Music Marketing Blog Post #1

    My group and I started this project by setting dates of when we wanted to be done with specific parts of this project. We set the research portion to be done by Wednesday, the 19th, in order to be two classes ahead of the due dates for these portions. On Friday (the due date of the research portion), we finished the storyboard. After finishing these two assignments that were due before the actual presentation, we could then focus on planning our presentation and music video. However, the storyboard took a little longer than expected because we realized that we really had to focus on this part of the project in order to make the music video easier. Therefore, we had to do some work at home. 

After finishing the parts of the project that were due before the presentation, we began to plan how we were going to tackle the marketing, campaign, and music videos of our project. First, we assigned jobs to each person in order to properly have enough time to create each section of the project. I decided I was going to create the website because I had past experience with Wix and knew I was the best fit for this job. Paulina was going to make the social media accounts, while Marshall started picking out the templates for the presentation. However, we began by looking at PowerPoint but then switched to Canva as PowerPoint did not have appropriate themes for the branding we wanted to create through the templates and colors of our presentation. This was an awesome decision as Canva had a bigger variety and better choices. We decided to do part of the music video filming at home, and part of it at school on a specific day.

For how we brainstormed this project, my group and I started the music marketing project by researching the country genre. First, we created the Research chart that included 2 case studies, focusing on artists who integrate both country and pop or rock, because our artist integrates a pop aspect to her music. We paid close attention to the marketing strategies and audience interactions of the artists as we were focused on learning from these strategies to implement into our artist. After researching and becoming familiar with the country genre, we shifted our focus to planning the specific marketing techniques that we were going to integrate into our campaign. We analyzed different methods and came to the conclusion that we were going to create her own website, her own social media profiles, her own Tik Tok profile and Tik Tok collaboration, her own merch shop, and the various distribution services for her music. We also decided that she was going to host a “pop-up” event on a specific day. Our research on country artists and the country genre helped us discover which marketing strategies were the best fit for our artist and her style. After brainstorming ideas for her brand, we then decided on a color scheme. This scheme is created to best match our artists’ vibe, and the vibe we want her to give off. 

After planning the color scheme and marketing strategies, we began to plan the music video. At this point, we not only knew her style, but also her branding and what it was going to look like. One person focused on drawing out the storyboard, while the other two people collaborated to help brainstorm ideas for how to properly portray our artist and her branding in a video. We created the storyboard by listening to the song and picturing what was going to happen at what parts. This helped us tremendously as we had a clear picture of what it was going to look like. Finally, we had mostly all the brainstorming and the planning done, so we began to complete all parts of this project.

The next steps for completing this project are to work in and out of the classroom to complete the presentation, website, filming of the music video, and editing. Basically, we need to integrate all of our research and ideas to complete the project and make sure that we have all of the details required from the directions. 

The Planning Guide that we set up on the first day that we got to work on the project:

The Action Genre

 Action films take up a large part of the production world, as they provide viewers with an intriguing, suspenseful, and entertaining plot that keeps them on the edge of their seats. Action films are very successful as they all follow the same set of guidelines that make them very similar, yet effective.

The action genre includes several key conventions that make it unique, yet easy to reproduce. The protagonist's role as a hero is clearly defined throughout the story and the plot of the story is filled with details and supporting stories that establish the journey of the protagonist as he must face the challenge of fighting and defeating the villain. The victim is less powerful and this role is clearly established in the story. The protagonist’s role is to defeat the villain in order to save/protect the victim. The victim may not always be a person, as it can be an idea, group of people, or other objects/living things. The antagonist’s role as the villain is clearly described throughout the story and his story is built upon his power over the protagonist and the victim, as he is depicted as stronger and more powerful than the “good” guys, in order to create a bigger story that involves the protagonist beating this overpowerful person, making the action film more dramatic and more intriguing. There is a speech praising the villain that involves demonstrating how powerful the villain is over all the people. This helps to clearly establish the villain’s status. The plot is always fast-paced, with a lot of excitement throughout the story in order to make it more appealing to viewers. There is always a set of clocks that establishes the concept of time that the protagonist has in order to save the victim. This helps to add suspense and a thrilling effect to the action film. The plot of action films are in easily recognizable locations, helping integrate and include viewers into the film better, as they recognize and are able to relate to the setting.

For example, in the action movie Shang-Chi And The Legend of The Ten Rings, is an action packed film that embodies this genre and uses the genre conventions of the action genre to develop the story. Shang-Chi, the protagonist in the story, is depicted as powerful, but a little less powerful than his father, Fu Manchu, the villain in the story. The victim, the village of Shang-Chi’s mom, is depicted as less powerful against the overpowerful Fu Manchu’s army and his rings. This film involves fast paced editing, many special effects and stunts (for example, there are many occasions where Shang Chi and his sister are running away from their father’s army, and this often involves many special effects and stunts). The plot occurs in China, and the audience recognizes this through use of traditional culture clothing, objects, statues, and more. For example, the village of Shang Chi’s mom wears traditional Chinese robes which depict the easily recognizable Chinese culture. Additionally, there are settings of flashing TV’s on tall buildings with Chinese language, the beautiful nature that is often associated with China (ex. Bamboo trees), and other symbols of this Chinese setting. Shang Chi has a specific amount of time in which he needs to save his mom’s village before it becomes too late and his dad comes with his army to destroy the village. The ten rings on Fu Manchu’s wrists demonstrate his powerfulness over everyone, as the other characters do not have these overly special powers. 

Another example of an action film is Black Widow where the protagonist is depicted as Natasha Romanaff, who is an experienced fighter and natural leader.  She is a very strong and a  powerful fighter, and learns from her sister about the current activity of the Red Room, an organization where girls are abducted and trained into mind controlled assassins.  They, along with their adopted parents, form a partnership to take down the Red Room once and for all.  Through this exciting and action packed adventure, with many fights, a jail rescue, and many explosions, viewers find themselves entertained and intrigued towards what is bound to happen. There is no major victim in the story, only the main villain dying at the end of the film. A noticeable feature of the film also includes a countdown at the end of the film, with the entire Red Room (which is a massive flying base in the sky) falling, and Natasha and her sister have to defeat the main villain while trying to at the same time save themselves from the falling and exploding base. This works to add suspense to the film, as there is a needed time slot to finish the tasks. The audience is able to easily recognize the location of this film, in Eastern Europe such as Ukraine and Russia, as they are depicted as communist countries with restrictive governments. Other factors, such as the cold weather, helps to develop this easily recognizable location.

Action films are best promoted when the lead cast is a famous actor. This usually gives the film the highest chance of success as viewers can easily associate a specific character to the same actor. Additionally, action films are the perfect source for video game creation, as so many action video games based on the action movies are released before or during the movie.  A clear example of such is the Prince of Persia movie and video game. This is because video games are similar to action films, providing a fast-paced, entertaining scenario that keeps the audience intrigued. 

There are many unique production techniques to make action films more realistic, exciting, and enjoyable for an audience.  One of these includes the shorthanded technique, where the audience is thrusted into the middle of the action, making them live through the action.  It is affordable, but the camera can’t be too shaky.  Another common technique is making objects change speed.  This emphasizes the speed of objects, such as placing a still object next to a person running to emphasize the quickness of a person running.  Another technique many action movies use is that they focus on the actor.  The camera is focused on the actor with varying camera shots, to give the audience a feel of what the actor is experiencing.  By varying the camera shots, it gives the audience a feel of not only what the actor is experiencing, but also what he is feeling.

Some other action film examples include: 

Jason Bourne

Venom

No Time to Die

Mission Impossible Fallout (2018) 

 

Hunger Games

Maze Runner

War for the Planet of the Apes

Natalia Introductory Posting

Natalia

I have many activities in my life that I find very important including school, violin, and soccer. However, one of the greatest things that I find impactful and meaningful in my life is community service towards animals in need. I want to share the happy feelings that I get whenever I help animals in need, and by doing this I hope to encourage others to do the same. I do not want to pressure others in doing community service, yet provide a kind approach to the moving feelings that you obtain after doing community service. By doing this, I will also share relevant information about animals to raise awareness of this issue. 

My passion for helping animals in need started when I was 10 years old and I decided to have my birthday party at an animal shelter, helping fundraise for all the animals that needed help. After this event, I have become a common volunteer at animal shelters, and I am also part of the PAWS club that helps reach out with help to these animal's in need in any way possible.

I hope to provide an influential approach to others, helping them become better versions of themselves.