Exemplar for internal assessment resource Media Studies for Achievement Standard 91496
A significant development in the promotion and marketing of films
has been the growth of the internet and social media. Before the internet was used to
market films, the filmmaker would have to go to a separate company to market their film.
These companies would be able to contact cinemas and advertise the film that you wanted to
screen. Promoting a film takes a significant chunk out of a films budget and without
significant promotion, a film hasn’t got much chance of succeeding at the box office. When
the average Hollywood spend on marketing might be $40m. So a traditional marketing plan
for a film might have included promotions in print [magazines, newspapers] and film trailer or
on television. This worked and still works for big Hollywood films but it is a problem for the
smaller budget films that are generally produced by small companies or groups who have to
fund their films themselves. The reason why this did not work for the small filmmakers was
because the marketing companies had to make money for themselves and would see your
movie as just a ‘product’ for the audience as ‘consumers. Small filmmakers would not have
enough money to fund this from of marketing and therefore their movie would not have been
distributed to many, if any, cinemas.
The way that films are being marketed has been greatly impacted in the last few years and
this comes with the development of social media. While traditional forms of marketing are still
in place, what has changed is the use of social media as part of the options. In recent years
films have been making social media promotion a necessity to their campaigns and this is
because it works. According to the PewResearch Centre 74% of adults who the internet use
social networking sites with 71% using Facebook and 23% using Twitter. “Marketers can
use three social media bases to reach several types of audience. Instead of simply uploading
a movie trailer to YouTube, you can tweet about it, post movie stills onto Facebook and
Instagram behind-the scenes-moments…”
That facebook is a significant tool in the marketing of a film is seen in films in NZ like What
We Do in the Shadows. A small film like this cannot compete with a Hollywood movie in
terms of budget but they can use social media like Facebook and Twitter. They hold fan
competitions and post all news about the upcoming events and movie releases. They have
over 119,000 likes on their page. They have videos on the page including interviews with the
‘vampires’. They have stills from the film and links to Instagram and Twitter. There are
‘visitor posts’ in which people talk positively about the film. The facebook page is used as a
promotional tool not just to announce the release of the movie but also its release on DVD.
For example a video of a deleted scene was posted on the facebook page with the promise
of more scenes like this on the DVD. This posting had over 9.5k views while 129 people had
shared the post. The facebook page also let them update about release dates and
distribution – for example the US release and elsewhere, or the release on Itunes or on VOD.
One fan asked on the facebook page “When do we get a DVD in the US’ to which WWDITS
were able to reply immediately with a date. Video Ezy held a simple competition to win a
copy of the film on DVD via their facebook page . This completion instantly got fans involved
and wanting to win free stuff. I think this is a good change in marketing because it means you
don’t need as much money to market our film in the current industry, the Facebook page also
lets people’s friends see if they have like the page, this means that if one person likes the
page all their friends will see and be curious as to WWDTS is. The use of the Facebook page
and the constant updating is that it makes the fans feel close to the actors and trust them.
© NZQA 2015
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Media Studies for Achievement Standard 91496
“the more they trust what you have to say, the more they like you. All of this adds up to
credibility and – in the long run – sales. This trust makes the audience believe that the
product will be good and then out to buy it.
After being a hit in New Zealand and other countries around the world Waititi and Clement
wanted to take their film to America. The only problem was that they did not have the money
to have it marketed or distributed there. One way they overcame this obstacle was by
running a Kickstarter campaign to fund their film which raised $446,666 from 7,204 backers.
The film then went on to make it into the Top 20 films at the US box office one weekend.
What they didn’t know was that this would also help with the marketing of the film. I think this
was a good marketing technique because it made the people be able to see a live feed of the
film and how much it was making, then the people who have donated may tell their friends
who are then interested and they tell their friends until you have a massive fan base all
wanting this film to come to your hometown because you’ve heard so much about it. This
subtle marketing technique worked and the fans all put money towards the cause and the
film is now being shown in America with massive fan bases that are patiently waiting for the
film to come to them.
Another film that has used social media to promote the film is Mt Zion. This is another New
Zealand film that features some of New Zealand’s best talent. The film was successful in the
box office and it had a lot of boost through the use of not only their Facebook page but they
also used radio stations such as ZM to do competitions and giveaways. It was the highest
grossing New Zealand film of 2013. The Facebook page was constantly showing fan made
videos just to show everyone how dedicated their fans were. I feel this was a good way to
promote their film because it showed other people the dedication and outsiders would look to
see what everyone was going on about.
A third NZ film that has used social media to promote their film is The Dead Lands. They
have 52K likes on their facebook page, and have used it to promote their film. For example
they feature stills from the film and from the movie premiere, reviews and video on the
facebook page. The facebook page has been used to give release dates as well as other
related information. They had over 20,000 likes of the facebook page before the movie was
even released. According to research on the NZ Film Commission website social media, and
in particular Facebook was really significant in the success of the film which became “the top
grossing film at the NZ box office in its opening weekend [$397,084].” According to exit
interviews ,Facebook helped make 41% of those who had seen the movie in the opening
weekend aware it was on. Also research was done into the facebook mentions of the film
before it opened and it received 11,675 mentions. It was also able to trace that over 600,000
people viewed the trailer from the facebook page as opposed to 143,027 from YouTube.
The use of the internet and social media has greatly impacted the way that films are being
marketed today. Anyone who makes a film can now take to Facebook or anywhere on the
web to promote their film. From self-funded independent projects to big-name Hollywood
blockbusters, the movie industry has embraced social media. Big time. The use of Facebook
and the internet takes out the middleman and leaves the filmmakers to be able to spend all
their money on the quality of their film and not think about the cost of getting it into cinemas.
The only question is where next? What will new filmmakers come up with to cut the costs of
marketing your film even because there is always room for change.
© NZQA 2015