Motion Picture Association of America reviews Marketing Material

You may know that the Motion Picture Association of America is responsible for the motion picture rating system that parents use to make sure content is age appropriate. Most of us don’t know that they are also responsible for making sure that marketing material that is used to promote the movies is age appropriate as well. What’s the sense of taking a child to a G rated movie about horses, if the previews are going to be about passionate lovemaking?

The Motion Picture Association of America reviews the marketing material that’s used to promote every film that is rated by the Classification and Rating Administration. This is over 60,000 different pieces of marketing every year. Some of the promotional material included is print ads, radio and TV spots, billboards, press kits, bus shelters, posters, and trailers.

Their goal is to make sure all of the material is appropriate for whatever audience views it.  They intend to allow filmmakers to reach their target markets with these while making sure parents have piece of mind. If a parent takes a child to a PG rated movie, then the MPAA makes sure that all the trailers are suitable for that audience. They are not going to have a preview for Chain Saw Massacre in Shrek.

This has an effect on the film industry as a whole. Filmmakers have to be careful and specific in their marketing techniques. If the movie trailer, billboard, or marketing item isn’t acceptable for the venue they are trying to present it, then the time that they put into it will be lost. Even some websites for movies are restricted. In a way, it can be useful. By the MPAA not allowing them to present R rated previews in G rated movies, it helps them to pinpoint their target audience. Once the MPAA decides that the ad is acceptable, then filmmakers can reach their potential viewers with the marketing item. 

Youtube Copyright Speech

             As leaders and experts in our industries, we must obtain the skills to inspire and influence an audience. TED.com has hundreds of speeches that people can view. Because of my interest in film and video production, I checked out some of the speeches listed under entertainment. The speech given by Margaret Gould Steward was relevant to my interests. The name of the speech was How YouTube Thinks About Copyright.

            Before I discuss her skills as a speaker, I’ll bring up a few of the great points that she made. First of all, if you're like me and you’re an aspiring director or videographer you may want to show off some of your projects on YouTube. I know how this can be frustrating because of copyright issues. Some of my videos were deleted because of the songs that I used. But this doesn't just pertain to songs. Pictures and video footage can also be traced on YouTube. The problem for me is that I have no musical talent whatsoever, and I needed audio to make my videos come to life. And every great filmmaker knows how much the audio affects the video. Don’t believe me? Watch one of your favorite actions scenes without the music score.

            Margaret discusses some of the same points from a different standpoint. Her audience is the people who want to upload their own copyrighted material to YouTube. She uses her skills as a speaker to influence people not to be so strict on their copyrighting policies when uploading. Or better yet, to consider what the best option is for the purposes of your video. She explains that fans uploading copyrighted material can serve as free advertising for the product or company. The example she gave was of Chris Browns Forever song. Because of a wedding video that got millions of views, the song reached number 4 on the charts when it was 18 months old. So it depends on how it will service you if you are going to have strict policies. Some policies will just remove the audio file from the content, others will have the whole video deleted.  A personal example is when I used the song Swagga Like Us, they removed the video. But when I used the song Cell Therapy the policy holders used my video as advertisement and put a link to iTunes where the song can be purchased.

            As a speaker she used storytelling to make her speech interesting and to capture the audience attention. It’s easy to just spit out facts, but she used the Chris Brown example in a way that was relevant to people and it was also amusing. She used her knowledge of how YouTube detects copyrighted material through advanced technology. By being informative and making the speech relatable, she was able to deliver useful information about a confusing topic, that many people have issues with. As an expert in the film industry, I can use this speech as well as others on TED.com as a way to sharpen my skills and strategy as a speaker.