“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices”. To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?


I would agree the statement, that media depends upon marketing and distribution as it is the most important factor to consider within the filming industry. We can really see the differences between a film which has had major marketing and distribution and see how it can influence the film’s success. Although, both factors are extremely important within media, in order to create a popular film.

20^th Century fox is a huge film company which has been around since 1935, and from then has produced many famous and successful films, such as, home alone, alien and avatar. By having such popular and well made films the success of the company has overshadowed others making it one of the biggest film companies. Therefore the company can connect with other distribution networks, and television companies to ensure more money is brought forward and to create bigger and popular filming productions. For example the film ‘Prometheus’ was certainly going to be successful as it was with the company of 20^th Century Fox so already had a good reputation, so they didn’t need any media convergence as Fox is already such a big name. However I would question how the film could become anymore successful if it were to converge with another company. The film had an extremely good marketing technique, such as; TED Talks (included a video featuring Guy Pierce as fictional Weyland Industries head Peter Weyland, giving a TED talk in 2023. The piece was first screened at the real TED conference in February. According to the LA Times TED organizers helped to make the film look like what they envision a TED talk will really be like in the future), websites, TV spots, trailers, twitter (#areyouseeingthis). The Prometheus twitter account received 15 million followers. By having most of the vertical marketing used with technology and media, it appeals to a wider audience such as young adults and adults who use technology everyday as it is easy to get hold of information and trailers of the film and keep them updated on the films latest updates of trailers and gossip from the film.

 

Another example of a successful film is Kick Ass with quite a high budget of thirty million dollars. The budget had to be quite high in order to overcome from the special effects used within the film. With an amazing use of production companies such as Plan B entertainment, Lions Gate entertainment, and Marv Films, the film was already going to be a success because of the convergence of the three companies, as well as, Brad Pitt co-producing the film. The viral marketing was another strong point, as I mentioned in Prometheus’s success, this film had; numerous trailers, TV spots, blogs and websites. Kick Ass the comic book and the film were actually written at exactly the same time 'so it was a very sort of collaborative, organic process'. There were many magazine features including the comic, with references to the video game, of the film which was released after the film’s success but proved to cause some controversy from the quality of the game. However the slight disappointment of a famous cast ruined the film slightly, as there was Aaron Johnson who was best known for playing Robbie in Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, may have pushed viewers away, instead of attract them to towards the film. If there were to be a list of big names it would attract any audience to see the film as they are all known for their previous roles in other successful films. Although, bar all of the negative points I have made about the film, the total income was over ninety million dollars.

 

The Kings Speech however was a much smaller production with Momentum Pictures, with a budget of £8,000,000. The film mainly relied on the marketing and distribution of the film, otherwise it would not have received the critical reception that it did. It did so well with awards, by winning an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay.
The film had received 12 Oscar nominations, more than any other film in that year. Besides the four categories it won, the film received nominations for Best Cinematography and two for the supporting actors, as well as two for its mise-en-scène: Art Direction and Costumes.

As ‘The Kings Speech’ was not able to have a huge budget, it had to be made recognizable. With the budget of £8 million it didn’t have the potential to compete with some of the other major blockbusters out at the time. By making the film recognized, viral marketing was used. ‘The film was made just in time to enter it into several film festivals in the hope that national newspaper journalists will enjoy it’. The reception of the film was good, before the film was released into cinemas people were excited for it, and whether not it will be any good. Many different posters were released along with some trailers. The posters have a simple image of characters with some positive quotes from critics. This way the audience feel implied to go and see. The posters are very cleverly made as they don’t give anything away about the film, therefore remains a mystery. The trailer is also extremely important as it is promoting the films and showing the best bits without giving away the ending. In the UK and Ireland, the film was the highest earning film on its opening weekend; it took in £3.5 million from 395 cinemas. The Guardian said that it was one of the biggest takes in recent memory, compared to Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which, for example, two years earlier earned £1.5 million less. Convergence and synergy are extremely important factor to make a successful film. Bedlam and SeeSaw converged together to create The King’s Speech. They form different platforms such as posters, soundtracks and trailers.

In conclusion to this I feel that with the research and the knowledge on these films the most important part of successful media is to depend on marketing and distribution, as viral marketing and posters and TV spots are what sell the film. If there were to be no marketing the film would not be recognised. In my opinion it doesn’t matter how good the quality a film is, it is the distribution and marketing which declares the decisions of the audience and critics. However I still believe that it is very reliant on vertical distribution if a high budget was used.