Tuesday 16 December 2014

Which formats is the film available on?

TV, VOD, Magazines, National and Specialist Press, Outdoor – Underground, High Impact Online Display, Video, Social.

How was it released in the US (formats and release pattern)?
Didn’t have a release date at the time, and now it does. Sightseers will show you a love story like no other whenever it hits theaters on May 10.

How was it marketed how did StudioCanal help?

Gave away the movie for free. "It’s kind of counter-intuitive to give a movie away for free. But at the same time, if you’ve got a million people talking about it, that’s’ a pretty amazing bit of marketing. And if you’ve got big resources, you’ve got to use them."

How was twitter and facebook used to market the film? 

Created a Facebook and twitter page and kept up on information on the film. They made fake posters for the "missing dog". This made the film feel more realistic.

They set up deck chairs, camping chairs and trams to go with the theme of the movie at the premier.
How was Stella Artois involved? What is a Stella Artois bursary?
At the premier they were sponsored by stella artois and it was hosted by the drink too. 
Stella Artois Bursaries are unique funds that directly support the film community.

Monday 15 December 2014

Representation of Age

In this essay i will be discussing the representation of age based around a clip from Waterloo road.

The first stereotypes we associate with teenagers is that they are selfish, always moody, vandalisers, up to no good, drinkers, drug users, criminals and addicted to social media and their phones. In this Waterloo road clip we can clearly identify the main stereotype of teenagers from the characters within the TV drama.

Mise en scene

The first part of the mise en scene we see is that it is based in quite a large school, that looks a lot more grown up to a primary school, we can tell this because of the clothing they are wearing such as all the pupils wearing ties and the girls wearing short skirts. This obviously indicates a school for teenagers. Another reason we can tell it is a school for teenagers is that the tables in the class rooms are set out two seats per table, like an exam room, this gives the impression that they are growing up and aren't little children anymore. Another example of age reprentation would be Grantley dressed in a tweed suit with a knitted waistcoat, whilst stood next to teenagers who are wear big coats and cardigans.


Younger female teachers present youth with the contrast of smart formal trousers and then a vibrant pink top. Depicting her as an adult and professional, with the formal clothing, whilst still incorporating an essence of her younger age.


Later on in the clip the male fat teacher decides to have a new image and dressed in trainers and wild top. Because of his older age, this is the reason he appears so out of place and ridiculously dressed. This is the reason for all of the students laughing at him and another teacher saying "you look ridiculous".
Camera Shots

The first shot of the clip what is a low close up shot of a pair of brown heavy shoes walking tables and chair legs, that look like they have been set up for an exam as it is in a big hall. This immediately shows us that this scene will take place in a classroom or formal setting of some sort.

I recognize a mid shot which shows us a contrast between the two age groups, this time through body language. As the older teacher looks at the students with a stern look yet a smug one, the boys stand very closed and almost never make eye contact. This fits the stereotype that the older generations always have authority over the younger ones and they also enjoy having this power. The use of the broken camera in the scene also shows that the younger students are lacking in discipline and are also careless with their property. However shortly after this camera is revealed, another character is introduced who fits different parts of each stereotype.

Monday 8 December 2014

"Cross media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences" To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your media area?

Cross media convergence is when a film accidentally collaborates with another company to promote a film. An example of a cross media convergence is youtube. This is because they offer a website that clips or videos can be uploaded to. If a film industry has a trailer or teaser that needs to be publicised then youtube is there, not purposely for that use, but still allows them to publicise the advertisement free of charge. Another example of Cross media convergence is twitter, this is because twitter is free to the use of anyone who has access to it. Twitter cannot stop promoting as it can be used to publicise anything from anyone not just film industries. Anyone can see the tweets therefore it is a good free website to use. Facebook and twitter are easy ways to create fan bases and make the film more well known and heard about. There are so many advantages to using these apps as so many people across the globe are intact with social media.

Synergy is when the film works with another company to promote their film. An example of this is when a film works with a magazine of purpose to promote their film. If it is quite a big magazine that is guaranteed to have a lot of buyers then this will be very useful for film companies as it it a good way to promote for them. An example of this would be planet of the apes, which collaborated with vice magazine to promote the film.

Monday 1 December 2014

The Grand Budapest Hotel Essay

Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices. To what extent do you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?



Successful media products are dependant on marketing and distribution. Many films find that advertising their film well is a good way of making money. They need to set the standard very high so they stand out and make a good impression and status for the film, this is so that the audiences are grasped and have more intention of seeing the film if it is advertised well. Marketing has a massive contribution to a film successfully making money, it means that the film is commonly more well known. The way in which they can justify in making sure that a range of people see/know about the film is to advertise globally. This initially means that you have to spend money to make money. Successful media is dependant on marketing to the correct people/ target audience. 

Huge companies such as Disney use their size to promote and publish. A giant word wide company like Disney can fix itself to any type of film to give it credibility and therefore great media attention. As they are such a big company they have the ability to make a film well known and to release it to the public so that everyone is aware of the film. Working with such a large company would mean your film would become a lot more popular and it would make a very good impression. More people are likely to watch the film if they know it is partnered with such a big company as they already have high expectations associated with companies such as Disney, Universal etc. An example of this would be The Avengers, they put an estimated $100 million in promotions behind the $220 million film, in addition to Disney's own estimated $150 million marketing budget.

Smaller companies would usually converge to achieve something they would not be able to do independently. Once combined they can use the best resources in able to produce a high quality film. Small comapnies do not have the ability to attract the biggest budgets. When attracting big movie A listers it means straight away the film is more likely to appeal to a bigger range of people. When knowing there is a big star in the movie more people are likely to go and watch it as they will have high expectations and are more entitled to thinking the movie could have potential when including such a famous actor, this is a really good way to advertise. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel was paired with; American Empirical Pictures, Indian Paintbrush and Babelsburg Studio. Grand Budapest Hotel had excellent views and was rumoured for selection of an oscar. The audience have described the film as "a brilliantly entertaining fantasy outing by Wes Anderson" and a "Absurd, funny exciting, violent and colourful film". When realising comments like that the public will be more drawn to the film and with such great reviews they are more willing/wanting to watch it themselves. Joining with different tyes of companies will effectively reach out to different people and will give a range of audiences. One way in which you can effectively advertise a film is through the internet. 3 billion people have the resources to use the internet, websites such as youtube are extremley important for film comapnies. This is because they can uplod film teasers or trailers, that are free to watch for the general public. A lot of the time it is free to uplaod to youtube so it is therefore a simple and cheap way of  advertising. The Grand Budapest Hotel created their advertising through their own created website. It has little snippet props of the film which you can discover and look at yourself. Things such as Mendls cakes and Madame D's will. It is a really fun way to become intact with the film and get the audience involved. The Grand Budapest Hotel also created a repleca of the hotel that they would take round the the premier cinemas so that the audience can be part of their very own Grand Budapest Hotel. They get to experience what it is like, this is a brilliant and very unique way in advertising as it has never really been done before. It adds to the excitement of the film and will be more remembered by the public. The Grand Budapest Hotel also starred many A list celebrities such as Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Ralph Fiennes, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzan. All of these Actors have reoccured in all of Wes Anderson's films. Having such big stars in your movie means it will be a lot easier to promote. This film was also in association with Prada, this means it is targeted to a high class audience. These are people who would be the ones to use the cinemas that contain bars, and have meals whilst watching the film. Having a high class target market means more money is being made as the ticket prices would be higher and they are also selling food and drinks. 

Dredd is a film that couldn't afford advertising. This is because the distributors did not think the film was good enough to advertise. They didn't believe that the film would make enough money therefore they didn't think it would be worth advertising. Dredd lost money at box office and was unsuccessful. They didn't give a range of options for the film. The film was only released in 3D apart from only a few cinemas in the UK that did it in 2D, meaning that you would have to travel long distances. This lost them a lot of viewings and money as no one could be bothered to drive far if they didn't want to see it in 3D. After a while, they completely cut off all 2D films of Dredd, this is very bad distribution. Not many people had heard or knew about Dredd because of the very little advertising it produced. Dredd got good reviews but unfortunately that did not increase the amount of money it made. There is no point in advertising to the wrong target audiences else the film will make no money. 


Overall I agree with the statement that successful media products do depend on advertising. I think this because if they are not distributed or marketed the film will not become popular and make enough money to be successful. Marketing has a massive contribution to making money, if it does then the company and producer will get a good reputation which will help in the future when they produce more films. In the long run advertising is a good way to create attention towards the film. In my opinion this statement will always be true. The importance of a global international audience is what makes the success of the film without it the film industry would not make enough money.