Customary to twenty-first-century life, audience behavior can play a huge role in determining changes in the media industry. Film is one of the biggest way’s spectators are able to share their opinions and shift other’s ideas on the topic. This action can be done in many ways but the biggest ways that information gets spread is through critics, friends and family, and social media. These are all extremely common courses of action that can affect many studios and production companies.
When it comes to film, critics are always there to share their viewpoints. Movie critics have the main goal of exploring a particular film and letting the public know what is both good and bad about it. The main goal of this method is to allow others to get a judgment on something they are interested in from people who critique many films and can understand what the audience is looking for. This is the reason critics have so much say in the media industry because many individuals trust their perception. For example, when Game of Thrones first came out on HBO, critics gave it a score in the high 80s. People were intrigued by the compliments this show was getting from them and this caused many people to give it a try. Later on, it became one of the biggest shows in America and both the audience and critics agreed on how great it was, getting an average of 85.5% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is an example of how the critics were able to get more people involved with this show, which affected HBO’s overall viewers and helped them gain more popularity; however, the same process can happen where critics hate the film and convince people to avoid wasting both money and time. Although critics are a big help in determining changes in the film industry, family and friends can also sway people’s way of thinking about a particular movie or show. When it comes to friends and family, most of the time people would trust their school of thought because they know them well. For example, if you were talking to a family member or friend about the movie “Jaws” and they say that you have to watch it because it is a classic and set the stage for other shark movies, you would most likely be interested. If you were to take their advice and watch it and like it, you would then spread the news to other people. This operation could continue for a while and the news that “Jaws” is a must-watch classic that will affect many people’s attraction, affecting the overall studio and platform in which it came from. Out of all of the examples listed above for what determines changes in the media industry, the biggest one of all is social media. Social media has a variety of different ineffectual ways in which it controls the public’s point of view on a film, but to limit it to one of the biggest aspects of this matter, celebrities. Celebrities have always been very powerful in the media industry and can use their platform to determine what they should or shouldn’t watch. Many of them, however, are biased towards that certain film and can be doing it specifically for them. For example, when the new guardians of the Galaxy movie first came out, the main actor, Chris Pratt, made many announcements and posts on places such as Instagram and Twitter. Not all people but many Chris Pratt fans went to watch the movie because he was in it. This happens numerous times whenever a famous actor notifies their fans about the new movie they are in, which makes them want to watch it even more. These people would then spread the news even more to other people through social media interested in that actor and increase the revenue for that film. The development of social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, and many others have made it much easier for people to spread ideas faster and be able to share it with the masses. It is not only a benefit to the public but to the celebrities themselves; this technology was not always around, but with its advancement, it is able to shape everyone’s outlook on certain movies and shows. In conclusion, audience behavior definitely plays a huge role in determining changes in the media industry, especially in today’s society with many new technological upgrades. In this case, film was the main form of media talked about, and with the influence of critics, friends and family, and social media, movies and shows can make either more or less profit. Studios and production companies need to take this into account in order for them to gain the popularity and views they want.
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Notes:
Camera shots, angles, movement and composition:
Sound:
Mise-en-scene:
Editing:
Write-up: Camera shots, angles, movements and composition: The camera shots in this scene seemed to be pretty minimal in a very effective way. The camera shot techniques were not overwhelming and were made in a way to help the audience truly feel like they are a part of this world. Some of the shots used were wide shots, establishing shots, over the shoulder shots, and point of view shots. In the beginning of the scene, there was a wide shot of the whole city, followed by an establishing shot of outside the main bar in which the scene would take place. These were important in helping viewers understand that the setting was a busy bar in a huge city. Over the shoulder shots were used a few times throughout the scene, but the main one’s were outside and in the arcade. When the main character was outside, she notices some strange televisions of a man who was glitching and saying weird things. There was also an interesting noise coming from the Tv as well that raised the audience’s suspicion of what is going on. Another over the shoulder shot was when the girl was playing an arcade game and the camera goes over to show what and how she was doing. These two scenes let everyone know what was happening around the characters and what they were doing. Another example of a camera technique used frequently was the point of view shot. One of the scenes using this method was when the main character was first entering the bar and seeing everyone inside. The camera made it so the audience could see exactly what she was seeing to give them a good perspective on how it would actually feel to be there. Another scene using a point of view shot was when we were seeing the car game. The girl was looking at the game the boy requested for them to play and the camera, again, made it so we could see exactly what she was seeing from that angle. Sound: The sound in the film was worked in a way to make the scene seem more ominous. There were many small sound details that really contributed to this undertone of suspense and worry that something is going to happen. The very beginning starts off with background music that is also used throughout some of the rest of the scene to keep the mood the same in that time. Then, the popular 80s song “Heaven is a Place on Earth” starts playing which lets the audience know what time period this is taking place in. When the song is off, the girl walks by some TVs which give off a very creepy sound with a man saying some mysterious, code-sounding stuff. Then, cutting off this intrigue from the televisions, the viewers could hear some background argument from other characters that would later be important in the show. This is good because it breaks up the intense moment of the previous scene to take us back to the fun environment the girl would be entering soon. Once she is in, we could hear more 80s music playing, until the arcade music slowly picks up to show the characters interest in going there. Once inside, a boy asks her to play a different game of cars. When the car crashes, an odd sound starts playing, which indicates that the car crash has some underlying characteristic and meaning in her life. Mise-en-scene: The use of mise-en-scene played a huge role in showing the audience the character’s lifestyles. This is very important because it gave a little bit of background to the story, without exactly knowing what is going on. For example, right off the bat, it could be said that the time period of this scene would be set in the 1980s because of the outsits and styles that everyone was wearing. There was one girl who was wearing a purple fringed jacket which was a huge indicator of this time. Another example is of the main character; she was dressed differently from everyone else at that bar because she had a more conservative outsit on. It did not scream “party” on it which could give people some curiosity as to why she was there. On top of this, when she went into the bar, she seemed to be uncomfortable and kept to herself. She walked straight back to the arcade and avoided anyone around her on the way. The lights were dimmed in the arcade, more than the main bar, and did not seem as packed. There was a man who dressed similarly to her and acted as awkward as she did, yet she did not appear interested at all. Editing: In this film, there were many editing techniques that were used such as cutaway shots, cutting in on the action, and shot/reverse shots. Cutaway shots were used in this film in order to portray a small insight on how other characters were feeling. For example, in the arcade when the girl left, instead of following her and showing what she was doing in that small period of time, the camera decides to stay there and show the viewers how it made the boy feel that she left. He was obviously upset and blamed it on himself that she didn’t stay. Cutting in on the action was used in the car crash scene in the arcade. The girl was looking at the game’s preview, then the camera cut back to the girl’s face to see that she was somewhat focused, then back to the game when the crash happened, and back to her again. When everyone saw her face again, she took a step back and looked distraught. Something from that game brought up a memory that she clearly does not like to have. Shot/reverse shot was also used in this film during the eye-locking scene. The character from outside with the purple fringe jacket that was arguing with a man, came into the bar looking around in a very frightful way. The main character sees that there is something wrong and looks at her. The other girl looks back and they both lock eyes for a bit until she decides to go sit next to her. This shot was used to give a perspective on what each character was seeing and somewhat thinking in that moment. When it comes to media ownership and funding, there are many issues raised by them in contemporary media practice. To start off, there are many parts that make uo the media and who owns what in order to make all of this possible. These organizations that control the others are called conglomerates and their main goal is to expand to the point of having ownership over many media properties to influence society. The problems with this technique is there could be bias among the platforms that influence the media, and if one aspect of the conglomerates fall, they all suffer.
Conglomerates create bias and influence to the media, which spreads it across the world. In order to understand how this can happen, we must takke a closer look at an example to better understand it. Disney is a huge conglomerate that is part of how the world’s media is run. They control movies, music, television, radio, parks and resorts, publishing, and consumer products. In these types of media, Disney needed to have many other publishing areas so they own many other channels and consumer items that would help benefit their overall company. For example, Disney owns the network Lifetime and ESPN; ESPN will air commercials promoting Lifetime movies which would be considered strange because it raises the question, “Why are they promoting a network that rivals them? Taking a closer look at that, because Disney owns both channels, they are actually not rivals and this helps increase the viewer ratings from ESPN to Lifetime. More people will have a chnace to see commercials from different places to help gain their interest. This whole concept is called cross-promotion: promoting one’s own stations through media outlets. Disney also owns ABC family and ABC and this process happens amongst those outlets as well. The reason why this could cause bias is because if so many platforms are showing the same things and promoting the same products, it will influence many people to get it. This also goes as far as even politics; if anything political is shown, it is most likely towards one side, which is bias and could be interfeiring with other people’s views and opinions. The other issue with conglomerates involves the fall of them. If one aspect of them falls, they all go down with it. Refferring back to the example with Disney, because Disney is the primary owner of ESPN, Lifetime, ABC family, and ABC, if Disney became bankrupt or started having trouble with any of their stations, all of thesenetworks would have a downfall and could be messed up forever. Disney is not the only conglomerate there is, another is New Corportation; this conglomerate controls stations such as all the Fox outlets where people get their news. If this station were to suddenly vanish and take a hige hit, many republicans that watch it will have to find another channel to attain information which could also lead to bias. This is because other stations may be more towards a liberal point of view and some people do not want that. In conclusion, conglomerates are what have media ownership and funding in contemprary media practice. There are some dissadvantages to them that incluse bias, and the rise and fall risk of many stations. In all, many companies such as Disney have made it far enough to be able to stay steady for a while. However, they definitely influence the media all around the world which can be bad for other who have a different popinion than them. |
AuthorGenevieve Shoats: AICE Cambridge Media Studies student. Archives
April 2021
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