FILM box office, budget,production practices

As we'll see, there are some key choices made at the production stage that heavily influence the chances of a filming becoming a hit. We will consider only some of these here.

Year 9 Taster day 2016 from DB3igs

SUMMER 2015 US BOX OFFICE TOP 10
This 3-minute video runs down the top 10 biggest hits (box office is the total amount of money they took in from cinema ticket sales).

As you view this use your handout to note any success factors (or good production practices) you can think of.


Gallery with 2 posters for each, and a main cast list.

Summer 2015 top 10 posters gallery from DB3igs

FILM BUDGETS
Why do you think such films usually cost so much to make?
What choices are made that raise the budget?
(You will shortly be considering what choices to make for your proposed film)

FAMILY FORTUNES...
Time to take a break and play a game...


COMPARING WITH 5 UK EXAMPLES
See if you can match these films to the budget provided and the box office, and work out why they didn't do well.
HINT: cast, genre (they all use 'social realism', a genre that doesn't use stars ... or CGI ... or familiar 'posh' characters ... or the usual UK settings [London/South of England!] ... and can be a bit grim, 'downbeat').
There is ONE positive marketing element for all of these, involving places like Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, and newspapers like The Guardian...
How many of these have you heard of or seen?
How many of the 'stars' have you heard of?
They're all award-winning films!
'k' = £000 (so £22k = £22,000)

CTRL-CLICK to view full-size (CMD-click on a Mac)

Here's the trailer for For Those in Peril - what 'success factors' do you see? Stars? CGI? A popular genre? Franchise?

Here's the trailer for This is England - what 'success factors' do you see? Stars? CGI? A popular genre? Franchise?
NB: the full film is 18-rated, but the trailer is cut to enable it to be shown with 12-rated films.

WEBSITE 2016 Year 11 websites

Websites:

Evie (Illenium [rapper])
Orla (English Theatre Company of Luxembourg)
Aubrey (AK Photography)
Ismini (MiniChef: TeenCook)
Ben (Blackout Studios [gaming])
Harry (The Imperial Dog [rap artist])
Adam (Death Claw Game Studios)

FILM Hybrid genres and pitching

We started with this (PG-13) trailer; listening only to the opening 50 seconds, viewing the rest.

It is an example of a hybrid genre film.

Others are illustrated in the PowerPoint below.

Year 9 Taster day 2016 l2 from DB3igs

Your task today is this:

You have been invited to pitch a film idea to the world's most successful film distributor, Universal International Pictures.
They are especially interested to hear of any hybrid ideas you might have - no matter how outrageous.
You could combine two existing film franchises (series) or attempt a more original idea.
Either way you need to detail:

• the budget
• the main cast
• the genres
• which film/s it can be compared to (it should be clear they are successful films!)
• the title
• at least one tagline
• a summary of why you think this film would be box office gold

It would be to your advantage to have some visual aids (maybe even a mock-up poster) to boost your chances of successful pitching and winning funding - but focus on the content first!

Classic taglines; filmsite selected taglines; shortlist poster gallery of great taglines.

FILM marketing research and presentation

TASK: Research the marketing of one contemporary (last 10 year) film, and present your findings. You are aiming to show the wide range of ways in which a film is marketed and promoted, and will move on to create a cross-media marketing campaign yourself.

This includes: trailers (including teasers: YouTube ads, TV spots, cinema ads, via social media, exclusives at fan conventions); appearances by stars/director (TV chat shows, fan conventions); film premiere (the red carpet); posters/billboards (in magazines, cinemas, sides of buses, telephone booths...); social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram especially); website (can include games, competitions, downloadable content, blog, behind-the-scenes production videos...); OST CD + music videos; tie-ins (where a company creates a promotion based around the movie, eg McDonalds' toys) and even product launches (LG launched a new mobile phone linked to the release of Avatar); DVD/Blu-Ray editions; video game ... You could also consider UGC (user-generated content) or fan-made videos and other content - not created by the film companies but mostly welcomed by them as helping to promote the film and make it better known (viral media).

I have blogged on many examples of film marketing on my film blog, for example on Avatar, Paul, Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee and more in this post. Retro website-based video games were used to film some of these...

I'll use the example of a Pirates of the Caribbean film, On Stranger Tides, from 2011. In the following searches I changed one keyword each time:

Posters search: there are lots of distinctive posters!

Red carpet search: lots of publicity from the premieres!

OST CD search meant I find this:

Multiple versions

Multiple editions: collector's, special, director's cut ... there's even a 6-disc 3D boxset, that got this fan very excited!

As you'd expect, there were many tie-ins.

Billboards galore too!

Merchandise raises money and promotes the film!

...

WEBSITE add a game?

The website mimics the TV show...

This is a simple example of the sort of feature that can add an edge to your website, make it a richer experience. I've not looked for any examples at this point, I'm not claiming it as a convention, merely an option.

There are lots of apps and web-based tools that will generate a game for you. I've used the Family Fortunes game builder, for example, to test on some British Cinema terminology knowledge (try it here).

Taking the example of a website for a music artist, you could do a quiz based on song lyrics; video screenshots; track titles (name the tracks from album x)...

If you have any suggestions/examples, please leave a brief description and URL as a comment.

Options from the free web-based Family Fortunes game builder

...

FILM poster resources

TBC

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/graphic-design/how-top-studios-create-their-best-movie-posters-for-hollywood-indie-films/

http://www.comingsoon.net/extras/features/643201-the-25-best-movie-posters-of-2015#/slide/1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811861716/

http://www.allposters.co.uk/-st/Movie-Posters_c101_.htm

http://www.filmposters.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_poster

http://www.popartuk.com/film/

http://www.originalposter.co.uk/

...

FILM posters 2015 Year 10 drafts

These students will be returning to make some revisions to these, but this gives you an idea of what you will ultimately be producing. Note, however, that the quality of your research and initial analysis, including a clear consideration (building on Assignment One's focus on Media Language and Audience) on Representation, is just as important as your construction.

Adam has done well with font selection, the layout of the 'billing block', the technical and company logos, release date, the inclusion of a URL ... It is important to incorporate ORIGINAL photography in your poster though, and social media should be considered. Ratings/quotes from reviews (picking the source well is crucial), rearranging the stars' billing, an age rating could also be added.

What would you change on Evie's poster?

Yes, there's a typo, but Ismini crafted the main image herself - it is NOT a googled image!

TBC

MAGAZINE Yr10 drafts 2016

From January  15th:
MISSING: Christelle, Oliver St., Charlotte

Christian S

Harry E - before he did a thorough re-draft...

Harry's new version!

Hilmir I

Neo R

Oliver Sv.

Ruslan G

Simon S

Yanis A

Zak E

Charlotte W

Oliver St.

Christelle

...