Social Media Marketing- Mixed Bag

1. List the five goals of social media marketing

The five goals of social media marketing can be listed as

[1] Create Brand awareness so that the brand becomes relevant to potential clients or customers.

[2] Enhance public relations by finding out the needs and issues of customers and solving them quickly.

[3] Build a community of advocates, which means that those who use the company's goods or  services spread the good  word about the  company.

[4] Research and Development is important, and social media can help in this area also.

[5] Driving sales and leads, which means that one can improve sales volume and also increase the business's lead over the nearest competitor.

2.  Write two ways in which social media can increase brand awareness

Social Media engagement can increase brand awareness. First, by use of blogs and posts on social media, one can promote the goods or services and make the brand visible. Clever memes and posts may engage people, who may forward them on social media, hence giving the brand or product more visibility. Second,  by posting links to blogs that review the product or services, people can get a better idea about the brand. This means that the engagement with the product or brand increases, thus increasing the brand awareness.

3. How does YouTube help in social marketing?

Videos are engaging, and audio-visual communication is more attractive than mere text. You Tube is a platform where people post videos on any subject they want. By creating some attractive videos on YouTube that mention the product or service or brand, and linking these videos to other posts on social media, the potential customer base is widened.

4. Write 100 words on ‘Social Media publishing’

. 'Publishing' can mean spreading of text, images, podcasts, and videos on media platforms. By social media publishing, we mean the creation of text and image content on social media platforms. This content can be in the form of blogs, Facebook posts, tweets, photo-material on Instagram and pintrest and so on. In order to be a good publisher on social media, one must take into account copywriting skills, such as using appropriate words and terminology, paying attention to the character limit of certain media, and shaping the communication in a way that suits the social media platform that one has chosen.

What were the kinds of edit cuts defined by Lev Kuleshov and the Moscow School?

Lev Kuleshov’s film workshops were the birthplace of Russian Montage. The Kuleshov students learnt that editing served three primary purposes while building a film. A cut could serve a narrative purpose. A cut could generate an intellectual response. The third kind of cut that the Kuleshov students discovered was a purely emotional one.

Watch this video on the Soviet Theory of Montage

 

The narrative cut allows the director to analyze the action into its most interesting elements and then re-synthesise these elements of an event into a powerful sequential action.

A flash-back or flash-forward is also a type of narrative cut.

The cross-cut is another kind of narrative cut.

 

The metaphorical cut or associational cut is a type of intellectual cut. A shot where workers are falling to the bullets of soldiers, can be followed by oxen being led to the slaughterhouse. Eisenstien uses this imagery in ‘Strike’. The audience  understood that the workers were being compared to dumb cattle being led to their death.

A contrast cut can also produce an intellectual response.

The parallel cut produces a third kind of intellectual response.

 

Emotional response can be generated by the very method of joining the strips of film together. here the method, rather than their content produces a kind of kinetic response that the director can control.

Rhythmic cuts in which a  director uses shorter and shorter lengths of film increases the tension and tempo of the action. The reverse can take place if longer lengths of film are joined together rhythmically.

The tonal cut is another method of hooking the viewer’s emotions. The use of steadily darker toned visuals can evoke a sense of darkness or heaviness, and the use of brighter visuals can bring a sense of lightness and joy.

Form cuts and directional cuts can also evoke emotional responses in the audience

Shot, Scene, Sequence

SCENE, SHOT; SEQUENCE

 

The terms scene, shot and sequence are sometimes misunderstood.

 

Scene defines the place or setting where the action is laid . This expression is borrowed from stage productions, where an act may be divided into several scenes, each of which is set in  a different locale. A scene may consist of one shot or series of shots depicting a continuous event.

 

Shot defines a continuous view filmed by one camera without interruption. Each shot is a take.

When additional shots of the same action are filmed from the same set-up - because of technical or dramatic mistakes - the subsequent shots are called re-takes. If the set-up is changed in any way - camera moved, lens changed, or different action filmed - it is a new shot, not are-take.

 

A sequence is a series of scenes, or shots , complete in itself. A sequence may occur in a single setting, or in several settings. Action should match in a sequence whenever it continues across several consecutive shots with straight cuts - so that it depicts the event in a continuous manner, as in real life. A sequence may begin as an exterior scene, and continue inside a building, as the players enter and settle down to talk or perform.  A sequence may begin or en d with a fade or dissolve; or it may be straight-cut with bracketing sequences.

 

Confusion arises when the terms scene and shot are used interchangeably. Individual shots in a script are referred to as scenes. But , a master scene script would require a number of shots to film the entire event. In such cases, a single scene number may be used and the shots designated by letters a, b, c, etc . While production personnel may consider a single take as a shot, they refer to the shot by scene number. For practical purposes,  therefore, scene and shot arc generally interchangeable.

 

A shot - or a portion of a shot - is also referred to as a cut. This term is derived from a portion of a shot which is cut out and used separately such as a cut of a player's silent reaction removed from a dialogue sequence.

 

Write a note about DW Griffith

David Wark Griffith   (born January 22, 1875, in  Floydsfork, Kentucky, U.S.—died July 23, 1948, Hollywood, California), was a  pioneer American motion-picture director. He is sometimes called ‘The man who made Hollywood’. D.W. Griffith was one of cinema's earliest directors and producers, known for his innovations and for directing the 1915 film ‘Birth of a Nation’.

 

He  developed many of the basic techniques of filmmaking, in such films as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), Broken Blossoms (1919), Way Down East (1920), Orphans of the Storm (1921), and The Struggle (1931).

 

Films

 

By 1908, Griffith had entered the new world of moviemaking. He did acting work for the New York City film companies Edison and Biograph and went on to become a director of hundreds of shorts for the latter company, working with actors like Lionel Barrymore, Mary Pickford and the Gish sisters. He started to develop two-reel works and eventually made the four-reel film Judith of Bethulia.

 

Griffith appeared as an actor in one film for the Edison Company, Rescued from an Eagle’s Nest, under Porter’s direction, and in several films for the Biograph Company. When an opening for a director developed at Biograph, Griffith was hired. From 1908 to 1913, Griffith made more than 400 films for Biograph, the majority in the one-reel format, lasting approximately 12 minutes.

 

 His first film as director was The Adventures of Dollie (1908), about a baby stolen by and recovered from Gypsies. During the latter part of his employment, he experimented with longer films; his last Biograph film, Judith of Bethulia (1913), a biblical story of Judith and Holofernes, based loosely on a play of the same title by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, comprised four reels.

 

 'Birth of a Nation': First US Blockbuster

 

He independently directed Birth of a Nation, released in 1915 and telling the story of the Civil War and Reconstruction era. Adapted from the book The Clansmen, the work was seen as the first U.S. blockbuster and has been praised for its pioneering storytelling forms, greatly influencing modern moviemaking and shaping ideas around audience cultivation.

 

Racist Themes

 

‘Birth of a Nation’, however, was blatantly racist and distorted history, with its demeaning depictions of African Americans and a storyline that positioned the creation of the Ku Klux Klan as a means of vengeance over a woman's death. The film earned much criticism, and riots broke out during showings. Over the decades, Nation has continued to spur outrage and dialogue.

 

Later Work

 

Griffith's next film, was  ‘Intolerance (1916)’. It was innovative in its narrative structure by juxtaposing four different locales and eras. Then in 1919, Griffith co-founded United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford, with the production company serving as a distributor for his films. Griffith continued his output with works like 1919's Broken Blossoms (which was about an inter-ethnic romance), Way Down East (1920), Orphans of the Storm (1921) and America (1924).

 

He made two pictures with sound, Abraham Lincoln (1930) and The Struggle (1931). Yet Griffith's sensibilities were considered out of sync with the evolving tone of film and he was unable to find work, though he did donate prints of his movies to the Museum of Modern Art.

 

He lived in hotels during his later years and died in Hollywood, California, on July 23, 1948.

 

Contribution to Cinema

 

 Griffith was highly innovative with his filmmaking techniques, utilizing cross-cutting, close-ups and fade outs to distinctive effect, cultivating a deeper emotional milieu.

 

Griffith identified that the shot, not the scene was the basic unit of cinema.

 

He developed and used the basic shots: Long shot, close-up, mid shot, as well as the extreme close up and extreme long shot.

 

Griffith discovered that the emotional content of the scene, not the location of the scene, determined the correct placement of his camera and the correct moment to cut from one perspective to another. This is often called the grammar and rhetoric of film.

 

Griffith introduced frequent camera movement (pan and travelling shots), and cross-cutting technique .

 

He experimented with artificial lighting in films and  was the first to use lighting to indicate mood.

 

He was the pioneer director who demanded natural acting from his actors, and  began casting actors to fit their roles according to their physical type. He demanded rehearsals before shooting.

 

He made several types of films, and was an acclaimed director of the silent era. No wonder he was called  ‘The man who made Hollywood’.

Fundamental purposes of the shot

List the  fundamental purposes of a shot.

The shot is the basic unit of video and cinema production. The shot has a narrative purpose. Shots are the building blocks that the director uses to build the story.

The purposes of the shot are

1- Highlight or emphasise the principal subject

2-Present a purposeful variation in its size

3-Add more information

4- Establish the relationship between elements in a fame

5- Favour the appearance of the performer.

4 challenges for EFP

Mention four problems one may face while doing EFP

Electronic Field Production uses both ENG and studio production techniques. All EFPs take place on location.

Some of the problems that producers may face while doing EFP are

1- Space: Since all EFPs take place on location, in indoors events one may have to deal with the problem of less space, and for outdoor events, one may have the problem of too much space to cover. Lighting and sound may be problematic.

2- Weather: The producer must have a back-up plan in case the weather changes. Sudden rain or unexpected clouds may cause problems during outdoor shoots.

3- External noises, and unwanted sound: Interviewing people during mega events and ensuring that the interviews do not have leaking sound or other unwanted noises is also a big challenge for EFP productions.

4- Permissions for sites, vehicles, and other equipment related issues sometimes pose major problems, especially in the case of national events, which usually give the best locations to the national broadcaster.

4 Options for TV Reporter for news coverage

What are the four options a TV reporter has in covering an event?

A TV reporter has four options while covering an event.

First, she could record the event and send the video tape / data card to the news station, where it would be edited along with a voice-over, sound bites and transmitted.

Second, she could directly transmit the event as it unfolds, by use of  the SNG (satellite news gathering) technique. Here she has no control over the broadcast and merely reports the event as it takes place.

Third, she could transmit her news via mobile phone. She dials the studio number and is connected to the news presenter for updates. She may also use a ‘video-phone’ do deliver her ‘stand-up’ updates.

Fourth, the reporter could use the microwave transmission method. Battery run microwave cameras are fitted to the camera. This method can only be used a short distance away from the news station, and is not practical in areas with very high buildings.

Consumer vs Professional video cameras

Give any four differences between consumer camcorder and professional camera.

There are broadly three kinds of video cameras from a market point of view: consumer cameras, prosumer cameras and professional cameras.

Consumer cameras or low-end are available off-the shelf in electronic stores and are priced around Rs 15,000 to 50,000 rupees. Professional cameras are high-end cameras that cost form about Rs 1 lakh upwards.

1. Size and weight:  low-end cameras are small in size and weight. Some can be carried in pouches and are hand held. High end cameras are normally big and come with a number of accessories. They are normally shoulder-mounted, or need tripods, dollies etc for mounting.

2- Settings: low-end cameras have mainly auto-settings, focus, exposure, shutter speed and audio all come with auto-settings. they are point-and -shoot cameras. In high end cameras, most parameters like focus, exposure, shutter-speed, audio etc can be set manually to suit one’s requirement.

3- Lenses: Consumer cameras come with zoom lenses, with limited range. They have digital zooms, and low depth of field. You cannot change the lenses. Professional cameras come with zoom lenses, with high zoom range and greater depth of field. One can change the lenses on a high-end camera according to the need.

4- Audio: low end cameras do not come with external microphone inputs. they have built-in microphones. They do not have separate faders to control microphone levels. High end cameras come with built-in mics as well as external microphone input connection facility. they have faders to adjust the microphone volume levels.

Give four examples of a semi-scripted programme for TV

Examples of semi-scripted programmes for television are:

A news programme: Here, the programme consists of a scripted part, such as news read by the anchor from the teleprompter, and an unscripted part, when the anchor asks invited panellists for their views, or asks ‘live’ questions to the reporter on the field. Example: Any news show on Hindi or English news channel (name them)

A chat show : Here, stock opening shots and camera movements are scripted. The host may read out the introduction and backgrounds of the guests from a teleprompter, but after that the show is unscripted. The guests interact with the host without a script. The ending of the show may be again according to the script. Example “Coffee with Karan’

Reality shows: Reality shows on TV are not unscripted but ‘manufactured reality’. A good portion of the hosts interaction and the judges’ interaction are scripted. Some portions are spontaneous, but the shows must fulfil the objectives of the production. Example: Big Brother, Big Boss

Quiz shows and contests: The presenters follow a script, and so does the camera and production crew. It is the contestants and their performance that is not scripted and is largely spontaneous. Example: American Idol, Who wants to be a Millionaire?

What is chronological writing?

Report writing can be classified into two main bodies: chronological and logical.

 ‘Chronos’ is the Greek word for ‘time’. Therefore a chronological report follows the clock.

The events taking place are written down in the same order that they have occurred.

Chronological writing may be seen in the minutes of meetings, proceedings of the State Assembly or Parliament, scientific reports, cook books and so on.

What is logical writing?

Report writing can be classified into two main bodies: logical and chronological.

Logical reporting or writing is usually followed by news agencies and news papers. Here, the writer sorts out those parts of information, which according to his logic, are the most relevant or important aspects.

These relevant details are given prominence and placed in a manner that the reader gets to see them first. Logical writing starts with a 'lead sentence' or 'focus sentence'. Other less important details are placed afterwards.

What is the advantage of inverted triangle style of reporting?

The ‘inverted triangle’ is a format used when reporting hard news for a newspaper.

The advantage of this style is that the most important portions of the report appear in the lead sentence and in the lead paragraph. The following paragraphs contain details of lesser importance.

A reader in a hurry can get the gist of the report by scanning the lead paragraph.

Since newspapers are often pressed for space, the story in ‘inverted pyramid’ style can be trimmed from the bottom without losing its essence.

What do you understand by ‘lead sentence’ in a newspaper report?

The ‘lead sentence’ is the first sentence in a hard news story, which is written in the ‘inverted pyramid style. The ‘lead sentence’ contains the main points of the story. It is usually a long sentence which answers the questions: Who did what, where, when, and why? And sometimes it also answers the question ‘how?’

Example: Superstar Amitabh Bachhan donated Rs 25 lakh to Children’s Cancer hospital in Patna at a ceremony held on Monday in order to motivate other movie stars to take up the cause of helping poor kids fight cancer.

Give four examples of scripted programmes for the electronic media.

Examples of fully scripted programmes for electronic media are

Radio talk: The entire talk must be written down before it is broadcast. All India Radio often broadcasts talks. BBC 2 (radio) broadcasts a two minute inspirational talk every day.

Radio drama: the entire script is followed including music , sound effects, and dialogue. Example ‘Hawa Mahal’ on All India Radio

News bulletins on Radio and TV: the entire news bulletin is prepared from various news sources, edited and then read out on radio or presented on TV. ALL India Radio, BBC, and Radio Sri Lanka broadcast news bulletins daily.

Advertisements or commercials on Radio and TV: Advertisements have to strictly follow the prepared script, even the jingles are composed and lyrics are written.

TV drama serials: TV drama  series can be of many kinds : situation comedies, crime drama, and science fiction series are some examples. (Stories by Rabindranath Tagore and Dariba Diaries on Epic channel)

Name four weaknesses of the Radio medium that the script writer has to address

Radio is a non-visual medium. It has no images and pictures, so the script writer will have to use colourful words and descriptive words to engage the listeners.

Action on Radio cannot be seen, so the script writer has to put in several sound effects, or snatches of music while writing an action scene or a radio drama.

Radio messages are easily forgotten. So the scriptwriter has to coin catchy slogans to make the messages stick in the minds of the listeners. the scriptwriter also has to repeat the message within the programme.

Listeners have low attention spans for radio programmes, so in order to keep the listeners interested, the scriptwriter has to ensure that the scripts are lively and interesting from beginning to end.

Give four examples of chronological writing

Chronological writing occurs in many forms. Some examples are:

Journal or Diary: People and organisations maintain diaries or records about what they do or what events occur on a daily basis. This sort of writing is chronological.

Minutes of a meeting or proceedings of a formal event: Whenever an organisation has a formal meeting, the secretary or other designated officer writes down whatever issues are discussed on the agenda in the same order that they are discussed by members. This is chronological reporting.

Recipes and instructions: people who love to cook write down the process of cooking and the ingredients they use for further reference. Cookbooks are examples of chronological writing.

History: historians record events according to how they occurred in time. History is always written according to a time line.

List four features of a message

The four features or qualities of a message are:

Clarity: the message must be clear and unambiguous for both script writer and audience.

Simplicity: Apart from the message being clear, it must be easily understood by the audience. So simple language should be used.

Arguments: For a message to be effective, it has to be built on arguments. In other words it has to be built on building blocks of logic.

Unified/ Unity: The message must be unified. The arguments must have unity and cohesion, so that the audience is not confused.

What are the ‘4Cs’in the writing process?

The writing process to be followed for different media products is similar. It can be called the four stages of the writing process.

The stages begin with idea generation also called conception; the next stage is gathering information that can be called collection , this is followed by planning an outline and then filling it out, known as construction; and finally, editing and polishing the written work or correction.