Film with Gabrielle Kelly

Last Tuesday in our Business of Media class we had Gabrielle Kelly as a guest speaker. The Irish filmmaker and educator has an extensive curriculum that really impressed me. She shared with us her experience in the film business, which is not as simple as I thought it was. Film is not only shooting and enjoying the millions of dollars made of it. Instead, for us to watch a movie in the theater it takes time and a lot of effort from everybody working on it to make it as perfect as it can be. I will be point out the ten most important points that got my attention during the conversation.

1.     You will not always work on what you want

            Kelly started her presentation by stating the above sentence to us. She then followed by saying that we will learn on every job, which will lead us to our goal or job that we really want.

2.     Movie – Hello, he lied

            Following her introduction we watch the movie Hello, he lied, which documents how the Hollywood business works and shows how much work it takes to produce a movie. The title tells us that even an ingénue feature such as Hello can be a lie in that business.

3.     What a producer really does?

            The producer, according to the movie, has one of the toughest jobs while producing a movie. The job requires finding the materials, reading the scripts, re-reading, creating relationship with directors, finding actors, and so on.

4.     “Relationship without a script goes nowhere” David Brown

            This quote by the movie tells us exactly what is the film business world. You can know the right people but if you do not have the right script it does not matter since 29 out of 30 scripts are not good enough for producers and directors.

5.     Brainstorming

            One of the most important actions in the business world, brainstorming mix the ideas from everybody. In order to have the perfect script or idea it is good to ask people, even kids because they can have more imagination than most adults. For instance, Shrek came from a book that the producer's son was reading and told his dad about it.

6.     Rehearsal to sell your script

            In order to achieve the level of having your script produced, one must rehearsal what you will present to the directors and producers. Make sure the writer is well prepared and know what to say in the right time.

7.     Studio bought the idea

            Most of the projects will not get the idea bought by the studio. The studio loves to put something on the way of the producers every meeting.

8.     Development Hell

            This sentence is referred when you are lost without a map. This is used when a script gets denied many times and the writes does not know what to do; but no one gets a green light from the studio easily.

9.     Making the movie

            It is an award after the hard work to produce a movie but the hard work is not done yet. Plan everyday on every detail, you do not want anything missing. Each department will want a piece of the overall budget.

10. Opening week

            In the opening goal is to top the competitors. The movie must top the others otherwise the theater will not want to give hours to show the movie. Reviews will have a big influence in deciding whether the movie will hit the top charts or not.

The conversation with Gabrielle Kelly was amazing.  She is experienced and loves what she does. I could she the passion and knowledge that she has while answering our questions.

Some of the Main Social Criticism of Advertising

Harmful product being held by a baby in an ad

Since people have different tastes and opinions, it is normal that they will react to an ad different from one another. It is important to pay attention to the demographic segmentation research before launching an ad campaign.

Some ads have hidden messages in order to lure the consumer to be more materialistic, meaning that the product offered has to be purchased in order for the consumer’s happiness.

Privacy is also another issue with all the espionage issues that have been coming up. People have the necessity to feel same, and in order to do so companies have praised that all the information that someone gives to them is safe. However, people are stopping to believe that the information will not be shared, so that they are claiming more transparency regarding the actual privacy.

Another issue is the misleading ads that make people believe that the product is better that it really is. Some of the examples are the warranties that some companies give after selling an electronic. In some cases they say that the warranty is available for 6 months but only for “special” repairs.

Also some harmful products being advertising lead to a lot of criticism. For instance, a lot of people do not feel good when ads about guns are on TV, or about cigarettes.

The last one that causes a lot of criticism is a child appearing in advertising. There are many cases where companies put children doing something that only an adult could do. These type of ads can cause a lot of revolt from parents.

Criteria for Judging an Effective Ad

In order to have an effective ad, the company has to fulfill the needs of the consumer. This sentence seems silly but all the marketing managers are aiming to accomplish that goal in order for the company’s product to sell and be a hit in the market. However, it is not an easy task since consumers are different from each other and want things differently then one another. 

The list below shows us the 15 consumer needs that an advertising agency has to overcome in order to have an effective ad.

-       Achievement – accomplish tough tasks

-       Exhibition – get the attention

-       Dominance – have a major influence

-       Diversion – be enjoyable

-       Understanding – teach and educate

-       Nurturance – care for others

-       Sexuality – have a sexual identity

-       Security – eliminate threat and harm

-       Independence – “make one’s own choice” (Media Now, 332)

-       Recognition – be noticeable

-       Stimulation – excite the senses

-       Novelty – do new activities

-       Affiliation – sense of belonging

-       Succorance – help and support

-       Consistency – have order

If an agency overcomes most of those needs, the ad that they will run will be effective and the market will buy and value their product. It is good to remember that before running an ad the target audience has to be established and also if the ad will make any harm.

Steps Involved In Implementing An Ad Campaign And Who Implements Them

Advertising, according to Robert LaRose, “is communication that is paid for and is usually persuasive in nature” (Media Now, 310).  The advertising industry has been growing rapidly since the social media boom, which means that companies pay hundreds of dollars in order to advertise their company/product. In order for a company to have a successful advertising, an advertising plan has to be made, which explains the objectives and objectives that a company has for a product. 

First the brand and marketing create an advertising plan, including the budget available for the advertise. Then the advertising manager joins the other two managers in order to coordinate the advertising plan and efforts. Later, when the campaign is ready, the company can hire an advertising agency to implement the plan. 

Inside the advertising agency there are the account executives (who creates a connection between the company and the client), the creative department (who uses the researched data create the “wow” factor in the ad), and the media department (who negotiates the price and space the ad will take).

Promoting a TV Show

Let's imagine that I just got hired as a PR in order to promote a new TV show that we will call The Show. The first step that I would take is to check what will be the target audience of The Show. The target audience will be those with the age ranging from mid 20's to 60's due to the hours that the program will be (9:30 pm); also the content of the show will have some jokes that teenagers aren't suppose to hear and that older people will understand.

The Show is similar to Modern Family, a big diverse family that find themselves in funny situations every episode. Then I would try to reach an agreement with some of the big broadcasting channels so the show can be aired in their PrimeTime.

Then I would create a Facebook page and a Twitter account in order to promote The Show. In those two pages many videos from the show's episodes will be released as teaser. Another move that I would make is to get someone famous to write good reviews about the program so that the public will want to watch the episode because of all the good things that were said about The Show. Of course ads will be running during the day so that people will watch it later.

Hopefully, word of mouth will increase and people will want to watch episode after episode. Also let the past episodes available on iTunes for people to download, if they could not watch it at the show's regular time. If everything goes right, the show will be a huge success and many seasons will be aired and the program will continue for many years.