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