Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts

Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Researching Sing Street


Sing Street is a low budget British indie film directed by John Carne. It was released on the 20th May 2016 but was first premiered at Sundance Film Festival on the 24th January 2016. It was distributed in the UK by Lionsgate and was produced by a number of companies; FilmNation Entertainment own the rights to the film - they have worked on larger films like The Intimation Game (2014), The King's Speech (2010) and Arrival, as well as smaller films like Under The Skin (2013). It features music from Duran Duran, The Clash and The Jam - as well as music by the in-film band Sing Street.

Audience

Sing Street is an indie film and therefore applies towards a niche market/audience. The fact that it is rated a 12A means that a younger audience can also engage with the film - perhaps allowing for the younger demographic to become part of its market. Despite this, the film certainy isn't a 4 quadrant film. 


Cast

John Carne decided to cast fairly "unknown" actors for the film:

Lucy Boynton


Ferdia Walsh-Peelo


Maria Doyle Kennedy


Jack Reynor


Box Office and Budget

In the UK, the film earned a total of $1,649,512. It's worldwide Box Office gross was $10,029,082. It was difficult to find the official budget for the film, however I assume it was fairly small (between $2 million and $4 million). 

Technology

Since Sing Street had a small budget, the use of technology was fairly limited. However, green screen/CGI technology is used towards the end of the film - but not in large amounts. The film was shot on a 35mm film format, on an Arricam LT camera.  

Location

One factor that may have allowed the film to save money is the fact that it was filmed entirely in Ireland - specifically in the city of Dublin.

One particular filming location was Dalkey Island - in which Conor and Raphina have a romantic picnic:


Marketing 

The marketing for Sing Street wasn't as extensive as Star Wars: The Force Awakens due to its much smaller budget. However, the film still had posters and trailers to market it - as well as some interviews! I was somewhat surprised at the amount of marketing, because of the size of the film.

Posters
















There are a variety of different posters for the film that all have a particular style - the bottom one is a Korean poster!


Trailer


Interviews



Lucy even appeared on Jimmy Kimmel which is fairly impressive - considering the size of the film.


As well as this, the film was premiered at Sundance Film Festival - actors Ferdia-Walsh Peelo and Mark McKenna performed live!



Products

There was a small variety of products available - including the film itself, available on both DVD and Blu Ray:




However, audiences could also access the film's soundtrack via iTunes. The in-film band Sing Street has its own VEVO channel on YouTube - featuring music videos from the film:



Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Marketing Ex_Machina


Marketing for Ex_Machina contrasts dramatically to Star Wars: The Force Awakens as there was far less of it. Methods of marketing still involved posters, social media, and trailers - but it wasn't as extensive and "big".

Social Media/Website

Ex_Machina took a different approach to social media marketing by having an innovative publicity stunt: it was decided to give Ava a tinder account, which links nicely with the Turing test element of the film. 


This publicity was started in SXSW and quickly gained media attention: essentially publicising the film for free!

As well as this, a website was created called Ava Sessions - https://ava-sessions.com
This website allows the consumer to "interact" with Ava and draws an image of what the user desires:


The marketing of Ex_MAchina is certainly impressive and innovative, especially when compared to Star Wars, and is certainly BTL marketing.

Yet another impressive marketing feature is the Bluebook Website:


Bluebook was Nathan's company from the film and so it's super cool to see it's own website (featuring ambient music)!


Posters



These are two official Ex_Machina film posters. However, there were also a number of fan made posters - as shown below:


Trailers

Unlike Star Wars: The Force Awakens,  Ex_Machina only had a single trailer for its release:






Wednesday, 16 November 2016

Marketing Star Wars: The Force Awakens



The marketing campaign for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was extensive and used a large proportion of the film's budget.

Marketing areas included:

  • Tie-in products
  • Social media
  • Magazines
  • Posters
  • Trailers
  • Television - e.g. chat shows
  • Toys


Tie-in products 








Star Wars has an influence in both Western and Eastern cultures - in terms of products - as exhibited with these food items. As with the cereal, many tie-in products are branded as being "limited edition" which entices consumers to buy them.

Social Media

The film was prominent on many different social media sites and had its own social media pages on Twitter, Facebook etc. 

As a marketing ploy, a 360 degree video, that placed the audience into Rey's POV, was posted on Facebook:


The diagram below highlights the areas in which Star Wars: The Force Awakens was most active:


Magazines

A large variety of popular magazines had Star Wars: The Force Awakens features, including:

  • Time Magazine
  • Empire 
  • Rolling Stone
  • Vanity Fair



Posters

It is common for film posters to vary in different countries and cultures.

In China for example, storm troopers are featured far more in the poster:


However, the German poster has a significant lack of storm troopers (possibly dude to their connotations with Hitler and the Nazi Party).


Trailers

The first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released a year before the final film was released:


Since then, a number of different trailers were released throughout social media and cinemas, up until the film's release date on the 17th December 2015 - including this really cool unofficial trailer made by fans in the style of Wes Anderson!


Television

Disney is a conglomerate that owns a number of companies, including ABC Entertainment Group. Therefore, it was natural that ABC would market the film and the cast appeared on live TV:


Toys




Disney partnered with the toy company Sphero to produce a smartphone operated BB8.


Star Wars Lego was massively popular - there were a number of different sets for The Force Awakens.