Why have attendances increased?
Audience Retention– existing audiences have kept going to cinemas
Improved technology– new technologies such as 3D films have attracted new audiences to the cinema
Marketing– due to the increase in how distributors can reach customers (social media, TV, radio, websites etc.) the amount of marketing for films has been increased and so as a result people are more aware than ever about films resulting in more cinemagoers.
What is DFP and VPF?
DFP stands for Digital Funding Partnership and it is a company who supports independent cinemas. Recently they digitised almost 300 independent cinema screen sites. This allows those independent cinemas to access new ways of providing experiences to their audiences.
VPF stands for Virtual Print Fee and is a financing mechanism used for funding the purchase of cinema equipment. It is made so that the costs of converting to digital cinema are covered by a fee payed back by distributors from each booking overtime.
What may happen to those who don’t use the DFP?
If some independent cinemas decide not to use the DFP they may find themselves unable to compete with bigger competition such as Vue, Cineworld and Odeon. This is because those companies are able to fund their own digital cinemas and attract audiences, whereas more independent cinemas may find such a task difficult and so need help.
What problems face alternative content?
What are the benefits of 3d films for audiences and producers?
3D films are very beneficial for audiences as they offer a more immersive experience and can tell stories in more creative, enjoying ways.
Producers benefit because they can add more value
Cross-media convergence is a vital process in the marketing of media product because it can help to attract people of other media into a films target audience that may otherwise not given it a second’s thought. For example, Lucas Films asked Stan Lee (creator of Marvel) to publish star wars comics prior to the release of the original Star Wars. This affected the Star Wars audience as it brought in an entire group of people to its target audience, that group being comic book readers and Marvel fans. Having released the comics before the release of the Star Wars movie it had gained a lot of awareness and interest from the comic book community, the audience for Star Wars whilst not solely Comic lover, they are definitely a stand out group in the fan base and define Star Wars audiences. Had Star Wars not used cross-media convergence and released a series of Comics with Marvel then the audience might have been very different to what it is today. Nowadays audiences are hard to target due to the size of the film industry, which means more competition. If films marketers wanted to have it released in comics like Star Wars had done, then it may prove insignificant as comic giants like Marvel and DC now release their own movies high budget, blockbuster movies.
A reason why cross-media convergence is so important when marketing a media product is it can help increase people’s interest in the film. A good example is the release of games related to the Star Wars franchise before the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. This includes the highly anticipated Battlefront (2015) by EA, an online multiplayer first person shooter in which you fight the storm troopers and can play as Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader etc. The inclusion of such big characters is significant as they are the image of Star Wars and help give that connection between the game and film. As Skywalker and Vader are such iconic names having them in the game also helps to attract audiences’ attention. This game was well marketed and a lot of gamers were looking forward to buying it, therefore due to the games link to the film they became more interested in The Force Awakens. The game “Battlefront” sold over 12 million copies of the game and so it reached a wide audience and will have gained a lot of interest in the movie. This also works the other way round as big fans of the franchise would be anticipating the film, then because the Battlefront game was released just before the films premiere those movie-goers would want to buy the game to be even more immersed in the universe. This is synergistic as both the game and film are benefiting from media convergence with their audience rising and therefore increasing ticket and game sales. Although the game could affect the film negatively if it is bad. Star Wars Battlefront was very well marketed and had a lot of hype although when released most gamers felt it was a letdown. This is due to the lack of maps and customisation in the game which didn’t allow fans to become very immersed. This could give those gamers a negative view about star wars and so they might not want to go see the movie. In this scenario cross media convergence is bad.
The Star Wars Franchise has also had 2 spin-off TV series: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, which were aimed at a young child audience. Both of shows were animated by Lucas arts, with ‘The Clone Wars’ being created by Lucas himself. This cross-media convergence was important for the Star Wars Franchise, as it helped revive the universe and introduce it to many children who may never had heard of it. This was incredibly useful for The Force Awakens, which released a few years later, as the child audiences were already aware of Star Wars. Had the cross-media convergence into TV shows not been used, marketing for the film may have been more difficult as young audiences may not have been as aware of the franchise.
Another film that is a good example of media convergence is Sherlock Holmes (2009), which was marketed so well that awareness and interest was 30% higher than usual at the time. The film is an example of how media convergence can revive stories, concepts and films. Before the release of the Sherlock Holmes film there was a released online game which allowed you to follow crimes and solve them as though you were Sherlock. This much like the Battlefront game helps to immerse audiences, however this is also showing people that the old Sherlock Holmes which was related to rainy Sunday afternoons is now more modern and fun.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Directed by Brian Helgeland and starring Tom Hardy for 2 roles, ‘Legend’ is a powerful true story about the Cray twins Ronnie & Reggie, 2 of the most infamous gangsters to ever hit the London streets.
The film’s marketing strategy exaggerated heavily that both of the main roles were being played by the same actor, Tom Hardy. This alone attracts lots of attention from the public but also different forms of media allowing the film to reach even more people. The 2 role 1 actor isn’t new and has been done by Eddie Murphy numerous times but this film is more serious that the Murphy ones, and so the acting of Tom Hardy is expected to be much more in depth in the difference of his characters. This is something people of an older audience may be interested in seeing and so are led into wanting to see the film. Examples of the 2 role stunt are shown on the film’s main poster where Tom Hardy’s name repeated twice above the title, with most of the other posters using the same idea. The movies main trailer also continues with this, flashing the actor’s name on screen twice. This idea of duality can also be seen in the design of the poster featuring a split background to furthermore highlight this “fete.”
The film Legend appears as though it would be aimed at social classes from C1 up to A with its glamourous appearance of high end 60s London, sharp suits and history. The film can better relate to or attract the higher social classes and so it can be deemed it is aiming at them. Although the standard english the Crays use as well as the hard life of violence could be a counterpoint to the social class this film is aimed at.
The trailers help to showcase how in depth Legend’s story and history is. Due to this I believe this aspect aims at older age groups such as 45 years old and over. It’s seen in the BFI statistical yearbook that people of an older age are more interested in detail rich films with great story. For example in 2014 the films ‘Mandela: Long walk to freedom’ and ’12 years a slave’ were popular among these age groups; both films containing lots of dialogue and rich history. People of younger ages such as 7-14 are definitely not a target audience for this film as they wouldn’t be able to follow its story very well, and it may bore them. however older age groups could potentially still be an audience, but not for the same reasons as the 45 and above age group.
The films fights and action elements showcased in the trailers, along with the fast pace made by the editing are however something that attract the younger audiences, men in particular who prefer the action genre notably over other genres (BFI Statistical Yearbook 2014). Overall Legend has constructed an audience of adults which would be primarily men although due to the diverse genre selection of women they would also fit into the film’s audience.
The Lego Movie was released in February 2014 after 6 years of production. The target audience for the movie generally is children, however the movie can be viewed as targeting families as a whole.
The Lego Movie main trailer opens with ‘Lego Batman’ being silly which is going to make a child viewer laugh, therefore attracting them to want to watch more of the trailer. The trailer continues with elements of comedy in all forms, both word play (for the parents) and slapstick (children). It is because this trailer appeals to the child that they naturally want to go and see more in the full length film, the parent is more likely to go because they believe it will be enjoyable for them to. The trailer also has some big action shots in it which whilst this could be targeting the male population, it is more aimed at the children. The explosions would excite them a lot and so again makes them want to have more excitement from watching the actual film.
When marketing, The Lego Movie has used big names in its cast to implicate that it is a good movie, not just another animated silly adventure (which it is). The famous names include Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth Banks and Will Ferrell. This is targeting not the kids but their parents and other older audiences because they’ll know these big hollywood names unlike most children, and what to see it because they’re in it or because they feel it’s a good indicator of the movie being good. Another method The Lego Movie used was a PR stunt during an episode of ‘Dancing on Ice’ in which it took over an entire ad break and recreated popular ads but entirely out of lego. The recreated advertisements were: Vinnie Jone’s Heart Foundation ad, Lennie Henry’s Premiere Inn ad, the Confused.com ad and a BT infinity ad. This stunt would have not only got the attention of anyone watching ‘Dancing on Ice’ but also a lot of word of mouth. People watching the show would have told others that missed it and so on, creating plenty of awareness and constructing a larger target audience for the film.
The Lego Movie is shown to be aimed at both children and adults, i.e Families. With its lighthearted nature, adventure, excitement and comedy it is a typical family film but the most notable fact that ties it all up from the children to the adults is that it is Lego. A toy children play with that has been around for decades, which the parents of those children most likely played with as well. It’s because of this the movie targets people from such a young age to adulthood; it on some level relates to them all and so constructs a family target audience.
Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice released its first teaser trailer in April 2015 and since the very beginning has gained a lot of attention. The first teaser trailer released back in April and has since gained over 50million views on YouTube, getting the film a lot of public awareness. Releasing the trailer on YouTube allows people to easily show it to friends either directly or through links on other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This form of promotion is called word of mouth and if done is the most effective for a film to become known. The first teaser trailer for Batman vs Superman opens with the production companies fading in and out one being DC. Asserting that DC are a part of the film can instantly create an audience of comic book fanatics as that’s what DC (Detective Comics) is, a comic book company. The trailer as a whole is very serious and has an aim of creating incredible awe for the watcher, especially avid fans of superman and batman. This is done with the horns used in the trailer, a conventional technique in big action films to suggest something epic is going to happen, therefore conveying to the audience this movie is going to be great. This continues in the later trailers when Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) talks of the fight being “God vs Man… Day vs Night.” He is of course referring to Superman (God & Day) and Batman (Man & Night), but says it in such a way that we the audience are led to believe this will be an incredible fight and so following statistics from the BFI statistical yearbook, this may be attempt to attract the male audience as they are drawn more to the action genre.
I think that the marketing behind Batman vs Superman uses a strategy of 3 aspects. The first is that it must constantly link to the fight between both Superman & Batman and how it is going to be of epic proportion. The line “God vs Man” is an example of this, as a man should be very inferior to God and yet man is fighting him, which is very intriguing to the viewer. The second is drama created by the conflict of the two heroes. “Day vs Night” highlighting the intensity because of how different they are, and also the fact that they are both heroes yet are going to battle each other. The 3rd part of this strategy is bringing this all back to the history of both superheroes, and tying in aspects of stories from the comics to help give it an authentic feel and that this isn’t just a standalone film with no history. A good example of this was in a press conference when Zack Snyder (Director) stated he was taking inspiration form “The Dark Knight Returns” which was a 4 issue mini series about Batman published by DC.
Dawn of Justice has its own website, which f
ollows the themes and styles of the movie. The websites homepage has a dynamic background which plays shots from the movie on a loop, and this keeps the page alive so as to keep the viewers attention so they do not leave. This is especially useful with people of a younger age who’s attention diverts easily. The website also features downloads so that people can get wallpapers for their devices. This is very useful because then when someone goes on their phone friends may ask about the wall paper, and the person will inform them. This is, again, word of mouth and can lead to awareness of the film spreading very quickly. Another use of the wallpapers is it reminds the downloader of the film every time they are on their device.
Batman vs Superman is a mass marketed film trying to aim at a wide range of audiences. Generally it is aiming at people from ages 7- 44. Its relation to the superhero genre targets people of a younger age, generally 7-14 year olds who are into this but then also people of older age who have followed the DC series for a long time. The movie’s serious nature and drama is what attracts the older audiences and potentially more so woman than men. It gives the parents of the children mire reason to go and see it.
The data above shows that in 2014 31% of those who went to the cinema were 15-24 years old making that age group the most popular among cinema-goers with over 10% more than the next most popular age group, 25-34 year olds. 22 Jump Street had biggest above-average audience share, meaning the movie’s audience was much larger than predicted. That is partly due to the movies audience being the 15-24 year old age group. 7-14 year olds made up 14.4% of audiences and films such as How to Train your Dragon 2 were very popular among this age group. 25- 34 year olds made up 18% making up a great majority of the action comdy 22 Jump Street, which had the highest above average audience share. 35-44 year olds made up 15.9% with this age group watching a wide variety of genres from The Lego Movie to Dracula Untold. This age groups reason for seeing films aimed at a younger audience is most likely due to children they may have. 45-54 year olds made up 9.3% and they also have a wide range of genres. People over 55 made up 11.5%.
During 2014 UK films were strong across all demographic groups and appealing significantly to ages 55+, who were also shown to have a high interest in independent films.
With the original Star Wars trilogy being release in the 70s and 80s and then a prequel trilogy being released from 1999-2005 that gives the franchise a total of 6 movies. Disney recently bought the rights to the franchise and in 2015 began a new trilogy with the 7th instalment- Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Along with another 3 spin off movies that have been planned. Created by George Lucas who founded Lucasfilm, Star Wars is known by most people in the western world even if they haven’t seen it which is why it is currently the largest movie franchise ever, and so it would be obvious that there is going to be multiple types of media convergence for it. The franchise has spread from films to TV shows to Comics then Games and the list goes on.
The first type of multi-media convergence that Star Wars has is The Clone Wars & Star Wars Rebels, which are both animated TV shows aimed at children. Both of these incorporate the stories from the films and some characters but are mainly spinoffs using the same universe. These is a good type of multi-media convergence as it has kept Star Wars on the map, and introduced children (new potential audience) to a franchise that they might have otherwise never been interested in.
As well as having 2 TV shows, Star Wars has also expanded to comics. The first comics were created by Marvel in 1977 and was a publicity decision by Lucasfilm to raise awareness of the movie. Stan Lee (Creator of Marvel) was approached by Lucasfilm’s head publicist and asked to make the comics, thinking those who read Marvel comics were the appropriate target audience for Star Wars. Stan Lee was against releasing the comics before the film’s release but eventually accepted. The Comics were an adaptation of the movie and were an incredible hit, saving Marvel from financial ruin that year. This was good for Lucasfilm because Star Wars established a huge following of people from the comics alone.
AS Guilsborough Media 