Successful films depend as much on marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices. To what extent do you agree?
by
anthonypaulsaunders98gmailcom (student)
Question: successful films depend as much on marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices. To what extent do you agree with this statement
Effective marketing and high quality production are normally used together to create a successful film both in terms of financial and critical success. However, there are other factors that contribute to the success of a film such as the collaboration between two companies/corporations to achieve a mutually beneficial effect that furthers both corporations’ interests (synergy). To explore this question I will be using three case studies: The Kings Speech (2010), Attack the Block (2011) and the high budget mainstream film Spectre (2015).
How a film is produced greatly affects the audience that the film will attract and also how well the film will be critically received. This is because different genres of films attract different audiences. For instance, the independent film I studied (Attack the Block) had a hybrid genre of sci-fi, comedy, horror and action. The target audience for the film was young British youths who could relate to the characters and narrative in the picture; young actors such as John Boyega were cast in order to appeal to the films teenage target audience. The budget for this film was around £8 million which is quite high for a film of this nature. Independent films usually have low budgets and have complex and meaningful plots. And independent film makers are often more focused on the critical success of a film rather than its financial success. This was much the case with the film attack the block as it was well received critically but actually made a loss at the box office. This is most likely due to the films niche audience (British teenagers) and the subsequent lack of U.S marketing and distribution. The films marketing campaign was almost entirely based online and in some T.V adverts on channels such as E4 that have an audience which is the same as the films target audience. A website was set up to market the film and on this site there was merchandise available to buy. Several social media pages were also set up to help promote the film. Because the film was critically successful but still made a loss you can make the assumption that the downfall of this film may have had something to do with ineffective marketing. In terms of distribution the film was not distributed as well as it could have been, showing at only 352 screens in the UK and a measly 66 in the U.S. Films rely largely on the American audiences in this day and age to make a profit. Therefore the lack of distribution in the U.S was almost certainly a factor in the failure of this film to make a profit. The film only made around £3.8 million in the box office globally after its release.
