Successful media products depend 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.
I believe that for a film to be successful it needs to be a four-quadrant film that incourparates Mark Kermodes rules of blockbusters. Which includes if you make the movie an event, it will increase publicity, turning into profit. He also talks about you have to have the following things; the film has to be newsworthy, a big budget, a list stars and money on screen not a comedy.
An important aspect of this is the production practices by hiring an A list cast, which would generate press interest. In Mad Max Fury Road the cast were already famous actors such as Tom Hardy (Max), Charlize Theron (Furiosa) and Nicholas Hoult (Nux.) This would help with the marketing later on as they are already well known so people who like the certain actors will go to see it. Using these very critically acclaimed actors such as Tom Hardy who bring animal charisma this allows him to play the part of Mad Max as although he does little talking his body language does the acting for him. The risk of hiring actors like this would be that they annoy other actors by their methodical ways. This could affect the film in many ways as as the actors around him may refuse to work with them, this would in turn make bad press. An example of this is in Mad Max as whilst filming Charlize Theron did not like Tom Hardy because she thought he was ignorant as he didn't talk to her throughout filming. Whereas in such films as Ex Machina where the actors are not well known yet but will be in an upcoming movie of the same genre (Star Wars) Caleb played by Domhnall Gleeson. It will increase profit later on as the public's love of the actors grows. This is good because it is really free advertising for the film as mainstream viewers who go to see Star Wars will then be encouraged to go see Ex Machina.
The ideas for film also aid the marketing and distribution by aiming at the specific audience who watched the earlier films. Mad Max was the fourth in the sequel so the audience that have watched the other three are more likely to go watch it. This encourages the mainstream audiences to go again as the other Mad Max films were well known for being good they feel that if they don't go to see Fury Road they will be missing out. Ex Machina is extremely like films such as blade runner and 2001. Therefore their specific audience would be those who enjoyed science-fiction films like these. The audience for Mad Max is bigger as it caters for more specific audiences as it is from the action genre, many generations enjoy watching action films so that will increase the audience of Mad Max. Whereas Ex Machina is just aimed at males who enjoy sci-fi which is a smaller amount of the population.
Four quadrant films have more success as they have a wider audience take, this often means that to be successful action and explosions have to be included at some stage. Having a wider audience does not make the film better just more successful because if more people go to see the film it does not mean that the film is better. Mad Max appeals to the males audience as there is constant action and explosions. But it does not put women off because Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is the hero of the film. This is uncommon For blockbusters like this. On the other hand Ex Machina is not a four quadrant film meaning that it was more important to make the marketing and distribution specific for the science-fiction male audience,
The camera effects used within the film will help with marketing and distribution because if the camera can take 300 frames per second like the Phantom camera used in Mad Max. The shots will look cleaner and more detailed increasing the quality. The edge arm that was also used shows synergy whithin the film. If a film is shown in 2D, 3D and IMAX it gives the audience a wider choice to choose where to see it. Mad Max production practices are shown when the war rig is blown up, the explosion actually happened and because it was shot with such a good camera the quality is outstanding. There was an actual stunt driver in the war rig when it took place to ensure that the crash happened like Miller wanted it to. The beginning of the film shows the choice of actor as you can see Max (Tom Hardy) as almost a lone wolf in a desert land fighting for survival. He is unwashed, unshaven and grunts just like an animal would. He makes the scene very believable to the audience as he becomes his character to every last detail. The musical rig which follows the action around shows how well the editing was done and incorporating sound builds the tension for the audience. The wires and sound were edited out afterwards. In Ex Machina one of the first scenes of the films showed the large house and the surroundings. It entices the audience as the set and atmosphere was made interesting. The way they created Ava the robot was taking two shots of every scene then drawing her body over the actors afterwards in editing, at the middle of the film she puts clothes on so the editing stages were quicker. The only part of action that went on in the film was when Ava stabbed her creator to insure that she would be able to escape. This including action will appeal to the wider specific audience of action.
Marketing to specific audiences is important as it builds up interest into your film. The most effective way to do this is through traditional ways such as Tv ads that engage a wider audience. Mad Max spent $7 million on Tv advertisement which very much contributed to the success of the film. This is because more people watch Tv of all ages, aiding the marketing of films. There are also untraditional ways such as making a formula One car look like a war rug this attracts men as they watch this sport more. These ways also cost a lot of money. Another way that Mad Max marketed their film was through billboards and posters on bus stops or cinemas. This is a very common way that films such as this would advertise because it works by attracting a wide range of audience from across the country. Mad Max needed a strong marketing technique because of the delays and problems they had in production. This is why a lot of money was spent on this area. On the other hand smaller films use viral marketing that is free. An example of this would be Ex Machina who did a tinder account to a organise a fake meeting with Ava the robot in the film. This was even as a brilliant way to reach the younger audience. They also released teasers that left the audience on cliffhangers so that they will watch the film to see what happens, they also did this on YouTube so it was free. Another way that they targeted online users was by making the website Avasession.com this is were users can go and meet ava and she will draw a picture of them like in the film. This was particularly popular with teenagers but in all was not very successful as it did not produce much revenue for the film. Audiences challenge the marketing of films by pirating films, this is why action films have been made bigger and better. If the action films are bigger and better it will encourage the audience to go to the cinema to see it to get the full effect, this will also happen when the films are put in 3D as not many of the audience have a 3D TV. You will not get the same effect watching it at home as you would watching it in the cinema with surround sound.
Distribution in films is a massive part of a films success because the more it is distributed the more people go to watch it, increasing the amount of money made at the box office, in turn increasing the profit. The more effective the distribution the more it will encourage the audience to go and see it. as in Ex Machina their distribution was effective. A famous distribution company that is used for distributing films to specific audiences such as Universal Studios (Ex Machina) and Warner Bros Pictures (Mad Max.) The amount of screens that the film is shown on makes a huge difference to the amount of box office profit made. Mad Max played on 12000 whereas Ex Machina was only on 1,225. Although Ex Machina very cleverly piggybacked Avengers as going to the cinema once encourages people to go again soon after. Mad Max was also brought out in the summer, blockbuster season, allowing more people to go and see it because of the holidays across the world.
In conclusion from what I have wrote above, action films are more successful. This is because larger specific audiences enjoy them. I predict that over the next five years the most common film to be made will be action. For example there is 50 upcoming Marvel films.
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