Monday 31 October 2016

Products depend as much upon marketing and distribution

Jay
Cooper


Success of a film such as star wars The Force Awakens depends as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices

To what extent would you agree with this statement within the media area you have studied
In the movie industry, this statement is very true, as marketing, distribution and production practices all contribute to a film's success, if one of these aspects are missing the film will not be success full such as Disney's John Carter which only barley made profit and was badly publicized so wasn't watched by many and flopped at the box office costing 250mill and only making 284 mill
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a huge accomplishment because the distribution/marketing and production helped to lead to a pretty impressive global box office figure of $206 billion. Which contains a following $528 on the opening weekend The DVD/ Blu-Ray release earned in the DVD charts $156 million which only added to its avatar matching figure which helped its success, income and popularity. The film was also available to be streamed on demand on sites such as Amazon Prime, Now TV and iTunes, the deals of which were made meant that some of the money from purchasing and licensing would go back the production company and studio, however many watched it from illegal streaming websites which don’t let any money see the original creators ,The merchandising profits remain unattainable due to the fact that the numbers are growing each and every day through dress up, Lego’s, action figures and other cloths and toys.
Marketing started even before the film was close to finishing little hints images and videos where leaked or posted on social media by cast and crew giving the film lots of attention and ‘hype’ the most notable was   continues banter and twitter joke between the film’s director JJ Abrams and another director Christopher Nolan, which importantly contained a picture of the mid construction millennium falcon which made fans go mad along then came pictures of the cast teaser trailers and then the full blown trailer which everyone I knew had atlases seen twice this great attention might lead to Distribution which played an important part of Star Wars’ success, like it does is in many films, overall the film was shown on well over 5,000 screens globally and this supports the idea that distribution aided the film to become such a huge success. The fact that Disney aided the films distribution is phenomenal a brand like Star wars and a company like Disney is so well known and when they distributed a brand this big it only increase its domination of the movie market instead of it being a film that is spoken about in passing, it was something you could not really have escaped, utilising the best of above and below the line but mainly below, every screen or free space was plastered with posters and you would have thought people probably became sick of it after a time but it worked and worked well, by having literally everyone know about your new film no matter if it was a low budget back garden tosh fest its still bound to have allotted of watchers. Disney is known by cinemas and is trusted, the connections that they have managed to acquire during their existence has managed to make their ideas of distribution much more achievable and powerful. The ideas of the film being distributed digitally managed to save the companies money because the process is in fact cheaper and easier so in my opinion no matter how traditional, original or good of an idea at the time shooting on film was it was a bad decision and wasted them lots of money and possibly time, and then after their hard work it to all be converted to digital any way is nearly laughable. The film was aimed at audiences at all ages as most summer block busters are and also ultimately was trying to encourage a younger audience to become engrossed in the franchise. The film was four quadrants, mainstream and rated 12A which allowed young viewers to see the film. Because the age of audience for the film had been expanded this allows the film to make more profit short term and also long term since they have kept the franchise alive it will possibly fill another generating and probably another on top of that all adding to there profit and this ties nicely with the idea of how marketing helps immensely with profiting as well.
The film’s Production Practices also added to its success. Firstly Star Wars received a massive budget of $300 Million, which is the second highest of all time, which allowed it to hire the creme dela crème in the business, when it came to technology used in as well as crew. The film also had large well-known names attached to it, with Bad Robot and Lucas Film acting as its production companies, Disney as its distributor and JJ Abrams as the film’s director, all of which the public would recognize as makers of quality films. It also had the writing team of JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt, which are all highly experienced writers, one of them even writing previously for the franchise, that would appeal to many fans of the originals. It also had a talented cast full of both big and upcoming stars, which would appeal to the general public, especially with big names like Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Andy Serkis or Domhall Gleeson. Even the upcoming stars were talented and would appeal to the more critical audience, who would appreciate the use of new actors and fresh blood in the industry. The film also received great special and visual effects, which are some of the best in the business. These effects, which were mostly practical, made the film stand out amongst the modern CGI reliant films, as it has a grounded nature to it that makes the film more relatable and the CGI less distracting from the film. These great production values also gave the film a great critical reception, which could be a key part in swaying the general public. These production values also play a massive role in a film’s success, as it makes it look either professional or amateur and decides whether the films good or not.
                                                                                                            
In conclusion, I would agree with statement, as successful films rely as much upon marketing and distribution as they do on production values. In the case of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this is apparent as its success is mainly to its extensive marketing campaign as it is to its wide distribution or even its excellent production values, and both are essential. However in my opinion if I had to choose between two marketing is more important since if you made the cure to cancer but didn’t tell any one and kept it in a cave there is no point in making a cure so to fully conclude marketing practices are essential to make the product such as a budget yet marketing is more vital.

Ex_Machina



Producer
Andrew Macdonald
Allon Reich
Company
Film4 and DNA Films
Director and writer
Alex Garland
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Cast
Domhnall Gleeson
Alicia Vikander,
Oscar Isaac
Budget
15mill
Locations
UK
pinewood
norway
Technology
No greenscreen or motion-capture were used during filming, and all visual effects were added during post production, although there were only 800 VFX shots. A variety of cameras were used in the film, including GoPro's as well as Sony CineAlta F65s and Sony CineAlta PMQ-F55s . It was also filmed digitally at 4K resolution. All visual effects were added during post production, although there were only 800 VFX shots.
Number of screen - opening weekend
1255 screens UAS
Number of screens - peak number
On its 3rd Week, it peaked in the USA at 2,004 screens.
Box office figures
36.9 mill 

Thursday 20 October 2016

Doc martin essay/ Regional identity



Regional identity is created in the clip to highlight the stereotypes and binary opposites between people who live in city's (smart, stressed, speedy) and people who live in the countryside (moronic, mundane,moderate ) positioning the audience to humor, rather than binary conflict, in the differences between Doc Martin(city) and the local inhabitant of the countryside.

The establishing shot is of a doctors surgery that is outdated, lacking in modern features that one would expect to see - this positions the audience to believe that the countryside is 'behind' when regarding technological advancement,This is a common stereotype of the countryside that is often presented in television drama such as the lack of cars or computers. With the use of a wide angle shot, the audience can see a contrast between the suit and tie clad Doc Martin (representing the city) and the two men dressed in boiler suits (representing the countryside and a laborious life). In this frame, Doc Martin is positioned higher than the two men, which could connote authority, whereas one of the two men appears languorous since he is seated, overweight and eating. The room appears to be un-cared for though the use of miseenscene, there are boxes stacked in the background and the two men are repairing an old looking broken tap.

The wide angel shot is held for a prolonged time this limited use of editing could connotes alongside the large plumber that the country side is slow and mundane like the shot is without editing or camera movement, their is only diagetic sound this could position the audience to believe that the country is very natural and pure. however the scene starts with a twinkle this could relate to John Masefield famous poem Reynard the Fox which showed the magic of the English countryside and country life.
editing starts as the younger plumber starts to show intelligence challenging the country stereotype, the editing makes the scene seem faster this is caused by the increase of action, the water is the main subject of the scene and causes the drama and tension however it is rarely seen in the shot this could mean that it "happens all the time" and the country is slowing lazy and the fix it later, Doc gets very frustrated about the tap and his anger elevates the level of tension in the scene this could be a stereotype of regional identity that in the city folk are angry and everything is fast and has to happen now and he is frustrated that the country folk are being lazy and slow and not rushing to the problem, the  non diegetic music starts when he stares at the dog the elevator music and high angle shot showing the weakness of the dog causes tension possibly to put the audience in a position of city folk not liking animals and it gives the audience relief when they see the dog is ok.

The second scene revile the dog is un harmed and the jornty non digest sound makes light heated of the previous scene the shot is on
 a steady-cam tracking shot and Doc appears in the center shot and walks towards camera to show he is the most important in the scene and not much seems to happen around him and not many cars are seen this could once again show that unlike the city the country side is mundane, backward there are few goings on, as he reaches the police station they are shown in a long shot to show Doc and dog going to the police, when the policeman and Doc Martin  meet  they have different expressions/ reactions on their faces, The policeman  looks  confused  but happy ( making him look dumb)  there  is  someone new to the area this could show that countryside community are very close, whereas,Doc looks angry and irritated  and he is quite rood to the officer this could position the ordinance that they are on the same hierarchy level because he is a city doctor  and he is a policeman,the officers lack of immediate assertiveness and representation of looking a bit "dumb" especially compared to Doc this could position the audience that there is little or no crime at all in the area, as he has nothing to do but hoover. the police equipment also looks outdated showing the backwardness of the country.

Doc's return from the police station is filmed in a 'oner' no cuts or edditing this could represent the long slowness of the country it shows a middle aged woman greeting  Doc . she is well spoken which implies she is upper class, especially since she has a car and that is rare in this representation of the countryside this could show that the country is behind and there is still a large class line because they are old fashioned, this shot is very natural as is the lighting, with the sounds of wind and sea gulls it is clear to the audience that location of the show is by the sea this could show the great rural isolation of the country, Doc stands out because of his smart dark clothes compared to the ladys bright car and cloths this could show that in the city it is very dark and neutral. 

The establishing wide shot shows the school that dwarfs Doc Martin who notices a woman in the school and tension building non diagetic music starts as the woman notices him then a close up of the woman and doc this could be a reaction shot but it also looks like it is from the point of vew of Doc the continuity editing makes all the shots flow making it seem like it is happening in real time, Doc is then distracted by an old farmer woman who seems to be very wise this could enforce the stereotype of old rural women being very knowledgeable about things such as 'wife-stales' and herbal cures,she is also a farmer and is wearing a classic stereotypical farmers body warmer because the is a view that everyone from the country is a farmer.