Movie Marketing Madness sites for my films:

BRIDESMAIDS: http://christhilk.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/movie-marketing-madness-bridesmaids/

I GIVE IT A YEAR: dont have a site as it is quite new.

VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA: http://christhilk.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/movie-marketing-madness-vicky-cristina-barcelona/

Consider the role of new technology is your case study. How has it enhanced audience engagement and activity?

In this essay question I would include the following:

• E-media: UGC: fan sites and youtube videos which have been created. There are fan pop sites for both I Give it a Year and Bridesmaids, and there are various user generated videos on Youtube, particularly ones which review the film. There are also bloopers videos created by the audience. This enhances audience engagement and activity because it allows them to socially interact, and they can put their own stamp on the film. They can become inviolved in the brand and the product.
• E-media: Social Networking: "Twitter saved my movie" article. Quotes and character accounts on twitter: @BridesmaidsQuotes, facebook pages for IGIAT and Bridesmaids. Bridesmaids page has ____ likes and IGIAY page (most popular) has _______ likes. This enhances audience engagement and activity because they can socially interact, and they can also take on a role of helping the institution to release the best products they possibly can.
• Broadcast: trailers
• Broadcast: Love film and netflix: This enhances audience engagement and activity because they have much more control on what they want to view and when they want to view it. They are more likely to engage in the product and show an interest in it if they arent constricted in watching the film in a certain way at a certain time.
• IPhones: Watch films at any time you want.
• Synergy: More recent links between conglomerates and instituions mean that audiences can engage in the film's brand much more by buying products. For example: interiors, stationary, clothing.
• Apps: on the apple store for example. games and other apps increase the films longevity and increase audience engagement. Their activity shifts from just viewing to 'doing' and 'playing'. They are much more part of a brand.
• Print still exists but it has had to adapt to cope with the competition from e-media which is progressively more popular. There is a recent shift from print media to digital, so most magazines now publish their articles online to in order to keep up with demand. Interviews do exist
• All new technologies have to exist together for them to be able to work well and enhance audience engagement as much as possible. I believe that e-media is the most important media platform nowadays, because it enhances audience engagament and activity the most. I can also tell this from one of my case studies: VCB didnt have much online presence, and as a result, was the least successful film. The facebook page has minimal likes and users, showing audiences didnt feel engaged with the film due to the instsituon not taking adnavantage of new and digital media.

In what way has new and digital media has impacted on the products in your case study and how they are received by the audience?

In what way has new and digital media has impacted on the products in your case study and how they are received by the audience?  

1. Introduction to this question would be: what is new and digital media? General examples in a list of this: eg social media, love film etc
2. What are my case study films? When were they released? UK or USA? Large budget or low budget?
3. Firstly paragraph would focus on social networking.
4. Bridesmaids (social networking)- - speak about news article I read which is about how the director using twitter impacted the success of the film's release. The director said: "twitter saved my movie". http://www.blackbookmag.com/movies/bridesmaids-director-twitter-saved-my-movie-1.41733# This has had a massive impact on the films success. How is this recieved by the audience?
5. I Give it a year (social networking)- There is a facebook page for I Give It A Year with over 13,000 likes. There are over 1000 people "talking about it". Advertises the film, people leave comments, post pictures and clips etc. http://www.facebook.com/#!/IGiveItAYear?fref=ts This is recieved by the audience because: they are much more actvie, they feel much more involved, recieved through emedia, uses and gratifications is social interaction.
6. Vicky Christina Barcelona also has a facebook page even though it is much more low budget and less mainstream. Not used nearly as much as the other two so this suggests that new and digital medias cant always make a film succesful on their own- perhaps they need traditional media and technuqies such as trailers and posters to back it up.
7. Second paragraph on facilities like "love film" and "netflix"
8. These sites and services are very modern. They mean that the audience have much more freedom. They persuade more people to watch the film because they ahve freedom as to how they access it. Keeps the film "new" for much longer- released on these sites after they have been on at the cinema. This means they are "new" on these sites months after they are "new" in the cinema- they are advertised twice.
9. Bridesmaids and Vicky Christina Barcelona are available on these sites, but I Give It A Year is not yet because it has only just been released.
10. Third paragraph: fan sites
11. Bridesmaids has a fan site on Facebook, and numerous separate dedicated fan sites. The most prominent is on "fanpop". People leave questions, pictures, videos, votes, comments etc. Example of poll is: someone left a question saying "Who is your favorite character?", and people leave their answers. We can see who the favorite character is amongst fans! How is this recieved by the audience?
12. Fourth paragraph: synergy.
13. merchandise etc. more and more companies involved, particularly those underneath the conglomerate or owned by the conglomerate.
14. Fifth paragraph: interactive website.
15. Bridesmaids: what does it allow you to do on the webiste? Uses and gratifications- the website means that there are much more reasons why the audience might access anything to do with the film. Surveillance, competition, diversion, social interaction and personal identification are all available. Links to social networking- means the film has a more viral impact on the internet.
16. I Give It A year also has an interactive website: http://www.igiveitayearmovie.co.uk/. Has the trailer and ratings for example.
17. Sixth paragraph: conclusion.
18. New and digital medias definitely increase profits of films, and make them much more well known. Even save films from being a "flop" as we saw with Bridemaids.
19. Can new and digital media be successful on its own? Does it need the traditional methods of marketing to back it up? Perhaps yes, as we saw with Vicky Christina Barcelona. New and digital media are likely to be more successful for gaining repuation and fans if the film is mainstream and it can be done on a large scale.
20. In this question I would use theories throughout, particularly ones relating to audience. For example: uses and gratifications; stuart hall, classification of employment, maslows hierachy of needs?

Postmodernism Theory:

Postermodern theory challenges the moderinst's beliefs. Postermodern persepectives are present in most contemporary art, film, television and media. The word "postmodern" is a wide term, and it is largely a reaction to efforts in media which explain reality. It stems from a recognition that reality is not just human understanding of it. Postmodernism relies on the individual/viewer knowing that their experiences and interpretation of reality may be falliable and relative, rather than universal for everyone and every culture.

A leading theorist of postmodernism is Jean Baudrillard. Baudrillard posits that we are living in a word of “hyperreality” constructed largely of surface media images that challenges and undermines modernist notions of reality and truth.


I have found that there are various features of postmodern films. They are:

Pastiche	Self-referential, tongue-in-cheek, rehashes of classic pop culture
Flattening of Affect	Technology, violence, drugs, and the media lead to detached, emotionless, unauthentic lives
Hyperreality	Technologically created realities are often more authentic or desirable than the real world
Time Bending	Time travel provides another way to shape reality and play "what if" games with society
Altered States	Drugs and technology provide a darker, sometimes psychedelic, gateway to new internal realities
More Human than Human	Artificial intelligence, robotics, and cybernetics seek to enhance, or replace, humanity

Where I am so far with my case studies:

My films are 1) Bridesmaids, 2) I Give it a year, and 3) Vicky Christina Barcelona

All of the information which I find is put onto a word document as I find this easier. I will then print it off use it to revise once all of my information for every film is on there.

 

1.  Analyse the trailer Done for Bridesmaids and I give it a year but not VCB

2.  Analyse the website Done for Bridesmaids and I give it a year but not VCB

3.  Analyse a fan site Not done yet but I know which fan sites I am going to use, so I will get this done ASAP.

4.  Find a few twitter comments about it I have done this for bridesmaids but not the other two films.

5. read a few articles from different websites about it. Not done for any in depth but will add this to my word document ASAP. I have found an article for Bridemaids which I will look at in more detail about the relationship between the films success and the director's twitter activity.

6.  Find out how much it cost to make Done for all

7.  Find out what awards it won. Done for Bridemaids not IGIAY or VCB

8.  Find out if there are any additional things being sold like posters/other merchandise. I have looked but struggled to find any sites solely dedicated to this, or any official merchandise. The official websites dont clearly advertise merchandise either. I could look at sites like amazon for unofficial merchandise, although this would not then relate to synergy.

9.  Know who was producing it and what else they had produced.  The same for directing. Done for all.

10.  Find out about the marketing campaign and how they did it. I have looked at the marketing techniques for all three films across all platforms, but will do this in more depth.

11.  Look at what fans were saying about the film, perhaps watch some interviews with the cast and director. Done.

12.  Find out what impact winning awards had on the film and its' box office takings. Not done for any, although have looked at overall profits and box office takings, just not in relation to awards.

13.  Think of theories to apply to the film and what sorts of questions they would be good to use in. Not done.

14.  Look at old mark schemes and see what sorts of things they are looking for and what the questions were. Yes, I have done this.

15.  Practice answering questions and think about what I felt I should have known but didn't and how I could find out that information.  I have saved numerous past exam questions and made notes on how I might answer them. I need to write some more practise qurestions out in full though, as my answers have been largely based around Bridesmaids and there's been little about the other two films.