Coursework- Film promotion

To identify how films are promoted across different media.To understand the idea of institutions within the media

Synergy A portmanteau word made up of the words “synthesis” and “energy”.The name given to the process whereby two or more media productsare interlinked, for commercial or artistic purposes. Linked to theconcept of franchises. For example, The Matrix franchise containssynergistic products including the films, the Animatrix DVD, the Enterthe Matrix game and soundtrack CDS amongst others. Synergy is alsolinked to 360. Synergy is also linked to 360° marketing

Platform A delivery mechanism for a media form (for example, the internet, On-Demand etc.) – “the technology used to deliver and access […]content”

Starter- Analyse the way this film creates meaning for the audience

At first the picture looks like a large moon creating a sense of genre-science fiction

However on closer inspection you realise that the picture has been placed on its side- this could suggest that there will be a severe disruption to the world of the film (diegesis-the world of the film)

The use of light coming from the water tower connotes a supernatural/ technological feel to it as it is an unnatural colour- suggests a sense of power and perhaps danger.

The darkness of the clouds and surrounds connotes an impending danger- something that is so big is can affect the natural order of things. The fact that there is a white space of sky between the ground and the cloud reinforces the idea of it as a menacing mass, rather than just a dark night.

All of these things are examples of media language: the way the piece of media speaks to the audience and creates meaning through things such as colour of font.

Homework –Due next Friday. Pick a poster of your chaoice: Analyse how

the poster appeals to the target audience.It needs to be written as a mini essay using

all the key conventions that we discussed last lesson such tag line

You will need to talk about camera angles, colours and connotations.

There is an example on the next slide and you can see this on my blog as well.

The poster appeals to the target audience in several ways. Firstly the use of the dark colours link into the comic book genre and connote a sense of danger and darkness/evil to the city of Gotham that is portrayed.The use of the batman sign on the building is iconic and links in with the previous films. This is used so that fans of the previous films will be drawn into watching this films. The picture of the batman himself is using a tilt up camera angle. This is to suggest that he is powerful and that he is someone we should fear. As we already know that batman is the hero, we take the tilt up to mean that the villains of Gotham city are the ones who should be afraid of him.The destruction of the building is one of the key features of the poster. It suggests that Batman is willing to destroy the corrupt city, to ensure that the villains are defeated. This may suggest that he will go to any lengths to protect the city. Again it is using the shape of the bat which is symbolic with his character. It is also the symbol that the police use to call batman to help them in the films. This poster relies on an audiences previous understanding to make sense of some of the symbols and connotations used within the

The use of tagline- welcome to a world without rules prepares the audience for the idea that a sense of evilness and corruption will be part of the narrative structure of the film- clearly showing this is not a romantic genre! There is a sense of juxtaposition within the poster as we have a sense of superhero and destruction, not two ideas that we would usually associated together. The poster also uses the stars names to pull in the audience . The title of the film the dark knight suggests that........

The poster could be described as a teaser poster as it only provides the basic information for the audience of name and release date for the film. As the film is not to be released in the Up until August, it is likely that there will be a full poster at a later date.

In terms of composition of the frame, we see that the fore front of the frame is taking up with the apes- this suggests their importance to the film. The fact that they are in shadow which suggests a menacing and danger about them. We also question why they out in the general area, creating a sense of enigma for the audience.

The fact that they are on top of roofs suggest the idea that they are sneaking in, a sense of attack for the humans below safe in their houses.

In the background you can see the iconic san Francisco bridge, which suggests that these apes could be a danger to the modern society.

The use of the lighting to show currently the apes as dangerous (through use of darkness) and the city as safe (bathed in light) suggests to audiences that the apes will soon bring the darkness and danger to the city. The use of hard lighting could also suggest the apes are waiting for something to come down from the sky-- the lighting is reminiscent of some kind o f nuclear fall out- again creating enigmas as to what impact the apes are going to have on society.

The sense of mystery and enigma created by the picture is used to get audiences to want to see the film and probably research it more through accessing the films official website.

The use of the actors name James Franco at the top of the poster, suggests his importance in drawing in fans and making him a reason for them to want to see the film.

The font of the title of the film, not only connotes that the genre is science fiction, it is the same style of font used in the original film planet of the apes. This creates a sense of continuity for the fans-relying on original audiences being drawn in to see the film.

One of the ways that the poster appeals to the target audience is through referencing the fact that the visual effects have been created by the same company that did Avatar- this will immediately draw in audiences as Avatar was so successful with the visuals that it created. This is major pull to audiences, especially within the science fiction genre.

Starter task

In your groups, discuss the different ways that a film can be promoted.

Next piece of coursework

Analytical task

Compare the impact and effectiveness of two promotional methods used by one film – trailer and poster

1000 words

Research and planning task

Poster for the film

Storyboard for a trailer

We will be learning bout the codes and conventions of film posters

We will also be learning about the codes and conventions of film trailers.

We will be looking at how film is promoted across a range of media platforms that we discussed in the starter.

We will be looking at representations We will be learning about the institutions that produce

them.

We will need to show awareness of how media is cross promoted. Companies will now advertise and promote across a range of media

Key terms

Media platforms: these are the different areas of the media- prints, moving image, web

Cross media promotion: this is where a product is promoted across several media platforms for example a film poster (print) and a website (web)

Synergy: Synergy, in general, may be defined as two or more things functioning together to produce a result not independently obtainable. That is, if elements A and B are combined, the result is greater than the expected arithmetic sum A+B

Synergy: Disney

Cross media promotion

Institutions

This synergy is created by institutions. These are the companies that make the

films.We need to have an understanding of how

these work, so we can identify the ways that they are appealing to us as an audience.

Institution

This is the company or companies that have produced the film-they may be part of a much larger company that may not have anything to do with film!

Their logo will appear in the trailer to allow audiences an awareness of the institution that has produced it.

Why do you think this is important?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_production_companies

What genre of film would you expect to see if you saw this at the start of the trailer?

So the institutional logo brings with it audience expectations.

Hollywood today

Institutions:

20th century fox

Key players within Hollywood

Aqa revision booklet

You have 15 minutes only to find out information about one of the companies on the board.

You will need to find out about two recent films that they have produced.

Try to find out if these big companies work with anyone else.

You will be feeding back to the rest of the class.

Conglomerates

Time Warner: Conglomerate

Film, television and publishing

Subsidiaries

New line cinemaCartoon network Castle rockHBO

Turner broadcasting system

Warner brothers pictures

DC comics

NewsCorporationConglomerate

• My space

20th century fox

Harper Collins

• The Sun• The Daily Telegraph • The wall street journal•The Times

•Americanidol.com

Fox sportsFX National geographicFox news channel

Searchlight pictures

Holdings in SKY BskyB

20th century fox is a large film company that is part of an even larger conglomerate. The company makes large blockbuster films aimed at a wide audience: AvatarThe X men

Fox search light is what is known as a subsidiary. This means that it is a smaller company/ branch of 20th century Fox Fox searchlight focuses on more independent art house style films:•Black Swan •127 hours•Water for elephants•Slumdog millionaire

When audiences see the logo associated with the film, they will know to expect a more art house style film, with a lower budget than the big blockbusters of 20th century Fox

Now return to the companies websites and:

identify the types of film that they make (the genre)

Any stars that they might use in their films

Who you think the films are aimed at How much the film cost to make (this can

be found on Wikipedia)

Plenary

What have we learnt today about the large companies (institutions) that make the films that we watch?