Gwl6 assignment

1. 1
Introduction
In thispodcastI will be analysingthe relationshipbetweenproducersandaudience, inorderfora
filmtoattract an audience filmproducers wouldneedtoresearchintotheirtargetaudience asa
wayof understandinghowtoappeal totheirsuggestedtargetaudience andhow theyplanon
attractingthem. Audience researchisessentialformovie producersto marketandtarget an
audience inordertomaximise the profitsof the film, withoutitthenthe producerswouldbe
uncertainon whomto target theirproducttowardsresultinginanunsuccessful film. Primary
researchisnewresearch whichhas notbeendiscoveredorbeencarriedout,thiscanbe usedto
answerspecificissuesorquestiononhand,thiscanbe conductedthroughthe use of surveys,
questionnairesorevenfocusgroupswhereasonthe otherhandthere issecondaryresearchwhichis
research that has alreadybeenconductedandbeenmade availabletothe public,keyfilmwebsites
such as IMDB or RottenTomatoesare examplesof secondaryresearch.However,thesewebsites
conduct theirresearchbymeansof qualitative andquantitativeresearchbyallowingthe usersto
postboth theirratings(quantitative research) andtheirreviewsandopinionsonthe film(qualitative
research. Qualitativeresearchisaformof primaryexploratoryresearchbymeansof exploringby
the qualityratherthanthe quantity,itgivesthe researcheranunderstandingonopinions
motivationsandiscommonlyusedwithinthe mediaasthe mediawanttobe made aware of the
public’s opinionasitwouldbe able toinformthemon whatthe publicenjoy.Quantitative research
on the otherhand givesthe researcheranunderstandinginto anaudience onmore of a statistical
pointof view,quantitative researchfocusesmore onnumbersandstatistics. Bothqualitativeand
quantitative acquiredcanbe researchbymeansof PrimaryandSecondaryresearch,websitessuch
as IMDB or RottenTomatoes provide qualitative andquantitative researchbymeans of secondary
researchas the informationhasalready beenmade publicallyavailable whereasprimaryresearch
usesinformationfromsurveys,interviewsorfocusgroupsinorder to gainan understandingonthe
target audiencesopinionandviews.Withinthe filmindustry,producersuse Preview screenings/test
screeningsinordertoget feedbackonthe filmthroughmeansof primaryresearchthoughmostof
these consistof bothqualitative and quantitativeinordertogetthe bestfeedbackpossible,thisis
where the producersfindoutif the filmappealstothe intendedaudience inapositive ornegative
outlook.Dependingonthe audiencesresponse dependsonwhathappenstothe film, forexample
the audience mayenjoythe filmbutmayhate the endingwhichthe producerswouldchange the
endingtoappeal more the audience howeverif the filmisunsuccessful intestscreeningsthiscould
resultinthe filmnotbeingreleasedtoapublicaudiencesdue tonegative reactions.Inorderfora
filmtobe successful,itneedstoappeal tothe intendedtargetaudience andthiscannotbe achieved
withoutresearchingintothe audience thatthe filmwantstoattract.
Distributor
Distributionisthe process of makingthe targetaudience aware of the contentbymeansof
advertising, the distributorisanorganisationwhohandlesthe theatrical release of afilmina
particularcountryalongwithmarketingof the filmandthe meansof viewingthe filminthe comfort
of yourownhome,whether itbe;On-Demand,DVD,Televisionorbydownload.Itisnotedthat
feature filmsoftenhave multipledistributorswhichdeal withdifferentareas,whetherthisbe
distributioninaparticularcountryor forhome viewingthis makesiteasierfordistributorstofocus
on theirintendedtargetareawithoutneedingtoworryaboutthe otherareas. However,there are
productioncompanieswhichusedvertical integrationwhichmeanstheyare responsible fortheir

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ownfilmfromproductionall the wayto exhibition. However,bigproductioncompaniestendtobuy
distributorsinordertogaina footholdintothe marketwhichmakesthe distributionprocesssimpler
as theyhave a say inhow the filmisdistributed howeverinthe independent sector,vertical
integrationdoesnotoperate ascommonlyunlike mainstreamproductionasproducersdonothave
long-termeconomiclinkswiththe distributors.Thoughthe largestdistributorscome under
Hollywood’smajorstudiossuchasDisney,Sonyand20th
Century-Fox whichhave theirownlarge
marketingdepartmentswithsubdivisionswiththeirownintendedtargetssuchasPromotion,
publicityandmarketingresearch. Distributionisoftenreferredas“the invisible art”andisarguably
the most important partof the filmindustryasdistributionprocesswhereaudiencescome together
to watch theirfavourite filmsgetbroughttolife.Thoughdistributioninbrief isabout releasingand
sustainingfilmsinthe marketplace howeverinthe UnitedKingdom, the distributionprocessis
heavilyfocusedonmarketingandsustainingaglobal productinlocal markets. There are many forms
of distributorswithinthe filmindustryrangingfromlarge scale suchas Hollywood’smajorstudiosto
small independentdistributorssuchasMomentumPictureswhichcanbe seenassmallerin
comparisontothe likesof Disneyand20th
Century-Fox. Thisdistributioncompanywasoriginallyone
of the leadingindependentmotionpicturedistributorsacrossthe UKand Irelandwhohave released
approximately20 filmsayearalongwithsome successful theatrical releasessuchasthe Oscar
winningfilmThe KingsSpeech(Hooper,2010). Alongsideindependentdistributors,there are also
regional releaseswhichonlytargetcertaintargetareassuchas the companyStudioCanal whichhas
officesall overEurope. Roleswithindistributioninclude;acquiringthe rightstothe film, planning
howmany printsare required tobe releasedtothe exhibitor,negotiatingthe time of release,
providingtrailersandpublicitymaterial forthe exhibitors,providingadvertising/publicitymaterial to
promote the filmwhichcaninclude promotionaldealsandmerchandise andfinallysubtitlingthe
filmforan international audience,thisisusuallyfornon-Englishspeakingcountries. The rolesare
requiredtobe successfullyexecutedasif nottheymaynot reachtheirbox office grosstargetwhich
resultsinthe filmbeingunsuccessfulinthe eyesof the productioncompany.However,Ibelieve that
it all comesdownto the timingof release whichcanresultinansuccessful release,forexample a
filmdistributorwouldaimtorelease ahorrorfilmaroundHalloweenasthiswouldattracta bigger
audience ratherthanreleasingthe filminsummer,the same couldbe saidaboutappealingtoan
intendedtargetaudience asforexample releasingachildren’sfilmlike Frozen(Lee/Buck,2013)
whichisa film basedaroundsnowandice wouldbestsuita winterreleasedate ratherthana
summerrelease date asitismore appropriate tothe time of release.However,one problemwith
releasingfilmsroundwinteristhata filmreleasedaroundthistime isnotgoingtogrossas much as
a release date insummerasparentswouldbe outshoppingforChristmaspresentsmeaningthey
may nothave the time ormoneyto go to the cinema.Though Frozen(Lee/Buck,2013) wentagainst
these conventionsandgoon to grossa massive $1.76 billiondollarsthoughsome couldargue this
couldhave beenhigherif the filmwasreleasedduringthe summerholidays.The distributionof a
filmcan be splitupintothree differentstages,licensing,marketingandlogistics.
Discuss the differenttypesof marketing
There are three stages within marketing, advertising, publicity and promotion. Firstly is advertising
which is the point where the marketing campaign makes the film publicly known, one the audience
are aware of the product.Thiscanrange fromjustannouncingthe filmorbysparkingrumoursof who
is in the film, all the marketing team has to do is just make the target audience aware of the film in
order to create hype around the product. After this the marketing team are able to move on to the

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nextstage, publicitywhichthemarketingcampaignsrole istodraw attentiontothe productbymeans
of spoken, written or other forms of material, an example of publicity could be by use of a publicity
stuntinawaytodrawattentiontothe filmsuchasthe JackassNumberTwo(Tremaine,2006) publicity
stunt in which at the premier of Steve-O’s new film Jackass Number Two (Tremaine, 2006) in which
he peedon the red carpetand eventhoughthiswas disgustinginthe eyesof movie goers,itsparked
publicityforthe sequel.Lastlyispromotioninwhichthe marketingteampublicizesthe filmbymany
differentmethods,thiscanrange fromtrailerstoposterstotie in’swithotherproducts,thisisall done
inordertocreate excitementtowardstheproductinordertobringinthe audience. Thesethreestages
are what define a marketing campaign which can distinguish the difference between a successful
marketingcampaignandanunsuccessful campaign,duringamarketingcampaign somestudios spend
from $50-100 million just on worldwide promotion of big Hollywood blockbuster. Once the
distributorsare aware of the target audience,theycanuse the promotionalmaterialtoadvertiseand
attract the intendedaudience,here Iwillbe discussingthe formsof marketinginwhichstudiosuseto
attract an audience. The most common form of promotional material are trailers which are used to
advertise a film by showing selected shots in order to create excitement towards the film without
spoilingthe plot,trailersare alsoimportantforaudiencesasitgivesthe viewerandunderstandingof
what genre the film comes under and also the key stars who are in the film as stars include a
readymade audience. There are fourdifferentkindsof filmtrailers,firstlyisthe teaserwhichusually
lasts about a minute and is used to grab the attention of the audience and to “tease” the audience
before the release of the theatrical trailerwhich isreleaseda few monthsbefore release andduring
the post-production,thesetrailersusuallyincludesceneswhichwouldmostlyappealtothe audience.
Alongwiththeatrical trailersthereare internettrailerswhichare producedexclusivelyforsocialmedia
or the filmswebsite,these trailersmayinclude cutscenesandlastly isDVDtrailerswhichare usedto
advertise the DVD release of the film. Some directors create hype towards DVD by stating that the
DVD will include unreleased and deleted scenes. Successful trailers are able to attract an audience
without giving away key plot details whereas unsuccessful ones would give away key details which
wouldruinthe plot for the audience,forexample the filmtrailerforBatman vs. Superman:Dawn of
Justice (Synder, 2016) gave away the surprise of the main antagonist which resulted in viewers
complaining.The benefitof trailersisdue tothe internetit
meansthatstudiosare able touse social mediatopreview
trailers instead of spending money to advertise via
television, this is more beneficial for small scale
independentsince wordof mouthcanbe seenasthe best
form of free promotion. However, big Hollywood studios
would use all forms of promotional trailers such as the
cinema, televised trailers and trailers on social media.
Anotherformof promotional contentcome inthe formof
film posters which are the main medium for film
advertisements, they raise awareness towards the film
however it is the press and the publicitythat bring in the
audience. In the eyes of the public,filmposterswouldbe
the first glimpse of the film that the audience would see
since posters can be released well before productionhas
started. Although, posters would have to stick to genre
conventions in order to appeal to the intended target

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audience like usingathrillerbasedposterto attract a thrillerbasedaudience.UsingThe Dark Knight
(Nolan,2008) as an example we are to distinguishthatthisfilmcomesunderthe thrillergenre due to
the low saturated colours such as grey and black, the use of low key lighting is also apparentwithin
thisposter.Withinthrillerposters,there are signswithinthe posterwhichhintto the audience what
may happen during the film, and in the case of The Dark Knight (Nolan, 2008) it is the Joker tearing
downGotham. There is alsothe minimalistictextwhichstandsout and is easy to read to attract the
audience’sattention,thereare alsotimesinwhichthe texthasa rough lookingfeelinordertorelate
to the genre and lastly is the use of the tagline which isused to give the audience a clue on the plot
but does not give anything away which would want to make the audience want to see the film, all
these conventions are present within the trailer which helps signify to the audience that this film
comes under the thriller genre. With the development of the internet, comes the development in
distributionandhowfilmsare promoted,these moderntimesgive studiosthe opportunitytocreate
new and interesting marketing campaigns all with the push of a button. The internet gives small
independentstudiosavoice tobe heardamongstthe market of big Hollywoodblockbusterswiththe
use of social media for trailers to be released.However the internetalso givesthe audience a voice
which can be either beneficial or could impact the release of a film with websitessuch as Rotten
Tomato’sand IMDB withuserreviewsthoughthisdoesgive audiencesaheadsup onwhetheror not
the filmisworthseeing.The majorityof filmsreleasedtodayincludeawebsitetoaccompanythe film,
whichincludescontentaimedfortheaudiencesuchasbehindthescenesinformation,trailers,posters
andfan forumswhichallowuserstotalkamongstthemselvesabout the upcomingreleaseof the film.
It can also be stated that along with web 2.0 (Which heavily focuses on social media and user-
generatedcontent)isthe developmentinsocial mediaandhow filmshaveadaptedtothis,withmost
filmreleasescome social mediacontentwhichare usedto targeta wideraudience fora low price or
evenforfree.74 percentof people agedbetween18-65+ are on social media,thisincludeswebsites
such as Facebook,Twitter,tumblrand instagramwhichmeansmarketingteamsare able to attract a
several typesof audiencesbysimplyuploadinganimage a trailer, audiencesare able toshare it with
theirfriends.Social mediaappealstomarketersasit allowsthemto interactwiththeiraudience and
if the marketing team are able to convince their audience to use word of mouth marketing, the
audience will expand. However,there are manyotherformsof marketingliketie-inpromotionswhich
would be covered more thoroughly in the next two case studies of Spectre (Mendes, 2015) and
Deadpool (Miller, 2016) as I go over the marketing campaigns for both of these films.
Spectre Case Study
The film spectre (Mendes, 2015) which is the twenty
fourth James Bond film was released in late 2015 and
whichfeaturesDanielCraigreprisinghisroles asBritish
M16 agent James Bond “007”. The James Bond films
can classify as their own sub-genre under the action
genre due to the codes and conventions which
audiences expect to see within these films, it is what
make the James Bond films iconic to other Spy films
like The ManfromU.N.C.L.E(Ritchie,2015). Spectre hadamassive budgetof around$245-250 million
dollarsand evenwentonto be a successat the box office bringingin$880.7 milliondollarshowever
thiswas notas successful asthe previousfilm,Skyfall (Mendes,2012) whichbroughtin$1.109 billion
at the box office.Ibelievethatthe targetaudienceispredominantlymaletargetedwhichcanbe seen

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within both the marketing campaign, which I will be covering in this case study and within the film
itself due tothe codesand conventionsof aJamesBond filmlike forexample,highintense carchase
scenesandevenbondgirls.However,thereare otheraspectswithinthefilmwhichcouldattractother
audiences such as a female audience by using an actor in which older and possibly younger female
audiences wouldlove to see an attractive male actor on screen, this is the director includes topless
scenes of the male protagonist in order to entice the female audience in order to satisfy both
audiences.Withinthiscase study,Iwill be analysingthe marketingcampaignforspectre andhow the
marketingcampaignappealstothe targetaudience, thiswillalsoincludeme goingintofurtherdetail
into spectres intended target audience.
One of the primary methods in targeting an audience is by
the use of poster and with big Hollywood blockbusters,
audiences can tend to expect multiple posters which each
targetdifferentaudiences,forexampleone posterof spectre
couldtargetstrictlya male audience whereasanotherposter
couldtargetstrictlyafemale audience.Itiswiththeseposters
that studios attempt to anchor the audiences, although
JamesBondfilmstendtohave areadymade audience though
with these posters they will attempt to alert audiences into
wanting to watch the film while interesting new audiences.
However, within this case study I will only be analysing the
primary poster of Spectre in order to gain an understanding
of Spectre’sintendedtargetaudiencesandhow the director
plans on using the poster to appeal to this audience. As we
can see on the poster on the right, the target audience is
predominantlymasculine featuringthemaleprotagonistwho
appears to be dangerous and that this character is not a
character to be reckoned withhis iconicweapon,whichalso
appeals to the male audience as males stereotypically are
interestedinactionandviolence asopposedtofemales.The
use of the weaponsignifiesthatthe filmcomesunderthe action
genre and will feature scenes of action and violence however
since thisisa BritishSpyfilmyouwouldexpecttosee aformal representationof M16 whichIsdue to
the presentationof the poster,forexample the mainprotagonistiswearinga
suitwhichisseenasformal attire andhisposture showshe isdangerous. The
textalso supportsthe formalityof the poster by usinga style of font whichis
simple andminimalisticbutyet unique tothisposter,from firstglace viewers
would be able to distinguish the font as an action film due to formality, the
same can be applied to the logo as features a similar font however I believe
thisfontwas chosenforthe filmdue toits simplicityandthe audiencesability
to scan the poster distinguishing it from any other action films logo. The
majorityof action filmshave complex logo’swhichall thoughtheystand out,
they block out other aspects of the poster unlike James bond posters which
just keep it brief while still getting the point across. The same could be said
about Skyfall’sposterwithkeepingitsimple andgettingstraighttothe point.

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There is one iconic feature to James Bond posters which make them very distinguishable from any
otherstyle of Spypostersandthatistheiconic007logowhichreferstoJamesBond’scodenamewhich
helpssupport the term“secret”agent. The term“Spectre”isdescribedasa ghostwhichissomething
that is known to be feared, which also comes under the definition of the word Spectre “something
widelyfearedaspossible unpleasantordangerousoccurrence”and due to this,itcreates an enigma
code due to suggesting danger to the protagonist and grabs the audience’s attention as it would
promptthe audience intowantingtowatchthe filmtoanswerthe questionstothe enigmacodes. In
the background, there is a character in which audiences would also presume to be either the
protagonist or antagonist though we are uncertain due to the characters face has been covered up
with the mask of a skull which can represent fear and danger to the protagonist. Another way to
attract audiencesisbyusingestablishedstarsthatare well renownedinthe respectedgenre,the two
bignamesforspectre wouldbe the director,SamMendesandthe mainprotagonist,Daniel Craigdue
to the overwhelmingsuccessof the previousfilmSkyfall (Mendes,2012) soaudiencescanexpectthe
release of spectre to be on-par or better than
Skyfall.Toconclude,Ibelievethatthe postersfor
Spectre wouldbe placedinbigpopularcitieslike
Manchester and London in order to achieve
maximum coverage which would maximise the
profitsof the film,althoughfora blockbusterto
attract an upperclassaudience theywouldneed
to do more than justusingposterin bigcities. In
order to attract an upper class audience they
wouldneedtomarketthefilmtowardsthisaudience,forexample theuse of publicbillboardsinupper
class areas is a fine example on how you can use the film to appeal to the upper class while using
public transportation as a way to market the film towards the lower class.
Another form of promotional material come in the form of trailers, unlike posters which can be
produced throughout all stages of production, trailers are only produced during post-production
which is close to the release of the film which creates hype
towardsthe film.Trailersare aneffective wayof distinguishing
the genre as well as the main cast, in trailers such as spectre,
audiences are able to tell who the main protagonistand who
the mainantagonistisbywatchingthe chemistrybetweentwo
characters and how they counter-act each other. The first
trailerwas releasedatthe endof March whichcame in the formof a teaserwhich was usedto grab
the attention of the audience and to tease them before the release of theatrical trailer, this trailer
includesmanyelliptical andenigmaticelementswhichanchorstheaudiencesintowantingtoviewthe
film. Although due to the publicity of the film,
audienceswere alreadyawareof thecastingofthe
main antagonist however the trailer attempts to
keep this a surprise by casting a silhouette over
the antagoniststokeepthe identityhidden. Thisis
one of the enigmacodeswe see withinthe teaser
trailerinwhichaudienceswouldhavetowaittotill
the theatrical trailer for the unveiling of this

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character. Howeverthere isanotherenigmacode whichispresentinbothtrailerswhichisthe reveal
of thisorganisation,firstlywithinthe teaserwe are givena slightglimpse into thisorganisationsuch
as the reveal of the logointhe teaserwhichmakesthe audience questionwhathasthisgottodowith
ourmainprotagonist?Althoughinthetheatrical trailerthe mainantagonistisfinallyrevealedhowever
another enigma code appears which makesthe audience question how this organisation connected
to JamesBond? These enigmacodesanchorthe audience andhopefullybringina new audience into
watching the film to find the answers to these questions. It is with these trailers that audiences see
the codesand conventionsof the JamesBondfilmsandwhat audiencesshouldexpecttosee suchas
the use of technological gadgets, Bond Girls and the classic Aston Martin which is James Bonds
signature car. These are the elements of the film that audiences come to expect with James Bond
films, it is what makes the films unique to themselves, this is why James Bond films have their own
codesand conventionsinwhicheachfilmfollows.Eachtrailermanagedtoshow off differentaspects
of the filmbyshowcasingkeyelementswithinthe film,forexample the teasershow littletonoaction
as opposed to the theatrical trailers which showed the most action in order to appeal to the target
audience.The teaseronlygave audiencesasneakpeekintothe filminwhichateasershoulddo,which
is the job of the teaser to tease and anchor the target audience into viewing the film. The theatrical
traileris whatshowcasedthe majorityof the action for the audience byshowingelementsof action,
technological gadgets,violencesuchasexplosionsandgunfire alongwiththepolice iconographysince
James Bond does work for M16. I believe that these elements were used efficiently to target their
audience byusingstereotypical elementstotargeteachsectorof theiraudience,suchasusingDaniel
Craig in order to attract a female audience andBond Girlsin order to attract a male audience,these
factors were all influential to anchor their audience.
Film reviewsare very influential on audiences, theycan
serve asa positive ornegativeimpactonafilm’srelease,
andusuallyif afilmscorespositivelywithcriticsitusually
promptsaudiencestoviewthefilm.The samecanbe said
with Film magazines and newspapers as they attract a
niche audience whoonlywanttoreadaboutfilm,TV and
gamingreleasesandreviewsalthoughwithreviews.This
meansthata box office successsuchasspectre wouldbe
covered by Empire magazine, which scored the film a
four out of five ratingtherefore promptingaudiencesto
watchthe filmasthismagazine hadapprovedthe release
of the film.Readingthe verdicttowardsthe end,the only
negative issueagainstthe filmwasthe choice of opening
song which was sang by Sam Smith received a lot of
criticismbynotimpressingaudiences.The newspaper“The Guardian”slatedthe filmsthemesongby
saying“Itfeels like anXFactorBallad”due to notlivinguptothe hype asthe previoussongforSkyfall
which was sung by Adele which even won an Oscar.

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However,the filmlivedbackup to the gloryof the previousfilmas
Sam Smith even won an Oscar for the song “Writing on the Wall” for Best Achievement in Music
WrittenforMotion Pictures,Original Song.Due tothe filmwinninganOscar due to thissong,it gives
a positive outlook on the film due to the success of the film along with the many other wins and
nominations for awards the film received.
However, Empire magazine wasn’tthe only
successful article to give spectre a good
review as the newspaper “The Guardian”
gave the film a positive by stating that
“Daniel Craig hasgrown into the role of the
British spy with flair and sang-froid and this
inventive, intelligent and complex new
outing showcases him brilliantly” by giving
the filmSpectre a five outof five star rating
which would prompt readers to view the
film,I believe thisisquite an influential review forthe filmas 81% of The Guardians readerscoverA
to C1 on the social grading system witha majorityof 53% of theirviewersbeingmale whichcoversa
wide selection of spectres target audience. Most magazines use the front cover to appeal to their
target audience,forexample whentargetingstrictlyamale audience,sobysexualisingthe actor Léa
Seydoux thenthiswouldhelpanchor in a male audience,thisiswhythey use attractive actressesas
bond girls which is seen as eye candy to the audience in order to appeal to the male audiences
pleasures. Lastlyis the men’sfashion magazine GQ which did a special segment on the film spectre
whichgave audiencesakeylookintothe fashionmaterialwhichgivesaudiencesalookintothe fashion
of James Bond and how audiences can dress like him. This segment helps promote the release of
spectre by creatingawarenessof the filmby targetingthe male demographicof the audience,italso
helpspromote othercompanieswhichsuchasTomFordbylinkingthemtothe filmforsupplyingsuits
towards the audience’s beloved character.
Anotherwaystudioscanattract an audience
isby the use of the internet,byusingboth
official andunofficial websitestohelp

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promote andadvertise the film,thisiswhere audiencescanalsofindcriticandreview websites
whichcan eitherhave apositive ornegative influence onthe release of afilmasa filmwithagood
reviewcouldattracta wideraudience asopposedtoone witha badreview,filmproducersare
unable tocontrol negative criticismwhichcancause a filmtoflop.Filmreview websitessuchas
IMDB andRottenTomatoesare especiallynotable due touserfeedback,these websitesallow users
to posttheirownreviewsregardingacertainfilmordiscusswithotherusersabouta film’srelease.
These Websitesare keytoa successful launchasmanyuserswouldcheckthese websitesbefore the
release of afilminorderto check if the filmisworththe watch whichmeansif spectre scoredbadly
thenit the filmwouldhave notattracteda wideraudience asthe studioswouldhave hopedfor
thoughfortunatelyforspectre itdidscore well howeveritdidnotscore as goodas good as Skyfall
whichscored7.8 on IMDB as opposedtoSpectre whichonlyscored6.9. As these unofficial websites
helppromote the filmwithpositivereviews,there are official websiteswhichhelppublicise and
promote the filmwithcontentsuchasNewsand interactive aspectsof the website,forexample
there isa part of the website whichallowsuserstoexploreQ’sworkshopandtake a lookat James
BondsGadgets.Alongside thisisashopwhichallowsvisitorstobuymerchandise likecollectables
and fragrances,howeverIbelievethisstore primarilytargetsthe male audience byonlyincluding
certainitemswhichare for female andthe restformales.The same couldbe saidwiththe
collectablessuchasthe “LimitedEditionJamesBondGoldfingerAstonMartinDB5” is targetingthe
male audience asstereotypicallymalesare intocarsas opposedtofemales. The advantage of using
an official website inordertosell merchandise is,otherthantoraise profitsof a film, isto keepthe
respectof the customersand the audience asmyretailerscouldsell fake merchandise whichwould
hurt the respectof the studioso bysellingitfromthe official websiteremarksitassafe andworthy
purchase inthe eyesof the customer.AsSpectre isthe latestrelease of the Bondfranchise,the
website includesahyperlinkthatsendsitsuserstothe official page of spectre inwhichthe userscan
readinformationregardingthe filmsuchasthe synopsisandthe latestnews,itisalsowhere users
are able topurchase DVD’sand Blu Rayeditionsof the film.Today,mostfilmsreleasedinclude a
website whichtheyadvertisealongwiththe release of the filmandthisfilmisnoexception,the
abilityof userscommunicatingaroundthe globe aboutthe latestfilmshasbecome the new medium
for the filmindustry.Itiswithwebsitessuchasthese whichhelpstudiospinpointtheirtarget
audience inordertoanchor the audience intowatchingthe film, Ibelievethatwebsitesalongside
social mediawill be soonbe the primarysource of promotional material asahighpercentage of
people acrossthe planethave accesstothe internetwhichmeansfilmshave awiderrange to
anchor theiraudience.

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Alongside the internetisthe breakthroughof Social
mediawhichallowsuserstocommunicate worldwide
aboutupcomingreleasesandevenpastreleases,social
mediahaschangedthe way we see andhear about
films.Filmsthatare announcedviasocial mediaare
instantlyspreadacross the Weband become viral
sensationsinamatterof hours,or evenminutes.This
formof wordof mouth promotionhasbecome the
newmediumwithsocial mediaaswiththe pressof a
buttonuserscan share a videoworldwideandwith74
of people agedbetween 18-65+ promotionof a film
has neverbeeneasierforstudios.Social mediabest
appealstostudiosandevenitsusersdue to itbeing
free,studioscanspendlittle tonomoneyusingsocial
mediatopromote theirfilmwhereasusingotherforms
of promotion wouldcoststudiosalotof moneysince
bigHollywoodstudioscanspendupto$100 millionof
theirbudgetjustonpromotional material alone.With
the release of a bigHollywoodblockbusterlike spectre
comesthe social mediaaccountslike Twitter,
Facebook,InstagramandYouTube inwhichstudioscan
uploadposters,trailersandevenbehindthe scenes
contentto theirsocial mediajustwiththe pushof a
buttonand alongside thistheyare able toreceive feedback
fromuser whocan openlydiscussaboutthe film.Ibelieve
audiencesare more likelytovisitsocial mediatohearabout
newsregardingthe filmthananyotherformof promotion,
for example usersare able tore-watchtrailersmultiple timeswhichtheywouldbe unable todoif it
was broadcasted onTV or inthe cinema,thisiswhat I believe givessocial mediathe leading

11. 11
advantage overany otherformof promotionandthe fact that iscost nothingiskeystepinthe right
directionforbigstudiosinorderto spend more moneyonproductionratherthanpromotion.
ThoughI am not sayingthat studiosshoulddropall formof promotionandprimarilyfocusonsocial
mediaas there isstill abigchunk of audienceswhodon’t/rarelyuse social mediasoitispossible
theywouldnothearabout upcomingreleases,thisiswhatnewspaper/magazinesandpostersare
for,to target that extrapercentage of the audience whoare notonsocial media. Withsocial media,
studiosare able to targetand anchor the audience theywantjustwiththe use of hashtagand
recommendations,recommendationsonlyshow uponusersfeed’sthatenjoythatsortof content
whichiswhat makestargetinganaudience muchsimpler.Hashtagsonthe otherhandare how films
become viral acrossthe web,userscan simple use the hashtag#SPECTREwitheitheranimage or
textand withinamatterof momentthatpostcan spreadacrossthe webtoother users. Noother
formof promotion canspreadas fast andas far as social mediawhichiswhatgivessocial mediathe
upperhandoverother formsof promotion,andnoother formof promotionallowsuserstoexpress
theiropinionsandviewslike social mediadoes.ThisiswhyIbelieve socialmediaisassuccessful for
promotingupcomingfilmreleases,asitallowsuserstoopenlydiscussandshare contentwhether
thisisseenina positive ornegativeoutlook,whichisall downtothe successof the film. There is
alsothe additionof YouTube whichallowsitsuserstouploadvideocontentandshare itacross the
website,thisisbeneficialforHollywoodstudiosasthe website isfree touse andalongside this,
dependingonthe popularityof the videothe studiowouldalsobe able toearnad revenue fromthis
whichbenefitsthe studio. Studiosare more likelytouploadtrailerstotheirownchannelsrather
than creatingchannelsfora particularfilmfranchise asthese are more
likelytohave alargerfollowingthanacertainfilmschannel,thisalonewill
reach a widertargetaudience.YouTube alsogivesviewersthe abilityto
commentandrate a video,this givesaudiencesaninsightonsuccesson
the promotionsoin the case of spectre,ahuge majorityof viewerswere
infavourof the trailerratherthan opposedtoitwhichinfluences
audiencestogowatch the film. Whena videoonYouTube becomes
successful byachievingalotof viewsina shortspace of time,the video
appearson the frontpage of YouTube whichisbignews,thismeansthe
trailerisgoingto be noticedbya huge portionof usersmeaningthiswill
attract a biggeraudience whichis beneficialforthe film’srelease. Overall,
I believesocial mediaplaysakeyimpacton the release of afilmdue to
the user’sabilitytoshare content,the voice of the people iswhat
influencesotherstotake interestinthe release of afilmandI believethis
iswhat givessocial mediathe upperhandamongstoverformsof
promotional content.

12. 12
Another way in which studios can publicise and
promote upcoming films are is in the form of
merchandising, this can be seen on the official
website inwhichthe studiousesproductstoincrease
the value of the brand and to use these products
attract audiences. These products all aim for specific
areasof the intendeddemographicfromproductsfor
females and products just for males, as this helps
appeal to the intendedtargetaudience itwouldhelp
multiplytheirprofitsandhopefullyinthe eyesof the
studio boost sales of the film. One fine example
would be the release of the collectible “1/34 limited
edition James Bond Goldfinger Aston Marin DB5”
whichprimarilytargetsthe male demographicof the
audience due to their stereotypical interest in cars,
stereotypically men are into motors and violence
which is why a film franchise such as James Bond
appeals to them due to the use of male pleasure.
These formof collectablescanbe seenorregardedas
a product of value,andsince thisproductisseenasa
formof rarity however,withapopularfranchise such
as James Bond it means that years on from now the collectable can be seen as investmentin which
they could sell for a much greater price. Although, all the products on the websites are not strictly
aimedatthe male audience asthere are productwhichare strictlyaimedat the femaleaudience such
as the use of fragrances which aim towards both male and female sections of the targeted
demographic. However, upon further inspection throughout the website it is clear that most of the
products on the website are clearly aiming at the upper class on the socio-economic demographic
chart, from A to C1 as the majority of the product are expensive with price tags of around £50+ for
certainproductsthoughyouwouldexpecttosee highvaluedproductsfromawell-establishedbrand.
I believe that Metro-GoldwynPicturescan benefit from merchandising due to the use of synergyas
many sectorsof the marketingteamwork togethertowardsthe commongoal of promotingSpectre,
if the films marketing campaign is successful in creating interest towards the film thenall sectors of
the marketingteambenefitfromthisdue tothe successof the film.However,anotherwayof creating
interest towards a film is through the use of tie-ins which companies such as Austin Martin, Omega
and Sonyin whichthese companiesmake agreementstoadvertise products withtie-instospectre in
order to help promote the film before release in order to help maximise profits of the film before
release, these products are specifically aimed towards the targeted audience in order to create
interesttowardsthe filmand helpboost profitstowardsboth the filmand the product,these tie-ins
are effective for both companies as it creates interest towards the film as well as the product. The
agreements towards these companies would mean that in return for advertising their products by
meansof productplacement,thatthe studiowouldalsoincludetheirproductswithinthe filmlike for
example the use of the Aston Martin DB10 in Spectre helps promote the film and Aston Martin,
companiespayfilmstudiosinordertohave theirproductdisplayedwithinthe filmwhichcanbenefit
filmstudiosto increase the budgetmeaningstudioshave a widerbudgetto put towards the making
of the film. Thisuse of synergyisbeneficial tothe studioasit helpsincrease the budgetof the studio

13. 13
as well as increase awarenessof the film,thisiswhyIbelievetie-insalongwithmerchandisingare key
to promoting the release of the film spectre.
Lastly is the use of promotional interviewswhich help publicise and promote the release of films,
usuallythe more controversial an interview,the more publicityitwill create towardsthe film.There
was one controversial interviewwiththe star,Daniel Craigwhosaidfor a post-release interview that
“I’dratherslashmywriststhanplayJamesBondagain”statinghe hadenoughofthe character,though
Craig’sfirstrole of the character wasin the filmCasinoRoyale (Campbell,2006) howeverhistougher,
more brutal take onthe role waswiththe hugelysuccessful2012’sSkyfall (Mendes,2012) Craig’sthird
film, proving to be the highest grossing bond film of all time. This interview sparked controversy as
thiswas seenas negative publicitytowardsboththe key star and the release of the film, thoughthis
did also create the question in which
would be next to take over the role of
afterDaniel Craig.However,inopposition
to this just a month before this interview
the starhadstatedthathe wouldcontinue
the role “as longas I’m physicallyable to”
so it audiences are unsure whether or not the star will return for the next film. However on a more
positive note,there wasaninterviewwiththemainantagonistof thefilm ChristopherWaltzwhoplays
Blofeld in the film stated that he has signedon to do two more films and will reprise his role onlyif
Daniel Craig also renews his contract to do two more runs as the character which clashes with the
previous interview.There were other interviews with key stars within the film such as the wrestler-
turned-actor stated that his bond antagonist will become iconic, he stated in the interview that “I
didn’tactuallycraftMr Hinx torival others,he issimplythe mostbadassdudeBondhasevercome up
against.”Lateroninthe interview,he wasaskedhowSamMendesdirectedblockbusterwillbe distinct
fromthe previousmovieswhichhe stated “Ithinkthe magicwillbe notmakingitdifferentbutraising
the barfromBond’sPast.”Theseinterviewscreatedpublicitytowardsthefilmintheirownways,some
of these causingnegative publicityandsome of these createdpositive publicitytowardsthe filmbut
inthe end,anypublicitytowardsafilmisbeneficial towardsa film’srelease as itcreatespublicinterest
and may result in more people viewing the film.
Anotherthingwhichcausedinterestedtowardsspectre wasinthe filmStarWars:The Force Awakens
(Abrams,2015) waswhenitwas hintedthatthe keystar of Spectre,Daniel Craigwasrumouredtobe
a Storm trooper within the film which sparked interest towards both films as they were released
aroundthe same time.ThiscameowaslaterconfirmedthatDaniel Craigdidhave acameowithinthe
filmunderthe Name JB-007whichis a reference tothe character,JamesBondandhissignature Code
Name 007. Overall,Ibelieve theseformsof marketingwere effectiveinpromotingandpublicizingthe
film spectre towards all spectres targeted audiences, although from viewing these it is clear to see
that the targeted audience is predominantly a male demographic with the use of high tech gadgets,
fast cars and attractive females,howeverthere are aspectsof the filmwhichare also for the female
section of the audience like the actor Daniel Craig for example so thisdoes show us the film usesall
aspects of the film in order to anchor the audience.
Deadpool Case Study

14. 14
For my next Case Study I have chosen to analyse the marketing
campaign for the film Deadpool (Miller, 2016) which stars Ryan
Reynolds as our main protagonist, Wade Wilson/Deadpool
however what separates this film from many other of the big
super hero blockbusters was the rating the film was given. As
films such as Avengers: Age of Ultron (Whedon, 2015) and
CaptainAmerica:Civil War(RussoBrothers,2015) were givenPG
ratings in order to attract a wider audience and so the film can appeal to children in order to sell
merchandise, the film Deadpool had many arguments whether the film should be classified with an
PG or an R rating and whetheror not the filmshouldappeal tochildren.Itwas later agreedthat Fox
would market the film under an R rating due to Strong violence and language throughout, sexual
contentand graphic nudity.Thisis what I believe setthe tone for the filmand what laterdefinedan
outstanding marketing campaign, one that in my eyes will stand the test of time for years to come.
Duringthiscase study,Iwill be analysingthe marketingcampaignforthe filmDeadpool (Miller,2016)
by showing the different forms of publicity and promotional material was used in order to make
Deadpool a huge success at the box office.
Like any other film, posters are released
throughout the films production process,
whether this be production or even post-
production. Posters are used as
promotional material in order to anchor
the audience by making their target
audience aware of the film. This film is no
different by releasing multiple posters in
order to attract different sections of their
target audience, for example a studio may
release a poster in order to appeal to a
female audience whereas using the main
poster to appeal to all their audience.
Deadpool on the other hand released many different posters, for example the studios used the
opportunitytotry and marketthe filmas a romance as the filmwasreleasedaroundValentine’sDay
however I am going to cover this more thoroughly later on for the publicity material section. Lastly
before Igetintothe maintheatrical posterthere were manysatirical posterswhichwere releasedfor
the film, suchaswhere the marketingcampaignreplacedthe face of KatnissfromThe HungerGames:
MockingjayPart Two (Lawrence,2015) mainposterwithDeadpool inorderto show where Deadpool
(Miller, 2016) stood with their audiences and the sort of humour that audiences should come to
expect, this was to show comic book fans which were aware of Deadpool before the release of the
filmthe filmstudioswerestillkeepingInhishumourandstayingtrue to the character that audiences
have beenhopingfor. However,thisissomethingthataudienceswere hopingforwiththisfilmwas
to see theirfavourite comicbookanti-herotobe broughtto life andbefore the release of the teaser
andthe theatrical trailers,the onlywayaudienceswereable tohave aslightglimpseatafilm’srelease
is through the release of posters, whether this be through billboards, print or on busses. The main
posterwas releasedafewmonthsbefore the release of the filmandinstantlyaudienceswere aware
of the detail the costume designershadputintothe character,asthe studioalongwiththemainactor

15. 15
himself beingaware of the backlashwhichwascausedduringXmen Origins:Wolverine(Hood,2009)
as audiencessawthattheirfavourite characterhadbeenruined.Ibelievewiththisposter,itperfectly
targetsand anchors inthe intendedaudience assuperherofilmshave aniche audience withthisfilm
being no exception. Though witha niche audience such as Deadpool, you would need the poster to
standoutfromthe crowdandgrabthe audience’sattention,thismeansthatthe studioneedstoknow
whotheiraudienceisandtheirplanonhow toattractthem. WhatIbelieveseparatesthisposterfrom
othersuper herofilmsisthe simplicityof the poster,the posteronlyincludesthe keydetailslikethe
tagline, title, release date and the main protagonist with the key details regarding the film being
slightly visible towards the lower ends of poster for viewers who are interested. However, the key
detailsof the posterhave to be clearlyvisible foraudiencestosee and to recognise the genre of the
film,thisis keyas if audiencesare unsure of the genre theywouldnot be attracted to view the film.
From lookingat the poster,it isclear to see that the filmisa hybridof the genresscience fictionand
action.Firstly,Ibelieve thatthe posterisdistinguishable underthe actiongenre due tothe use of the
colour red which is used to symbolise violence, blood as well
as danger to the characters, the choice of font which was
chosenforthe title canbe recognisedasactionfontdue tothe
design, the font appears to be damaged which may link
towards the character, symbolising that the character is
brokenwhetherornotthis ismentallyorphysically.Lastly,on
the charactersbackwe can see the weaponiconographyinthe
form of swords which hints towards the audience that this is
an action filmand that audiences knowwhatto expecttosee
inthe film.The reasonIbelievethisfilmalsocomesunderthe
science fictionisdue tothe costume design,forthose whoare
able to recognise the character, they would be able to
distinguishthatthe filmwill be underthe science fictiongenre
howeverforthose whoare notable torecognisethe character
would be able to distinguish the film as a science fiction film
due to the character apparel as thissort of clothingresembles
a comic book character and once audiences spot the marvel logo on the poster would be able to
distinguishwhat genre the film comes under. There is one thing that stands out with this poster as
opposedtootherdirectpostersandthatisthe posture of the protagonist,eventhoughdirectposters
have the protagonistlookingatthe audiencehoweverwhattheydon’thaveisthefourthwall breaking
elementlikethisposterasthe protagonistisreactingto the audience whichsymbolisesthatthe film
has a fourthwall breakingelementwithinthe film.Itiswith
all these elements combined together which helps anchor
the target audience into watching the film. Although,one
detail Ididnotice whichwasnotonthe posterwhichwould
play a key part in attracting the audience is to include
reference to the key actors and the director however I
believethe reasoningof notincludingthe actorsname isto

16. 16
symbolise that it can be anyone under the mask,
even the audience. In my opinion, the marketing
campaign behind Deadpool has been one of the
most interactive and successful marketing
campaigns I have seen in a long while by releasing
loads of content to keep the audience anchored
without ruining the film, however one effective
move the film made was to try and target couples
and female audiences by marketing the film as a
romance in order to appeal to a wider target
audience, this was not just an internet joke as the
marketing team took this seriously by using billboards in order to target the audience.This publicity
stunt wentin favourof Deadpool as manyparts of the targetedaudience theywere tryingto appeal
to were unaware of the film at the time and were tricked into believe that this film was a romance
film, though the film does have aspects of romance filmit does not make the film itself a romance,
whichthe marketingcampaignusedthisposter to attemptto trick audiencesintobelievingso. With
a big studio like fox, you would expect the marketing campaign to be as big as most Hollywood
blockbusters so by targeting big cities like Manchester and London, studios would gain maximum
coverage whichinthe longrunwouldhelpmultiplythe productioncompanies’ profits.ThoughIdon’t
thinkitwouldstopthere as usingpublictransportwouldhelptoattract audiencesinsmallercitiesas
these are seen as moving billboards, Superhero films like Deadpool specifically target teenagers and
above onthe lowerscaleof socio-economicdemographic(C1-E) asthissectionof theaudienceismost
likely to use public transportation.
Like Istatedinmypreviouscase studyanddistributionmethods,trailerscome indifferentformsfrom
teaser to theatrical to even trailers releasedexclusively online. These give audiences an insight into
what the film has to offer however trailers can be seen as decisive as a successful trailer does not
alwayshinttowards asuccessful release soaudiencesalwayshavetobe cautiouswithupcomingfilms.
Fox as a studio has not had a successful run with superhero films with one of their latest releases,
FantasticFour(Trank,2015) scoringnegativelywithaudiencesandonlyreceivingascore of 4.3 out of
10 on IMDBand27 onMetascore andalthoughthe trailerscoredwellwithaudiences,thiswould make
audiences worry that the same fate may happenwith the release of Deadpool. The films trailer was
previewed to fans at Comic Con in San
Diego in late July however this was not
released anywhere else which I believe
was an effective waytotease the release
of the up and coming trailer, which was
released beginning of august. However
instead of releasing a one minute teaser
trailer which gave the audience a slight
glimpse of the film, the studio used the
opportunitytouse the teasertotease the
release of the theatrical trailerwhichwas
released the following day. This teaser
featured the protagonist gives the

17. 17
audiencesasneakpeak of the upcomingby explainingthe synopsisbyalsousingthe characters trait
to break the fourthwall by makingreference tothe previousattemptof Deadpool in X Men Origins:
Wolverine. Though the teaser did not show clips of the film, it did feature the protagonist talking us
throughthe story whichisa wayof teasingthe audience while still keepingthe humouraspect of the
character where he attemptstoplace a pipe inhismouthonlyto fall out,thisteaseralone showsthe
audience whattype of filmtheyshouldexpect.Intermsof the theatricaltrailer,the release of the red
bandtrailerwhichwasreleasedonlinewasonlytargetedtowardsadultsasonly18+were able toview
the trailer, this showed us as the audience who the film was appealing to and what sort of content
audiences should expect to see within the filmwith it only being targeted towards adults. With the
release of the official redbandtrailer,audiencesweregiventheirfirstsneakglimpseof thischaracters
within this universe and what audiences should come to expect within the film, in this trailer the
audience isalsomade aware of whatto expectinchoice of genre due to the codes and conventions,
the idea of a mutant in a fictional universe shows the film comes under the science fiction genre
whereas the fighting and high use of weaponiconographyproves to the audience that the film also
coversthe actiongenre,there are alsoaspectsof romance inthe beginningbetween the heroandthe
love interest which suggests the film is a three way hybrid between Romance, Science Fiction and
Action. It is with these trailers that audiences are able to distinguishthe story and be able to depict
what could happen however there still elliptical and enigmatic elements within the trailers such as
whathappenstoourprotagonistinthe lab,if thetrailerruinedthe surpriseditwouldmeanaudiences
wouldn’thave areasonto go see the filmasthe as it the story wouldhave beenruined,thisiswhyit
is important for studios to grab the audience’s attention without ruining the film. As comic book
movies have a niche audience but yet attract a wider audience than theyhope for by dominating at
the box office,likeThe Avengers(Whedon,2012) did,thisfilmwouldbe noexceptionsince the filmis
targetinglowerclassadults whoenjoycomicbookwhichsignifiesastrictaudiencehoweverlikemany
othercomic book moviesitsucceededatthe box office asithas become the highestgrossingR-rated
film of all time.
One magazine which is well renowned within the film industry is
Empire which attracts film, TV and Gaming audiences which
substantiallyis a broad selection of the demographic for this film.
This magazine is known for covering and reviewing the latest
releasesinthe filmindustrywiththisfilmbeingnoexception,itis
good publicity on behalf of the film to be featured on the front
coverof the magazine asthe filmattractsa broaddemographicfor
their audience which in the long run promotes the release of the
film which helps bring in a wider audience and multiply profits of
the film. If the film is shown on the front cover of a magazine it
shedsa positiveoutlookonthe filmwhichcaninfluence audiences
to view the film because it is very unlikely that a successful
magazine like empire will have unsuccessful release ontheirfront
cover. Empire gave the filma 3 out of 5 star rating whichshowsit
wassuccessful releasehowevertherewasmuchroomforimprovementasinthe verdictthemagazine
stated “The sheer number of dick jokes will soon numb you to their impact, but this is fun, if patchy
alternativeto theglutof “the world is aboutto end unlesswedo something”comic-bookfilms.”Which
from an influential magazine like Empire, a review like this can make an audience look both ways

18. 18
depending how the audience interprets the film which can have a negative outlook on the film’s
release asa way to appeal to theirtarget audience.Reviewsare knownto veryinfluential withinthe
filmindustrywithanegative reviewhurtingthe releaseof afilmbypersuadingaudiencesnottoview
the film, however the review is more on the positive side than the negative side by stating “This
Deadpoolisdifferent(and morelike the comics) — talkative,quick-witted (if knob gagscan beclassed
as wit) and with a fondnessforbreaking the fourth wall. The film’s set in the sameuniverse as the X-
Men franchise,buthasan anarchicspirit thatsticks a middle fingerup to Bryan Singer’soh-so-serious
sensibilities. And smirks to itself as it does so.”
An
influential newspaperlike The Independent,whichattractsa middle classaudience withthe formof
newstheycover,whichreviewedDeadpool wouldbe heavilyinfluentialinanchoringaudiencesto
take interestInthe film.Howeversimilarlytothe Empire Magazine,the filmscoreda3 out of 5 star
reviewwhichismore positive thannegativebutbegsthe questionhow doesitfare toothercomic
bookmovieswhichare scoringhirerreviewsasopposedtoDeadpool.Ibelieve the independents
verdict“For all the creakinessof itsplotting,thisisaMarvel adaptationmercifullyshornof bombast.
There isfar more bite inits humourthan inlastyear's Ant-Man.Reynoldsplaysthe leadrole inan
enjoyablyfreewheelingfashion.It'sjusta pitythat the filmitself neverquitehasthe courage of its
owncynicism”to be more intolerantincomparisonto Empire’s asittakesa strike atthe filmby
sayingthe filmdidnotreach itsfull potential inwhichaudienceswere hopingfor,duringthe review
the reviewstatedthatthe characterswere not infavourof the filmastheyappear“One-
dimensional”whenevertheyappearonscreen.A review fromanewspapersuchas thiscan be very
influential onaudiencesinpersuadingthemnottoview the film, whichatthe endof the dayhurts
the release andthe profitsof the film.InconclusionIbelieve thateventhoughthese reviewswere
more on the positive side,reviewslike these canstill hurtthe release of afilmasthe readersof
these tworeviewscome underthe demographicaudience forthe filmDeadpool andif the filmwas
to score more positivelywithinthe reviewsthenitmayhave broughtina wideraudience and
increase profits.
Withan upcomingrelease likeDeadpool, the internetwouldbe playakeypart inthe release with
the use of official andunofficial websites.Thiscanbe seenas a waywhere a studiocan attract an
audience inordertopromote the release of afilm, thisiswhere audiencescancheckthe release of a
filmwhetherornotif it has hada successful release ornotwiththe use of unofficial websiteslike
RottenTomato’sand IMDB whichprovide reviewsandratingsfromfanswhichcan influence
audiencestoboycottor viewthe filmdependingonthe review,likeasIstatedpreviouslyitisnot

19. 19
underthe control of filmproducersto
control negative criticismwhichcanbe very
influential towardsaudiences.Forexample
on the website IMDB,the filmscored
positivelywithaudiencesbyscoring8.3 out
of 10 alongwithscoring65 on Metascore
whichshowsa positive outlookonthe
release onthe filmwhichinfluencesaudiencesto wantto view the filmas theycansee the filmis
scoringpositivelythroughoutwebsites,evenRottenTomato’sscoredDeadpoolpositivelybygiving
the filma 83% alongwiththe audiencesscore reachingupto92%. All thisshedsa positive lighton
Deadpool withthe filmscoring positivelywithaudienceswhichinfluencestheirtargetaudienceinto
wantingtoviewthe filmhoweverthismayinfluence otheraudienceswhowere notinterestedinthe
filmat firsttoviewthe filmdue tothe positive reviews.
For the film,the only officialwebsite isthe studiowebsite whichgivesaudiencesaninsightintothe
movie howevercomparedtomanyotherfilmwebsiteslikeSpectre,the website feelsbare bonedby
onlyfeaturingasmall contentwhichuserscanenjoy.However,there issectiononthe websitewhich
isspecificallyforusercontentwhichallowsuserstoclickbaittheirfriendsandsendDeadpool
emoji’swhichinthe longrunhelpscreate publicitytowardsthe film byattractingnew audiences.
The website alsofeaturescontentfortheiruserssuchas videosandtrailersalongwithanoptionfor
usersto downloadpostersfromthe website,andasexpecteditincludesanaboutsectionwhich
givesthe useran brief understandingof the filmand keydetailsregardingthe filmlikestar actors
and the director.

20. 20
Anotherinfluential factorinpromotingfilmscome inthe
formof social mediawhichhastakenthe filmindustryby
storm by playing a key part in all stages of a films
production by keeping audiences up to date and even
giving the studios the opportunity to interact with their
audience in order to receive feedback or suggestions.
Social mediaincludesabroaddemographicaudience with
74% of the public aged 18 to 65+ on social media, this
means that the studios are able to use social media in
order to attract and anchor audiences just by uploading
contentto the page and letthe powerof wordof mouth
promote the filmsince usersare able toshare imagesand
videoswiththeirfriends.Ibelievesocialmediaplaysakey
part in the release of a film and most films that are
released have their own social media accounts with this
film being no exception, which the studio uses these
accounts to advertise and promote upcoming releases
like forexample,the Facebookpage recentlyannounced
the release of the Blu-RayandDVDrelease inJunewithin
the UK along with the “Non-existent special edition VHS
and Laserdisc,19 Years ago” whichgivesthe social media
accounts character and doesn’t make them feel one-
dimensional andfrom this,audiencesare able tosee that
the social media users can see that the accounts are
attempting to stay as true to the character as possible.
With social media it allows users to upload videos and
share them with their friends with websites such as
YouTube and Facebook with their friends, this is also the
perfect opportunity in which studios are able to upload
videos to their channel, whether this is in the form of
trailers or promotional content. One example of
promotional content is where the protagonist, Deadpool
helped promote the awareness of testicular and breast
cancer which helps informing their audience of an important issue while still including aspects of
humour, this helps send an important message to their target audience while also promoting the
release of the film. The studio used the opportunity to release as much promotional content as
possible before the release of the filminorderto spreadthe word and attract and appeal to a wider
audience, this included an ironic clip of Deadpool being a hero by rescuing a cat from a tree as the
characterisusuallyregardedinbeingananti-herowithnointentionof helpingonhisownbehalfwhile
another clip while appealed strictly to Manchester United Fans which featured Deadpool having a
dreamscoringa goal ina penaltyshootout.The promotional contentwhich wasreleasedforthisfilm
wasoutstanding,whichinmyopinionwouldleaveamarkon whichDeadpool wouldbe remembered
foryearsto come,not onlydidthe studiorelease promotionalcontentwhichkeptaudienceshooked,

21. 21
theyalso releasedinformational contentwhichspreadthe wordof Cancer which no studiohas used
promotional contentfortheirfilmtohighlightthe importance of the fightagainstcancer,whichIhave
to give propsto20th
centuryfordoingso.Inconclusion,Idobelieve thatsocialmediahasplayedakey
part inthe release of Deadpool asthe studiousedpromotionalcontenttokeepthe audienceengaged
withoutspoilingorruiningthe filmanditiswiththat reasonthat I believe Deadpool didassuccessful
in the box office as it did due to this.
ThoughDeadpool’skeypromotional campaigniswhatmade the filmsuccessful,whatitdidnot do is
sell officialmerchandise throughthewebsiteinordertoappeal totheirtargetaudiencewhichIbelieve
was not a clever strategy as merchandise can be seen as an effective way in targeting audiences.
However, merchandise for the film can be
bought through unofficial suppliers which
can effect brand loyaltyas it is possible for
stores to sell fake merchandise which
wouldhave animpactinsalesforthe studio
as customerswouldholdthemresponsible
for selling fake merchandise to stores.
Although this is just an issue with selling
unofficial merchandise,howeverthisisnot
always the issue though customers would
rely on reviews from other customers in
order to deem the product worthy enough
to purchase. The website superherostuff,
for example is an American retailer which
sells merchandise for comic book fans in
the form of T-Shirts, mugs, action figures
and even Comic book fans all in order to
appeal to target audiences. Although it is
unofficial merchandising, the companies would pay towards the studio/creator in order to avoid
copyright infringement, this can be considered as synergy as merchandisers would be working on
behalf of the studiotohelppromote the releaseof the filmeventhoughthe merchandise itselfisnot
beingsoldbythe studio.Studiosare wellrenownedforincludingtie-inswiththe release of upcoming
films in order to appeal to a greater audience however with Deadpool, this was not the case as the
film did not do any special promotions which I believe was due to the rating the film received (R-
Rating/15) because with many up and coming comic book movies do special promotions with other
companies in order to target a wider audience, since the films aim for a much young audience in
comparison to Deadpool so in order to avoid appealing to this younger audience, the film doesnot
include any promotional tie-ins. I believe thiscan be backed up with the release of the red-band
trailersas thiswasspecificallyaimedtowards18+ audiences. Inconclusion,Ido believe thatItwould
be more beneficial forthe studioto sell official merchandise ratherthanrelyingon other companies
to sell unofficial merchandise as this would help maximise profits and help appeal to their target
audiences, though I do believe the film should have used promotional tie-ins effectively in order to
attract the right target audience.
Lastly, is the use of promotional interview which feature cast members before and after the release
of a filminwhichinterviewsaskthemquestionsregardingthe film, forexample inaninterview with

22. 22
Ryan Reynolds, he stated that “he cried when he saw himself in the suit for the first time” as he has
beenalifelongfanof the charactersoto see himself portrayingthischaracterwouldbe anemotional
experience for him. The actor, TJ Miller who plays weasel in the film statedin an interview that the
filmisa filmfor the fans,by the fans inwhichthe actors triedto stay as true to the character as they
could. However, the interview which stood out in my opinion was the interview with the main
protagonistwhichmade the character feel alive andnot just thisone-dimensional characterthatwe
see onscreen,Ialsobelieveitstayedtrue tothe characterashe isknownforbreakingthe fourthwall.
Inthisinterviewhe wasaskedwhatwasitwaslikeworkingwithRyanReynoldsinwhichhe responded
“I’m not going to lie, I have the acting bug right my up my bum, I’m going to remake all of Ryan
Reynolds’s movies but with only one slight adjustment, make them good.” This is what stood out to
me more than of the otherinterviewsasthis interview wasa directportrayal of the character which
audiences had come to see, which in my opinion creates positive publicity towards the film. In
conclusion, these interviews give audiences a behindthe sceneslook into the film along with giving
them a slight peak of what to expect without spoiling anything, and it is with the help of these
interviews that create publicity in order to attract a greater target audience.
To conclude thisassignment,marketingplaysanessential roleinthe distributionprocessandIbelieve
that without it, films today would fail to achieve their target. However with the use of new
technologies, studios can go to greater lengths in order to market their film and appeal to target
audiences, especially with the use of the internet and social media which has played a key part in
distribution over the past few years and I believe that this will soon become primary source of film
distribution.