Marketing and Promoting a Film - Film Studies
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Transcript of Marketing and Promoting a Film - Film Studies
MARKETING & PROMOTING A FILMUnit 26: Film Studies
UNIT 26 : FILM STUDIES
Learning Outcome 3: Understand the relationship between producers and audiences
This will be a key source of information as you tackle Task 2 of Assignment 1
For this task you will be building a plan for the marketing of a forthcoming film
You will need to demonstrate in your report on the plan why you have made the choices you have and this will be influenced by this
WHY DO FILMS NEED TO BE MARKETED? Creators may want as many people to see
them On-screen Talent and ‘creatives’ may want
to be nominated / win awards for their work. Most crucially, in order to be deemed a
commercial success, films need to make a profit because of High cost of original production Profits will go to help fund future projects Capitalist system – investors want their money
back with interest
‘STAKEHOLDERS’ IN FILM
Stakeholders are those with a financial interest in the film making money
Money is made for producers and distributors through: Ticket sales at cinemas / broadcast rights DVD / Blu-ray sales Merchandise Product placement / endorsement Other linked media products through
synergy (remember our music video unit last year)
‘STAKEHOLDERS’ Studio / Film Council / Investor – those who paid for
the original film to be made Distributors – those who organise the promotion and
distribution of the film to the public (eg. marketing campaign, release dates, DVD packaging and release)
Exhibitors – cinemas and those who screen the film to an audience (including broadcasters)
‘SECONDARY STAKEHOLDERS’
Those who also have an interest in the success of a film On-screen talent – their profile, awards
success and subsequent rate of pay for future jobs improves in in successful films
Director and crew – having a successful film on a CV improves employment chances and rate of pay demanded
Companies that have been ‘product placed’ – link to a successful product increases sales
Any synergy partners eg. Bands whose music features
MARKETING A FILM
Raise audience awareness Widen industry awareness Raise profile of On-screen Talent,
Director, crew etc. Ensure awards committees are aware
of the work Ultimately ensure commercial success
of the film
KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE
Target audience is key as ever Knowing who your target audience is will
allow you to make more precise judges of how and where to market films
This trailer is a spoof but it can demonstrate what might happen if you decide to market a film at the wrong audience: Shining
Defining how to reach your target audience will influence your choices greatly.
MARKETING AND TARGET AUDIENCE VIEWS
Twelve Monkeys (1995) is dystopian sci-fi thriller starring Bruce Willis, Madeline Stowe and Brad Pitt, directed by Terry Gilliam
Gilliam is renowned for his artistic and challenging film style which has won him many awards and plaudits from critics.
However, his work is not always so commercially successful.
A test screening of the film highlighted some potential problems with the audience’s understanding of the film.
We will watch a segment of a documentary all about the making of this film called ‘The Hamster Factor’ that shows the process of poster design as well as footage from a test screening.
TEST SCREENINGS AND FOCUS GROUPS These give vital information on the audience
perception of a film and its potential success Stakeholders put a lot of emphasis on their findings Blade Runner (1982) was significantly changed in the
initial edit due to test screening responses The failure of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003) is
thought to be partly due to the fact that test screenings were not conducted
Films that are thought to be VERY poor often aren’t screened for fear of losing the few unsuspecting audience members that may hear about it from tests.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
You will need to consider how you might gather feedback from your potential audience within your report
It might be useful to consider including a plan for a test screening or focus groups in this.
POTENTIAL COMPONENTS OF A CAMPAIGN Trailers – used in cinemas, on TV, online, on
DVD releases, via mobile phone technology ‘Teaser’ trailers – short, less detailed trailers
intended to intrigue audience Posters – in magazines, billboards, roadside
ad-shells, outside cinemas, viral and social media
Promotional appearances – TV interviews, radio appearances, red carpet events
Television / online / radio advertisements
POTENTIAL COMPONENTS OF A CAMPAIGN
Media Synergy – via other media products linked to the film eg. Games, music featured etc.
Commercial Synergy- via the promotion of other products linked through product placement or sponsorship
Website – featuring games, information, images for wallpaper, downloads etc.
Social media presence – Facebook pages, related groups or events, Twitter, On-screen Talent social media take-overs.
TEASER TRAILERS
This ‘teaser’ was produced to market a film ‘Cloverfield’ – there were deliberately no details about this anywhere except a name.
Cloverfield Teaser Worked very effectively in intriguing an
audience largely due to its handheld nature
Made over $50m – one of the most commercially successful films of the year
VIRAL CAMPAIGNS
To promote Serenity (2005), Joss Whedon, the film’s director worked on a series of viral videos released online called ‘The R. Tam Sessions’
The R. Tam Sessions This featured a character known from the TV
series Firefly that the film is based on. There was no branding or anything to link this to the film initially.
It is cited as one of the most effective and inventive viral adverts – partly due to the non-linear narrative of the order the clips are released in.
‘PLUGGING’ USING ON-SCREEN TALENT Review the work you did on this in pairs
looking at examples of plugging. Consider how you could implement this
for your campaign. What kind of programming would your target
audience watch? Which stars would you get in to conduct the
‘plugging’ and what would you suggest to interviewers they should ask about?
Skyfall (2012) on Graham Norton Show
RESEARCH IS KEY!
A Beautiful Day (2008) was due for screening at a film festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma
As part of the promotion the producers made a video for YouTube and posted it anonymously saying ‘People of Muskogee. Open your eyes. April 25th is a day you’ll come to remember.’ and ‘The end is coming’
This coincided with the High School prom night and it was interpreted as a terrorist threat – leading to arrests and the film being taken out of the festival.
POTENTIAL ISSUES
‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ (2008) was promoted by using ‘viral’ marketing techniques such as unbranded posters featuring slogan such as ‘You suck, Sarah Marshall’ and the following website http://www.ihatesarahmarshall.com/
Clever... unless of course you are called Sarah Marshall – 276 Sarah Marshalls across the US complained to distributors