Evaluation question 2

Film Distribution-

The film distributor is responsible for the whole marketing of the film which is usually different company to the production company. This role is very Important to financing a film as they need to make cost effective ways of marketing their product.

There are many methods and techniques in which they use to advertise their film; these promotional techniques include many advertisements whether it’s an outdoor ad such as billboard or poster, tv and cinema ad such as trailers and teaser trailers and web ads via websites and social media; all these are methods which help to vastly promote their film across a wide area to a lot of audiences.

However different marketing is used depending on the type of potential audience.
For example, if the target audience is younger the style of advertising is more likely to be digital or promoted via social media as the majority of teens are known to be active users of social media so this would be an effective way of promoting their film.

The value of audience research is extremely important to distribution companies when it comes to developing their campaign, as this gives distributors the chance to see what their target audience likes and dislikes.

An example of a recent film who used a lot of promotional techniques is…

Fantastic beasts and where to find them.

The fantastic beasts film was a very successful movie based on the short book written by J.K. Rowling a few years ago but until now was never a major competitor. The textbook is referenced briefly in one of the Harry Potter books but now, though, there’s been an entire film dedicated to the story. Although fantastic beasts is not a follow up film to harry potter it is still written within J.K Rowling’s Wizarding world, meaning that there is already a massive fan base waiting for the film. This can be both a positive and negative thing the reasons being that the expectations will be extremely high as the original harry potter films were such a success and the fans of the movies are very dedicated and will expect nothing less than to exceed their expectations. However, this could also be a positive as it means the target audience is already identified and a fan base is already existing which gives distributors a massive head start when it comes to promoting the film.

The films main character Newt Scamander is played by the very well-known and current actor ‘Eddie Redmayne’, by having well known actors and actresses in films this instantly makes the consumers want to watch it and will already have a prejudgment of what it will be like depending on their view on that particular actor or actress.


Poster releases-

To begin with overall there were three main posters realised to audiences, the first teaser trailer to be released showed the main character (Eddie Redmayne) standing in a grand building (what could be a train station) with the title at the bottom and a golden colour across the whole poster, although this doesn’t give much away the audience was introduced to the main character and the first ‘Magical’ glimpse of the wizarding world.

The second poster again just shows Eddie Redmayne but this time in a new location adding more context and can start to get the audience guessing, this poster also features ‘J.K Rowling invites you to a new era of the wizarding world’ this now makes previous Harry Potter fans aware of the film and can start hyping up the return of the wizarding world. The second poster also includes the directors name which can again give the audience preconceptions of what the film will be like. The third poster was a special release at San Diego Comic-Con showing Scamander in the middle as well as introducing new characters around him. The poster has mid-century modern design to it, making it look like the kind of stained-glass windows you’d see in a major city’s railroad station. That helps set the time period of the story and the actual setting can be gathered by the way the American flag is weaved into some of the designs at the top.

By doing these three poster releases it created build up and excitement towards the film, and kept the audience interested.

Finally, the last release of posters were character posters, which gave fans the chance to see in more detail the characters to expect and given some context about them including each of their names. All the characters are surrounded by different objects that could hint at clues to the plot which creates lots of excitement for the audience and can get them interacting with the film already.










Trailer releases-

In total there was 4 trailers released to the public this included...

The first teaser trailer… Basic plot and date is given and we are introduced to the film

Second teaser trailer... Slightly more context visually but not much is expanded on the plot
https://youtu.be/ViuDsy7yb8M

First Main trailer… Released at comic con
https://youtu.be/YdgQj7xcDJo

Final Main trailer...Included a lot more context and unseen footage which keeps the audiences interested.

Other Promotion Techniques Used-

Publicity and the media-

Fantastic Beasts appeared on several film magazine covers which can have a huge impact on promotion, as the magazine is aimed at film lovers they are hitting there target audience and getting even more awareness for their film. They also partook in many interview, including J.K Rowling herself.

Comic-con-

By going to events such as comic-con this created interactive experiences with consumers, which creates a more engaging and intimate experience for the audience. This is a great marketing strategy as they can partake in interviews, meet and greets and exclusive information which really helps to promote the film.

Social Media-
Distributors set up an interactive website for the film where fans could get more information about the film, here they can can see gallery images, visit the shop and interact with exclusive features.

http://www.fantasticbeasts.co.uk/gallery.php

The website also has links to all their social media's where fans can keep up to date with the happenings with the film.
Overall, the fantastic beasts film distributors used lots of promotional techniques to market their film, to the right target audience and to as wide of an audience as possible. The distribution had a very steady process and constantly kept fans up to date by revealing more and more information on what to expect each time. The overall consistency of the design features was very continuous and had many recurring features that soon become iconic and noticeable to fans.