Audience and Institution Practice Essay

                                  Component II-Question 2-Audiences and Institutions

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

         Over time there has been a major shift in the ways audiences consume films. Audiences and consumers used to primarily view films in cinemas, but over the years there has been a growing rise in home exhibition. Going from VHS to DVD to eventually streaming, innovations in the ways that films can reach audiences in the comfort of their home are constantly being made.

         Audience consumption is a paramount factor companies have to consider because it directs them on their marketing strategy. An example of this would be one of the many research reports done on audience consumption and viewing habits. Studying audience consumption doesn’t only mean understanding where viewers watch movies, but also what movies they want to watch. The popular streaming service Netflix uses viewer analytics to decide what content should be made and who to direct it to.
         In recent weeks, with the outbreak of COVID-19, there has been an astounding phenomenon that movie companies are observing, the great success of straight to home movies. The most recognizable example and case study is the film “Trolls World Tour”. Within the first three weeks of its release to on-demand services, it made over 100 million dollars. This exceeded the expectations of Universal Studios and pointed out to other studios the viability of this option.
         Additionally, many other studios also crept their films onto on-demand services amid the closure of cinemas during the pandemic. Disney, with its recent release of “Frozen 2”, quickly moved it onto its new streaming platform Disney+. This showed that they were willing to release it for home exhibition shortly after its release, albeit under external circumstances. The pandemic didn’t make any new revelations in the cinema and streaming service industry, it is already understood that there have been changes in the ways audiences want to consume films, but it may just catalyze a major shift towards home exhibition.
         The final manner of how audience consumption has changed over time is illegal internet viewing. Amid the digitalization of most films and services and the rise of the internet in the past 30 years, there has been a great deal of illegal online exhibitions of movies. If a movie is only a couple of years old you may just be able to find it for free online fairly easily. And if that’s the case who would want to make a trek to the cinemas and pay when within a year they can watch it for free in a few clicks. In my own personal experience, this has been very much the case, with such a vast catalog of pirated films being accrued online why would I need to view it in cinemas unless I really desire that textile experience.
         Although I don’t believe cinemas are going away anytime soon it is fairly evident that there has been a shift in audience consumption over the years. Just as well, home exhibition has evolved over the years and has gone through various formats, but streaming may just be the most prevalent to come out of it. And beneath that, there is also the unrefutable indulgence that viewers have towards illegal internet viewing. In summation, audience consumption reflects people’s desire to view films in the comfort of their homes.

CCR by Monet Elrod

Final Project: The Wanderer by Monet Elrod

Re-Shoot Blog: The Roof Scene

Re-Edit Blog: Finishing Touches

Editing Blog: Final Day

Editing Blog: Second Day

 

     Today was the second day I edited. There was a lot to do. I had to add the titles this time. I also had to add music. With what I've done today there won't be much left to do. While I was editing what I had to do was design my credits. This included putting them over the correct shot. I had my phone out while doing this so I could look at aa list of the titles. With that completed all that was left was the music.

     The music I may change. But what I have now is something I found online. I say this because I may try to make some music myself. My brother and I could use recording software. With that, we could record us playing our guitars with a piece of our own creation. I may just stay with what I have for now though. With this process done all that is left are the finishing touches. I will continue on that in my next blog.

Editing Blog: First Day

     Today I started to seriously edit my film. This involved editing the desired footage. And cutting this footage to the desired time. I first went through all my footage. Then I chose what I would use. I then put them in the correct order. After that I cut them down to the desired time. With the software I was using it took a while to load the film. So adding even a single shot took some time.
     The software also felt clunky when moving the footage around. That included clipping down the footage too. So overall that process in itself was sluggish. What I plan on doing next are the transitions. This shouldn't take to long. This is because only some shots require a transition. After that I plan on adding the titles. This will probably take the longest. Lastly I will add the music.

Editing Blog: Beginning

    I began to seriously edit last week. Prior to that all I really did was dump the footage. And I didn't edit it to my liking for the peer review. All I did for the peer review was put the footage together. I also edited it down. This left me with only the titles, music, and trimming to do. So before I began editing in class I paused and made a decision. I will do all my editing at home since I will have more time then. I now waited until I had the chance to get home and edit. But there were still some stuff I had to sort out before I could begin.
     I first had to find an editing software. And one I was willing to purchase. This took me some time. I finally decided for the first recommended one. I began downloading it and made an account. This allowed me to make a subscription. I went for the one with the shortest period of time. I did this because I knew I wouldn't need it for long. One everything was ready to go I began editing. Well, I really just started putting the footage I was going to use together.

Filming Blog: Final Day

     On the final day of filming I shot the last necessary scenes. I did this over the weekend. Doing this on a Sunday gives me ample time to film a lot of scenes. The scenes I shot were the beach scene and the alley scene. I shot both these scenes after shooting the docks scene. I first filmed the alley scene since it was a quicker. When we first got to location I looked around for a bit. This was in order to decide how I would film. I did this for some time before I began to film. When I began to film it took about 10 minutes to get the desired shot.

     After shooting that, we drove to the beach. We tried to get there quickly. This was because we were running out of daylight. Once we got there it was already the evening. We also had to find a parking spot. Once we found a space to park I began to think how I would film the scenes. We got a couple different shots that worked well. The first shot was of me walking down to the beach. The second shot was of me sitting on the bench with the item. The last shot we got was of me digging through the sand.

Filming blog: Third Day

     Last week I filmed at the docks. I also managed to film at other locations too but I just want to talk about my experience at the docks. I went there after school in the evening and there didn't seem to be much people there. That made it a great time to film. The weather and lighting was also very nice. I scouted the location first before I did anything else. I was looking for a place I could shoot my planned scenes. Although the place I finally ended up using wasn't ideal it got the job done. Once I had the camera setup and the scenes in mind I planned the shots. This probably took me the most time.
     Once I knew how I was going to film I started to shoot. I first did the wide shot or entrance. I also tried this with a pan and zoom. I then filmed the scene where I enter. I filmed a shot of my reflection in the water. Then after that I filmed the most important part. The part where I'm fishing the item out of the water. I did this by just dipping a rope into the water. Then I cut to a shot where I put the item tied to the rope. I did this after dipping it in the water.

Peer Review

     The film I watched was an overall good production. The filming was done nicely and the editing was well done. One thing I really liked about the film was the pacing. The movie felt very concise for the 2 minutes. And there was enough variety of scenes to keep it enjoyable. It didn't really feel taxing to watch. And with a limited number of actors in felt very consistent. The music also helped the appeal of the opening. With some used at the beginning and end. This made the film very rewatchable.
     On the other hand there were some inconsistencies. My biggest grippe was the out of nowhere ending. Or maybe it was just supposed to be like that. Other than that there were only some minor dislikes I had. The dialogue for some scenes were hard to here. The continuity was a bit confusing. Despite the countdown card. The lighting of this one scene in the beginning was not that great. But other than that the lighting was relatively perfect. There didn't seem to be any critical errors in the film.

Filming blog: Second day

     Today was the second day I went out to film. I managed to film two more scenes. The locations I went to were the train tracks and park. I didn't have to go to two different locations since they're right next to each other. I started filming the train track scene first. It didn't take too long since there weren't that many different shot in the scene. I managed to include an over the shoulder shot in the scene.
After that I filmed the next scene. The next scene included a pan and a digetic sound. This was the shot of me try to break a chest open in the park.
     I was able to get a trunk shot in this scene. After that I filmed the next scene. The next scene was me driving in a car. To make it simple I just cruised in a parking lot. I got a couple different shots, including a shot of the side view mirror. None of these scene required that much to film. Besides some props and making sure the lighting was good there wasn't much Mis en scene. This made it easy to film after school. Since I'm filming after school I'm not able to get many shots. I can only get a couple shots a day.

Filming blog: first day of filming

     Today was the first day I filmed. I originally planned on filming over the weekend. However, I had to put it off until today. I now plan on filming during the week and next weekend. Today I filmed the first and final scenes of the movie. I was able to do this because they were in the same location. These scenes were fairly simple to film. They also had very few props. The scenes also consist of only a couple shots. It took around half an hour to film both scenes.
     Tommorow I plan on filming two more scenes. Although, those scenes will take a longer time to film. This is because they are in two different locations. The only thing about today's filming that slowed it down was that I wasn't the only one acting. The good thing is that once I finished today's filming I don't need another actor. All my other scenes only require me. Since I'm filming over the week I have to film at the same time everyday. This is in order to make sure the time of day matches up. That will make sure there are no inconsistencies in the final product. After I finish filming over the week I will edit my footage on Sunday.

Filming blog: beginning

     I am now prepared to begin filming. This weekend is when I plan to film. I will gather the props the day of. I will also bring whatever costumes and equipment I will need. Another thing I will bring is the storyboard. I'll use the storyboard as well as a script for reference. Altogether the filming shouldn't take that long. I may be able to complete shooting all scenes in one day. Although each one of my scenes occurs in a different location.  This may slow things down a bit.
     When I the weekend comes is when I will go to each location. I plan to go out with my father to shoot all the scenes. In my storyboard I know what the location of the scenes are. However, I have not a complete idea of the exact locations we will be using. This leaves us to handle it the day of. Since there will only be two actors we won't be dragged back too much. This flexibility will help quite a lot. It will account for any sloppiness when we go out to film. So this should make the filming period relatively rapid. This is good since it me review what we have and what we need earlier on.
     The locations we'll be going to when filming are the railroads, park, beach, indoor car park, rooftop of a building, alley, storage complex, and sidewalk bench. The only locations I'm not sure where I'll go for it are the indoor car park and bench. But these should be easy to find. To recap the morning of filming I will assess and gather my props, costumes, and equipment. After that I will go out with my father to film the scenes.

Planning Blog: Storyboard

In this google slide, I showcase my storyboard. In the storyboard, I describe what I will be filming. I explain stuff like the position of the camera. I also explain what will be happening on the screen. I thought it would be helpful for me to also show when a title would appear. Things can still change though from what I have in the storyboard. I haven't fleshed out everything exactly. So when I start filming I can go with whatever works. Doing the storyboard also helps me know what props I need. With the storyboard complete all I need to do is start filming.

Planning Blog: Title Design

In this slideshow, I describe the title design. The first part I describe is how the tile will be incorporated into the film. This means I mentioned in what way they will be inserted. I also threw in an example to help visualize. After that, I typed the working title. like the name, it is in no way the final title of the film. I then describe the font I will be using for the titles. I also describe what way they will be customized. I then say an estimate of how long they will be on screen. For the most part, everything on the slideshow is what I could think of describing.

Planning Blog: Location, Participants, Health, Schedule

In this slideshow, I describe different aspects of producing the movie. The first thing I describe is the schedule. I put every part of making the final product in a 6-day time frame. After that, I described the locations. I put an example picture for every location. Then I describe the participants of the movie. I mention what their role is in the production. The last thing I describe is health and safety. There wasn't much to talk about for health or safety. Although I did describe some concerns for safety in two scenes.

Planning Blog: Shooting Script

In this slideshow, I describe what I'm shooting in the film. I break down what happens scene by scene. For example, I describe what the angle and movement of the camera is. It is important to flesh this all out now so I know what to do when I storyboard. Having the scenes fleshed out now doesn't mean they won't change. This may be because of either something that cannot be done or is not feasible. I tried making the descriptions somewhat general so I had some leeway with what I could do. Although, I do try to be as descriptive as possible when necessary. I know that more will come to mind when I think of the individual scenes more. The film will be mostly constructed when I start my storyboard.

Planning Blog: Sound Script

In this slideshow, I describe the sound in my film. I break it down scene by scene. For example, I describe when music or diegetic sound can be heard. Knowing this information now will make planning later on easier. I had to have most of the scenes fleshed out in my mind. This is necessary because I had to think of the sound that would be in the scene. For the most part, it was easy because there was not much sound besides music and diegetic. Although, in some, I describe any sort of extra sound. I also had to write some dialogue. However, there is not much.