Rebecca Chapman

How does Hollywood produce, market and

exhibit its films to ensure success?

Hollywood is set up as a large studio system which is split into 6 major companies; these are

Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, Columbia, Warner Bros, Universal and Paramount Pictures.

These all produce, distribute and exhibit films on a regular basis, Hollywood release around 120 films

each year which is a massive amount compared to British films which only release around a small

handful of films. Most of these Hollywood films are major blockbusters of high production values.

High production values mean that the film has a higher budget and higher costs that need to be

spent on things like effects, actors, locations, sets, specialist equipment and more.

Production

Hollywood have to constantly put so much thought and different ideas into their production

techniques to bring in a range of audience and to make sure they receive a high profit on their films

that they are hoping to receive. Toy Story 3 was produced by Pixar and released in July 2010. It

mainly relied on the audience’s knowledge of the previous films as this is now the last in the sequel,

in order to make this work they needed to make it look and feel as similar as possible to the others

to reinforce those memories and the much love and publicity to the prequels. Their main focus was

to create a new and more impressive look for the movie that allowed them to use their much more

advanced CGI technology and at the same time keep the feel and classic look from the other films.

The new characters such as Lotso, Buttercup and Stretch were made from plush or jelly materials

were created with appearances, qualities and movements that had not been previously used, or

even possible, in the other films. This allowed Pixar to experiment with the new technology and

change aspects of the film without having to change and main characters. The use of 3D in this film

also gave the option to add something new to the Toy Story experience that hadn’t been available

for the previous films. As 3D was very popular at the time of the film’s release, this encouraged a

new audience of people who are 3D film fans, as well as adding something to make the film have a

more impressive impact. The latest 3D technology though is going downhill, many claim that it is

because they are too expensive and the glasses are uncomfortable, others put it down to the over

using of 3D for the past 6 months, making the hype just seem normal now. Many people fear that 3D

has had its time and will disappear now for a considerable amount of time.

Inception uses minimal amounts of CGI in the production of the film because the director

wanted to keep the film as real as possible. The casting of the film was a very important part of the

film, they needed the exact right characters to play the part and the characters rose the high

production value. The film needed to appeal to many different audiences, mainly the target

audience of science fiction lovers as they are drawn to these kind of films. The production costs of

the film were considered as average, compared to many other films, this shows that the film makers

could do a lot with a little because the film had spectacular scenes which you would assume take

high quantities of money to produce. Special effects are used a lot in Hollywood because they can

add a lot of action to a film and make the film look more realistic. This adds interest to the film and

really shows off what the film producers are capable of. Hollywood is very talented when it comes to

making films for specific target audiences. They do this by focuses very closely on primary research,

approaching the specific target group and asking them carefully educated questions to find out

exactly what they need to know to have great success with the film.

Rebecca Chapman

Marketing

The main marketing of the Hangover 2 had already been done by the massive success of the

first Hangover release. Sequels are becoming more and more common in the Hollywood film

industry due to the ease of already having a strong fan base for films. However, sequels can be

difficult to get right as the audience often wants to see something new and exciting and yet, at the

same time, have the well-known feel of the film and the characters that they have come to know

and love. The Hangover 2 defiantly was a massive hit though and was a fantastic sequel, the same

characters and humour was used but just in a different setting with a few new changes so the feel

was still there. The first poster was all about making sure the audience realized we were going back

to very familiar ground to what happened in the first movie. In the first main poster it just shows the

three main characters and a monkey recovering after a night of hard living. With the writing at the

top saying “The Wolf Pack is back” and at the bottom changing the scene with "Bangkok has them

now.” A set of character posters was then created and released that featured a different quote from

each character in each one, so the audience wants to know more about what happens to each. The

first trailer was a teaser trailer which doesn’t give the audience a whole lot of information, it went

on for 1.15 minutes just to give the fans a short clip of what was coming up to get them excited and

wanting to see more. The full-length trailer was then released on the 1st April on YouTube to give a

fuller story of what will be happening in the movie. This showed some of the settings and the effects

of what happened the next morning, to make the audience want to watch to see what actually

happens and see if it’s a match to the prequel. The official website was then released after the full

trailer of the film. On the website you can watch the trailer and a whole range of things from

watching videos, reading cast information, downloading the soundtrack and more to keep a track of

updates for fans.

Clover field was a film which ran on mostly the amazing marketing techniques of the film. To

start there was a small teaser trailer only viewable in cinemas, this trailer showed no information

about the film at all, not the title or anything, the only information it shown was the release date,

this was to get people hooked and wondering straight away. The producers decided to drip feed

information to the viewers, rather than give it all away in one go. They instead got them all talking

about the film over the internet on a “buzz” and “chatter” site, this is because the internet is a

massive place to market for free. The characters of the film produced their own blogs and Facebook

pages so they could actually chat to the fans releasing background information on the film and

making them want to see what happens next. The full trailer was soon released which at the end

shown the head of the statue of liberty rolling through the town, this was a massive cliff hanger

bound to make people want to view it. IPhone apps were then released to promote the film and also

the basic things like posters etc.

Synergy is the coming together of different products to promote the films. An example of

this is when Columbia Pictures uses its lateral integration where the film studio differs into separate

companies to produce another product. Columbia Pictures is a part of the larger conglomerate Sony

Corporation of America who also own Sony Music Entertainment. This would make it very simple for

the company to produce a new product.

Rebecca Chapman

Exhibit

Audiences can consume films in ways. Firstly, going to the actual cinema to see the film when

it is released, this way you get to see the film with your friends and view it all as soon as it is out, it

can create a fun day out and it is brilliant atmosphere. Some films though are better in the cinema

than others, for example Avatar was an amazing film to view in the cinema in 3D, but if you watched

it or the first time at home you wouldn’t get the same effect and love for it as you would have in the

actual screenings. Now less and less people are now going to the cinema, meaning that film

companies are going to have to start spending more on marketing of merchandise such as the DVD

of the film, so they still create the same amount of money from the film. Many people will wait till

the film is released on DVD. The pros of this are that the buyers can share the film with their friends

and watch it many times, it is also much cheaper than going to the actual cinema and less hassle to

just wait for the DVD. A bad side of this though is that the box office price will not be as high as

normal, also with watching a DVD at home you don’t get the same effect as when in the cinema, in

the cinema you have a massive screen that makes you feel like you’re involved and the atmosphere

is great, but at home you wouldn’t get the same vibe.

I don’t think that British films will ever be able to compete with the American market as

Hollywood films are massively producted and go out worldwide and globally to all, whereas British

films just only usually stay in the British market. American films also have larger budgets and higher

production values where as British films would never have this much money to be able to spend on

the stages of making a film and then be able to market it to an audience outside Great Britain.

My viewing habits consist of only going to the actual cinema if it’s a movie I actually really want to

watch, as it can be effort to get there and then also costs about £10 each time with ticket and food,

whenever I do go though I usually try and go on an orange Wednesday just so the price is cheaper. If

there’s a film that I wanted to see that I’ve missed the viewing of at the cinema I will just wait for the

DVD to come out and not be too bothered at all. With 3D films I will only see them normally if it’s a

cartoon as they seems to benefit better with 3D depending on what it is, saying this I seen the final

destination and Harry Potter in 3D as these are more action films and as I really wanted to see them

I thought I’d pay the extra for the 3D version. The 3D effects stood out more in final destination

than in Harry Potter as there was more gory action in final destination, whilst in Harry Potter I

sometimes forgot that the 3D effects were even meant to be there.