The role of a film distributor is that either a group of
people or an individual who are responsible for the marketing of a film. The
film distributor has to advertise the film, make it more appealing to the
public and to make it more successful. The film distributor also sets a release
date for the film and decides how the film will be available to the public via
DVD, tv, download etc. They will create a campaign to advertise and promote the
film. The film distributor will either specifically advertise to the target
audience or advertise to all audiences to try and entice the public to see the
film, which would create overall success for the film.
There are various different advertising and promotional
techniques and platforms film distributors can advertise on. These are outdoor
adverts; billboards and banners on buses, tv and cinema adverts, web adverts
etc. In order to attract the target audience film distributors, need to choose
the right platforms to advertise on so they can reach their target audience.
The marketing differs depending on the potential audience of the film for
example, if the target audience is teenagers it would make sense to advertise
mainly on social media Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. and perhaps advertising
on the side of buses as teenagers tend to get buses to school/college, choosing
to advertise on the tv during day time would be wasted as most teenagers are at
school and college so this would be wasted advertising. By advertising on a
variety of platforms it would be more likely that the advertisement would reach
the target audience.
Audience research is therefore important because the film
distributor(s) need to know about and understand their audiences as the
marketing will differ depending on the demographic and size of the audience.
For our horror trailer we would advertise it at the cinema for films age
restricted 15 as our horror film is a 15. We would also not advertise on tv before
9 as most children will be watching tv and our horror trailer would not be
appropriate for them.
Depending on the target audience and the research that the
film distributor has have found out depends on how the film will be presented.
For example, the two film posters Zootopia and Kung fu panda 3 are designed to
target children. Both film posters are bright and colourful with the main
characters at the front of the poster with a happy or odd expression on their
face. The characters are on the front of the poster because children can
usually recognise them and can relate to the main characters. However, the
horror film posters are both dark and fearful for the target audience. The main
characters are not given away as there is only one character on the front of
the film poster as to not give too much away. Not a lot of action is happening
compare to the films aimed at children in order to not give the narrative away.
Film distributors create a marketing plan that can begin up
to a year before the film is actually released. This is so they can ‘tease’ and
‘temp’ the audience by releasing short 10 second trailers and poster to make
the audience excited for the trailer release and then make them excited for the
actually release of the film. On the run up to the release date for the film the
more advertisement there is. This is to make sure the audience know when it is
and to get them to go see it. If the release day is further away the audience
are more likely to forget and the same is if there isn’t enough advertisement
closer to the release date, then the audience won’t know enough or anything
about the film to go and see it.
A recent advertising campaign that was effective was Batman
vs Superman. The film is based on the comic book series so it attracts comic
book fans as its main audience. As many actors have played batman and superman
over the years there was a lot of talk about who was going to play them. Batman
vs Superman is the starting film for releasing sequels and spin offs so DC, who
produced batman vs Superman had to choose actors who would be able to film
future releases. The promotion for the run up to the film was the teaser trailers,
cast release, the full length trailer and the soundtrack. The posters and the
trailers all unified and formed a theme throughout so that the audience knew what
poster or trailer were advertising as they related to the comic books and film.
These promotions showed both super heroes against each other so the big
question that left the audience wanting more was why were they against each other?
The films budget was $250 million and on the first weekend of its release its gross
domestic product (GDP) was just over $170.1 million alone. Batman vs Supermen
was sponsored by Turkish Airlines they advertised the film on their own
adverts. This was another key part of the advertising campaign and has helped
the film become such a success so quickly even though the critics views we very
negative the film was and still continues to be a success.
There has to be a unified identity for the film which carries
on throughout all of the advertising products. For us that means the horror
trailer has to consist of the same colour theme and images as the magazine
cover and poster. This is so that all of the products together create a recognisable
identity straight away. Throughout my poster, magazine cover and trailer I have
tried to carry on using the same colour theme, texts and similar images so the
audience can relate to the identity of the film whilst still making them appear
fearful, scary and enticing.
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