Overall Reaction
I really enjoyed watching Pitch Perfect again after not seeing it for many years! A few lines and plot points didn’t age particularly well, but they did not take away from my overall enjoyment, and rather played into the nostalgia of the early 2010s movies that we watched kids. It was interesting going into the movie with this assignment in mind, as it forced me to look beyond the main characters and intentionally recognize secondary and background characters that would otherwise go mostly unseen. The movie has a lot more to do with college radio than I remembered, which was exciting for me as someone who is involved with our school’s radio station. I also watched it with my roommates, which made it more fun and it was interesting to hear their input on which back characters could be fleshed out for this brand assignment.
Character Descriptions
Gail Abernathy-McKadden
Gail is one of two commentators at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. Formerly an a cappella singer herself, she commentates alongside John at the championship. Some of their conversation is relatively inappropriate being that they broadcast the event on TV, but in general Gail is witty and charismatic, occasionally coming across as opinionated and judgmental, which makes sense for her role in the movie. Some of John’s comments are rude and/or misogynistic at times, and she rebuts them which gives her a feminist quality. Visually, Gail is well-dressed throughout the entire movie, with elegant makeup, jewelry and updos in her hair. She seems to care a lot about what she does as a commentator which paints her as passionate to a degree, and her elegant appearance tells me that she cares about luxurious and potentially self-care related things, which is the direction I would likely go in when creating her brand.
Kimmy Jin
Kimmy Jin is Beca’s roommate at Barden University. She struck me immediately as introverted, especially due to her lack of lines throughout the entire movie, and her limited lines are witty and sarcastic. She doesn’t appear to be very social outside of her small circle of friends. Kimmy Jin’s side of the dorm room she shares with Beca is extremely minimalistic with a white and gold color scheme. She appears put together throughout the whole movie, and the visual aesthetic of her room tells me that she also values minimal but high quality things. I would combine those two characteristics to create a high-end brand of some kind.
Benji Applebaum
Benji is Jesse’s roommate at BU with an interest in magic. He auditions at the start of the movie but is rejected from joining the Treblemakers, and he is upset by this for a portion of the movie but doesn’t make it anyone else’s problem. I view him as the underdog, and his support for the Treblemakers and other a cappella groups never falters. He seems to be unapologetically himself which is a quality of Benji’s that I really enjoyed in the movie. He is eventually able to join the Treblemakers in Bumper’s absence and despite being rejected initially, his passion for a cappella remained until the very end during his confident performance at the ICCA. In terms of his brand, I would like to lean into his interests outside of a cappella and create an eclectic identity that would stand out and cater to other “underdog” people and consumers like Benji.
Luke
I wasn’t able to gather a lot of information or perspective on this character, but Luke is the station manager of the BU radio station, which piqued my interest because of my own involvement in radio! Luke came off as somewhat pretentious and strict based on his interactions with Beca and Jesse, but he eventually comes around to them throughout the movie. He seems to be passionate about the radio station and takes good care of the space, and I can’t think of much that he would be interested in beyond a brand associated with radio or music, but still wanted to include him in my post.
