Emily Thomson's A2 Media Coursework Blog

You are about to watch an annotated video discussing how effective the combination of my product and ancillary texts work together.

The role of film distributors is to launch and sustain films within the market using various techniques, one of the ways they achieve this is by identifying their target audience who will show interest and respond most to the film. Another one of their roles is to estimate revenue across all platforms of its release, as well as developing plans and partnerships in order to raise awareness of the film and finally persuading exhibitors to play the film on their screens (cinemas).

It can argued that the distributor’s most important job is to raise awareness and ensure the sale of box office tickets on the release of the film. This means they need to invest in efficient advertising platforms that will successfully reach their targeted audience. There are many ways a film can be advertised which can help to reach the different audiences for example, TV adverts, radio adverts, websites, social media, papers, bus stops etc. Any of these means of advertisement will ensure the film is being talked about by word of mouth and in turn will gain interest and popularity. An example of advertisement specific to its audience may be a period drama film that is being released, the audience for this film will most likely be an older, middle class audience, perhaps older parents or grandparents who enjoy watching Downton Abby. This may mean that the type of advertisement that will best reach this particular audience would perhaps be television advertisement being shown on weeknights around the time of Emmerdale or EastEnders - which are popular British soaps known to be watched by this audience, or perhaps radio adverts on more mature stations for example radio 4. In the case of my trailer ‘The Few’ being aimed at the age group of 15-21 the most effective advertisement would probably be on social media or the internet as my audience are a generation of IPhone (smartphone) addicts, constantly on social media and talking to friends online. Another idea may be advertisement at bus stops, as the audience of this age are most likely to be poor students who can’t yet afford cars so have to catch the bus daily, to which they will be exposed to this advertisement making them aware of this film they may be interest in watching in the cinema. It is important for all business to research their audience and that specific market in order to successfully compete against other products in this case other films. The success of a film on its box office release can be hugely influenced by the amount of time, money and effort that has been put into by the distributors. A film like The Women in Black is a prime example of the success a film can have due to huge amounts of advertisement and research by both the distributor and by Daniel Radcliffe the main actor in the film itself.

A more recent film that is being heavily advertised in order to increase interest is the new ‘Batman VS Superman’. This film was already going to show a lot of interest due to the iconic marvel figures who are already loved by millions of people. However this could also mean that the distributors had the huge job to make sure that through advertisement and promotion they did the film and the characters justice. The high expectation of this film will mean high expectations of all media products surrounding this film.

This particular poster I felt was very effective due to the swap of the hero’s name/logo over their faces I felt this would cause viewers to looks twice at the poster to identify this deliberate mistake and in turn would make them wonder why this has been done “is it a mistake? I need to watch this film to see what this is about.” Superman and Batman are both huge characters both with their own very unique stories behind them so I feel this would intrigue anyone who is familiar with the marvel films.

The colours incorporated within the poster are also very effective and appropriate including the classic colours associated with Superman, this being red and blue but also the predominant use of black and white to represent Batman, the hero who lives within the shadows. The billboard effect in which this poster is presented is also very unique and effective in its use as it portrays the idea of competing ‘brands’ as billboards are known everywhere to be a form of advertisement. This suggests to the audience that there is some sort of rivalry between the two, emphasised more by the teared effect of each other’s emblems on one another’s face as if done by them themselves.

Batman V Superman also shows example of a film partnering the business companies in order to increase advertisement. This filmed paired with the car company the Jeep in which the car and film are both advertised. This is shown in this poster by the use of the hero’s associated colours with the cars facing each other, again, as if in rivalry suggesting the hero’s will be in the film. The purpose of this specific poster to advertise rewards that may be given away to the audience who are interested in this film.

Another very interesting and unique partnership with another business to promote this film is the advert that has been shown on television which isn’t actually a normal advert. This is of the Aeroplane company ‘Turkish Airlines’ declaring they have a ‘new destination’ the audience starts off by thinking this is a holiday advert but suddenly it mentions Gotham city and Ben Affleck appears meaning the audience is then instantly confused which spikes their attention. It then turns out that this is actually advertisement of the Batman V Superman film, which has taken a unique angle. The Narrator speak as if it is a holiday destination and Ben Affleck who is Bruce Wayne multimillionaire of Gotham speaks directly to the camera in character as if he is a real person. I felt this technique and angle was very effective and very different which I feel would have greatly increased awareness due to circulation and talk of this unique take on film advertisement.

Its clear to see with all of this advertisement for this film that there is a sense of unified identity, which is extremely important for distributors to achieve with all media platforms surrounding the film, it keeps a sense of consistency which appeals to the target audience. The theme of superhero rivalry is blatant in every product they have produced, whilst also keeping to the same tone and atmosphere not of a normal super hero film but more of a darker, more sinister plot. Unified identity helps the audience to identify the advertisement clearly associating the different media platforms they have been exposed to e.g. on television and online with one another becoming more and more influenced ad persuaded to see this film on its release due to the massive build of suspense surrounding this narrative.