefully they will be cooperative and understand that I will have to do all of the editing and they should help with whatever they can. Most of the editing we have to do is editing in the shots we re-filmed and changing the music. All of this is manageable and I will be able to do it. Attached is a twitter post by Broward County Public Schools.