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The Relationship between Producers and Audiences

In this podcast, I will be exploring the relationship between producers and their audiences. There are a number of ways that film producers promote their product to attract their target audience. Before they can do this, they have to research the ways of which they can do this in order to be as efficient as possible. Film producers would look at researching ways of reaching out to a target audience in pre-production, so before the film has been made, and post-production, after it’s been made. They would gain audience research, producer response to research, quantitative and qualitative research, primary and secondary research, and preview screenings and test screenings.

Audience research is carried out in order for film producers to understand who it is that is interested in a particular film so that they can understand the target audience. Hollywood constantly want to make money, and in order for them to do this they need to create something where their target audience take an interest and would want to watch, so that the film company are not wasting money on useless marketing campaigns that don’t work and attract the intended target audience, for example. To further this point, an example of the correct marketing campaign would be for a romantic comedy film which is aimed at young women or teenage girls. The advertisements would usually be in teenage or young women’s magazines, rather than a television advertisement in between a football game, so that they can attract and engage the right target audience. Market research identifies and attracts the correct target audience, and can be done either in pre-production, or in post-production, but almost always before the release date. The producers would respond and edit or change a film dependant on the responses they gain from this type of research. There are four types of research used to define audiences. These are quantitative, qualitative, secondary and primary. Film researchers would use all four of these different types of research to be able to work out what audience they’re aiming for, what audience they actually attracted, what aspects of the film they should change or adapt to make the film better for their target audience. Firstly, there is quantitative research. This is research that is all statistics and numbers. Quantitative research can be put into charts such as pie charts, bar graphs and is generally taken from surveys and questionnaires. Rather than just giving opinions and long answers that take more time to evaluate, quantitative research is short and less time consuming to evaluate. In regards to films, this could be a film rating. IMDB is an example of how you can gain quantitative film research. You can rate a film on the IMDB website which gets averaged. Once it’s put online, it can be used by anyone as secondary research. Secondly, there is qualitative research. This is research which contains words rather than numbers. This type of research is much more opinionated and can give the film researchers more of an insight as to how the audience actually felt about the film and with what reasons behind how they felt. It helps the researchers to gain and understanding of what the respondents thought of the film and the underlying reasons for this. Qualitative research may take longer to receive and process than quantitative research. It can be done by focus groups, interviews, or even just exit polls. In regards to film, this could be the reason behind a film rating. For example, the question may ask a question which may result in a quantitative answer but expand so the researchers receive a qualitative answer too, such as “What rating would you give this film? And why?”. Then, there is primary research. This is research that you gather for yourself. It’s often conducted after the film producer has looked at secondary research, which I will talk about after this, and then wants to go out themselves to find out specific things that may not have been proven from the secondary research or may not have been asked at all. Primary research is more reliable. Primary research may be more time consuming, but it is usually more accurate because you’re doing it yourself and you know who you’re asking and that the answers are not just made up. Primary research can focus on quantitative or qualitative data though, which is good, and it allows the researcher to have more control over what exactly is being asked. On the other hand, if you were to share these results online, in magazines, on the news, in a library, or even anywhere at all where someone else can use your results – it becomes secondary research. Secondary research is not always as accurate as it may be outdated, the researcher may have made some results up themselves as they didn’t get

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enough respondents but needed to make the numbers and so on. It is less time consuming and much cheaper to just go online and Google something nowadays though. This would all be done before the film is created and produced. Producer’s response to research is the way that the film company would act on the responses they gain from all the different types of research that is carried out. For example, if they found that more males responded to a certain advertisement, such as a television advert, then maybe they’d begin to aim their content towards more males than females as they know they already have the males’ attention and engagement. This would take place during post production. Another thing that would take place at this point would be preview and test screenings. This is where people see a first draft or cut of the film, and give their responses to it. This would show the film producers what the good and not so good parts of the film were, and would give them an indication of what to keep in or delete before it goes out into cinemas, online or on DVD.

A distributor is responsible for the “in between” phase of a film, between the producers and the audience. The production of a film is the making of it, the exhibition of a film is the showing of a film. A distributor’s role is the marketing of a film. They have four main responsibilities, which are:

To plan how many digital copies are sent to cinemas, and how many cinemas show the film Negotiate the time/date to release a film Prove trailers, merchandise, publicity and general awareness for the film Subtitle films.

The number of copies of a film sent to however many cinemas depends on a few things. For example, a cinema wouldn’t really play a small film every day for two months, but they may play James Bond’s Spectre (2015, Sam Mendes) for longer than this. It depends on the type of film being exhibited. The negotiation process of the time and date to release a film depends on what time of year it is, what national holidays there are, and what society is going through. For example, during February time, there would be more romance films being released in comparison to during September time. This is because of Valentine’s day, and there is a sense of love throughout society during this time of year. During June to August time, there would be more children’s films released. This is because it’s the time that children are off from school, are bored for a couple of months, parents want to get their children busy for a couple of hours and where money isn’t incredibly tight, which it would be at Christmas time. This is an important process for the distributor. If they were to do this part of the distribution wrong, then they may miss out on vital points in time that would gain the most money for Hollywood. The main role for a distributor is to provide trailers, merchandise, publicity and general awareness for the film. Without a distribution company, a film would gain no awareness and therefore, in turn, would gain no audience or money. For people to hear about a film, there has to be something to talk about. The distribution company give content for people to talk about through word of mouth, such as a film trailer, tie ins, or just a television advertisement. It’s up to the distributor to advertise a film and to gain its awareness through marketing campaigns. The distributor is an important role in the three part film process, without them there would be no audience, no views, and no reason to create a film. This distribution company also subtitles non-English films into English, in England. They would do this all around the world, so that each country that has foreign films would be able to understand them with subtitles in their language. Big production companies may have their own distribution department, such as Sony Global and Disney, but small independent film companies may have to pitch their ideas to a distribution company. The independent film company would have to prove to the distribution company that it is worth their while working with them, and would generate money and profit for both of the businesses.

There are three different types of marketing for a film. These are advertising, publicity and promotion. Advertising is to make the public away of something to encourage them to buy or watch the product being advertised. Publicity is to draw attention to the product, and promotion in to publicise the product in order to sell it.

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In regards to these three types of film marketing, advertising is where most of the film company’s money is put into. Hollywood blockbusters could spend between $50 and $100 million just on advertising their film to get it known to people to persuade them to go and watch it. If they advertise correctly in a way that appeals to their target audience, they should receive much more money back from ticket and DVD sales, and would therefore gain a profit. Film trailers and film posters are a common way of a film company advertising their film. It gives an insight as to what’s to come, and anchors the potential audience to persuade them to go and watch the film. Both of these advertising methods establish the film genre, and the stars that would appear in the film too. This would engage a ready-made audience that the stars have, and therefore would continue to bring in profit for the film company. Film trailers are usually released three months prior to the release date of the actual film, and give people a chance to spread information about the film through word of mouth and viral marketing. Newspaper and magazine articles are also a way that film companies can advertise their work. The company would have to work out who their intended target audience are, and what newspapers and magazines they would be interested in, in order to gain the attention of the most people who are a part of their demographic target audience. For example, a film that is aimed at young teens who are female may be advertised in Top of the Pops magazine, as this is something they’d be interested in, and would appeal to them.

Publicity is another form of marketing that production companies use. Publicity is where the product has attention drawn to it through a various number of ways. Press articles, official and unofficial websites, as well as web 2.0 are different ways that publicity can be positive and negative for a film company. A film which received some negative publicity due to the stars in the film and their personal lives is “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (2005, Doug Liman). Online speculations commented on the fact the two protagonists in the film, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, had a “great” chemistry, even though Brad Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston. This created a stir with online media, which publicised the film, and attracted people to go and watch it. Official websites give an audience access to official merchandise, behind the scenes footage, posters, fan-forums and so on. Unofficial websites give an audience fan fictions, story endings that may end all loose ties, and pretty much anything else they’d ever want to know about the film. The internet works wonders in regards to finding more information or accessing things about a film, which continues to publicise it. Web 2.0 refers to social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tumblr, as well as others. These can enable a person to write about a film publically, and upload whatever content they want about it; whether positive or negative. It allows for an opinion to be shared, without being prosecuted for it. It also allows the stars of the film, the film makers, and even the fans to post about the film and get the publicity out there that would anchor a potential audience to persuade them to go and watch the film.

Promotion is the third method of marketing that a film company would use. Tie ins, spin offs, pre existing property, merchandise and product placement may be used to promote the film in this way. Synergy would also be used as a way of promotion for a film product. For example, McDonald’s would work with a film company using synergy to sell a product for a film in order to promote it. In 2015, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys included figures from Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie (Steve Martino,

2015). This was a mutual benefit for both of the companies, as they’re both making money from it. It would reach out to a higher number of those in the demographic audience profile range that the film company are looking at, and therefore would persuade more of those people to watch the film, and make a higher profit for the film company due to this. SpongeBob Square Pants TV programme had a ready-made audience, and so Hollywood decided to create a spin-off with this and make a film from it, and so they created The SpongeBob

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Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2005, Paul Tibbitt, Mike Mitchell). When a film is based on a book, video game, or novel, this is referred to as pre-existing materal. The film would be released using direct quotes and imagery from the book. This would engage the audience of the book instantly, and therefore would bring in money for Hollywood. An example of this would be The Fault In Our Stars, which was written by John Green in January 2012. The book was awarded a number of different awards, such as “Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fiction”. Due to how well this book sold, it was then made into a film in 2014, and was directed by Josh Boone. In order to create an even higher profit for the film company, merchandise would be sold. This can reach to an audience who may be interested in collecting collectables, or just having a poster in their bedroom of somebody they fancy, such as Zac Efron from High School Musical (Kenny Ortego, 2006). Another method that could be used in order to reach out to a wider audience is having the stars on a chat show or a radio show, such as BBC’s Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw, or The Graham Norton Show. These shows have a ready-made audience that watch/listen daily or weekly, and so this could reach out to an audience that may never have heard of the film before.

Spectre (2015, Sam Mendes) is an action film starring Daniel Craig as James Bond. The film follows Bond who receives a cryptic message from his past which sends him on a mission to uncover a sinister organisation. Spectre’s target audience is men who are between the ages of 16 and 35, and their targets are met in the film in a number of various ways. I am going to analyse the different ways in which the film has been marketed through posters, trailers, newspapers/magazine articles, the internet, web 2.0, merchandise, tie ins,

promotional interviews and word of mouth.The posters that were used as a type of marketing for Spectre (2015, Sam Mendes) tend to have a theme running throughout which attracts a male audience. Dark colours, such as black or dark grey, are used consistently which is said to be a “masculine” colour. Iconography is also used in the posters, such as guns, which is known to be from an action film, whose target audience is also those who are male. As well as this, Daniel Craig stars in each poster as a dominant, powerful male which is important when targeting their main audience who are male, as they tend to look up to, want to be, and relate to strong dominant males, such as Daniel Craig. The formal mode of address continues to attract a male audience because of the way that the poster is structured, using dark colours and themes, insinuating that the film is intensifying and immersive. The posters were put on billboards in big cities such as London and Manchester, as they’re popular and give maximum coverage, multiplying the production company’s profits. The more people that see the poster, then the more people who are persuaded to go and see the film, and therefore more money is earned

for Hollywood. The posters were also put into male targeted film magazines, such as Empire, to continue to reach out to their male target audience. The first poster on the left with Daniel Craig standing in a dominent position attracts a male audience because of a number of different aspects of the poster. Firstly, the poster has a direct mode of address. He is looking into the viewer’s eyes, and is creating a relationship with whoever is looking at him. This is engaging for someone who is viewing the poster as it forms a connection between them and Daniel Craig. Daniel Craig is clenching his jaw, and has a tight t-shirt on which clings to his muscles. This is important when attracting a male audience because, stereotypically, males love relating to other strong males that can be seen as powerful. A typical trait of someone who is male is that they see themselves as powerful. Daniel Craig, in this

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poster, is standing with power and dominence which a male audience would understand and feel that they may share with him. His muslces are something that a lot of males aspire to have, and this would also draw in a male audience, as well as his clenched jaw. The monotone colour scheme in this poster continues to attract a male audience because it’s a dark, mysterious and powerful colour that the target audience would be engaged by. The iconography in this poster also appeals to the target audience. A gun can be seen, even though it’s out of focus, which suggests crime and violence in this film. The target audience for a film with such features is males, and this would draw them in. A gun is something that is expected from a James Bond film, and would meet the audience’s pleasures in regards to what they expect and enjoy about a Bond film. The second film poster I am studying shows a gunshot through glass which has shattered. This appeals to the target audience because it leaves them with suspense. It’s short and snappy, and instantly draws in an audience because their pleasures are instantly met in regards to what they expect from a Bond film. They know that a code and convention of an action film, and a Bond film, are guns, violence and fighting. This poster excites the target audience, and gets them ready for what’s about to happen if they go to watch the film. It shows that the film is following the James Bond crime trend, and if they liked the crime in the previous films then they’d enjoy this one just as much. The last poster I will be analysing is the one with both Daniel Craig and Lea Seydeoux on it. This shows Daniel Craig in front of Lea Seydeoux, as she looks over his shoulder. This continues to follow the trend throughout a lot of the Spectre posters, where Daniel Craig as James Bond is dominent and powerful, which appeals to the target audience of males. The female character is wearing a silk dress which portrays the sexiness of her character, which is evident throughout the previous Bond films, as a Bond girl. This appeals to a male audience because they’re sexy and seductive, which is what males tend to enjoy and appreciate with females. Daniel Craig is wearing a suit in this poster, which shows that he is well dressed and has money. This is another thing that males aspire to be and have, and therefore would be drawn in to watch the film due to this. The direct modes of address of both of the characters is direct, although Lea Seydoux is just peakig over Daniel Craig’s shoulder, which portrays the idea that she’s a secondary character, and isn’t as important as James Bond. This continues to convey his dominance and importance. Seydeoux’s female assets are being excentuated in this poster. Her breasts are emphasised, as well as her bum, which appeals to the target audience of males. This gives the male target audience something to think about, and would persuade them to go and watch the film so that they could maybe see more of her. The colourful background compared to the foreground may portray the idea that there is much more to Craig and Seydeoux than meets the eye, but to find out what else is there hen you’d need to watch the film. The iconography in the

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poster, again, is a gun which is very stereotypical for James Bond. It reminds the target audience of previous Bond films, and gives them an idea of what’s to come in this one too.

The trailer for Spectre uses non diegetic music, monochrome, plain colours, and the iconic James Bond soundtrack. Each element of the trailer is done in order to gain the attention from their intended target audience. The deep voices of those who star in the trailer, as well as the powerful, dominant Daniel Craig, continue to persuade a male audience to go and view the film because they relate to such authoritative figures, and usually aspire to be like them in one way or another. Daniel Craig’s masculinity is shown through the trailer by his posture, style and tone of voice, which continue to attract a male audience towards him. Expensive cards, gadgets, weapons, blood, explosions, car chases and fast paced camera shots are all featured in this short trailer, which are all codes and conventions of the action genre. This pushes forward the point that it’s an action film, and gives the audience exactly what they expect in a film which is a part of this genre. They’re meeting the needs of their target audience by including this in the film trailer, as this is what they’d expect. The low key lighting and plain, monochrome colours also appeal to a male target audience because this is what males tend to appreciate most, and what they’re attracted to. This is another aspect of the film trailer that would persuade them to go and watch the film. The film trailer

Magazine and newspaper articles are another way that the film makers of Spectre marketed the film. They followed a trend when using magazines as a marketing campaign, by continuing to aim their content at men and mainly focusing this type of advertisement in male aimed magazines, such as GQ and Loaded Mag. In QG magazine alone there was 4 front covers promoting Spectre. Spectre was also internationally marketed as well, in “K Magazine”, to gain the widest audience that they could. Loaded magazine uses the “Bond girls” as a selling point for the film, as Lea Seydoux is seen with her cleavage out, dark lipstick which can be seen as sexy, her hair blowing in the wind, and posing seductively. This would persuade males to go and see Spectre, because this is something that they’d be attracted to and they could continue to see this actress throughout the film if they went to see it. This instantly engages

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the intended target audience. Most of the magazine articles are aimed at a male audience, as this is the majority of the target audience that the film makers are targeting their content at.

The internet is another way that the makers of Spectre can market their film. They can use official and unofficial websites, such and IMDB and www.007.com. On IMDB, someone can look at pretty much everything about a film, such as film posters, trailers, cast and crew, and even have their own forum about the film. On 007.com, it’s interactive for a fan. They have a number of various links on that website which direct a person to a different feature, such as a shop, a Spectre synopsis, Spectre news, hyperlinks to social media accounts and so on. Sony Pictures also has a feature for Spectre, where someone can buy merchandise and tickets to watch the film. These are important for the marketing process of a film, as it extends someone’s pleasures and pro-longs the film experience. They can get more information about the film, such as searching something they didn’t understand or looking up a certain actor or actress they particularly like. A person can pretty much search anything they like about the film on the internet and it’ll come up in seconds. All that’s needed is an internet device and WiFi.

Another use of marketing campaigns for Spectre is Web 2.0. This is the use of social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. These four different social media platforms are interactive and can be used in various ways. A whole film can have an account, such as @JamesBondLive on Twitter, or a particular actor or actress may have a personal account that they use to promote the film too, such as @LeaSeydoux_Genuine on Instagram. Some social media platforms have specific features that can only be used on that site, such as hashtagging. On Twitter, if something is hashtagged, you can click on that and then results from every single tweet that has ever hashtagged that will come up. It creates a network of people who have an interest in the same things, such as #JamesBond. Searching “James Bond Spectre” on Youtube would bring up a variety of results, including interviews, fan-made videos, and official clips from the film. These can be official and unofficial. It’s a way of interacting with the film makers, and creating a bond between them and the audience. The fact that 74% of 18-65 year olds also have at least one type of social media also shows how powerful it can be, because almost everybody has an account and can use it to interact with others on there. Social media platforms have a section where you can “comment” or “like” what has been uploaded, which may help in regards to primary research too for the producers of a film.

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Web 2.0 is free as well, as long as you have an internet device and WiFi, it’s at the finger tips of a person who wants to interact with the film.

Another aspect of the marketing campaign for Spectre is the merchandise. A range of official and unofficial merchandise can be bought for the film, which also brings me onto “tie-ins”. Some of the merchandise, such as Belvedere Vodka, is something that can be bought in correspondence with the film, although it’s from another company. Two companies have come together here as a way of selling the Belvedere brand as well as Spectre. The range of prices of the merchandise appeal to a wide range of target audience, from just £4.99 to thousands of pounds. This gives an option for those who want to buy some Spectre merchandise to be able to spend what they want, and on what they want too. There are many different things that can be bought, such as CDs and DVDs, clothing, stationery, technology and artwork. The dark colours used in almost all of the merchandise continues to appeal at the target audience of men as this is what they enjoy as it’s such a bold, powerful colour. Many of the pieces of merchandise being sold are things that are iconic to a Bond film, such as keyrings with cars on them that are from the film. This continues to pro-long the film experience after the film, and also shows loyalty to the Bond franchise.

My second case study is on Unfriended, (2014, Leo Gabriadze) a horror film that is based on an online group video call chat which gets haunted by someone who is claiming to be Laura Barns, a classmate of those in the chat who had committed suicide one year earlier. The person pretending to be Laura Barns goes by “Billie”, and makes those in the chat spill their biggest lies and secrets, as well as making them do gruesome, awful acts.

The first poster which can be seen which promotes Unfriended is a common online search bar which shows results that automatically come up for “Laura Barns”. The results which are shown are mysterious, and give an insight as to what the film’s about once you piece them

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altogether. The poster is monochrome with a red tag line. The black colour of the poster could portray the idea of death, especially with the search bar results suggesting the idea of death too. The red coloured font of the tagline could suggest either love or danger, although it’s more likely from the tone of the poster that it’s danger or blood. This creates a sense of mystery for the film, and also uses an enigma code to make the viewer question what’s happened. It’s a basic and minimal poster which doesn’t give much away from first glance, but if studied in finer detail, then you can definitely piece together what’s happened to Laura Barns.

This second film poster shows an unknown girl on an online video chat with four other people, although none of these people are made clear in regards to who they are. The girl in the poster is evidently hysterically crying, which continues to use an enigma code and makes the audience question why she’s crying, and also who she is. The way that this photograph of the girl is taken looks like it’s through a computer screen. The dark colours of the film poster are dark and dull, which continue to show negativity.

Both of the posters appeal to the target audience of young adults/late teenage girls because of the format of the posters, e.g. the way they’re just screenshots from an online video chat or search engine, and those who star in the posters. The late teenagers appeal to this target audience because it’s people who are of a similar age group, and would therefore be relatable for the target audience. These are the people who grew up finding out what the internet was, but are also young enough to understand the dangers on it too.

The Unfriended trailer is all based online through multiple social media sites such as Skype and iMessage. Those who are interested in horror films would instantly be engaged by this film trailer because of the codes and conventions included in it. Screaming, fast paced shots, non-diegetic scary music, dark colours and dead people are all featured in this short film trailer. Towards the end of the trailer, there is a quote from shocktilyoudrop.com which says the film is “a new genre of horror”. I think that this is one of the main reasons that there is not much to say about the Unfriended trailer, as it doesn’t typically follow the codes and conventions of a horror trailer, in regards to the setting or the characters in the film.

There are no newspaper articles that I could actually find featuring Unfriended, maybe this is because it tends to be older people that read newspapers which is the opposite of the target audience for the film. Unfriended had featured in Slant Magazine, Empire, Scream Horror Mag, Candid Magazine and others. The reviews on each of these magazines tend to be pretty average, which may be negative for those who need to be persuaded to go to watch a film. Not many people go to watch films that have bad reviews, because it’s expensive and people would much prefer to watch something else and save their money for something better. The average reviews seen on these magazine reviews would most likely persuade someone not to see the film, because it doesn’t come across from the reviews like it’s something exceptionally scary, which a horror fan would want.

Web 2.0 is where most of the marketing campaign for Unfriended took place. There was an active Twitter profile, and Facebook page for the film, which posed as Laura Barns, and scared those who tweeted and mentioned the film. This made a film come to life in a way, making it more believable for the audience. It made the audience question what was happening, whether Laura Barns was real, pro-longed the film experience,

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and made them scared in regards to whether Laura Barns was then haunting them too. This would persuade someone to go and watch the film because the film is all online, and so is the marketing campaign. It’s something that a lot of people can’t escape from, and would show them that nobody is really safe on the internet. It creates a film with more realism, and also publicises it. If one person tweeted the film Twitter account, all of their followers would see it, which would then reach out to more people, and the cycle would never really end.

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