Nicole Melia

GWL6

Introduction-

In this podcast I will be analysing the relationship between producers and audiences. Audience research is research based on a specific audience to gather information about their attitudes, knowledge, interests and preferences. Producers need to know who their target audience is before they begin any marketing. If I was asked to promote a new film that was about fashion, I wouldn’t advertise this film on Disney channel or the documentary channel, I would advertise this on ITV, where most of the programmes are targeted at a female audience. Another example would be if I was adverting action films which are usually aimed at a male audience I wouldn’t advertise this in OK Magazine or Vogue Magazine as a male target audience wouldn’t read this if there interested in action. There are many ways that a producer can research about their target audience, and this plays a huge role in identifying and attracting their target audience. This include finding information through audience research, producer’s response to research, quantitative and qualitative research, primary and secondary research and preview screening or test screenings. Quantitative research is when companies gather information in large amounts. They do this by collecting information from surveys of large groups. The techniques used are mail surveys, telephone surveys, internet surveys and face to face public surveys. In media this is a very popular way of finding out data that could help the company in many ways, this could include; When comparing ratings or viewers figures against other movies, When looking at viewing figure, If a marketer wanted to find out if viewers liked or disliked a new film, To see if people liked a ‘new concept’ being introduced to a film or just when gathering ratings. There are many more reasons that companies would use quantitative research, to gather the information is pretty simple and if you put it on a database it is easy to compare. The research can use both secondary and primary methods. Using quantitative research in the media industry is important- they depend on it, as well as using qualitative. The other method is qualitative research, this is commonly used by market researchers; it looks at people’s views, opinions, preferences and overall behaviour to a certain product or topic. In the past years people’s observations have become more popular as it’s widely used; it allows researchers to become more familiar to specific groups or individuals. An observation could be carried out for days, weeks and even months- this helps marketers observation get into a deeper understanding. Producers also use primary and secondary data. Primary research is new research, carried out to answer specific questions. It can involve questionnaires, surveys or interviews with individuals or small groups. Whereas secondary research makes use of information that has already been researched for other purposes. If I was going to create an exit poll to ask my target audience what they thought of a certain film this would be an example of primary research. But, if I went online and found out what people thought of this film that would be secondary as it wasn’t carried out by myself. Audience profiling is an important part towards to the making of a film. This helps the producers define who they are making the film for and how they should do it so it appeals to target audience. Another popular way is the use of test screenings; test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release in order to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population, and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or provide feedback in some form. This will help the producers know whether the film is going to be popular to their target audience. Lastly the

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other method that that is popular for producers to use is producer’s response to research; this is where the producers take the feedback and changes anything that the target audience say doesn’t work. For example if the majority of the target audience said they loved the film but the ending of it wasn’t good and because of this they wouldn’t watch it again, the producers would then go back and change the ending and improve this to make sure the audience will want to watch this again. Same goes for a certain posters, if it was an action film but the feedback implied they thought it was a horror they would have to look at the stereotypical codes and conventions they would see in an action film and make these changes. Part 1 -

The distributor has a major part towards the marketing of the film; they are in charge of getting the target audience to hear about the film and encouraging them to see it. There are three parts in putting the film together starting with the production of the film, then the distribution of the film- selling it to their target audience and then the exhibition, getting the target audience to watch it. They have to make sure that the distribution company acquire to the film for example huge studios such as Disney and Sony have their own distribution companies, Disney use Buena Vista Pictures Distribution who they have used since 1987 which is now known as Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures. Whereas a smaller company would pitch for a distribution company whether it’s ‘Independent Distribution http://www.independentfilmcompany.com/, ‘The Work’ http://www.theworksfilmgroup.com/, or ‘Vertigo Films’ http://www.vertigofilms.com/. They need to choose who will promote and understand the film better. The distributor decides on everything to do with advertising, whether it’s how many prints to go to the cinema from two hundred to 2 thousand. Usually if the film is a Blockbuster film from Hollywood it would be shown in every cinema possible as they know they will make a bigger profit the more it is shown. It’s up to the distributor to negotiate when the film will be released; they have to think about the target audience, the genre and how they will make the most money because profit is everything. For example if they were releasing a new Pixar film they would release this in June or July, around the summer holidays as they know their more likely to get a bigger audience who have more time to come and watch the film in the cinema. If the film genre was a romance, then it would be a perfect timing to bring out in February, so it’s out for Valentine’s Day. Another responsibility is the advertisement, promotional interviews, merchandise, film trailers, posters and internet campaigns. They need as many advertising campaigns as they can get as this will help promote the film more to their audience. Part 2 –

There are 3 types of marketing that the producers can use to target their audience, Advertisement, publicity and promotion. Starting with advertising, studios now spend up to one hundred million pounds just on advertising, they know that the money they spend is worth it as if they advertise it more, the more likely it will have a wider audience therefore they will make their money back along with profit. They have to look into the specific audience that they want to appeal to there for this is when the target audience is an important factor. Film posters is the most common advertising campaign as it gives the audience the first look at the film, raising awareness of what the film is going to represent e.g. The genre and the actors. Then you have trailers you have four different trailer altogether; teasers, TV, theatrical and audio trailers. They can be played up to

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three months before the release date which can determine whether an audience is going to watch the film, they may look at the actors and they may not appeal to them or the plot may seem boring and they might not want to watch it. Lastly another huge part in advertisement is newspapers and magazines, usually they will include a synopsis of the film this is to attract the reader; if the synopsis sounds exiting they could google it and watch the trailer. They can also have audio stills and biographies of the film, Clips of the film can be heard over radio and TV interviews. When it comes to magazine articles they have to think about the specific audience, A film like ‘Devil Wears Prada’ wouldn’t be advertised in Zoo Magazine or a Car Magazine it would be in Elle or Vogue as these are aimed at women like the film and are about fashion again like the film. Publicity is basically when attention given to someone or something by the media. The press will make a story out of anything and even if the stories and rumours aren’t true but this can attract a wider audience to watch the film. For example in 2005 when Mr and Mrs Smith came out there was many rumours about how the two main actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were having an affair even though Brad was married to Jennifer Aniston at the time. Because this was such huge gossip at the time this would have been written in magazines such as OK and HELLO. But the film is an action film and was mainly aimed at males, but because it was publicised to so many women it created the film a wider target audience. Publicity isn’t always controlled by the studio, it’s the press. Another huge way that publicity is now shared in on the internet, this works out perfect for low budget films as it’s cheap and can be free. Nowadays every film that is released will have an official website, trailers, documents, poster and reviews and also the use of Web 2.0. People can share information on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. Viral marketing is cheap, quick and easy, it’s not just shared by the company, distributors and producers it can be shared on the audience of the film. Lastly the last marketing that can be done is promotional advertising. There are so many ways that a production company can use a promotional campaign, Product placement is just one way of expanding the audience, Wayne’s World (1992), used product placement in there movie by going over the top and over doing what they was trying to promote, In the film IRobot (2004) the product placement was the Audi cars and James Bond has a product placement deal with Omega, because people know these films will have a wide audience they know by advertising their company’s logos or objects the audience is more likely to buy it. Tie-ins are also a handy promotion campaign as you can create a tie-in with so much, For example a Disney film that is due to release could have a tie-in with McDonalds happy meals, they are suitable for the target audience and by handing out little toys with the meal it will make the children want to go and watch this film. It could also include a competition which you might get to win four free tickets to watch the movie in the cinema. Spin offs, which is basically when its already got something out so it’s already got an audience built, The Inbetweeners was a well-known TV series on E4 before it got made into a film. Pre-existing property, this is when they can turn an image from the film and put it onto the film poster and book cover, so not only are they promoting and advertising the books but it will make people want to watch the film. Merchandise is a huge way to make even more profit; Blockbuster films can create merchandise out of anything from Food, Drinks, Pens, Clothing, Shoes, Toys and Games. People that are fans of the film are more willing to buy this merchandise and use it especially if it’s a Disney film; Frozen (2015) made merchandise out of everything that a child could possibly use.

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Part 3-

The market campaign is a huge part to helping the producers advertise the certain film. In this case the marketing campaign I have been researching is Spectre. The first thing I looked for was posters that were created to appeal to the target audience, there were so many posters to choose from but I chose to analyse both posters below.

As you can see the first thing that catches your eye is Daniel Craig, it’s a very direct image as he is looking straight at you, getting your attention. The fact that Daniel Craig is the face of this film is also a huge selling point, he has been ‘James Bond’ for several years and as they already have a ready-made audience they know that just by seeing his face that it’s going to be a James Bond film. As the film is an action film it shows the codes and conventions to an action film such as the gun in his hand. As the title of the film is in a large, bold lettering it catches your eye and by looking underneath where it says ‘007’ it tells you again this is a James Bond film. ‘Spectre’ suggests a ghost or a mystery so within the title it gives you a clue about what the films storyline will be about. The colours that are used within the posters are very masculine colours, black and grey, with the protagonist being in the centre it gives the idea that the films mainly aimed towards a male target audience. But again Daniel Craig is seen as a sex symbol to the female audience this would also make them want to see the film. The poster would most likely be placed more male oriented rather like Top Gear Magazine and men magazines rather than Ok or Hello.

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Again they have used Daniel Craig to draw the audience in but also Lea Seydoux. This poster advertises the film more for both genders, Daniel Craig to draw the female attention in and Lea to attract males as she is a young, sexy, attractive blonde woman. This poster has very bright colours, using white, reds, pinks and blacks. This again gives it more of a feminine touch in comparison to the one above with the masculine colours. Again the use of codes and conventions are used, the gun and ‘007’ show us it’s a James Bond film, which is obviously going to be an action genre.

The posters will be one of the first marketing that the audience will see; this is why it is such an important part of the marketing campaign. If the audience looks at the poster and doesn’t like a certain part whether it’s the actors, title or even something as important as the layout, it will not persuade them to watch the film.

Just as important as the posters the trailer is the main part of the market campaign, there are 4 different types of trailers you can get theatrical, teaser, TV and audio. In this case I looked into a certain theatrical trailer; (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GqClqvlObY). Straight away the trailer sets the scene, it’s based in Mexico City it also shows you themes of the ‘Day of the dead’ which is a Mexican festival. You can also see in the poster with Daniel Craig and Lea Seydoux that in the text of ‘007’ they have a skull to represent the Day of the dead. The trailer includes many conventions of a ‘Bond film’, bond girls such as Lea Seydoux and Monica Bellucci, fast cars and non-diegetic sounds.

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The editing of the film creates tension because of the fast editing techniques which goes will the fast energetic music. The colours throughout the film are very dull and dark which again gives it the feeling of an action genre film. By using the low key lighting it sets the scene more, hinting us towards the plot of the film. It’s dark and confusing of what’s going on but that’s what Daniel Craig is feeling as well. As James Bond is more aimed towards a male audience the trailer shows explosions, car chases and young females which all appeal to that target audience. Daniel Craig is known for being the central protagonist for the Bond films, therefore by seeing him in the trailers it will make the readymade audience want to watch the film.

Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (2006)

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Daniel Craig in Skyfall (2012)

Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace (2008)

In the trailer the dialogue makes you ask yourself questions such as someone tells Daniel Craig ‘You’re Finished’. This makes you ask; whys he finished? Has he been sacked? What will he do next? This then makes you want to watch the film to find out the answer to these questions. The trailer also establishes the characters; it tells us the hero (James Bond) played by Daniel Craig and the villain (Oberholser) played by Christopher Waltz.

When comparing both theatrical and teaser trailers you can see how the theatrical gives more information, It shows us long clips and more about the plot of the film. Whereas the teaser just shows us short clips which doesn’t really explain to the audience what the storyline is.

The posters would be advertised in media such as newspapers and magazines, as the target audience is aimed more towards males it would have been advertised in film magazines such as empire and total film, or in male magazines such as GQ and loaded. Below is the front page of ‘Loaded’ with Lea Seydoux.

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As you can see loaded is aimed at a male target audience. Lea Seydoux is the first thing that you see; she has a low cut top on and looks very seductive. Straight under her name it says ‘Will see you now’ this would attract a young male to buy the magazine to see what pictures of her are in the magazine. As she is dressed in black the red writing really stands out and as they’ve used red which is a colour symbolism of love, passion and sex it gives you the idea that they have just used her to attract that specific audience. Another magazine that Spectre was promoted in was K Magazine.

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K magazine is an international magazine aimed mainly towards a female audiece, therefore this is trying to target at a wider audience rather than its sterotypical target audience. Also as it is an international Magzine this means its promoting the film all over the world. Magazine and newspaper articles are a

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really good way of getting peoples views across as they can post reviews and comment their opinions on the film.

Spectre had noth offical and non-offical websites, http://www.007.com/ this was Spectres offical website which included the latest news, clips, trailers, cast and crew and featured articles. Sony Pictures also created an offical webpage just for the film http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/spectre/ and this gave the audience offical trailers, tickets to go and watch the film and a link to the 007 website. But non offical websites such as https://www.mi6-hq.com/ are just as detailed as the offical, MI6 is the most popular unoffical website for Spectre and again gives all the information that the offical sites have. As everyone has acsess to the internet nowerdays, this makes it easier for everyone to look into the film, watch the trailers and decide whether they are going to watch it. IMDB also had a page on Spectre http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2379713/ this containes a synopsis of the film, cast and crew, trivia, user reviews which are a really good thing to have as you can look at other peoples views on the film, trailer clips and posters. As you can see there are so many links that you can get information on the film and the web is world wide so it can target everybody, not just their target audience.

Nowerdays in the 21st century web 2.0 is one of the easiest ways of promotion and for a production company is the cheapest as social networking sites are free. The only thing that companys would have to pay for is advertisment on social media. Spectre had an offical facebook webpage, twitter and instagram.

https://www.facebook.com/SpectreMovie/

https://twitter.com/007?lang=en-gb

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https://www.instagram.com/007/?hl=en

As well as being a brilliant idea as they are free it also works well as the target audience can be interactive with the producers as they can comment, like and share what they think about the posters, trailer and information. 75% of 18-65 year olds all have one kind of social media accounts, again this is a way that Spectre have created a wide target audience.

Merchandising can make the profit increase by thousands or even millions. Spectre had many merchandises that appealed to differenent demograohic audiences. The different types of merchandise they sold was a soundtrack, £7,000 watch, an orniment of the royal doulton, belvadeir vodka, omega pen, james bond 007 game, and a scalecrtix. As you can see most of the merchandise is targeted at a male audience but the vodka and soundtrack could also appeal to a female audiece. The scalecritx and 007 game would aim towards a younger audience as well. Another way that the producers make money by merchandise is product placement, one specific product placement they use is the Tom Ford suit that Daniel Craig wears. This tie in works well as Daniel Craig is seen as a cool, brave, handom man, so men will wear this suit to be like Daniel (James Bond).

Belvadeir vodka.

Royal Dolton Oriment

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Scalextrics 007

007 pen

Watch

Daniel Craig was involved in many promotional interviews to get promote Spectre, he went on chat show Ellen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMLQKvyLjRU and Graham Norton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW_wfXT_BG8 , in these interviews they discuss their favourite parts, injuries, clips of the film and they discuss the theme of the film. These interviews help promote spectre to a wider target audience and also will entise an audience to go and watch the film.

In my opinion the producers of spectre advertised the film very well, the whole of the marketing campagin was very sucessful and even though the film already had a readymade audience they have tried to entise a younger audience by using the merchandise and using web 2.0.

Zoolander 2

To show how different films will have different marketing campaigns due to the different target audiences and the different themes and genre of the film I am also going to anaylse Zoolander 2 (2016).

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On this first poster as you can see all of the main charaters of the film are very direct towards the audience looking into your eyes, this makes the poster more direct towards the audience. The people starring in this film are all well known sucessful actors, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penelope Cruz and Kristen Wiig. These actors will have a fan base anyway so this will encourage them to watch the film because they enjoy Ben Stillers films, males may watch this because they find Penelope Cruz attractive. Either way it brings a wider audience to watch the film. As this is Zoolander no.2, they will already have a ready made audience from the first film, So by looking at the charaters you will recongnise faces from the first film.

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In conparision to this poster it just focuses on the two main chararters within the film, Ben Stliller and Owen Wilson. The first thing that catches your eye is the ‘pout’. From watchinh the film you will know that this is Zoolanders special face he knows that his fans love him for. This will then attract the ready made audience to come and watch the film. As you can see Ben Stiller is in all black where as Owen Wilson is in all white. This uses colour symbolism to show the contrast between both charaters as they don’t like each other within the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41lCm7FQs8Q This is the first Zoolander trailer I watched. I feel as though this trailer promotes the film well, it relates back to the first Zoolander which would also make the audience go and buy or watch the first film. It tells you background information about the main charater ‘Derek Zoolander’ played by Ben Stiller so you understand what the storyline is about. Zoolander 2 have used celebrity endorsment to advertise this film as it has so many famous actors in as it says in the film, Ben stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell and Penelope Cruz.

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As as well as the people that the film is starring you see recognisable faces such as Joe Jonas and Justin Bieber.

This straight away attracts a new target audience (mainly teenage girls) who will come and watch the film because of these celebritys being in the film. The trailer ends with Owen Wilson throwing different objects at Ben Stillers face and Ben Stiller is trying to stop them with his magical ‘look and pout’, which relates back to Zoolander 1. This leaves it on a cliffhanger making your wonder has he lost his magic look? and if hes going to get it back.

The second trailer I looked at was the teaser trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpT0lFallyk It doesn’t give you any

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information on the storyline of the film its simply just for advertising Zoolander 2. Its simple and plain and easy to understand, it has stephen Hawking talking all the way though it and until the end you have no idea what this trailer is trying to promote untill you see Ben Stiller.

It then has Stephen Hawking and Ben Stiller discussing the title, which is humourous. Because of this the trailer is really memorable and would most probably get people talking about the new film.

As Zoolander revolves a lot around fashion and being a celebrity obviosuly the film was advertised on magazines such as Vouge and Bazaar.

The target audience of these magazines are also who the film would relate to so not only is it advertising the magazines its giving the audience information about the new Zoolandedr film. It wasn’t just promoted in the UK but it was also

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promoted In Greece, the magazine Esquire Mag also had a front page article on

the new film.

This again widens the target audience and doesn’t just promote the film to just the english culture.

Zoolander also had its own offical webiste, http://www.zoolander.com/ where you could find out anything you wanted to know about the new film. It had games such as ‘spot the difference’, links to their twitter and facebook and pictures with the link from the instagram. By having interactive games to match the storyline of the film this is also a way of advertising the film. ‘Which designer are you?’, ‘How well do you know Zoolander?’ and ‘Todd, wheres my goddam latte?’ you will only understand these games and quizs if you’ve watched the films, therefore it encourages the audiendce to watch them. Looking into the review websites such as Rotten Tomaoes, Zoolander 2 was rated very poorly and the average rating was 4.5/10. There was 182 reviews counted and only 43 of them was possative the rest were ‘rotten’. The Guardian’s headline to Zoolander 2’s review was ‘Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are so lukewarm right now’. Many reviews explain how they were disapointed in the sequel and was expecting the film to be much better. This is an example of how review websites are good for the public, they can give feedback and share there opinion on the whole film. Helping people who are unsure about watching the film to watch it. But this is also a bad thing as it can make people not go and watch the film because of all the bad reviews, even though everybody has different opinions.

As I said above Zoolander have an offical website but it also used web 2.0 to advertise the film, Facebook https://en-gb.facebook.com/ZoolanderMovie/ , Twitter https://twitter.com/zoolandermovie?lang=en-gb and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zoolander/ . Web 2.0 is such a possative feature in the media industry and is a cheap way of advertising especially when most social networking sites are free.

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As the film already had a ready made audience this helped promote the film on web2.0 even easer. Especisally as Zooland has over one million followers on Instagram from all different countrys. As you can see the Facebook and Twitter pages are very similar, by using the same pictures this makes the posters much more rememorable.

Paramount Pictures who are the production and distrubution company of the Zoolander film have their own offical merchandice store online.

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As you can see down the side is categorises all of the different merchandise it has from Apparel to Drinkware to Accessories. It targets all ages such as junior, kids, mens, unisex and women. Below is an example of all of the product types that are being sold from cups, clothing and phone cases.

The cast of Zoolander 2 all have done an interview that was posted on Hollywood.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B1nHlY7uss , The cast are all explaining who there charater is and who they are in the film. This is a really good quick interview as it shows clips of the film and then has the actor and actress explaining it. The cast did interviews on many different shows all around the world, UK, USA and Australia. This is making a bigger audience world wide which helps the film be advertised everywhere, which means more money for the film.

Personally I didn’t enjoy the film as much as I hoped and word of mouth a lot of people had the same opinion.

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