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Talk To Me – Part 3

Talk to Me Part 3
Written by @BryceBladon

If you haven’t already, start with part one of Bryce’s article here: Click Me First

Then Follow with Part 2 here: Click Me Next

On July 14, 2010, Old Spice launched the fastest growing online viral video campaign ever, garnering 6.7 million views after 24 hours. An additional 16 million million views were tallied after 36 hours. The Old Spice videos on YouTube have between 500,000 – 5 million views on average (and there are over 300 of them). These figures don’t include the views from television commercials or other, more traditional, forms of advertisement. More telling, the YouTube views come from people actively seeking out the content. When was the last time you went out of your way for to see a commercial?

The Old Spice campaign uses all three of the points of this article to a flourish. This collection of Terry Crews Old Spice commercials highlights why. Rarely does a second pass without something entertaining happening – and it does it while communicating Old Spice’s message effectively, concisely, and creatively. The technique has been imitated time and time again, but none so effectively as the original. The problem with these rip-offs is that they’re message is an imitation of a much more original and effective one. They sound like a hollow echo. I’m not left wanting a Dairy Queen burger or Edge shaving gel; I want to watch The Old Spice Guy do his thing. The simple explanation is that Old Spice advertising campaign realizes how empowered the audience is. No longer forced to sit and watch a commercial, audiences can breeze through the crap on DVR or skip (in most cases) the commercial before a YouTube video. A message that doesn’t assume an enraptured audience is forced to survive on its own merits which gives the advertisement a value and means the audience will, in turn, value it. This is a simple rule for any message and any work of art. Your audience won’t simply watch because you tell them to – you have to give them a reason. If possible, give them a bunch, and do it as soon as possible

I highlight the trend towards brevity in social media at the beginning of the article because that is the trend. It always has been. Communication evolves towards precision, brevity, and universality. This isn’t “dumbing down.” That’s a process where a message is hammered out of shape and into something easier to swallow. An effective message is a work of art. If you craft it right, there will be nothing to hammer away at. Further, something original (e.g. The Old Spice campaign) will get links, retweets, and reblogs on the merits of its novelty. If nobody has said it like this before, it’s never been said.

It doesn’t stop at the end of the reel. Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Blogger, YouTube, Vimeo – each online platform has potential as a voice box. If you’ve ever wondered how movies can command entire years and millions of dollars before even seeing the light of day, here’s why: everything, from the typeface of blu ray cover to the necessity of a period instead of a comma in the script, is crafted, honed, and polished in service of the message. The reality of films is scheduling, and you can’t halt such a complex behemoth because one gear is whining and running behind. But if you craft your film and it’s message from the ground up, there will be fewer extra parts to muck up the works. The value of clear communication is the difference between a message that reaches its audience and one that isn’t worth two seconds of their time.

You Can follow Bryce on Twitter: @BryceBladon.  As always we encourage your comments and discussion below or on our Facebook Page HERE.

Talk to Me – Part 2

Talk to Me Part 2
Written by @BryceBladon

If you haven’t already, start with part one of Bryce’s article here: Click Me First

Consider a movie poster – like this one, from True Grit.

What do you think the studio was trying to communicate here? The font suggests a Western theme, as do the old-timey symbols attached to the tagline. Matt Damon’s name stands center stage next to Jeff Bridges’ and Josh Brolin’s. Below stands the main cast. At the forefront of the poster are Bridges and Damon, the two most marketable and recognizable actors of the bunch.

Brolin is only in ten minutes of the movie, but he commands more attention than the main character. What’s his name doing up there in wrought-iron font next to the Bridges and Damon? And why is the main character – who draws the majority of the screen time and drives the entire narrative – shoved off to a tiny eighth of the poster? And what’s that actor’s name?

Examining the three points of effective communication reveals why:

What are you trying to say?
The studio is trying to communicate the appeal of True Grit…

What’s the most concise way to say it?
… by using celebrity faces and credible names…

What’s the most effective way to reach your audience?
… and since movie posters appear  in newspapers, online, and are the first thing a person arriving at the theatre sees – and the last thing they see before they buy a ticket – the movie poster is the ideal medium to focus a studio’s marketing efforts.

The main character of True Grit is played by the (at the time) relatively unknown Hailee Steinfeld, but the actor who commands the third highest amount of screen time – Matt Damon – has his name dead center. Steinfeld’s name doesn’t get that grace. A movie poster is used to command your attention and make you spend money on it. A western starring a 14-year-old girl seems more like the Hokey-Pokey remix of High School Musical then the kind of film that’ll draw the in-demand 18-34 year-old male, movie-going demographic. Bridges, Brolin, and Damon are A-list actors with dozens of films and millions of dollars in their name. If the message is money, you bet on what’s bankable.

The poster as an example is meant to highlight information can be shaped and effectively communicated on a single sheet of paper. But what does this have to do with film as medium? Simply put: everything. In the final draft of a script, each letter should be essential  to the feature as a whole. Each character inside should have a pivotal role; each line of dialogue should serve plot or personality; each prop a potent suggestion. Each shot should be calculated, each edit catered to a message, and each minute of man-power in the after effects department should brandish the point.

Next week, we’ll examine how these three communication principles have flourished on the web.

Part 3 is already posted.  You can see it here: Click Here

You Can follow Bryce on Twitter: @BryceBladon.  As always we encourage your comments and discussion below or on our Facebook Page HERE.

Talk To Me – Part 1

Talk To Me
Written By @BryceBladon

The language audiences listen to:

The amount of time people commit to an unsolicited video on YouTube is mere seconds.  Twitter limits outgoing tweets to 140 characters. Emerging social media platforms such as Tumblr have a built-in focus on minute messages; the reblogging of text, photo, and video is rarely accompanied by more than a by-line from the original creator. Rarely will an essay be reblogged when an easier to read infographic, graph, or cartoon is available. Facebook, the titular titan of communication trends, gives you enough space for a novel in your status updates – but it won’t show more than the opening sentence or two in people’s newsfeeds.  It’s easier than ever to reach an audience, but that podium can be ripped away by a bored gaze or an errant click. Ads are plastered on every inch of the Internet and every flat surface is a potential soapbox. Now, more than ever, it is important to say a lot with a little. That’s all you get – and if you have a well-crafted message, that’s all you should need.

The most effective language is one that is simple and precise. A stop sign communicates an order using four letters, a colour, and a particular shape. The addition of a triangle to a symbol is the difference between an uneventful trip to the can and a lawsuit. The Christian Cross communicates an entire set of ideals. The modern incarnation of this can be seen in the logo. Did you know the most known word in the world thirty years ago was Ok? The second was Coca Cola.

Words are the next evolutionary step in communication. Language is a precise way to communicate a message, but that precision comes at the expense of brevity. Like a picture that’s too detailed, the point of a oratory or written message can be lost in the extraneous details. The grace of a writer is often measured by how long it takes to communicate an idea. As Mark Twain remarked in his more casual letters, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.” Similarly, the easier the language is to understand, the more effective the message. When William Faulkner remarked that Ernest Hemingway “…has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary,” Hemingway remarked: “Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?” It takes craft and skill to communicate a lot with a little.

From grunt to grin to the written word, communication comes in many forms. Film may seem like the latest evolutionary synthesis of text, talk, and image, but this blend of mediums to communicate is nothing new. Plato‘s Allegory of the Cave uses all of these tools to communicate an idea, a theme – heck, an entire (and persisting issue of) philosophy. Few people claim Plato is a breezy read, but his message has been around for a few millenia – and that says something, doesn’t it?

No matter what your medium, the key to effective communication is simplicity. Essentially:

What are you trying to say?
What’s the most concise way to say it?
What’s the most effective way to reach your audience?

Next week, we’ll examine how this philosophy of a minimalist message exists – and succeeds – in the certain  aspects  of the film industry

Part 2 is already posted.  You can see it here: Click Here

You Can follow Bryce on Twitter: @BryceBladon.  As always we encourage your comments and discussion below or on our Facebook Page HERE.

Adapting the Book

Adapting the Book
Written by Charlyne Landgraff

Maybe it’s just me but it seems like more and more books are being adapted into movies. It’s kind of funny that this remains a trend since most people agree that the movie is never as good as the book!

Sometimes these books are best sellers in their own right prior to the movie (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or Eat, Prey, Love ) but often it seems as though a book will experience an increase in sales after the movie is released. I agree that in most cases the book is better than the movie, with a few exceptions: The Virgin Suicides I thought actually complimented the movie, The Notebook was wayyy better with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, and Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island were almost Identical to Dennis Lehane’s books. I generally prefer to either read the book or watch the movie. Rarely both.

I’ve made my New Years resolution this year to read more and I find that the books adapted to movies are often a great place to find a good book. Hey, they wouldn’t have attempted to make the story into movie if it wasn’t a great story to start with!  And since the movies are readily available, if you can’t find the time to read the book everyone is raging about, you can always see the movie and at least keep up with the water cooler banter.

Below are the 2011 movies that were adapted from books as well as my personal favourites that are worth giving a read, even if you have already seen the movie. Click on the Name of the film to see the trailer.

2011

One Day- David Nicholls

Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte

Desert Flower – Waris Dirie

The Adjustment Bureau- (loosely) based on a short story from the 50’s

The Lincoln Lawyer – Michael Connelly

Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen

Something Borrowed- Emily Giffin

The Help- Kathryn Stockett

Moneyball- Michael Lewis (wrote The Blindside)

Too Big To Fail- Andrew Ross Sorkin

We Need to Talk about Kevin- Lionel Shriver

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson

Char’s Personal Picks

A Prayer for Owen Meany- John Irving (Screen name Simon Birch)

The Virgin Suicides- Jeffrey Eugenides

Memoirs of a Geisha- Arthur Golden

Fight Club- Chuck Palahniuk

The General’s Daughter- Nelson DeMille

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter- Kim Edwards

How many of these films have you seen?  Have you read the books as well? And more importantly, what is your favourite film adaptation? We certainly have a few that we were disappointed with also.  Leave us a comment below or share the links to the trailer on Facebook or Twitter.

BC Film Industry and the HST

BC Film Industry and the HST
Written by Jacquelyn Roth

As someone who works in the BC Film Industry full-time and depends on it as my main source of income, the news (announced in July, 2009) that the BC government was implementing a 12% HST tax was a welcome delight. Not only would this new tax give foreign film and television production companies substantial tax breaks it was also a promise to bring in many more high budget projects adding to the industries already 1 billion dollar a year revenue.

We all know that Los Angeles and New York are the two biggest film and television producers in the world but, people are shocked when the find out that Vancouver is the third largest, and home to an estimated 35,000 unionized jobs. When the tax was implemented in July 2010 the number of jobs jumped drastically from 35,000 to 100,000 in a matter of months, and it was estimated that the yearly revenue would go from 1 billion to 1.5 billion by mid 2012.

In the beginning of 2011 the industry was thriving, but all that came to a halt when in August later that year, the BC government via referendum reversed the HST tax ruling after a gruelling voting period, and reinstated the 7% PST.  By doing this, not only have they seriously compromised future productions from being shot here they have also put upwards of 50,000 film and television industry related jobs on the chopping block.

What people don’t seem to understand is all the money that the industry makes goes straight back into the province. Better roads, parks and recreational centers were all constructed with the revenue brought in.

So how will this play out? Time will be the ultimate judge.  The B.C. Government has said it will take 18 – 24 months to reverse the process back to the P.S.T. with a cost that could be as high as 3 Billion dollars.  Come February 2013 to as late as August, we’ll really see what happens with film and television business.

Have any thoughts on this piece? Be sure to leave us a comment below and add your voice to the conversation.  You can follow Jacquelyn on Twitter @JacquelynERoth and us as well at @RockeyShores.

Decoding What a Director is Telling You

Decoding What a Director is Telling You
by David Green
Green Mountain Music

I was warned early on in music production school that upon entering the world of writing music for media that I would very quickly encounter a new and alien language. A language that would require a redefinition of many of the words I thought I already knew the meanings to. A language that would be full of colours and onomatopoeia. Shwoosing and chunka-chunka sounds. References to obscure fleeting film scenes that most people daydream through. This is the language of the director.

Music composers, indeed most people in all aspects of the music world, speak a language common to us all: Music-speak. It’s kind of like our own version of Australian or Middle English. For the most part, outsiders can understand the words we are using to communicate to each other but the overall meaning of the conversation begins to get lost to the outside listener. Kind of like this article. Problem is, directors (of films, commercials, TV shows) need music and modern composers need moving pictures to write music to. Why is this a problem? Because directors talk in visuals and emotions and scenes and characters. But music IS emotional, you say. This is true, but usually this means that the already existing music is evoking a certain emotion. With a director, you are talking about an emotion that does not have any sounds or music attached to it yet. And it is my job to figure out what that music is going to be.

On the first short film I wrote music for, I remember very clearly the spotting session between myself and the director. He started referencing all these different scenes in movies I had vaguely remembered seeing previews for ten years earlier. “Remember the scene when so and so had this happen to them and that music was playing and it was like BAM? It was so good!” Um… no, no I don’t. But that’s because I’m the music guy, and he’s the film guy. This would be roadblock #1. Roadblock #2 came shortly after when he was talking about emotions, in particular, happy versus sad. Along comes newbie music guy lingo and off I go into a diatribe about major chords and minor chords and how each can evoke mood in a different manner. Um… no.

So here we are; one guy talking in pictures and one guy talking in chords, not getting anywhere fast. Luckily I had some straight up, shovel-no-bull music instructors and the ghosts of music class past came back to me. It’s not my job to enter into long discussions on educating others about the rich history of music theory as it relates to the conjuring of human emotion. It’s my job to pick through the (seemingly) random song examples and emotional trigger words that a director puts forth. Reading between the lines? Why yes, young Padawan. While this project turned into an overwhelmingly positive experience, it also taught me something that I think a lot of aspiring composers forget about. You are not writing music for you. You are writing music for THEM. And the second you forget that, you’re sunk. You need to figure out how your skills can audibly bring the director’s vision to completion. And you need to figure out how to do this solely based on the information put forth by the director.

Particularly with today’s modern music production software: with its chord sequencing programs, auto this and auto that, it is almost more important to be a stealthy human relater than a stodgy sophisticated composer. If your client isn’t picking up on the vibe that you are laying down based on the vibe that HE was laying down, you ain’t getting anywhere. And thus you are back to composing for yourself in your pajamas. Which is different of course, from composing for others in your pajamas.

So, after working on numerous different media projects since that first short film, I have developed my own system for decoding what a director is telling me, showing me, and providing me YouTube links to. Now, am I going to tell you what this system of mine is? Of course not, because it’s my secret. Alright, so maybe that’s a topic for another post but let me tell you this – when somebody tells you the music needs to be more yellow, you better know what that means.

Be sure to visit David’s website at http://www.greenmountainmusic.ca as well as leave us a comment below and tell us what your thoughts on this are.  Did you find it helpful? Maybe you don’t understand a single word of it. Australian-Middle-Earth-English can be difficult to interpret.