The Three Main Questions of the Distributor

1. What is it?WIB: ‘A chilling Ghost story for all ages; delivering chills and thrills in abundance’2. Who is it For? Fans of Harry Potter (huge market worldwide), People who like Horror Films and for those who have seen the Theatre production and wish to compare.

3. How and When will it Reach them?Halloween as this is the time for spooks and scares, the campaign to launch it is:1. Use social networking to tell everyone of the

production.2. Tease the film at the end of The King’s Speech and

at the end of Harry Potter3. Main campaign aims for Halloween. To premiere in

February and to release on the 9th of Feb then sustain the advertising post release to persuade target market constantly

The Main Objective.

To target and engage the fans of the book, play, horrors and of Harry Potter. Sell the film using the main horror and fear factors, target the audiences through the advertising, publicity and promotions.Then position film as a blockbuster to get a larger audience worldwide

The teasers are then released to give a sneak peek and alert the audience. Then the main trailer are released, these are the most common and effective piece of advertising. They are the main thing the audience will see in order to be persuaded to see the film. For the Woman in Black they show off the fact that it is Daniel Radcliffe as he constantly appears throughout and appeals to the horror side through the dark atmosphere and the spine chilling elements, such as the children’s nursery rhyme in one trailerThese are the trailers:Teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSHEYVGaWok Main Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPYMUnJGURI Trailer 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqhcyWmrMc4

The posters

Another way which the film is advertised.

Daniel Radcliffe heavily advertised, name at the top and the central image.

Horror film shown through the dark elements and ghostly writing. The actual ghost is hinted at in the background

Advertising Campaign: Scary StoriesAlready drawing in the Harry Potter fans by launching a competition on the website. The campaign is Daniel Radcliffe wants to hear your scary stories. This gain publicity for the film and lures the fans in and gets them excited sending stories to Daniel Radcliffe. To fuel the fear of the Woman in Black for the existing fans before spreading to masses This competition a winner ‘fear of hue’ and got a prize as well as the runners up, consisting of merchandise, Radcliffe reading stories on extras on DVD and going to the world premiere. This cause the audience to become excited and become involved as well as raising publicity for the film

Advertise Everywhere!If lucky, get a deal with McDonalds to sell toys and gaining child audiences

It cost £100 to use 1 image in this size to have it in a bus stop like this and have it lit up. Shows the films budget for distribution and is effective because it is everywhere, however it is expensive

Most expensive place to advertise but everyone sees it, it can cost up to £60,000!

TV

Publicity Campaign

• Attempt to get Daniel Radcliffe outside his role of Harry Potter (unlikely, he is always going to be the boy from Privite Drive)

• Interviews and the Premiere • Maybe even get it into schools.

Effects• The book goes back to the top 10 list• Persuades people to see the play at the West

End• Boosts Daniel Radcliffe’s profile and makes

him worth more because he’s using more diverse roles trying to get rid of Harry Potter but not successfully.

• Provides trend for the horror franchise

The Result

• Record Breaking Box Office result• Book back in the top 10• DVD out in June• The play becomes increasingly popular• Raises profile for the Distributor: CBS Films (their

highest grossing film) • Grossing $54,333,290 to date.• Opened in 2,856 theatres. • The Woman in Black 2 (that’s right)

The Three Main Questions of the Distributor

1. What is it?GL: A super hero blockbuster detailing the origins of the 2nd Green Lantern2. Who is it For? Fans of Green Lantern and anyone else who is the fan of the comic book world as well as superhero films. Also targeting a large market from young children and families with the same blockbuster story of good vs. evil with the heroes and villains

3. How and When will it reach them?1. Alert audience of the film through social

networking sites and at comic con.2. Tease the film at Comic Con and other events, also

at the end of other major superhero films like the Dark Knight

3. Initial release- June 14 2011, most likely hoping for a summer blockbuster. Aims for when the audience is on holiday and has time to see it. The keep advertising going to sustain interest

Green Lantern interview at Comic Con 2010

The Main Objective

To target and engage the fans of the comic book heroes, fans of superhero films, families etc.Sell the film using the iconic hero and through the cast. Target the audiences through the advertising, publicity and promotions.Position film as a blockbuster to get a larger audience worldwide

The teasers are then released to give a sneak peek and alert the audience. Then the main trailers are released soon after, these are the most common and effective piece of advertising. They are the main thing the audience will see in order to be persuaded to see the film. For Green Lantern they show off the character and all of the superhero mythology, showing off the all star cast and the trailers follow the comedy element closely to aim at family audiences and because the main character portrayed by Ryan Reynolds has done comedy in his career. On the other hand, because of this comedy element. Fans of the hero will think that it is not such a good film because of the comedy element and choice of actor. The current hero films have become increasingly popular because of the serious and darker atmosphere

The Posters

Shows of the cast to persuade fans of the actors, and also the superhero mythology and the other characters including the villains to excite the fans.

Ryan Reynolds dominates the poster to persuade the audience

Other cast and character shown behind and glimpses of the famous settings in the comic book world

The main title is highlighted in front of the iconic Green Lantern symbol and so is the release date so the audience get the most important information

Advertise Everywhere

The film created a website which the users could create their own posters of green lantern, providing interaction and allows them to do advertising. Also allowing other creative games like create your own Green Lantern

If lucky, get a deal with McDonalds to sell toys and gaining child audiences, works well with the superhero franchise

Expensive but effective as everyone will see the billboard

During filming, the were difficulties with the special effects delaying the film so audiences were bombarded with TV spots, interviews, everything in hope to keep them interested.

Publicity Campaign• Get the superhero franchise up and reboot Green

Lantern as Christopher Nolan has done for Batman.• Interviews and the premiere • Cast get a larger profile, most cast in superhero film

get more noticed and remembered• Merchandise sales.

Effects

• Merchandise sales in superheroes and Green Lantern go up

• Boost the cast and crews profile• Animated Films and TV shows of the Green

Lantern• Becomes a popular trend

Results

• The budget was an estimated $2 million and marketing and promotion cost $100 million. Yet the film on grossed half as the original budget, maybe $52 million.

• More merchandise and controversy for comic book fans.• DVD out in October • Adding to the increasingly popular superhero genre• Raises profile for the Distributor: Warner Bros. (known

for their association of superhero films)• Possible sequel or a reboot.

1. What is it?A chilling ghost story that uses low quality video cameras to convince the audience of it’s realism 2. Who is it For? People who like Horror Films and those that enjoy psychological thrillers.

The Three Main Questions of the Distributor

1. The most successful campaign marketing of all time before YouTube and social networking sites. Simply by creating a website that had a realistic background story.

2. Well placed trailers that revealed bits of the story. Also film festivals that will give reviews

3. Word of mouth- most useful and people started talking and soon everyone knew and queued to see the film

3. How and When will it reach them?

The Main Objective.

To target and engage the fans of the horror genre and create mystery so they will want to know moreSell the film using the main horror and fear factors, target the audiences through the realistic story of the website, publicity and promotions.Then position film as a independent horror story to get a larger audience.

The teasers

The teasers are then released to give a sneak peek and alert the audience. Then the main trailer are released, these are the most common and effective piece of advertising. They are the main thing the audience will see in order to be persuaded to see the film. For the Blair witch project the teaser is very short and does not give any details away. With very short shots of panic and mystery as well as reviews saying how frightening the film to persuade audiences. Plus, the same paragraph as the poster appear first thing. Some audio and simply giving the website to find out more which the audience will find the background info and believe it is real

PostersEstablishing scene in forest

Dominate dark background, suggests horror genre

Key symbol that creates mystery and implies supernatural elements

Title and other film information at the bottom

Close up shot of character with only eyes seen in shadow, look of terror, realistic and direct mode of address

Black and white surreal colours suggest the ghost elements

Title and symbol at the bottom

Images and background information on a character, realistic missing poster

Dark background and title at the bottom

All the poster have a similar paragraph informing the audience about the characters going out filming and a tag line ‘1 year later their footage was found’ again adding mystery and realism to the story

Publicity/ Advertising CampaignThis film was before social networking sites and YouTube but was a massively successful marketing campaign. This is because of the website set up to seem realistic with the stories, photos and evidence. Word of mouth would have passed around about the film that promotes the film. The simple plan that was a huge success. And without huge advertisement

Effects

• People questioned whether this was a real event but after a few seconds logic and other people would say it was false.

• But it did get people queuing up at the cinema making sure they had a ticket for what was meant to be a scary film

Results

• The film did get a profit from the film and the campaign convinced audience to go see it

• Mixed reviews, some said scary other wanted their money back by the end of the film

• It is still celebrated as a huge event and a cult classic film

• One of the most successful marketing campaign so far.

Three main questions of the distributor

1. What is it?A super hero blockbuster sequel for Nolan’s batman giving a realistic portrayal 2. Who is it For? Fans of Batman and anyone else who is the fan of the comic book world as well as superhero films. Targeting an older audience because of the darker themes showing that comic books aren’t just for children. Also fans of Christopher Nolan and anyone else that likes thriller/action films.

1. Given a hint to a sequel and the villain at the end of Batman Begins.

2. Huge viral campaign that involves the audience. Plus the use of trailers and multiple posters that promote iconic characters.

3. Premiers and reviews of the film. Also using merchandise and playing to success of previous film. Also promoting at Comic Con

3. How and When will it reach them?

The Main Objective.

To target and engage the fans of the comic book heroes, fans of superhero films, families etc.Sell the film using the iconic hero and through the cast. Target the audiences through the advertising, publicity and promotions.Position film as a blockbuster to get a larger audience worldwide

The Teasers

• The first teaser mainly consiseted of a bat logo with a bright light behind it as well as the words coming soon.

• The trailers and teasers reveal little of the story but are dominated by the characters especially the villain causing chaos, producing the tragic hero and creating dilemma.

• The trailers have the films original score which is used to persuade the audience to go see the film.

PostersTagline at the top

Dark knight title and logo/symbol

Main character dominate as the tragic hero

Details of cast, crew and release date at the bottom

Dark colours imply dark atmosphere and thriller

Burning symbol behind implies destruction and danger again relating to the villain

Other posters promote the other characters mostly the joker as the main villain. In the far bottom left we see an outline of the character with blood message and a chilling image suggests a more darker film. The posters above also imply the villain and how it clashes with batman

Viral CampaignIn 2007, a website was created that had a fake Gotham Newspaper that had stories on batman and other news, Chicago actually gave out the newspapers. The website had a hidden link which transformed into the jokers version. There were vans on the street where fans can get memorabilia of I believe in Harvey Dent and other merchandise, there would be emails and voice messages on phones from the characters.

Viral campaign continued

22 January 2008- Heath Ledger died. In reaction to this the makers paid tribute to him by changing the viral campaign to focus on the joker, by this people got audio files, sent on scavenger hunts and sent in photos of task. Every person got merchandise.

Advertisement and merchandise• The dark knight film

had enough budget to advertise everywhere and even made a deal with burger king, the dark whopper.

• Also merchandise boosted with comic books as well as the film, which resulted in a lot of money

Effects

• Batman more realistic and relatable, darker making him popular after the franchise failed due to Batman and Robin

• A ranger of darker comic book films including Kick Ass and other DC animated films

• Boost in merchandise• Critically acclaimed film and very successful• Batman leaks into other media platforms

Results

• Raises profile of cast and crew• Grossed-$448,130,642 (USA)(7 December

2012)• Out on DVD and blu ray• Inspires people and increases fandom• Sequel already planned

Comparison and ContrastThe Woman in Black was a huge success maybe because of the distribution strategy because they teased the film and played close to the Daniel Radcliffe fans and to the horror part of the film, still leaving the audience wanting more.On the other hand, Green Lantern didn’t do as well even though they advertised in the same way as Woman in Black but also in more places. They bombarded the audience with constant adverts and which maybe the audience got tired of. Maybe the comedy element was liked by all or maybe it was the 3D or competition with the other family film ‘Mr Popper’s Penguins’ and they used 3 quarters the budget of Green Lantern.Either way Distribution plays a crucial role as it gets the audience to the film!

Comparison and ContrastThe Blair witch project cannot be denied it’s marketing, being kept in mystery and the attempt to convince the audience that it was based on real events. However, for some audience the film was not good and did not follow through.The Dark Knight was a critical success because of it darker and more realistic portrayal. The viral marketing campaign got audience’s involved and convinced everyone to see the film. In the end it was a huge success. The films will only be seen because of it’s advertisement and marketing campaign as proven before. It should not be heavily advertised like green lantern and look appeal to the wrong demographic, getting the audience involved and really selling the elements of the film whether it is story or stars.Either way Distribution plays a crucial role as it gets the audience to the film!

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