I have studied the film industry and will be talking about how distributors engage different audiences using a variety of platforms, including film websites, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, trailers, film posters.
Distributors will often advertise on social media as it will help reach a wide audience and help to get a larger social following and gain the attention of the media, meaning that the film will get more sales as the public understand what the movie is about. It is common for films marketed towards children and young adults to be marketed in this way as the majority of the target audience have access to social media and online websites. This also means that they can engage with the audience and they can get feedback on what the public wants out of this film so they can maximise revenue from the film, and create more interest online prior to release.
A prime example of this is the Captain Marvel campaign. It was hugely successful and was able to gain a following of over one million, by showing clips of the film, interviews with actress' and actors and also a countdown to the film's release. They also had a clear target market with people who like superhero films. Unusually the studio also tried to make the campaign appeal mostly to the female market, with a film about a superhero who is a girl. Another promotional technique was fan engagement, this can be illustrated by the massive feedback and huge fan following that it got.
I watch the Marvel films upon release and follow their marketing campaigns, therefore my experiences with the marketing campaign are that it is quite relentless, often bombarding you with posts relating to the movie so you can almost never escape the film. It is often successful as I see the films upon release, but it can feel quite cramped as your social media is often flooded with content relating to the film and it can sometimes put you off as you become alienated by the constant advertising of the film.
Captain Marvel's campaign was heavily reliant of showing off their well-known cast and the film is the first of the Marvel films starring a female lead, meaning they can use it as a forefront of their campaign and get people to watch the film. The cast includes Samuel L Jackson, Brie Larson and Jude Law, who all are accomplished actors and actress' who will get the public's attention due to their fame and successful acting careers to date.
It is also worth noting that Captain Marvel released two websites; one to showcase the film and to update of film developments and the second a retro-style website with the theme of the '90s. It features twist's on classic games such as pinball in addition to showing retro-style posters as well. This is a good way to engage audience and get them interested and involved with the upcoming film.
Roma was a film distributed by Netflix through their streaming service, However, it had a short theatrical run, which is odd for a film created by a streaming service. It was revealed that it was shot on a widescreen camera, meaning that the resolution was best seen on a cinema screen, meaning that they put the film on a short theatrical run. Roma used social media (mainly Facebook and Twitter) to advertise, but it also used their own website to advertise as well.
Marketing is also achieved through reviews for the film, but can also be deceptive when the marketing department for a film twist word and reviews to their advantage. An example of this would be in the poster for Legend in where a two-star review was spun to make it seem like a four-star review and was labelled 'marketing gold'.
No comments:
Post a Comment