Friday 7 December 2012

Marketing Facts; Harry Potter.

1. A Good Product
Clever marketing and savvy business practices can only sell a bad product to a limited extent. If consumers' expectations aren't met, repeat purchases dwindle and word-of-mouth marketing comes to a screeching halt. At its core, the Harry Potter books were good and consistently met consumers' expectations. Your product has to do the same thing or it will fail.
2. Emotional Involvement
A product, business or brand cannot become a phenomenon like Harry Potter without the emotional involvement of consumers driving it to that status.
To achieve consumer emotional involvement in your own product, business or brand, you need to have a good product that meets their needs consistently, and that product needs to deliver what I call the "3 Ss" of customer loyalty. That is, creating feelings of stability, sustainability, and security. Without that kind of emotional involvement, your success will peak long before the phenomenon status comes into view.
3. Word-of-Mouth Marketing and an Online Buzz
Ask 100 people how they first heard about Harry Potter and the vast majority of them (if not all of them) will tell you they heard about Harry Potter from another person, such as a family member, friend or colleague.
Leveraging the power of the Internet as a catalyst to build word-of-mouth marketing is critical if you want to achieve similar success. Fans always wanted more of the Harry Potter brand, and the Internet became a place where the Harry Potter community could socialize, network and experience the brand in their own ways. While J.K. Rowling and her U.S. publisher first sent cease and desist letters to owners of fan sites and blogs, writers of fan fiction and creators of fan art, they quickly realized that allowing consumers to take control of the conversation on the social Web and make the brand their own was far more powerful than trying to stop it.
You need to give up control and let the conversation flow, too.
4. Tease and Perpetual Marketing
By leaving consumers wanting more, each marketing tactic implemented to promote that brand (directly or indirectly) can build upon the one before it until the anticipation and buzz reaches a fever pitch.
Leaking bits and pieces of information, holding promotional events and contests and creating a veil of secrecy around the next product to launch related to a brand can drive the word-of-mouth marketing necessary to boost sales to the highest level possible.
The team behind the marketing of Harry Potter got better and better at tease and perpetual marketing over the lifecycle of the brand. Apple is another great example of a company that leverages tease and perpetual marketing quite well in order to boost sales. You can also integrate a tease and perpetual marketing strategy into your own marketing plan to build excitement around your business.
5. Brand Consistency and Restraint
Once customers become loyal to a brand and develop an emotional connection to it, it's critical that nothing is done to damage the brand or betray consumers' loyalties to it. In other words, you must meet consumer expectations in every branded interaction or they'll be confused and turn away from your brand in search of one that does consistently meet their expectations. When faced with opportunities to extend the Harry Potter brand, J.K. Rowling exercised restraint in an effort to protect the brand she loved. She said no to merchandise pitches and refused to allow Harry Potter to appear on a McDonald's Happy Meal. The Harry Potter brand continued to deliver on its brand promise and brand loyalty and brand advocacy continued to grow. You need to use the same consistency and restraint in your own marketing initiatives to ensure your brand promise doesn't waver in consumers' minds.
Harry Potter is the perfect example of a fundamental branding truth: consumers build brands, not companies. Marketers might nudge consumers in a desired direction, but at the end of the day, it's the consumers who experience a brand, make it their own, develop emotional involvement with it, become loyal to it, and advocate it who are actually responsible for the success or failure of a brand. Let them experience your brand, and you'll open the doors to the potential success known to leading brands like Harry Potter.

Monday 19 November 2012

Film Four Questions

1. What is Film4's remit (its reason and purpose for being)?
Film 4 is a production house and a channel that produces and broadcasts alternative films. They offer a distinctive range of mainstream and independent films; 'Alternative, and challenging films.' Their aim is to be 'committed to enhancing the British film making industry by nurturing and funding new talent.'

2. What types of films are green-lighted by Film4? Give examples of films and genres.

Film 4's biggest films to date are; 'Slumdog Millionaire' a British drama about a young Indian man from he slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' the movie combines elements of crime and adventure, it is an alternative film. Also '127 Hours' which is a biographical survival drama film about a canyoneer that becomes trapped by a boulder in an isolated slot canyon, and was eventually forced to amputate his own arm in order to set people free, this would also be classed as an alternative story. And also 'The Inbetweeners movie' which is a British comedy film based on the E4 series. The film is about four teenage lads going on a lads holiday to Crete after their final year at school together.

3. Why is Tessa Ross regarded as "the mother of British film-making" and therefore instrumental for Film4's success?
Tessa Ross is a 47 year old woman who is the controller of Film Four. She has become like a mother figure to Britain's film industry, nurturing new talent and nursing more established directors who might be feeling unloved. She is not uncomfortable with being seen in a maternal role. "I'd like that, I think that's the right way, isn't it?" she says. "It's all about nurturing. This should be a very cosy place, it should be the safe place. If you can't make mistakes here at home, where can you?" Her hard work and pioneering achievements were recognized when Slumdog Millionaire won all of it's awards.  Tessa Ross, more than anyone else, was responsible for making this remarkable film project happen. It was Ross who brought all the ingredients together and had the vision to imagine what might result: the originality of Vikas Swarup's novel Q&A.


4. How much is Film4's yearly budget and how much of it did "Slumdog Millionaire take up? ( Be careful with this one as co-productions, UK Lottery money and deals with Pathe, etc. helps make Film4's budget stretch further!)
Film Fours annual budget is £15m, Slumdog millionaire cost them???

5. Why does Film4 form partnerships with other companies/individuals?
Film Four forms parternerships with other companies/individuals in order to gain funding through synergy, spreading the cost of making a film as they have a very low budget. A perfect example of this was when Film Four made 'Slumdog Millionaire' where Film 4 worked along side with Celador Films (an independent production company) and Warner Bros in order to make the film.

6. What is the future for Film4 - budget and film-wise?
If this question would've been asked 5 years ago, then I would've said bleak. However due to the recent success of films such as The Inbetweeners, Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, Film Four have received a slight financial boost, and they have proven to the film industry that they can make multi-national successful films. All that needs to happen now, is for one very wealthy British entrepreneur to take a risk and invest in the British film industry to really get the ball rolling. Richard Branson would be the perfect man to do so.
 

Thursday 15 November 2012

Mr smith film 4 notes

Film 4
  • The controller of film 4 is a women called Tessa Ross.
  • Film 4 is a production house and a channel that produces and broadcasts alternative films.
  • By 2006 Film four was struggling. Its business model of pay TV on a subscription basis wasn't working. Therefore in the same year, Film Four moved from being a pay T.V channel to being free-to-air, allowing more free access to home-grown and blockbuster films.
  • Film Four's business objective is to be 'committed to enhancing the British film making industry by nurturing and funding new talent.'
  • They offer a distinctive range of mainstream and independent films; 'Alternative, and challenging films.' 
  • Channel 4 own film 4, and channel 4 had a budget rise of 50% in 2011 to £15m per year, guaranteed for the next five years. This increased budget will provide the British film industry with a financial boost, in accordance to the government's decision to close the UK film council.
Production
  • Makes round 6 films a year.
  • Set up a low-budget studio with the film council and distributors optimum: wrap X (digital production house).
  • Slumdog  millionaire was the most successful film four film; it cost £15m to make and achieved a market revenue of £243m. One unique aspect of the film during it's filming stage was that they used the S1-2k camera, which is a handheld digital camera, they used this camera to keep the filming costs relatively low.
  • Another film that film four have made is '127 hours' this film was cheap to make and also used the S1-2k camera. 4 companies came together and used synergy in order to make the film.
  • Also Film four made The Inbetweeners movie, this is the most successful british comedy film of all time, and sold a triumphant 1 million DVD's in the first 5 days of it's release.
5+5=1
Sentences
  • In 2001 the company was doing very poorly.
  • In 2006 the channel moved from pay T.V to free.
  • Film 4 is owned by channel 4.
  • Inbetweeners is the most successful british comedy film of all time, - largest growth profit.
  • Film Four is owned by Tessa Ross
Words
  • 2001
  • 2006
  • 4
  • Inbetweeners
  • Tyrannosaurus rex
1 Word
  • Alternative

Thursday 1 November 2012

Media convergence and synergy


How is Media Convergence important for audiences and Institutions?


In today’s film industry the importance of media convergence is huge. The film industry relies on media convergence when marketing, distributing and exhibiting a film, and especially more recently, making an audience aware of what is happening at the production stage of filming. During this essay I will be relating the importance of media convergence for audiences and institutions to the films ‘Kick Ass’ and ‘The king’s speech.'

During the production stage of the film ‘Kick Ass’ media convergence was used very effectively. For example a series of posters presenting the individual characters were released to gain the audiences interest, on these posters were URL addresses which sent you to the official kick ass website, where there was further posters, games and information about the film, this gave the audience a feeling that they had gained a secret insight in to the film and what it was going to be about. This brought the audiences attention to the website where the makers of kick ass proceeded to upload pre-release trailers, behind the scene videos, short clips of the film and games to bring in a high amount of publicity from the audiences. Media convergence was important for 'Kick Ass' as it was made by British producers and some scenes were filmed in the UK, for example: the opening scene with Nicholas Cage in was filmed in a sewage plant in East London, but the films main audience would be America. In order to achieve a film that appealed mainly to Americans, the British producers had to add an aspect of American heritage to the film, they did this by; hiring well known American actors such as Nicholas Cage, also they used Elstree studios in Heartfordshire in the UK, but used huge screens that allowed them to manipulate the background in order to make it look like the film was being filmed in America. This worked successfully and Kick ass did well not only in the US but worldwide, achieving a worldwide box office revenue of over $96,000,000.
Media convergence Is vital for small film production companies, as it allows them to team up with other stakeholders and companies in order to make a film which would otherwise be out of their budget. A prime example of this is during the production of 'The kings speech' where the Weinstein Company gained one million pounds funding from the UK film council, this extended the films budget and provided them with the finance to create a better film, the UK film council deserve a lot of credit for the success of 'The Kings Speech.'
The Weinstein company being an American organisation was very helpful when producing the film using media convergence. The company were aware of how fixated Americans are on the culture of British heritage and the capitalised on this, making a film that combined authenticity and regal opulence with the scruffy depression era of London. The film portrayed an idealistic view of the British royalty's way of life.
This became a major selling point to the Americans. The makers created a website that informed the audience about the progress of the film during the production stage. Also there were a number of posters released of the main characters in the film, the King (Colin Firth) and 'Lionel' (Geoffrey Rush). The posters were designed in the style of the 'Keep calm and carry on' world war two posters, they pictured the King and Lionel dressed in royal clothing and surrounded by regal fonts. This was a clever design as it further endorsed the traditional English heritage of the film and appealed to the American and worldwide audiences. This media convergence was vital in the advertising of the film in order for it to appeal to the worldwide audience and 'The Kings Speech' did this very successfully, from a budget of just eight million pounds the film generated a phenomenal box office revenue of over two hundred and sixty million pounds.
Media convergence is vital during all stages of film production, marketing and editing. Media convergence can be hugely beneficial for Institutions, as it allows them to team up with other stakeholders and companies in order to make a film which would otherwise be out of their budget. Also media convergence can be massively beneficial for the Audiences, as it allows them to gain an insight to the film during it's production  and marketing stages, creating an interest in the film for the audience. Without the use of this it would be very difficult to make a successful film.
 
 
 
 

Tuesday 30 October 2012

American Beauty character analysis

Angela


Background
Angela is a teenage girl, that attends college in america. She is asthetically beautiful and thinks very highly of herself. Her best friend and seemingly only friend is Jane. Angela is Lester's midlife crisis crush and she plays a pivitol role in the story.

Beggining
At the start of the film She seems to some up a stereotypical 'plastic blonde' american girl. she is portrayed as this young, confident and attractive character. She regularly brags about her 'amazing' sex life and is very big headed and full of herself, she also seems very bitchy, and treats Jane like she is a piece of carpet.

Ending
However by the end of the film she has been 'found out' and although she seemed so perfect at the start, she is anything but that at the end. She falls out with Jane, as Jane realises how much of an ugly person she really is. She realises that looking past all of the makeup and bleech blonde hair, Angela is nothing but a pathetic little school girl. Ricky has a massive part to play in the down fall of angela, the first time Ricky met Amanda he didnt even look at her, it was as if he looked straight through her, he was fully focused on Jane, and he saw past Angela's fake personna and straight in to the inner beauty of Jane. As Ricky and Jane's relationship progressed Angela was rapidly losing control over Jane, and it was as if Ricky had pulled the cotton wool from over her eyes and made her see Angela for what she really is, weak and ugly. This is Ironic as the title of the film is 'American Beauty' and Amanda, the so called beautiful girl, was found out to be actually not very beautiful at all. The ironic relationship of the title and the ongoings in the film start to make the audience wonder wether this 'American Beauty' and the american dream of having a big house, a well paid job and a happy& secure family is really all that it is cracked up to be.

Scene analysis (2nd from Last scene, Angela and Lester 'sex scene')



    There is diegetic music playing in the music player in the living room (Niel Young - Don't let it bring you down.') The music is very romantic and works parallel with the scene. Also
    the rain is belting down on to the windows and is creating an intimate atmosphere.
    The camera slowly zooms in to a close up shot, when the scene is at it's most intimate point, when Lester says 'So... are you gonna tell me, what do you want?' During this close up the camera uses the cuttaway technique and keeps cutting the angle of which you view the intimacy from (behind Lester, then behind Angela.

     

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Kick Ass Analysis

Kick ass:
How it was made:
·        Kick ass has a budget of $28 million.
·        The director Mathew Vaughn invested his own money in to making the film, he therefore took the largest revenue, and he and Brad Pitt (alongside others) helped produce the film.
·        Script& development: Mark Miller& Jane Goldman were paid to help edit the script and develop it further, this including the deals cost around $3 million, and these writers were also known for developing the script of Stardust.
·        Above the line costs: $7.7 million
·        Below the line costs: $7.8 million
Marketing:
·        A series of posters presenting the individual characters were released to gain the audiences interest.
·        URL address’ were on these posters, which sent you to the official kick ass website.
·        They then firstly released a ‘teaser’ trailer, which introduced the idea of being a super hero with no powers. After this they released the extended movie trailer, this involved more scenes and clips from the movie, therefore enticing the reader.
·        The producers also released short clips about each of the main characters, apart from kick ass (as they didn’t want to reveal everything)
·        Prints& advertising costs were near to £10.5 million, Lions gate distributed the film taking in a large percentage of the final box office figures.
What it is based on:
·        Kick-Ass is a 2010 superhero action comedy film based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. The film was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who co-produced the film with Brad Pitt, and co-wrote the screenplay with Jane Goldman. The film's general release was on 25 March 2010 in the United Kingdom and on 16 April 2010 in the United States.
·        The film tells the story of an ordinary teenager, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), who sets out to become a real-life superhero, calling himself "Kick-Ass". Dave gets caught up in a bigger fight when he meets Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), a former cop who, in his quest to bring down the drug lord Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong), has trained his eleven-year-old daughter to be the ruthless vigilante Hit-Girl (ChloĆ« Grace Moretz).

Problems with making it:
·       It generated some controversy for its profanity and violence performed by a child, however Kick ass was still well received by both critics and audience.
Technology Used:
·        Double negative did just over 835 visual effects for the movie, using mostly CGI through green screens and other methods. Between $8-9 million was spent on special effects.
How rating affected performance:
In an interview with Total Film, Aaron Johnson confirmed that the film stays true to the adult nature of the comic series by featuring a large amount of profanity and graphic violence. The film received an R rating by the MPAA for "strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use—some involving children", and it received a 15 rating from the BBFC. Director Matthew Vaughn felt the 15 certificate was about right and expressed some surprise at the film having received a "PG rating" in France.

Friday 21 September 2012

Kings speech Seven Points

The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practise;
·         The British film industry is at present very unorganised.
·         It is largely comprised of small independent producers.
·         The distribution and exhibition sectors are dominated by multinational media companies. So most of the money used in UK films is American as the UK are reliant on a few wealthy individuals to lend them money. This is a short term solution as the UK film industry is not growing, it’s just using American money and the profits are all going to the USA film industry. The UK film industry just needs one huge investment in a film in order to massively increase the size of the industry.
The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;
·         The British film industry is struggling to make its profits as the companies don’t have the money to distribute their films onto a range of markets such as subscription TV, cinema, and DVD. This then creates a vicious circle as they can’t make profits and therefore the same will happen to the next film they produce. Cross media convergence and synergy is vital in getting a range of viewers (four quadrants) as it can make money through the films name or contents. However this can’t be done by the companies if they don’t have the money to get the film out there in the first place. Also to get viewers you need to have the right content in your film, so without the money technologies and actors as well as to directors won’t be able to be used in the production of the British films.

The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;
Even though The Kings Speech wasn't made in 3D, a massive introduction, or reintroduction, to the production of films is the use of 3D filming. 3D films have existed in some form since 1915, but were used successfully around 2003 as an attempt to counteract the fact that more people than ever were illegally downloading films, and to  get more people to start going to the cinema again. The outstanding success of Avatar 3D has been the pinnacle of 3D filming, but will the 3D success be a permanent factor of the cinematic experience? we'll have to wait and see. The reason The Kings Speech wasn't made in 3D is because most 3D films are in the action genre and have a lot outlining special effect scenes. So it wouldn't make sense to shoot a film about a king getting over a stammer with great scenes of 3D action and car chases. However even though the film doesn't using eye blinding special effects, It still uses a lot of CGI in order to edit little sections of the play. For example the crowd as the King, his wife and children stand at the balcony at the end of the film, this would've been edited using CGI. And also small details such as; street lights, post boxes and windows will have been edited in order to manipulate a certain feel and atmosphere to the scene.
The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;
·         The proliferation of hardware such as Blue-ray players and HD TV’s has dramatically changed the film industry over recent years. It has tempted people away from illegally downloading films in very bad quality, and instead buying a blue ray player and blue ray DVD’s. This is because Blue-ray offers an exclusive high quality picture that customers think is worth spending extra money to experience. As a knock on effect to this, the cinema audience profile has changed with a decrease of young adults and an increase of young teenagers and the 35+ age range. This is because more young adults are now staying at home and watching HD films with their blue-ray players.
·        
The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;
  • Technological convergence is where you take two separate pieces of technology, and put them together. For example: a camera and a phone, were converged together to make the camera phone. Technological convergence has had a huge impact on institutions and audiences. In the film industry the number of platforms where you can view films is proliferating all the time. Audiences can now watch films in a variety of ways when and where they want to. You can use digital technology to download a film or TV programme onto your mobile phone, laptop, I-Pad or PC; you can watch it on your flat-screen TV; you can also connect your HD TV to the Internet and watch the film on You Tube; of course, you can see the film on Blue Ray or ordinary DVDs; some might prefer to watch the film on PlayStation or X Box; you could even download it on Pirate Bay or other sites and consume it at a time that suits you. It is this illegal downloading of films that had severely damaged the film industry. Instead of going to the cinema, people are now downloading films from home, easily and for free. This eliminates the need for them to go to the cinema, which contributes to a huge loss in revenue for the film industry, as less people are watching the films in the cinema and less people are buying the films legally. As a way of counteracting this change, a woman called Danah Brown said to give people a way of legally downloading films easily, to increase revenue. And after this statement sites such as; netflix, love film and blink box were created. These websites offer a way of renting and buying films online by downloading them. The Kings Speech was made available to rent and purchase online through these sites, and as a result of this has increased it's revenue.
The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions;
·         This shows that British film institutions have little money and therefore can’t get there films into the cinema. Many British films are made using money from companies in the US which isn’t a good solution to the industries problems. To stop the British film industry from dying out people need to invest in the British companies so that they can produce bigger films using the new technologies and so that they can market there films more. A House of Commons report shows this. British companies also can’t make much in terms of profits as they can’t distribute films as much as foreign companies.
The ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour;
·        

Monday 17 September 2012

Sunday 16 September 2012

GHD advert analysis.

GHD advert analysis



  • The first thing you notice as you look at the advert is the womans red dress, This connotates passion, love and power.
  • The fact that the poster claims that GHD is a 'new religion' expresses that it is not just a product, but a way of life.
  • The title 'And there she was an urban angel, made not born' connotes that the GHD products can turn you into an 'Angel' even if you aren't naturally beautiful.
  • The pipes and brick walls in the background of the shot connote an urban enviroment and feel to the poster, and the urban feel anchors in with the title where the lady is reffered to as an 'Urban angel.'
  • The woman is very contradictory, she seems to have a slight dark& evilly seductive persona. But at the same time she has angelic features, such as the two angels holding a halo above her head.
  • Many aspects of the advertisement connote religious themes. For example there are three 'simple' men surrounding a woman with high status, symbolic of the bible story of Mary& the Three Wise Men. Also she seems to look like she has walked down from heaven, to the depths of hell. And yet she still looks elegant an beautiful. These connotations anchor with the text at the bottom right side of the page where GHD refer to themselves as a 'New religion'. This expresses connotations and a comparision with the bible.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

The Kings Speech.


Director: Tom Hooper. Known for: Les Miserables, The Damned United& Longford.
Studio: UK film council, See-saw films, Bedlam productions.
Distributor: The Weinstein Company.
Producers: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin.
Budget: $15,000,000 (£8,000,000).
Box Office: £250,000,000.
Reviews: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/06/the-kings-speech-review 4 stars.
Awards: 7 Baftas including; Best film of 2011& best actor for Colin Firth. It also won outstanding British film, best original screenplay, supporting acting honours for Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, and best score.

About Me

- why have you chosen to study media?
I wanted to study something new and different. Also I enjoy keeping up to date with the media and the topics we study interest me.

what other subjects are you studying?
P.e, Business, Psychology.

who is your favourite band(s)/artist(s) and why (embed a YouTube video)?
Frank Ocean, Mikill Pane, Kasabian, Theophilus London.

what are your favourite tv programmes (embed pictures)?
MOTD, Soccer AM, Misfits, Skins, Criminal Minds.
what is your favourite film/who is your favourite director (embed a YouTube video)?
 Lord of war, Taken.


what magazines do you read?
 NME

what websites do you read?
www.hypebeast.com