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.
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| Bus Posters - Poster for 'Slumdog Millionaire' |
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| 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.
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| 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
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| 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)
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| '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.
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| '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
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| 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.
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