PR6

Relationships between Producers and Film Audiences:

Directors draw relationships towards the film viewers by using codes and conventions into their

advertisements which attracts and appeals to the viewer. The codes determine upon what the genre

of the film is and who it’s targeted at, for example if a new recently made animated fairy tale film

which is well known and popular in the past. Then producers will put special items into their

advertisements which relate to the past film and appeals to the audience, that being more of the

younger generation those being the most interested. In this assessment I will also talk about codes

and conventions, anchorage, reception and star theory and other techniques which are involved in

advertisements to appeal to its target audience.

Task 1: Cinderella 2015

For task 1 I will be describing the technical terms from how the director uses advertising in

Cinderella to appeal to its target audience. The film is based on the original fairy

tale/ animated film and has been a well-known classic for years. A brief

explanation of the film is that a princess is forced to live with her step mother

and step sisters because her father has to go away. All seems nice at first until

Ella (Cinderella’s real name) becomes a slave to her new family; she then later

meets a young man (Prince Charming) who instantly connects with her. Later

being invited to the local ball but unable to go because of her mother and

sisters strong envy for her she is locked away, but then meets her fairy god

mother who is magical and produces a luxury gold carriage, a stunning dress

and loyal white horses for her to go to the ball in. It ends with Cinderella falling

in love and rescued by the prince who she earlier met during the film.

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Initial release: March 13, 2015 (United States)

Producer: Simon Kinberg, David Barron and Allison Shearmur

Distributor: Walt Disney Studios motion pictures

Budget:

The target audience: The advertisement for this film using the poster is clearly aimed at younger kids

roughly from the age of 10 and below. When viewing over the poster the use of bright colours

mainly in Cinderella’s dress is a good way to appeal to kids that this is a fairy tale based film if they

didn’t already know, also the dress can relate to other popular films which involve princess’s for

example the movie Frozen which has been a big hit can show reference in this poster.

Also Cinderella is played by a good looking woman, who is obvious because there not going to use a

not so good looking actor to play the role of a princess. The director also puts in the use of the glass

slipper and beautiful big blue dress which is eye catching and is a massive relatable object towards

the fairy tale classic. This can also be known as anchorage when directors use specific colours and

objects in their advertisements which instantly tell you it’s that type of genre without analysing the

trailer to find out what type of film it is.

Codes and conventions include upon the way Cinderella is dressed which is in a bright colo urful blue

dress, which represents that the film will be another magical happy sad story but happy ending

princess movie. Children will then be drawn to this poster and later convince their parents to spend

money to watch the new film, this is one of the many ways the film makers making money through

advertising campaigns. The poster also includes a dark sky in the primary optical area (top right of

the background) which is odd for a happy fairy tale based film, so the directors do this to show that

it’s not all a happy story and dark twists occur during the film.

The images shown above were taken from the official Cinderella 2015 trailer on YouTube. I

screenshot all the key scenes in the trailer which show target audience, for example the scene from

where Cinderella meets her fairy god mother for the first time and she uses her magic to create a

beautiful carriage, dress and shoes for Cinderella to go to the ball in. These benefits the trailer in the

kids who think of Cinderella as an idol figure will want to see the film for these fantasy type clips.

Also the material goods used in the film like her dress and glass slippers which are well known iconic

objects from the original fairy tale will entice kids to watch the film as these items are what young

girls are into, using the latest most popular Disney film of the century Frozen has influenced kids to

want to grow up to be the animated characters out of that film and directors can later release

material goods just like the glass slippers and the sparkly dress for the kids to buy. This is known as a

synergy which is way of making profit amongst the film making industry, Synergies can be found

everywhere from merchandise to sold DVD’s because children want to be the Cinderella

doppelganger and by wearing the same clothing would make them feel like a princess of their own

and is a good way for producers to make profit as well as promoting the film.

When analysing the Advertising campaign for the official trailer on YouTube you can see that they

involve all the stars in the film e.g. Cinderella, The evil step mum, Evil step sisters, prince charming

and the Fairy godmother. The film maker shows these actors playing their roles in the film to

describe star theory in the film, they do this for the audience who aren’t really interested in the plot

and genre of the film but for the actors playing the roles because they could be very unique actors

who complete films and fans could pay to see the film just for the actors roles.

The genre of the film that being fantasy its targeted more at the younger generation briefly around

the ages of under 15’s. This is blatant when viewing the trailer due to the magic and costumes which

show that it’s more of a child’s film, also the film is based on the classic fairy tale so people would

already know what genre type film it already is.

The audience has been targeted by the producer in a way of instantly telling the audience what

range of people this film is generally aimed at. I.e. the use of magic, romance and fairy tale humour

is an obvious way of describing the movie being a fantasy princess film which is mainly targeted at

young child females. Within the trailer the producer doesn’t want to give away the whole film but to

show a brief plot of the story which will grab the viewers’ attention and interest to pay and watch

the film in cinema. As the producer is targeting it at children then the children will beg their parents

to go pay and see the film, which is a way the producer can earn money for the parents to pay their

children as well as them self’s to watch a film which is blatantly not made for their common interest

but for the child’s endurance for this film. Not only the producer starts an advertising campaign

through online trailers and posters as I have discussed, but can use billboards and commercial strips

on the side of busses for the public to see. Making money for the producers company is a big deal in

film making and without starting marketing campaigns the news for the movie the word of the

upcoming film would be distant and will not motivate people to watch the film without a brief idea

on what the film is going to be like.

Cinderella could be aimed at a mixed age, not looking at the plot and storyline but the stars who play

the roles in these films. When viewing the trailer for Cinderella I noticed a handful of Actors w ho

have previous played roles in a several of films which make the film complete and more entertaining

to watch. Helena Bonham Carter plays the role of the fairy god mother, she has stared in many

mixed genre films, from the Harry Potter franchise to more twist films e.g. Sweeney Todd. People

would notice that she plays the role and then be interested by that actor being a star in the film,

people not only young kids would be excited to see this film but the fans that will pay to see the film

just to see their idols play a good part in the film.

I read upon some of the comments left by people all over the world and this comment shows that

star theory is a good way to promote the directors film in commercials. The shots above were taken

from the YouTube trailer for Cinderella and the audience say that they would pay to see the film just

for the famous actors playing leading roles. Also you can see that this person isn’t the only one as

people are agreeing with likes for the comment.

Part 2: Chappie

Part 2 I will be talking about the advertising campaigns the directors have

used to promote the new film Chappie, in the adverts they show details

which can instantly tell the audience who are interested what the film is

briefly about, what other previous movies are similar to Chappie and most of

all the target audience Chappie is aimed at. From the directors of District 9

and Elysium this Sci-fi enthusiastic film maker has created another scientific

futuristic movie. The plot of Chappie is basically a new era in civilisation,

where robots are created to keep humans safe, but the original master mind

behind the invention of these robots wanted to break the laws of nature and

construct a bot which could think, touch and feel just like a human life form.

But this evolution of technology is non agreeable to the worlds cooperation

of robots and they think that Chappie could cause the end to mankind. Hugh

Jackman starring as the leader of robots takes force to put destroys Chappie,

but Chappie trains and defends for his survival.

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Initial release: March 16th 2015 (US)

Producer: Simon Kinberg

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Budget: $49 million

When analysing the trailer for the film Chappie its easily noticeable that it’s from the same directors

as district 9, using the same alien equipment and location that being Africa. When the film makers of

Chappie form a trailer they need to put is aspects which can instantly inform the audience what film

it is and what range of people would be interested to go see this film. When I watched the trailer I

would think that the general target audience for the film would simply be the ones who most

enjoyed the director’s previous films e.g. Elysium / District 9 or other relatable Sci-fi films for

example iRobot is very similar to Chappie because it includes helping robots in a future time on

earth. The people that would want to see Chappie are the people who would most enjoy these types

of films. Thinking about age and gender for the film I would mostly say that its targeted more at

males i.e. middle aged men and young teens like myself would be commonly known to enjoy this

film more than girls and children.

When using Laceys repertoire of elements to analyse the trailer for Chappie you can identify the

following location/ Mise en scene, iconography and anchorage. These elements are used to instantly

show the viewer what is included in the film before paying to see it, also the producer of the film

could use this way to build suspense and make the film more interesting so that the audience will go

see it. One thing I noticed in the trailer for Chappie was that the first clips were the city and country

which the film is based; I researched this to find out that it was Johannesburg in A frica which is the

same country as the producer’s earlier films like District 9. This could also be shown as a code

because it relates back to the previous films. The producer uses this method for the people who are

very much fans of this certain producer’s films and if it has references back to his previous films the

fans will want to see it for that reason.

Another way the producer can promote the film using commercial techniques is through

iconography. This type of Iconography is included in the trailer for Chappie because there is a lot of

Sci-fi and other types of futuristic technology. For example the CGI used to create the objects for the

film District 9 will also be used to create chappie because this it the producers way to show iconic

elements in his films. District 9 include alien robots which aren’t human like and futuristic and now

in the producers newer film Chappie the same type robots are used in some scene. This shows that it

is the producer’s film and these iconic objects will interest the audience if they enjoyed the previous

films.

District 9 Robot (2009) Chappie Robot (2015)

The images above are screenshots from the trailers of both films, as you can se e both alien robots

are very similar because they are made from the same producer. This object is Iconic because it

shows the similar aspects of the film and can also determine the genre towards the audience.

The audience has been targeted by the producer using these methods which I have shown above.

Also many people will see the poster for Chappie and will grasp aspects from that to find the genre

of the film. For example in the poster the producer has put the main key in the film that being the

robot Chappie big and central so its eye catching for the audience to see. Having the robot there

would instantly tell the audience the genre of film it’s going to be. The genre is Sci -fi because

obviously Sci-fi films mainly contain robot and futuristic technology; also there is ways to show

location in the poster of the film one being the city in the background which is the city of

Johannesburg and also the stickers of the African flag on Chappies arm shows that the film has been

filmed and produced in Africa. These ways that the producer does are to tell the audience what type

of film Chappie is and without these key features hidden within the poster and trailer it would be

harder for the audience to know what type of film it is without actually paying to view the film.

I have used the poster for Chappie above to show anchorage which the producer has used to

determine the genre to interest the audience. First of all the robot chappie is put in the middle

which is large and easy to see, this is also known as the Axis of orientation which basically means

that the producer has put him there so that the audience can clearly see it from a distance and is

also eye catching for the viewers who aren’t as interested in robot Sci -fi films.

The ways that the producer has signified settings is hidden but clear within the poster; I noticed

these stickers which are put on Chappies arms. The producer does this to show setting in the film

which can relate back the producer’s previous films. For example Elysium and District 9 both big hits

from the same director were filmed in this location, so this will instantly tell the audience that the

film will be based in Africa and can also show that it’s one of the producer’s films which is similar to

the last.

The setting can also be shown from the titles above which states that the film Chappie is from the

creators of Elysium and District 9 and by having the city in the bottom right hand corner signifies

that the film is in the same location as the two films told above.

African Flags to

symbolise location and

setting.

City which the film is based

in bottom right hand

corner (The terminal area),

this also shows location

and setting.

Chappie robot put big and

central (Axis of orientation)

which identifies genre and

iconography for the audience to

see clearly.

Producer’s previous films

which are relevant to the

newer film ‘Chappie’.