Jonathan WardExtended Diploma In Creative Media ProductionTask - Unit 26 Film Studies L03

Producer and Audience

Introduction

A films success is measured by how much profit it makes. Profit is made by the number of people who go to the cinema to watch the film; the number of DVD sales made and any TV rights sold. In film terms this is the gross figure and it is part of the producer’s job to target and market the film making it attractive and worth watching to as large an audience as possible. I will describe in this article the way that producers use publicity and a marketing strategy to try to win over the public by using big stars and big stories to support their aim.

Captain America First Avenger

The film Captain America First Avenger is a science fiction adventure. It is targeted at young film watchers who like superheroes, anybody who likes a good action adventure film and older people who remember the Marvel comic stories. It was produced by Marvel Enterprises in 2011, directed by Joe Johnston and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film which was released in the UK on the 29th July 2011 was successful with a budget of $140,000,000 the worldwide takes were $368,608,363. So good that they are now creating a sequel ‘The Avengers’ which is expected to be release in May 2012.

The film is set during World War II, when a military reject Steve Rogers, who is sickly but determined, is accepted on to a new secret project Rebirth and the Super Soldier program. After taking part in a number of experiments Steve becomes super human, physically fit and strong. After the success of leading the Rebirth project Dr Erksine is assassinated by Nazi Johann Schmidt (Red Skull) and the project is lost. The army don’t want to loose Steve so decide to use him in costume to increase troop morale around Europe. When Steve hears of a Nazi plot he gets involved and becomes the First Avenger to help save his country. Back home everybody loves him and he gets known as Captain America. Later when on a mission against his archenemy Red Skull he sacrifices himself to stop rockets being launched against the troops ending up frozen in ice for decades. After recovering he realises that he must find and join forces with other heroes to make a difference.

Jonathan WardExtended Diploma In Creative Media ProductionTask - Unit 26 Film Studies L03Chris Evans helped market Captain America by appearing on television channels worldwide providing an overview of the basic synopsis of the film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEGkp-yhvZc

The film was also available for file sharing and videos were posted on youtube such as trailers and interviews which were shown on TV, this allowed the audience to catch up with the show which was on TV in case they missed it. Also as recently youtube has gone HD, viewers could visualise what to expect properly. Social networking sites also provide encouragement towards watching films sometimes, say if a lot of people post about it being great this will make you want to see it and sometimes there is actually a page dedicated to reviews on the movie. Cinema is probably the most useful for advertising as whenever you enter a cinema you will see billboards and posters all over the place for films that are upcoming or already out or just when you are online checking film times for the local cinema there is bound to be a banner in the corner or at the side of the screen of the film. Even before a movie is shown, the trailer for the film will most likely be played and as the film isn’t a high certificate it will have been shown across a wider range of screens in the cinema. Billboards will have been put around city centres for Captain America as it was quite a big film, when I was in my town centre a while back I saw the huge billboard advertising the movie before it was actually revealed to the public properly as behind the huge billboard was an actual filming set for the movie, the picture below is the street I saw. Billboards were also shown at a high point so you could visualise at the motorway as you were driving down. Captain America was mentioned in magazines and newspapers mainly a review or an interview it will have been shown in film magazines or other media magazines.

Jonathan WardExtended Diploma In Creative Media ProductionTask - Unit 26 Film Studies L03The film uses the Star Theory by introducing famous film stars using their fandom to bring success. Samuel L. Jackson even if just in a small role draws in his followers who believe in his reputation that his films such as The Exorcist (William Friedkin – Warner Bros. Pictures, 1973), Star Wars :Episode II Attack of the Clones (George Lucas - Lucasfilm, 2002), Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg – Universal Pictures, 1993) and Die Hard: With Avengance (John McTieran – Twentieth Century Fox, 1995), etc.

Another actor which is quite well known to be in the film is Tommy Lee Jones, he is well known for his role in the men in black films and other films such as No Country for Old Men (Ethan and Joel Coen – Paramount Vantage, 2007), Under Siege (Andrew Davis – Warner Bros. Pictures, 1992), Batman Forever (Joel Schumacher - , Warner Bros. Pictures, 1995), Men in Black (Barry Sonnenfield – Amblin Entertainment, 1997), etc.

The film also uses the fact that comic book superhero films are successful films like Superman and Spiderman

Politically for the American market even the name Captain America makes for a good film the American people become patriotic believing that the superhero is one of their own and a real success for the country.

Chris Evans plays the role of Steve Rogers, it was important target of the producer to make sure that Captain America was a good looking, muscularly, clean cut type of man to create an attraction for the female audience. Attracting the female audience makes the film more acceptable to couples looking for a night out increasing audience figures.

The film dates website shows a strong marketing synergy, informing the target audience that the film already has a sequel in the pipeline which will contain all their favourite characters.

“This production will be followed up two months later with The Avengers, teaming the character with other Marvel screen heroes from their catalogue.”

It tells the audience that they need to watch the first film in order to understand the next film which promises to be bigger and better than the first.

Jonathan WardExtended Diploma In Creative Media ProductionTask - Unit 26 Film Studies L03

To find out information about the target audience prior to production, the producer should use reception theory on other superhero films, looking back at the success of release dates through out the year and what the overall takings were. They would also have to review the certification of the film to judge how a tamer film rated U would compare with those that are PG or 12 rated.

I would start with Spiderman (Sam Raimi – Columbia Pictures Corp, 2002) and Ironman (Jon Favreau – Paramount Pictures, 2008 ) both certified as PG the typical age that would go and see this type of film.

The Thing vs 50/50 – Star and Reception Theory Analysis

The Thing (Matthijs van Heijningen Jr – Morgan Creek Productions, 2011) is a horror film based in the Antarctic where an alien spacecraft has been discovered, it was released on 2 December 2011. 50/50 (Jonathan Levine – Summit Entertainment, 2011) is a black comedy based around the diagnosis of Cancer and the struggle to beat it, it was released on 25 November 2011. The Thing was more successful during its opening weekend than 50/50 but was less successful overall. This is because The Thing was

advertised more than 50/50 when it was first being shown.

The main reason it went on to failing to maintain it’s initial success was because it had no well known actors or actresses, that people would recognise from previous huge box office movies whereas 50/50 did, meaning that people would be drawn to watch the film and tell their friends about it instantly.

More people would be convinced to watch 50/50 since it has the actor Seth Rogan being in it. He is a well known star actor amongst the teen age group. People of the 18 – 19 age range when looking at cinema trailers would be more convinced seeing one of their favourite actors who virtually guarantees laughter, than they would be seeing a horror that was originally developed before their time. It totally failed when it comes to Star Theory.

Jonathan WardExtended Diploma In Creative Media ProductionTask - Unit 26 Film Studies L03Being certificated as an 18 meant The Thing was available to a smaller portion range of the viewing audience market. The film was also a remake/prequel, the people who would enjoy the film the most being the people who have seen the John Carpenter’s version from 1982. As The Thing and 50/50 were released around Christmas time, this is more a more festive period a time to be happy and full of joy so when a horror is trying to compete against a comedy that during this time more people would rather see the lighter film rather than the dark. The Thing ignored reception Theory.

50/50 was a success because using star theory a famous actor was included in the cast, they also used reception theory by targeting a larger proportion of the available audience by certificating the film as a 15 and releasing the film during a holiday period.

The Thing would have been more popular had they introduced at least one famous actor or actress and chosen a different release time, such as Halloween, when horror movies are more popular. It would also have increased its audience had it had a lower certification class but this might have ruined the film.

Conclusion

Using the Start and Reception Theories helps market films to the correct audience increasing sales of cinema tickets, DVD, TV rights, etc. This boosts the gross figure for the film increasing profits.

Captain America Articles

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Captain-America-Takes-Down-Harry-Potter-at-the-US-Box-Office-213245.shtml

http://tjbrearton.com/2011/07/29/captain-america-film-review/

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1667551/captain-america-chris-evans-hayley-atwell.jhtml

http://www.filmdates.co.uk/films/402-captain-america-the-first-avenger/