Viral Marketing Campaigns for my case study films!

http://www.moviemarketingblog.com/top-five-movie-marketing-campaigns-of-2011/

"2. Bridesmaids (Universal Pictures)
Universal Pictures picked up an international movie-marketing award for Bridesmaids in Australia for their strategic use of publicity and advertising when promoting the film. But what I think really stood out about this campaign was Universal’s ability to tap into the minds of its target market- women. Bridesmaids hosted a Facebook contest where they asked fans to send in pictures of themselves in their worst bridesmaid gowns. 30 bridesmaids were chosen and hosted at the Angelika Theater in New York City where they were treated to a special screening. Women being social creatures by nature were encouraged to tweet, post, and blog during the film. Word of mouth quickly spread that the movie was hilarious and heart-warming and a box office success was born."

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The below film is not actually part of my case study but it may be a good film to have in my knowledge for the exam because it had a hard time marketing itself, but the below information relates to viral marketing. It would also fit in with the idea of art house film marketing which I Have tried to discuss with Vicky Christina Barcelona.

 

"Martha Marcy May Marlene (Fox Searchlight)

Movies like Martha Marcy May Marlene are the hardest films to market not only because they often have virtually no budget, but also because there isn’t a clear target market. Or sometimes the content of the movie is so specific or obscure that it can be hard to convince the general population why they want to see the film. I nominate Martha Marcy for campaign of the year because it had the impossible task of marketing an independent movie about a cult without any big-name actors and a title that no one can remember. This was also the first time a studio released movie trailers exclusively through QR codes. I think the movie’s website has a creepy cool vibe as well."

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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/universal-wins-movie-marketing-award-227678 - This website relates to Bridesmaids because of winning a marketing award.



"Is the media dumbing down?" - how can we apply theories to this?

Below are a few ideas of points I would make in the question: "Is the media dumbing down?"

• Male Gaze theory (the assumption that it is a hetrosexual man behind the camera)- the media is dumbing down to the point where it portrays the idea that only appearance is important, disregarding intellectualality etc. In my case study this might link to the way that woman are portrayed on posters, but Bridesmaids would contradict the idea that the media is dumbing down, because they try and focus more on woman's other qualities such as comdey, rather than emphasising looks. Some of the main characters are purprosely made through the mise-en-scene to look less attractive, which suggests that some media products aren't actuallydumbing down. Bridesmaids challenges perceptions and stereotypes in society and therefore it could be seen as an intelligent film.This contradicts the question and I could argue against it.
• I Give It A Year- is this an example of dumbing down in relation to the reception theory?-
• Media is dumbing society down because with new and digital media, we do much more of our communication through e-media and social networking, as oppose to old fashioned discussion and face to face conversation. The Bridesmaids facebook page has over 14,000 likes.
• The media is dumbing us down because it dictates what we talk about, rather than us creating our own conervsation topics. What is spoken about in daily life is often what we have seen on the news/in a film/in a music video. We are spoon fed opinions through reviews and podcasts of films (Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo podcasts of I Give It A Year and Bridesmaids), rather than constructing our own.
• Marxism- what are our ideologies and how are they changing? They are become much more shallow, perhaps.