Cross Media CampaignBy Laura Messider

Social Realism Marketing Social realist films are often made by British independent institutions therefore they do not have the budget

for big marketing campaigns or the audience to require the campaign. However, some British independent films such as this may gain funding from the BFI or National Lottery in order to gain the budget to market and promote the film, therefore meaning they can gain a wider audience and bring in more economy for the British film industry.

The Budgets for the films I have looked at are as follows: This is England = £1.5 million Trainspotting = £1.5 million Fish Tank = £1.8 million

This means they often only have one main trailer and maybe an international trailer if the budget allows it. Unlike big US films like ‘The Hunger Games’ or big US/UK films like ‘Skyfall’ who have several trailers to intrigue the audience.

They may also have a poster and if they are a bigger more international film they may be featured on the front cover of a magazine often a smaller less well-known magazine with other features included to sell the magazine.

They may also have their own website or social media present as this is free marketing and they are often trying to target the younger generation (14-25 year olds being the biggest percentage of cinema goers). This audience will have more of a social media present than an older generation.

How is a Cross-Media Campaign Used by Social Realist Films? Trainspotting Cross-Media Campaign: ‘Trainspotting’ has a trailer, poster, magazine front cover as well as an online presents, this is an example

of good cross-media marketing as it offers the audience several methods of gaining information (e.g. the film title, date of release, actors involved, director, awards and reviews on the film) about the film attract different audiences and demographics. Linking to Blumler and Katz’s ‘Uses and Gratifications’ theory in which they state an audience will watch, read and view media products in order to gain information.

The trailer, poster and front cover work together to give the audience same information (information strand of the ‘Uses and Gratifications’ theory by Blumler and Katz). I have further explained this in my analysis of the three.

 They also released postcards, books and soundtrack albums. As well as revamping the music video for “Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop.

They also have their own website - http://www.miramax.com/movie/trainspotting/ and Facebook page. This attracts the younger generation to the film and makes the audience more active.

This method of marketing is free for the producers therefore is a good way for social realist films to marketing their film and gain a wider audience as they generally only have a niche British audience.

How is a Cross-Media Campaign Used by Social Realist Films? The Riot Club: ‘The Riot Club’ similar to ‘Trainspotting’ has a trailer, poster and online present. However, it does not have

a magazine front cover as the film is not very well-known and does not have the audience to sell a magazine.

Again I have explained in my analysis of the poster how the same themes, conventions and information (for example use of star, awards and reviews) is used as part of the cross-media campaign in order to give the audience the same information across several media platforms. This therefore, increases the audience/demographic as it attracts audiences who use different media platforms for example an older audience is more likely to watch a TV trailer for the film, whereas a younger audience is more likely to hear of the film through the website and social media.

‘The Riot Club’ has its own official website page http://www.riotclubmovie.com/ as well as the Universal page http://www.universalpictures.co.uk/theatrical/riot-club

They also have a social media presents with their own Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr page. This attracts a younger audience which they are targeting as they use social media and technology more than an older audience.

What Other Marketing is Used? Film Festivals for example Sundance Film Festival (an American film festival however,

it features both British and American films) and the BFI Film Festival (which only features British films). Social realist films are often featured in these festivals in order to promote the genre and films, often lots of the awards they receive are from these events. The institutions use these awards to give the film a good representation therefore, encouraging the audience to watch the film.

Use of the star/director is sometimes used especially use of the director as they are often well-known even if its just within the social realist genre. Also if the social realist film for example The Riot Club and Fish Tank features a well-known actor (it is only conventional for this genre of film to feature one or two at the most as they only have a small product budget) they will use this actor to promote the film, featuring the name on both the trailer, poster and magazine front cover if they have one.

Use of awards and reviews are used across the marketing campaign (cross-media marketing) to give the film a good representation and encourage a wider audience to watch the film as it attracts a secondary audience.

USP can be used to offer something unique to the audience for example Trainspotting re-edited the first 20 minutes of the film so the American audience could understand the dialogue as they cannot understand the strong Scottish accents and slang. This then increases the audience to an international level which is unconventional for this genre, but was effective for this film as it was promoted as the British version of ‘Pulp Fiction’.

What Other Marketing is Used? Soundtrack along side the film for example This is England and Trainspotting had

there own soundtrack which they have released on iTunes this again attracts a younger audience as are the main users of iTunes and it gives the audience something extra as well as the film.

Viral marketing is sometimes used as it is a free marketing technique. However, social realist films do not often have a big viral marketing campaign only featuring its own website and social media pages. This is due to the fact that the genre itself only attracts a niche audience (often not international) therefore, the campaign is unnecessary as the genre just does not have the interest from the audience. Arguably, though it could be argued that the films (which is present in all the films I have looked at) features and website page and social media pages as they want to target a younger audience as they take up the majority of the cinema goers.