Question 3
- 1. QUESTION 3 WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?
- 2. SIMILAR FILMS TO MY OWN AND THEIR DISTRIBUTORS HOW DID UNIVERSAL MARKET AND DISTRIBUTE OUIJA? Ouija was released on 24th October 2014 and was released in 2,858 cinemas across North America. This meant that there was much more exposure to the film which wouldn’t have happened without this technique. Using this technique was important in the success of the film because it enabled a mass audience to watch the film for the first time, at the same time creating a ‘hype’ around the film and becoming popular, as people would be talking about the film to friends. The film also offered a preview night on the Thursday before its release (23rd October 2014). This, like the previous technique, was very successful and grossed around $911,000 on one night. This meant that people would be talking about the film and getting people to watch the film, maybe even going twice to go with others because they liked it so much. The trailer was a massive success, being released on 16th July 2014, months before the film was actually released. With over 9 million views, this would have created a ‘buzz’ about the film and made people excited about the film. Once the film had been released there was 193,000 tweets about the film and 931,000 retweets from the Ouija twitter page. This shows that this type of marketing and distributing worked incredibly successfully due to the amount of the notice the film got as a result.
- 3. SIMILAR FILMS TO MY OWN AND THEIR DISTRIBUTORS HOW DID PARAMOUNT MARKET AND DISTRIBUTE PARANORMAL ACTIVITY? Paranormal Activity first premiered at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in America on 14th October 2007. It was screened again at other film festivals in 2008 and 2009. Paramount had acquired Dreamworks, and therefore bought the domestic rights and any sequels for the film. Once Paramount had bought the film, they made several changes including the ending. After these changes had been made, Paranormal Activity was shown at thirteen ‘college towns’ in 2009 and on the director’s website, Oren Peli, told users to ‘demand’ where the film was to be screened next on a website called Eventful. This tactic made Paramount the first major motion picture studio to use the service to virally market a film. These screenings were very successful, as twelve out of the thirteen screenings were sold out. In late September, after the success of these thirteen screenings, Paramount released a statement of Peli’s website announcing openings in 20 other markets, including New York and Chicago. On the 3rd October, it was reported that 33 screenings in 20 cities were sold out and that these had created $500,000 – showing the success of the film due to the amount of screenings and exposure it had to different markets and different people across America. Later that month, Paramount announced that if Paranormal Activity received one million ‘demands’ on Eventful (the site Peli used to get users to ‘demand’ what city the film was shown in) the film would be released nationwide. By the 10th October, there was over one million ‘demands’ and the company told the audiences that it would expand to more theatres and by November, it was being shown worldwide. This type of marketing and distribution shows that using the internet this way is very successful and effective as it makes wider audiences aware of the film that previously wouldn’t have known unless it was on the internet.
- 4. SIMILAR FILMS TO MY OWN AND THEIR DISTRIBUTORS HOW DID LIONSGATE MARKET AND DISTRIBUTE THE LAST EXORCISM? The Last Excorism used the chat room website ‘Chatroulette’ to advertise the film. In the campaign that went viral, a girl pretends to take off her shirt, stops and turns into a monster. At the end of the sequence, the film’s website is flashed on screen. This enabled Lionsgate to get a vast type of audience aware of the film which was hugely successful, due to the amount of people that use the website. The film also had posters to create awareness and excitement amongst the public. The posters created much controversy due to the images on the poster, of a girl with bloody clothing crouching below a cross. Due to the coverage of this issue, the film was set to be well known within the target audience and outside it too. The film was supposed to be released at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2010 but Lionsgate purchased the rights for the US distribution of the film, and they pulled the film was being released at the festival and set the release of the film to 27th August 2010 instead. The Last Exorcism was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in January of 2011, several months after the film was released, making the DVD wanted by fans perhaps.
- 5. SIMILAR FILMS TO MY OWN AND THEIR DISTRIBUTORS HOW DID PARAMOUNT MARKET AND DISTRIBUTE THE DEVIL INSIDE? There was hardly any marketing when it came to The Devil Inside, due to the fact that it was a Paramount Insurge (which is a sub-division of Paramount with ‘micro-budget distribution). There was, however, a preview clip which offers more footage that had not been previously seen in the trailer, which was released on YouTube in October 2011, a few months before the film was released in January 2012. This would have been an effective way to market the film as it would have created anticipation and excitement amongst the audience and would have made people more aware of the film.
- 6. WHAT MEDIA INSTITUTION WILL DISTRIBUTE MY FILM… I have chosen to go with Universal Pictures to distribute my film due to the marketing campaign and the audience that Ouija attracted. Universal Pictures is one of the main ‘big six’ media institutions which means that they will be able to market my film, The Hellion, effectively and use similar techniques to what they used on Ouija. The Ouija campaign was based on social media, including YouTube, which was used to release the trailer. In addition to this, I also like that the film was released in 2,858 cinemas across North America which meant that more people knew about the film and created the most profit possible. Also, the film was previewed the night before its official release to a select few audiences which meant there was more publicity around the film and created even more profit and more exposure. The audience that the film attracted was 61% female and 75% under 25s on the opening weekend, which is exactly what I want for The Hellion. This is because typically paranormal horror films are targeted towards women and the younger generations. My target audience for The Hellion was demographic E which is ideal and compares to what the audience was for Ouija. Universal Pictures being the institution that distributed the film Ouija is ideal also, because the film plots are very similar, in the sense that a ouija board is the central part of the film and that strange happenings go on in the presence of the ouija board. This means that Universal Pictures will know how to market this type of film, using similar techniques to ones they have already used and know will be successful. The fact that Universal Pictures is apart of the ‘big six’ is good too because the company is very well known which means that The Hellion will get as much exposure as possible and hopefully make it successful.