Thursday, 7 January 2010
Quote from the daily contributor
"broke the record for the fastest climb to 1 billion dollars - 17 days"
Quote by Screen about Avatar
"an unprecedented marriage of technology and storytelling which is on the whole remarkably sucessful"
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Marketing
The film used alot of cross media converge in their marketing campaign across many meida platforms and envolving other industries. For example:
-Full length trailer shown in cinemas (3.30) to directly advertise to the cinema goers in the sme medium as the film
-Shorter trailer (2:15) begin to bulid up peoples interest and spread awareness
-Teaser to get people interested about the film early on and encourage them to get more envolved in it (eg going online looking out for reviews etc)
-Downloadable interactive trailer is a unique idea that will appeal to younger audiences who demand more interactivity from there entertainment
-Previewing 15mins of the film to show the audience a clip of the film which will aim to promote good reviews and honest WOM from the viewers themselves. This could persuade other potenial viewers more than hard line advertising, to go and see the film, as some people are more likely to trust and respond to comments and recommendations from individuals rather than global companies.
-Official website; inc links to trailers reviews, cineworld website, to buy tickets, social networking sites (fb, twitter etc), downloads videos, plot line, music site, games site and toys and merchandising - the hub of campaign which is appropriate for younger modern cinema goers. This is a good example of synergy and cross media convergence
http://www.avatarmovie.com/ - link to official website
-Below the line reviews through online blogging and in magazines such as Empire, who also did a special cover an article on avatar on there magazine, help spread awaress and interest as they directly target film fans who read reviews - symbiosis.
-News about the film and its sucess appearing onTV
-James Cameron website has information about his new film which will target people who know of his reputation and sucess with other fims such as Titanic
-Trailers on cinema website for people who will impulsively see the film if it looks good
All these marketing techniques aim to promote the film to a wide but specifically targeted audience, generate good word of mouth and ultimately get people to buy a ticket and see the film
Distribution
How has the UK theatrical distribution of the film been managed in order to ensure the films sucess in th UK
The film premierered in Londons Leicester Square on the 11th of December. This was important to the success of the film as the result of the premiere would help determine intial/critical responses to the film - which could lead to good or bad word of mouth. Signourney Weaver, Sam Worthington were some of the cast present in order to gain media attention and even held short interviews - which were placed online for further publicity to even wider markets (there personal fan groups). This would increase the likelyhood of success as it would generate extra awareness of the film and its imminent official release.
Earlier on in the year the film also exhibited a 15 minute extract of the film to generate word of mouth and keep audiences interested who were following the production process of the film. This made the film more successful as people became aware of the films potential and the majority were amazed by the visual effects and power of the film - and are therefore very likely to later see the whole film in the cinema and spread good word of mouth to similar audiences.
The film was released nationally (and internationally) saturating the cinemas and thus increasing its opening weekend sucess - which lead to further sucess as it broke the $1billion mark, giving it the reputation of a hugely sucessful film. This would help its sucess in the UK as people would become aware (through online and newspaper articles) of the huge appeal and sucess of the film around the world and the UK.
They also delayed the release of the film so that more cinemas could update to 3D projectors, and exhibit the film in 2D and/or 3D to increase there audience and appeal. This could increase the sucess of the fim as people will be encouraged to see it in the newest format possible (3D) and so will arguably be more impressed and immersed in the film than if it was only available in 2D.
Avatar had a christmas time release in the cinemas, which is likely to get in bigger audiences as more people are going on holiday - particularly families - which means they have more time for leisure activities-like films-making it more sucessful than at other times of the year. Also, there were no other big blockbuster appealing to such a wide audience as Avatar, or demonstrating similar technology, or of a similar genre. So it didnt have much competition for other films released in the same week. For example - Alvin and the chipmunks 2 - the squealquel is for a much younger audice, St Trinians 2 is primarily for a female audience and Nine is a musical and so a very different genre.
http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/now-showing.html - link to films in cinemas now
Production
How was the film produced to appeal to the target audience?
As Avatar is a high bugdet film (said to cost around $200 million to make), it needs to appeal to a broad mass audience in order to make a substantial profit. Therefore it has been produced to primarily appeal to the largest group of cinema goers - young men. It has done this by having a leading male marine character and occupying the masculine genre of action adventure-involving a big fight scene. However there are hints of other genres like fantasy and sciencefiction in order to entice secondary audiences to see the film (fantasy might appeal to younger children). It also appeals to nicher marklets - like fanatic cinema goers, as it has revolutiary technology with a long anticipated build up. This new innovative technology and 3D effect will appeal to younger audiences as it allows them to fully immerse themselves in the film and allow them to gain more pleasure from the experience
