Tuesday 2 December 2014

"Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices"

To what extent do you agree with this statement?

I think that marketing plays a big part in the success of a film because a main reason for a film’s success is the amount of people that go and see it therefor the amount of money the film makes. If a film is well advertised then more people will find out about it therefore they are likely to get more people going to see it. This means that the more advertising you do the better publicised your film is so films that are backed by big companies will find it easier to do this as they have the money to do it. This means that films such as Iron man 3, produced by Marvel Studios, had a big enough budget to use advertisement such as a Facebook page and a car driven by Tony Stark being at the premier etc. Films made by huge companies are at an advantage as advertising is a key part to gaining fans and interest for the film. I also think that film series e.g. Harry Potter and groups of films like Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead and The Worlds End, all including Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, will do better as they have more opportunities to build their fan base. Fans of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are likely to watch their films and as more people watch them, more people are likely to watch any other films where they are both involved. The same for Harry Potter as there is already a huge fan base from the books so instantly there will be people wanting to watch the film. As the films go on they will increase their fan base even more as more people find out about them or read the books and become interested in the films.
I also think that distribution is a big part of a film’s success. Again, if a film is made by a big company then they can afford to distribute their film more broadly or to other countries. If you are able to distribute your film to other countries then you’re instantly able to extend to a wider audience. However good distribution doesn’t guarantee success for a film. If you get bad reviews then people are less likely to want to see your film. Even big film companies that are well known for making good films are not guaranteed success because of good distribution e.g. Big Talk Productions made Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz which were successful however when they made Attack the block they got bad reviews which would have  stopped them from being as successful as they could have been. Even if you get bad reviews it may not stop your success. For example if something like The Avengers got bad reviews it would probably not stop them from being successful as it was such a huge and highly anticipated film and Marvel films before it were very successful.
 
Good production practices do have some part to play in the success of a film. If a film is not very good then it is hard to advertise it to make it look really good. This can be done by picking the best bits and using them to advertise but if the film is given bad reviews then it may not be as successful. If you have a good film you are more likely to get good reviews and have more people watch it. When people watch it they are likely to tell others what it was like so if it is good you will get more people wanting to go and see it from hearing about it. However good production on its own will not help the film succeed as there have been films that are well filmed and very good but didn’t do as well economically such as Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. Having a good film helps promote it as if you get awards or actors in the film get awards for their role then you get more publicity and more people will know about the film. Having A list stars in a film is also going to be good for the film as they will often have a large fan base who will watch their films. This means if you have lots of A list stars you will instantly have a huge group of people who will want to watch the film. This means you may have to rely less on advertising to get people to know about the film however if you have lots of A list stars in your film it is likely you have a big enough budget for advertising as well. 
 
A wide variety of advertising can really help a films publicity as it makes more people aware of the film and interests more people in it. Films that release teaser trailers or countdown trailers will gain publicity as people will be interested in the film. I think more obscure advertising such as releasing an app or making an official Facebook page is good for a film as it makes them stand out and attracts more people to watch it. I think good advertising is the main reason films are successful as if you don’t advertise then nobody will know about the film so there will be less people watching it. Good advertising means lots of people will know about the film and hopefully go and see it.
 
Overall I think that just advertising or distribution alone won’t guarantee the success of the film as films can be well advertised but not be well distributed and therefor isn’t available to as many people. If a film is well distributed it is available to lots of people but if it is not advertised then not as many people will know about the film therefor less people will go and see it. I think that good production, marketing and distribution are all needed to help make a film successful. If these things are used alone then they can each help the film be successful but without the others there are limits to how well it can do economically. Therefor I do totally agree with the statement ‘successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices’.

1 comment:

  1. In your opening two paragraphs try and include examples to support your points. Ensure that the examples you provide are from the last 4 years, why not use films we have studied in class like The Avengers and TGBH or Dredd.

    Use the YouGov profile site to idnetify who these films were aimed at and then evaluate how successful their marketing strategies were. For each film detail their production, distribution and marketing. At the minute your response is strong on argument but weak on evidence. Look into how successful TGBH was is targetting its audience (see the US limited release figures) but how badly Dredd did at reaching its audience.

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