Photos from Filming

Mise-en-scene: Props

An important eye-line match will take place within our opening two minutes and involves the revealing of ‘Jimmy’, staring at a photo of his younger sister as a little girl.

This will be in stark contrast with a photo shown of her on the news looking ‘worse for wear’. This deliberate use of juxtaposition will help set up and exhibit the genre of the film, coming of age, and the results the process can have.

For this an actual baby picture of Alice, who is playing ‘Ruby’, has been edited to appear like it was taken at the time of the late 1970s. We looked at photographs from the time to see what it should look like and what effects we should use. It is also going to be put in a photo frame from the 70s/80s, and will be placed on a fire place (see location photos) alongside other real photographs and props from the 1980s and before.

Example of photograph from late1970s

Example of Photograph from early 1980s

Original photograph of Alice (left) and editied photograph for film (Right)

Photo frames to be placed on mantle piece 

 

 

Target Audience: Coming of Age Films

Coming of age films are a genre which focus on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood. Of course during this transition, there are steps along the way, and coming of age movies usually highlights significant events that induce this transition. This definition clearly fits our movie, therefore it is a coming of age film. 

The traditional convention of coming of age films, usually consists of a main character who is most likely male, in there mid-teens and the story normally revolves around this character and its is often told in the form of a flash-back. 

Films of this particular genre are normally targeted at a teenage audience, however they include explicit and controversial themes. This therefore makes them appealing to adults too as they deal with the first encounters with problems and dilemmas that are familiar to adults.  The strong material therefore causes this genre of movies to receive a strong age certification. I feel that our film appeals to anyone who is above 15, because anyone above 15 can relate to the characters of our movie and put themselves (or their younger selves) into the characters shoes. I believe that the minimum age should be 15 as it contains strong violence.

Examples

I think our genre appeals to our audience because it is a very social film to see. Although this kind of genre appeals to the teenagers because its coming of age, our movie also explores into the life of a musician/band, this idea was successful amongst teenagers in the past. Examples of coming of age movies which had been influenced by music in the past are Notorious, 2009 (resembles the life and the rise to fame of the rapper Notorious B.I.G during the late 80's and early 90's period) and 8 Mile, 2002 (close relations to the rise and life of the rapper Eminem).

We are therefore mixing two successful genres which have already been proved to go quite well together.

To summarise our approach to the target audience:

1. We think this will be a successful genre because other popular films have been made recently in this genre. This site lists 15 popular coming of age films:

http://www.flavorwire.com/300587/15-unforgettable-summertime-coming-of-age-movies


It also gives this reason for them being popular: "We generally seem to enjoy these stories (even the terrible ones — thank you, TBS) because they evoke recognizable parts of ourselves, either making us extremely nostalgic or thankful for the periods we’ll never have to revisit. And they can help those of us still trying to grow up feel not so alone."

2. It should appeal to audiences of teenagers and above, teenagers because they can relate to the characters and older because they remeber what it is like to be a teenager.

3. Here is another IMDb list, this time of popular films based around bands:

http://www.imdb.com/list/WstOLJt5zdA/

So we have a double appeal in our film.

4. We have male and female main characters so should appeal to both genders.

Context of Our News Story

A major factor that we need to consider is the context in which our News Story is going to be given in; is it going to be a ‘News Flash’ or an actual ‘News report’ for the daily news?

The context that we choose will determine the language our actors use (present or past tense), the information given (i.e. what the script is made up of) and the format for which the report follows.

The reports watched for research were all from the late 1980’s and more specifically 1989, as this is the year our news report will be broadcast in the film.

Research into News Flash

From watching many 80’s news flashes it is evident that unlike the news today, the news flashes did not contain that much content in terms of footage.

News Flash Title Card

Example of News Flash looked at:  Kegworth Plane Crash (1989) BBC News Flash- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLh7bMnlNyU

This report for example only involves a main news reader sitting at his desk whilst communicating with other reporters and eye witnesses via the telephone. A simple graphic slide is put on the screen whilst they speak with an insert title displaying their name and ‘role’.

Anchor in Studio

Graphic Slide for Telephone Calls

Research into News Reports

The format of the daily news reports were very different to the news flashes, and of course were very different to today’s news. These reports contained much more information, contained footage and photographs to match what the news readers were talking about and even included reporters who were on-the-scene.

Example of News Report looked at: BBC Six O’clock News (extract), 17th October 1989

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvwdUmaBDZ4  (00:59 – 05:40; Report on Guilford and Woolwich Pub Bombings, 1989)

This report began with the anchor in the studio giving an introduction to the news story as a super imposed picture relating to the story appeared above her shoulder; Photographs also appeared full screen as you still heard the anchors voice. The news story progressed as a detailed report began, voiced by a separate reporter, as pre-recorded footage linking to news story played. It was after this point that some reports progressed to a reporter on-the-scene.

Example: BBC1 6 o’clock news 1989 (6:46-Reporter outside Westminster) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbkusooBYD8

Anchor in Studio

Photographs flashed on screen

Beginning of Report Voice Over

Pre-Recorded Footage

All the reports that I watched followed this format and the camera angles and movements used for the pre-recorded footage were very basic. These used included; mid-shots, to show enough detail of an area in question, close-ups of important objects or people that needed to be identified and panning shots to establish a location being discussed. If we go for the ‘news report’ we should consider using these angles and movements.

DECISION: After looking at this research we concluded that an actual news report would be the best way to present the news of ‘Ruby’s’ death. (The kind that would be shown on the 6 o’clock news the day of her death) This is due to that fact that most of the reports followed the same format and we can replicate this to present our own script and footage; this will therefore help make our report as verisimilitude as possible.

Research into 1980's News Reporting

The main focus of our opening two minutes is a news report. This is because it informs the audience of the death of ‘Ruby Maverick’, the ‘leading lady’ of our film, and it is important that the report is as verisimilitude as possible.

Background Research:

It is obvious that the style of news reporting has changed through the decades and this is down to various factors including the development in technology. From research it was found that during the 1970’s video tape replaced film and the introduction of live microwave trucks were added allowing local stations to go live from the scene. Then in the 1980’s “Networks and some stations even added satellite newsgathering trucks, which allowed them to drive across country to beam back news reports. As with the introduction of microwave trucks in the 1970s, stations looked for any reason to use this equipment.”

This told us that our idea for a news reporter at the scene of ‘Ruby’s’ death was still viable. Even though it was not used as much as it is today, it was something that was becoming more common in the decade of the 1980’s.

 Autocue in the news room was also in full use by this time, so we need make sure that our actor is not reading from their script or notes. We could perhaps create our own cue cards for him to read from to help create the illusion of their being an Autocue.

Links from News studio to person reporting on-the-scene:

The style of on-the-scene reporting was different in the 1980’s and, unlike in today’s news, the anchor reporter did not give an introduction to the reporter on-the-scene. It simply cut from the studio or current report to the ‘scenes’ location and in some cases an insert title flashed up giving the reporters name and their location. This is something we could consider including when editing our final news report.

News Reporter 'On-the-Scene'

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCfcF1BTlEI - (BBC Nine o’clock News with Kenneth Kendall 1980)



Production Logo & Movie Credit Ideas

The initial idea that we had for our production logo, was to make something that was minimalistic yet very effective. So I created the logo using brief ideas on our production name "Cloud 9".

Production Logo

After researching about production logos I gathered that most production companies use some kind of animation to reveal their logo during the movie credits.

Example of production logos

1. Walt Disney Pictures is one of the most famous and successful productions houses ever, the video below shows their production logo.

2. Universal Studio's is very good example of a production company, as they do not concentrate on to one  genre of movie, they produce movies of all genre. Universal studios is easily identifiable due to the effectiveness of their logo. The |Universal Studios Production logo is below.

   3. Paramount Pictures is a film and television production/distribution company, consistently ranked as one of the largest (top-grossing) movie studios. It is a division of Viacom media. The video below shows how they introduce their production logo in a movie.





Using these famous production logo's as inspirations, we found a sort of a similar template for our production logo. The video of the similar idea can be found below.



Using this video as the foundation to our initial idea, we think its possible to recreate the similar sort of affect and add our own spin to it.

Research into Target Audience

Target Audience

Coming of Age Films

 

Of all the genre types there is one that doesn’t quite fit into any other group of movies.  These movies themselves are complex and rarely made, but when they are done right they tend to bridge popular audiences and critical acclaim.  They are about people who also don’t quite fit - the coming of age film. 

The overall target audiences of these films varies but are usually always targeted at those who are over 15 as the certificates of these films are rarely below this. This is because the themes of these films are often explicit and controversial. However there are two ‘sections’ that coming of age films can be dived into; younger teen and older teens.

The subset of the genre targeted at older teens, those teens at the end of high school transitioning to “the rest of their lives” (or at least trying to) stand separately as their own class of film.  The greatest of these reach cult status, and often include all-star casts before they were to become stars e.g "Stand By Me".

Very likely it is these films that propelled the young actors into bigger roles as a next step in their careers because we, the audience, love these characters, and when we like characters we latch onto the actors that portrayed them.  Sometimes these themes cross into other genres that take over the film, such as the sci-fi film The Last Starfighter–where a teen must decide not whether to stay in town and work or go to college, but be a starfighter and save the universe. 

So for this kind of genre, the target audience is easy to identify - older teens upwards. There is a lot of evidence that coming-of-age films appeal to adults as well as the teens, for example the comments on this forum:

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a36693619/adults_watching_childrens_cartoonsteen_shows

This article suggests the tendency is so well known that films are now being made in this genre about adults who still haven't come of age despite being older:

http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/movies/articles/2009/06/12/20090612angst0612.html?nclick_check=1

Music-Based Films

We are also looking at a target audience for films that are based around music and bands. This list of favourite films based around bands on IMDb suggests it is a popular genre:

http://www.imdb.com/list/-lgeGOFVQZ0/

And this forum shows that these films stay in the mind:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081231215838AAzde1D

So the style of music of our fictional band can attract its own target audience. We are setting our film in the 80s, which is currently experiencing a revival and even has its own festival:

routenote.com/blog/80s-revival-festival/

Therefore we could expect an audience who enjoy this kind of music and who are generally interested in the 80s.

Research Into Target Audience

Researching the Target Audience –

The intention of a psychological drama is to engage its audience so they feel like they are inside the character's head; many adults struggle to get to grips with such an intense viewing experience, for example, Inception, which is classed under the mystery genre but can cross with psychological, is an exceptionally demanding film – you must watch it with your full attention to fully understand and gain from it. Another example being Black Swan, which is under the psychological genre category. Following this, psychological dramas are not suitable for those of less than 15 years of age.

From identifying the genre(s) of our film I gathered that the target audience would be for teenagers aged 15/16 to those in their mid-30’s as it isn’t solely a psychological drama, it can also come under a Coming of Age genre which can appeal to teenagers through the music aspect; particularly those interested in starting their own band.

The lowest age group to actually view a psychological drama/coming of age would be around 18 but the certified age certificate of the film can be 15 because there are no strong gory scenes or actual sex acts being displayed; I discovered this through here http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15

By researching individual films and analysing its reviews I found that it was generally those aged from those aged 15 - 30 who viewed psychological dramas. I researched 3 films; these being Black Swan, Sucker Punch and Fight Club, to analyse their general target audience.

Black Swan –

The first thing noticeable is from the age group 30 – 44 and onwards, the votes decrease which indicates that this particular age group does not tend to view this genre as highly as younger age groups. Secondly, it is seen that females have largely viewed Black Swan as well, this could be because of the casting; the fact that it was mainly a female starring cast, Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis being the highlight of them, could have drawn more female viewers because of the femininity. However, males also tended to view it as well, possibly due to the starring actresses also but a large factor which may have drawn them in is the sex act both of the leading roles perform as part of Natalie’s (the Black Swan) insanity.

Although Black Swan is certified at an 18 which doesn’t match our certificate, it helps outline our audience because there are a lot of similarities between both this film and ours; excluding the sex acts and occasional blood.

Statistics on the viewings of Black Swan

Black Swan -
Main Actress: Natalie Portman

Sucker Punch –

Upon watching snippets of Sucker Punch myself I found it a very different approach to the psychological genre. I found this site, http://theronneel.com/?p=4470 , which was actually a very accurate review of the film. I too found that this particular type of approach suited those in their late-teens; this could be because the main character was a 20 year old woman. However, it is a very unisex film because, although it is a twisted version of Alice in Wonderland, which is an animated Disney film and primarily known to be a ‘girly’ film, due to the action aspects it can be seen as comic-book associated which is a hobby, more often than not, associated with teenage boys; also the starring female can attract them.

Sucker Punch does follow a particular aspect of a psychological genre however, as the actors and actresses are unknown in comparison to those who play in romantic comedies and heist films.

Sucker Punch -
Main Actress: Emily Browning

Fight Club –

Fight Club’s prime audience would be males aged 35 and under (http://www.moovees.com/review/fight-club.html this link helped; a review of the film) because of the violence involved. It could even be lowered because of the influence of video games such as Call of Duty etc. Another reason males would be interested in viewing this film is because of the actors involved, primarily Brad Pitt who is a world-known actor and has starred in various different genres and succeeded.

Fight Club -
Main Actor: Brad Pitt

Our film doesn't fit neatly into a single genre. It definitely has strong elements of psychological drama but it is also a coming of age film because it deals with teenagers learning what the adult world is like for the first time through a series of dramatic incidents. like many films in this genre, everything starts off well, but things becoem darker and more complicated as the film continues.

I also researched a coming of age film; Eddie and the Cruisers –

This film is a perfect fit to our own film; although it does have differences. It is about a band who make it big and the main singer’s car is then found crashed on a bridge – with no sign of a body in it. So, the main singer is essentially announced dead but the rest of the band have suspicions and therefore decide to investigate further. This film is very similar to ours in the sense it involves a band who make it big, but it is not our main character that dies – our main character is the one who is left retracing his steps to fill the guilt for his sister’s death.

From researching different reviewing websites I came across http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eddie_and_the_cruisers/ and from looking at the reviews left, I can already see that the audience so far is of the late-teens onwards.

Eddie and The Cruisers -
Main Actor: Michael Paré

 Overall, through the research of our particular genres and then associating them with each other I would say that our target audience would be from 15 – 30; mixed gender, possibly more female viewers than male because of the emotional content but it should be appealing to males as well. I also feel that this film type has a strong appeal to a British audience, and that these films can still be internationally successful e.g Bend It liek Beckham and Slumdog Millionaire.





 

Research into Chosen Genre 2

Common Camera Angles/Movements and Editing

There are specific camera angles and movement that are used within the ‘Coming of Age’ genre.

This is because there are many elements and themes that need to be identified to show how a film fits within the genre
The elements and theme are highlighted by the use of certain camera angles and movements.

I have created a power point that looks into these camera angles and movements and have looked at examples of films that display them:

http://www.slideshare.net/beccacreighton7 (Common Camera Angles and Movements)

Research into Chosen Genre

Coming of Age Drama

Classic Narrative:

Our film is going to be from the coming-of-age genre and also has influences from British rock films and period films, as ours is going to be set in the 1980’s. The story lines that coming-of-age films follow can vary across many topics but all the films display personal growth and change. They all focus on personal journeys of ‘discovery’ and often have explicit and controversial themes and content. This is usually reflected in the age certificates of the films and attracts teenage audiences of the same age. They all feature a specific person or a group of people who are reaching an important age in their lives and follows their transition from childhood to adulthood.

Important characteristics that coming-of-age films rely on are dialogue and emotional responses, rather than full on action. It is these elements, along with the teenage themes, that give a film its ‘coming of age feel’. This is something that we have made sure our opening sequence demonstrates to correspond with our chosen genre. There are going to be many close ups which clearly show ‘Jimmy Mavericks’ emotional response to his sister’s death. We have now also added dialogue to the sequences to show the early interest ‘Ruby’ has in her brothers best friend, a relationship that would go on to feature heavily in the films plot.

Common features of coming-of-age films are sexual identity (e.g. ‘Submarine’, 2010), personal philosophy and the forming of political opinions (e.g. ‘This Is England’, 2006). In order for the characters to discover these areas, ‘experimenting’ is required. Even though the overall plots of these films can vary, the idea of ‘experimenting’ in many different forms is something that is always present. For example, in some cases the experimenting is based around drugs and alcohol (i.e. ‘Cherry Bomb’) but in other cases is it with relationships and virginity (i.e. ‘An Education’). These themes are tackled in our plot, showing in part how it belongs under the coming of age genre; this will be made clear in our opening sequences as the audience are informed of  death caused by an over dose of drugs. Other common themes found in these films are the difficulty of home life, relationships with friends and the idea of straying away from social normality.

Stock Characters:

 A typical plot outline consists of a main teenager, usually a male, or a group of teenagers who are ‘coming of age’.  Things usually start prosperous but as they experiment with new things and begin to push boundaries, someone usually has to suffer great consequences or they soon begin to realise the world isn’t as amazing as they thought it could be. The stories typically feature a mid-teen male and are often told in flashback form.  This is something that we have too chosen to do for our opening sequence by beginning our film at ‘the end’ but then taking a flash back to 1983 to begin the story of the band. 

However all kinds of teenagers can be found in coming of age films as it depends on the individual plot of the story. The teens are the protagonists of the story and there is usually some kind of catalyst who causes problems. This again depends on the theme of the story and the catalysts can range from over bearing parents to a teen friend that encourages the wrong sort of behaviour.

There is usually some kind of best friend who experiences life with the protagonist and is usually there so they are able to share their feelings out loud with. We have this is our film in the form of ‘Sam’, ‘Jimmy’s’ best friend and band mate.

Sound:

The sound use in coming-of age films varies. Non-diegetic music is often used at various points throughout most movies and the genre of this music is often ‘alternative’ or ‘indie’. This is to reflect the theme of the teenagers trying to be different from everybody else and is also there to match their feelings when experimenting with different and new things. Diegetic music is also often played as a typical teenager spends much of their time listening to music and the genre of music they are listening to can tell you a lot about the character. Our choice of music will be key to the success of the film and we will be recording it ourselves to make sure we get exactly what we want.

The music, weather diegetic or non-diegetic can also be used to reflect the mood of the character on screen and can give an indication of how they are felling.  However, as the most important characteristics of these films are dialogue and emotional responses, music is not usually played during important parts of the plot that feature these characteristics. This creates stark but emotion driven scenes as having no music means that all attention is given to the actors and their dialogue. It would be handy if we could film the first part of the sequence on a rainy day to set the mood, although as we are using teachers as the news reporters, we will have to book their time and it might not be possible to coincide this with the weather.

Silence is an important factor within our chosen genre as it helps to heighten the emotions the characters are feeling, emphasising the changes and feelings they are discovering. We are also featuring silence in our opening sequence as we want all attention to be focused on the emotions displayed on ‘Jimmy Mavericks’ face.

Additional Ideas For Final Coursework

Since we are going to have a news report running in the first 2 minutes of our movie, I have researched onto the types of animation they used to use during the 1980's during the News.

The BBC used to have a form of mechanical clock, which they used to use as a form of a countdown to the 9 pm news flash.

The  Mechanical clock

After surfing the internet, I have found a free editable version online. This version can be used in our movie, to give the news report an authentic 1980's feel.





During the 1980's the use of computer animation/graphics were very minimalistic when compared to 2012.

During 1982

In this picture we can see that the back ground had just very simple use of graphics/editing, as its just one photograph in the background of the news reporter.

During 2012

On the other hand, it is clear that the amount of editing done during 2012 is considerably more than 1982, so when making our news report, we need to care about the type of special affects that we use, the colors associated with the reader as they often wore dull colours and style to make our news report seem as if it was really set in the 80's.

Research into the Film Industry- Distribution

Distribution

Distribution is where a film, having completed its production and post-production, is released to audiences by a film distributor. Examples of distribution companies are 20^thCentury Fox, The Walt Disney Company Ltd. and Warner Bros pictures. They have released films like X-Men, Alice in Wonderlandand The Lord of the Rings retrospectively.

Distributed 'The Lord of the Rings'

Distributed 'Alice in Wonerland'

Distributed 'X-Men'

There are many ways in which a film can be released to the public and as technology has modernised, so have the methods for film release.

Theatre Release

Films are distributed to cinemas after distribution companies secure contracts with theatres. They are also responsible for providing the various theatres with enough marketing material prior to release of a film to make sure maxim promotion is achieved.

Home Release

Films are can be distributed in a ‘physical format’ on to DVD and now more recently BluRay DVD. The DVDs are sold in shops for purchase but can also be rented in video rental shops. Another new way that films are being distributed is through satellite and cable TV. For example Sky has their ‘Sky Box Office’ where recently released films can be rented directly through the sky box.

The window for release is usually about 12 weeks after theatre release. There have recently been disputes due to the fact that distribution companies want to lessen this window to speed up the home release of films, where as production companies want to keep their films in the box office for as long as possible to make as much money they can.

Internet

The distribution companies also want to lessen this window so films can be released on to the internet quicker. This is the newest form of distribution and is where people can rent films to watch online via companies like Netflix; this company has now also made links with Virgin Media so customers can watch films on Netflix via their TV box and is something that many other companies are looking into.

Netflix mobile website where films can be rented and watched

Examples of distribution companies we could use:

Universal – This Company has released many films of various genres and is a well known and established company that distributes worldwide. It has also released films of the ‘coming of age’ genre such as ‘Cherrybomb’ (2009) starring young actors such as Rupert Grint, Robert Sheehan and Kimberly Nixon.

Studio Canal (Formerly Optimum Releasing) – Has been responsible for the distribution of many independent British, Irish and American films in the UK and sometimes Ireland. It has been distributed films such as ‘This Is England’ (2006) and ‘Submarine’ (2010). The themes of these films, along with some others it has distributed, fits with the style we are trying to achieve so the company would know the correct audiences to distribute and aim our film at.

We will be looking more closely at distribution companies and which method of distribution would be right for us in the evaluation stage.

Research into the Film Industry - Marketing

Marketing

Once a film has been produced, but before it can be released, marketing campaigns are launched, usually by the distribution companies. Marketing typically has a large budget and is an important part of the overall production of a film as it is needed to attract an audience.

There are many methods a distribution company uses to promote a film and the marketing process usually begins at the post-production stage. There are many methods used in the marketing process:

Print Promotion

Film posters are designed and created by the marketing teams and have a few typical features that create the basis for the posters:

·         Most importantly the title of the film

·         Photographs of the main character(s) - who are usually the most well know/established actors and actresses involved

·         An image relating to the theme/plot of the film

·         The director’s name

·         The date of release (but not always as it can vary in different places)

These posters can be placed anywhere including giant advertising bill boards, inside train stations, the sides of buses, posters by cinemas and inside magazines and newspapers.

Bus Posters - Poster for 'Slumdog Millionaire'

Billboard Posters - Poster for 'Public Enemies'

Another type of print advertising is interviews with cast members for news papers and magazines, as these forms of media always likely to have a ‘movie and music section’ for which these things can be placed. The actors and actresses have to take part in activities like these as it is usually part of their contract to help raise the profile of their films.

Cast interviews - Q&A with Helena Bonham Carter about
'Great Expectations' 

Promotion in Theatre/Television/Radio

Trailers are a mainstay of film promotion, because they are delivered directly to movie-goers. They screen in theatres before movie showings. Generally they tell the story of the movie in a highly condensed fashion compressing maximum appeal into two and half minutes.

Distributors sometimes also attain ‘TV spots’ which are advertisement slots on the television, where a condensed version of the official movie traileris shown; these slots are usually about 30 seconds long. Sound bites of the trailers are sometimes also played during advertisement breaks on radio stations as well.

Internet Promotion

Like page for Harry Potter UK -
has over 2 million 'likes'

Viral campaigns are the newest form of marketing and are now a vital part of film advertising.  One way of doing this is by putting tailored versions of film posters on advertisement bars found on most websites. Many of these posters/advertisement bars contain hyperlinks that will take you to either the films official website or to the films official trailer.

Official websites is also something used to get people interested in new films and even simpler additions to viral campaigns like ‘sponsored top trends’ on twitter and ‘like’ pages on Facebook can drum up interested towards a film too.

Trailers are now always put on the internet as this is another popular form of advertisement and many production companies even have their own YouTube accounts to upload new film trailers too.

Example: Universal Pictures YouTubeaccount- http://www.youtube.com/user/universalpictures

In terms of copy right for these film trailers, film companies aren’t strict on those who copy the clips to place elsewhere or on those who cut and edit the footage as they please.  Even though these companies already have their own accounts and official websites, these people are providing a free form of advertisement so the companies let it continue.

Publicity

The publicity department of a studio uses the talent (actors, director, screenwriter) attached to a movie (as they have contractual obligations to do what the studio asks) tool try and gain maximum benefit from the following:

·         Star Interviews — in print, online and broadcast media

·         'Making Of' documentaries, set reports and viral videos add to the hype

·         Premieres — who's wearing what outfit

·         Cast Interviews

·         Reviews and profiles

·         News stories - who did what on set and what records has this movie broken?

·         Links with branded products – Actors/Characters/franchise become the ‘faces’ of products and other companies own advertising campaigns, but at the same time the profile of the film is being raised (This is also how money for productions is raised)

'Skyfall' Coca Cola

James Bond and ‘Skyfall’ is a strong example of having links with branded products. For example, Coca Coladeveloped a ‘James Bond’ themed advert to sell their special edition ‘Skyfall Coca Cola Zero’ that was newly created for the release of the film. Sony also created an advert that featured Daniel Craig as James Bond to advertise its new ‘007 phone’ that featured in the film and was then available to buy.

 

'007 phone' developed by Sony

 

Post Film Production

Even after the release of the film it doesn’t stop as Merchandising comes into play. The list is endless as to what is produced and sold but some examples are:

·         Books

·         T-shirts

·         Soundtrack CDs

·         Computer games

Studio Tour for the Harry Potter

Franchise

·         Boards games

·         Toys

·         Mobile phones

·         Food and Drink

·         App for iPhone/Android

·         Theme parks and studio tours

 

Anything that can be associated with the brand of a movie is sold and if the movie was a success, production companies reassess and the possibility of a sequel is discussed.