Gwl6 essay

1. Nicole Melia
GWL6
Introduction-
In this podcast I will be analysing the relationship between producers and audiences.
Audience research is research based on a specific audience to gather information about their
attitudes, knowledge, interests and preferences. Producers need to know who their target
audience is before they begin any marketing. If I was asked to promote a new film that was
about fashion, I wouldn’t advertise this film on Disney channel or the documentary channel, I
would advertise this on ITV, where most of the programmes are targeted at a female
audience. Another example would be if I was adverting action films which are usually aimed
at a male audience I wouldn’t advertise this in OK Magazine or Vogue Magazine as a male
target audience wouldn’t read this if there interested in action. There are many ways that a
producer can research about their target audience, and this plays a huge role in identifying
and attracting their target audience. This include finding information through audience
research, producer’s response to research, quantitative and qualitative research, primary and
secondary research and preview screening or test screenings. Quantitative research is when
companies gather information in large amounts. They do this by collecting information
from surveys of large groups. The techniques used are mail surveys, telephone surveys,
internet surveys and face to face public surveys. In media this is a very popular way of finding
out data that could help the company in many ways, this could include; When comparing
ratings or viewers figures against other movies, When looking at viewing figure, If a marketer
wanted to find out if viewers liked or disliked a new film, To see if people liked a ‘new
concept’ being introduced to a film or just when gathering ratings. There are many more
reasons that companies would use quantitative research, to gather the information is pretty
simple and if you put it on a database it is easy to compare. The research can use both
secondary and primary methods. Using quantitative research in the media industry is
important- they depend on it, as well as using qualitative. The other method is qualitative
research, this is commonly used by market researchers; it looks at people’s views, opinions,
preferences and overall behaviour to a certain product or topic. In the past years people’s
observations have become more popular as it’s widely used; it allows researchers to become
more familiar to specificgroups or individuals. An observation could be carried out for days,
weeks and even months- this helps marketers observation get into a deeper understanding.
Producers also use primary and secondary data. Primary research is new research, carried out
to answer specific questions. It can involve questionnaires, surveys or interviews with
individuals or small groups. Whereas secondary research makes use of information that has
already been researched for other purposes. If I was going to create an exit poll to ask my
target audience what they thought of a certain film this would be an example of primary
research. But, if I went online and found out what people thought of this film that would be
secondary as it wasn’t carried out by myself. Audience profiling is an important part towards
to the making of a film. This helps the producers define who they are making the film for and
how they should do it so it appeals to target audience. Another popular way is the use of
test screenings; test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its
general release in order to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a
cross-section of the population, and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or
provide feedback in some form. This will help the producers know whether the film is going
to be popular to their target audience. Lastly the other method that that is popular for
producers to use is producer’s response to research; this is where the producers take the

2. Nicole Melia
feedback and changes anything that the target audience say doesn’t work. For example if the
majority of the target audience said they loved the film but the ending of it wasn’t good and
because of this they wouldn’t watch it again, the producers would then go back and change
the ending and improve this to make sure the audience will want to watch this again. Same
goes for a certain posters, if it was an action film but the feedback impliedthey thought it
was a horror they would have to look at the stereotypical codes and conventions they would
see in an action film and make these changes.
Part 1 -
The distributor has a major part towards the marketing of the film; they are in charge of
getting the target audience to hear about the film and encouraging them to see it. There are
three parts in putting the film together starting with the production of the film, then the
distribution of the film- selling it to their target audience and then the exhibition, getting the
target audience to watch it. They have to make sure that the distribution company acquire to
the film for example huge studios such as Disney and Sony have their own distribution
companies, Disney use Buena Vista Pictures Distribution who they have used since 1987
which is now known as Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures. Whereas a smaller company
would pitch for a distribution company whether it’s ‘Independent Distribution
http://www.independentfilmcompany.com/, ‘The Work’ http://www.theworksfilmgroup.com/,
or ‘Vertigo Films’ http://www.vertigofilms.com/. They need to choose who will promote and
understand the film better. The distributor decides on everything to do with advertising,
whether it’s how many prints to go to the cinema from two hundred to 2 thousand. Usually if
the film is a Blockbuster film from Hollywoodit would be shown in every cinema possible as
they know they will make a bigger profit the more it is shown. It’s up to the distributor to
negotiate when the film will be released; they have to think about the target audience, the
genre and how they will make the most money because profit is everything. For example if
they were releasing a new Pixar film they would release this in June or July, around the
summer holidays as they know their more likely to get a bigger audience who have more
time to come and watch the film in the cinema. If the film genre was a romance, then it
would be a perfect timing to bring out in February, so it’s out for Valentine’s Day. Another
responsibility is the advertisement, promotional interviews, merchandise, filmtrailers, posters
and internet campaigns. They need as many advertising campaigns as they can get as this
will help promote the film more to their audience.
Part 2 –
There are 3 types of marketing that the producers can use to target their audience,
Advertisement, publicity and promotion. Starting with advertising, studios now spend up to
one hundred million pounds just on advertising, they know that the money they spend is
worth it as if they advertise it more, the more likely it will have a wider audience therefore
they will make their money back along with profit. They have to look into the specific
audience that they want to appeal to there for this is when the target audience is an
important factor. Film posters is the most common advertising campaign as it gives the
audience the first look at the film, raising awareness of what the film is going to represent
e.g. The genre and the actors. Then you have trailers you have four different trailer
altogether; teasers, TV, theatrical and audio trailers. They can be played up to three months
before the release date which can determine whether an audience is going to watch the film,

3. Nicole Melia
they may look at the actors and they may not appeal to them or the plot may seem boring
and they might not want to watch it. Lastly another huge part in advertisement is
newspapers and magazines, usually they will include a synopsis of the film this is to attract
the reader; if the synopsis sounds exiting they could google it and watch the trailer. They can
also have audio stills and biographies of the film, Clips of the film can be heard over radio
and TV interviews. When it comes to magazine articles they have to think about the specific
audience, A film like ‘Devil Wears Prada’ wouldn’t be advertised in Zoo Magazine or a Car
Magazine it would be in Elle or Vogue as these are aimed at women like the film and are
about fashion again like the film.
Publicity is basically when attention given to someone or something by the media. The press
will make a story out of anything and even if the stories and rumours aren’t true but this can
attract a wider audience to watch the film. For example in 2005 when Mr and Mrs Smith
came out there was many rumours about how the two main actors Brad Pitt and Angelina
Jolie were having an affair even though Brad was married to Jennifer Aniston at the time.
Because this was such huge gossip at the time this would have been written in magazines
such as OK and HELLO. But the film is an action film and was mainly aimed at males, but
because it was publicised to so many women it created the film a wider target audience.
Publicity isn’t always controlled by the studio, it’s the press. Another huge way that publicity
is now shared in on the internet, this works out perfect for low budget films as it’s cheap and
can be free. Nowadays every film that is released will have an official website, trailers,
documents, poster and reviews and also the use of Web 2.0. People can share information
on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. Viral marketing is cheap, quick and easy, it’s
not just shared by the company, distributors and producers it can be shared on the audience
of the film.
Lastly the last marketing that can be done is promotional advertising. There are so many
ways that a production company can use a promotional campaign, Product placement is just
one way of expanding the audience, Wayne’s World (1992), used product placement in there
movie by going over the top and over doing what they was trying to promote, In the film
IRobot (2004) the product placement was the Audi cars and James Bond has a product
placement deal with Omega, because people know these films will have a wide audience
they know by advertising their company’s logos or objects the audience is more likely to buy
it. Tie-ins are also a handy promotion campaign as you can create a tie-in with so much, For
example a Disney film that is due to release could have a tie-in with McDonalds happy meals,
they are suitable for the target audience and by handing out little toys with the meal it will
make the children want to go and watch this film. It could also include a competition which
you might get to win four free tickets to watch the movie in the cinema. Spin offs, which is
basically when its already got something out so it’s already got an audience built, The
Inbetweeners was a well-known TV series on E4 before it got made into a film. Pre-existing
property, this is when they can turn an image from the film and put it onto the film poster
and book cover, so not only are they promoting and advertising the books but it will make
people want to watch the film. Merchandise is a huge way to make even more profit;
Blockbuster films can create merchandise out of anything from Food, Drinks, Pens, Clothing,
Shoes, Toys and Games. People that are fans of the film are more willing to buy this
merchandise and use it especially if it’s a Disney film; Frozen (2015) made merchandise out
of everything that a child could possibly use.

4. Nicole Melia
Part 3-
The market campaign is a huge part to helping the producers advertise the certain film. In
this case the marketing campaign I have been researching is Spectre. The first thing I looked
for was posters that were created to appeal to the target audience, there were so many
posters to choose from but I chose to analyse both posters below.
As you can see the first thing that catches your eye is Daniel Craig, it’s a very direct image as
he is looking straight at you, getting your attention. The fact that Daniel Craig is the face of
this film is also a huge selling point, he has been ‘James Bond’ for several years and as they
already have a ready-made audience they know that just by seeing his face that it’s going to
be a James Bond film. As the film is an action film it shows the codes and conventions to an
action film such as the gun in his hand. As the title of the film is in a large, bold lettering it
catches your eye and by looking underneath where it says ‘007’ it tells you again this is a
James Bond film. ‘Spectre’ suggests a ghost or a mystery so within the title it gives you a clue
about what the films storyline will be about. The colours that are used within the posters are
very masculine colours, black and grey, with the protagonist being in the centre it gives the
idea that the films mainly aimed towards a male target audience. But again Daniel Craig is
seen as a sex symbol to the female audience this would also make them want to see the film.
The poster would most likely be placed more male oriented rather like Top Gear Magazine
and men magazines rather than Ok or Hello.

5. Nicole Melia
Again they have used Daniel Craig to draw the audience in but also Lea Seydoux. This poster
advertises the film more for both genders, Daniel Craig to draw the female attention in and
Lea to attract males as she is a young, sexy, attractive blonde woman. This poster has very
bright colours, using white, reds, pinks and blacks. This again gives it more of a feminine
touch in comparison to the one above with the masculine colours. Again the use of codes
and conventions are used, the gun and ‘007’ show us it’s a James Bond film, which is
obviously going to be an action genre.
The posters will be one of the first marketing that the audience will see; this is why it is such
an important part of the marketing campaign. If the audience looks at the poster and
doesn’t like a certain part whether it’s the actors, title or even something as important as the
layout, it will not persuade them to watch the film.
Just as important as the posters the trailer is the main part of the market campaign, there are
4 different types of trailers you can get theatrical, teaser, TV and audio. In this case I looked
into a certain theatrical trailer; (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GqClqvlObY). Straight
away the trailer sets the scene, it’s based in Mexico City it also shows you themes of the ‘Day
of the dead’ which is a Mexican festival. You can also see in the poster with Daniel Craig and
Lea Seydoux that in the text of ‘007’ they have a skull to represent the Day of the dead. The
trailer includes many conventions of a ‘Bond film’, bond girls such as Lea Seydoux and
Monica Bellucci, fast cars and non-diegetic sounds.

6. Nicole Melia
The editing of the film creates tension because of the fast editing techniques which goes will
the fast energetic music. The colours throughout the film are very dull and dark which again
gives it the feeling of an action genre film. By using the low key lighting it sets the scene
more, hinting us towards the plot of the film. It’s dark and confusing of what’s going on but
that’s what Daniel Craig is feeling as well. As James Bond is more aimed towards a male
audience the trailer shows explosions, car chases and young females which all appeal to that
target audience. Daniel Craig is known for being the central protagonist for the Bond films,
therefore by seeing him in the trailers it will make the readymade audience want to watch
the film.
Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (2006)

7. Nicole Melia
Daniel Craig in Skyfall (2012)
Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace
(2008)
In the trailer the dialogue makes you ask yourself questions such as someone tells Daniel
Craig ‘You’re Finished’. This makes you ask; whys he finished? Has he been sacked? What will
he do next? This then makes you want to watch the film to find out the answer to these
questions. The trailer also establishes the characters; it tells us the hero (James Bond) played
by Daniel Craig and the villain (Oberholser) played by Christopher Waltz.
When comparing both theatrical and teaser trailers you can see how the theatrical gives
more information, It shows us long clips and more about the plot of the film. Whereas the
teaser just shows us short clips which doesn’t really explain to the audience what the
storyline is.
The posters would be advertised in media such as newspapers and magazines, as the target
audience is aimed more towards males it would have been advertised in film magazines such
as empire and total film, or in male magazines such as GQ and loaded. Below is the front
page of ‘Loaded’ with Lea Seydoux.

8. Nicole Melia
As you can see loaded is aimed at a male target audience. Lea Seydoux is the first thing that
you see; she has a low cut top on and looks very seductive. Straight under her name it says
‘Will see you now’ this would attract a young male to buy the magazine to see what pictures
of her are in the magazine. As she is dressed in black the red writing really stands out and as
they’ve used red which is a colour symbolism of love, passion and sex it gives you the idea
that they have just used her to attract that specific audience. Another magazine that Spectre
was promoted in was K Magazine.
.
K magazine is an international magazine aimed mainly towards a female audiece, therefore
this is trying to target at a wider audience rather than its sterotypical target audience. Also as

9. Nicole Melia
it is an international Magzine this means its promoting the film all over the world. Magazine
and newspaper articles are a really good way of getting peoples views across as they can
post reviews and comment their opinions on the film.
Spectre had noth offical and non-offical websites, http://www.007.com/ this was Spectres
offical website which included the latest news, clips, trailers, cast and crew and featured
articles. Sony Pictures also created an offical webpage just for the film
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/spectre/ and this gave the audience offical trailers,
tickets to go and watch the film and a link to the 007 website. But non offical websites such
as https://www.mi6-hq.com/are just as detailed as the offical, MI6 is the most popular
unoffical website for Spectre and again gives all the information that the offical sites have.
As everyone has acsess to the internet nowerdays, this makes it easier for everyone to look
into the film, watch the trailers and decide whether they are going to watch it. IMDB also had
a page on Spectre http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2379713/ this containes a synopsis of the
film, cast and crew, trivia, user reviews which are a really good thing to have as you can look
at other peoples views on the film, trailer clips and posters. As you can see there are so many
links that you can get information on the film and the web is world wide so it can target
everybody, not just their target audience.
Nowerdays in the 21st
century web 2.0 is one of the easiest ways of promotion and for a
production company is the cheapest as social networking sites are free. The only thing that
companys would have to pay for is advertisment on social media. Spectre had an offical
facebook webpage, twitter and instagram.
https://www.facebook.com/SpectreMovie/

10. Nicole Melia
https://twitter.com/007?lang=en-gb
https://www.instagram.com/007/?hl=en
As well as being a brilliant idea as they are free it also works well as the target audience can
be interactive with the producers as they can comment, like and share what they think about
the posters, trailer and information. 75% of 18-65 year olds all have one kind of social media
accounts, again this is a way that Spectre have created a wide target audience.
Merchandising can make the profit increase by thousands or even millions. Spectre had
many merchandises that appealed to differenent demograohicaudiences. The different types
of merchandise they sold was a soundtrack, £7,000 watch, an orniment of the royal doulton,
belvadeir vodka, omega pen, james bond 007 game, and a scalecrtix. As you can see most of
the merchandise is targeted at a male audience but the vodka and soundtrack could also
appeal to a female audiece. The scalecritx and 007 game would aim towards a younger
audience as well. Another way that the producers make money by merchandise is product
placement, one specific product placement they use is the Tom Ford suit that Daniel Craig
wears. This tie in works well as Daniel Craig is seen as a cool, brave, handom man, so men
will wear this suit to be like Daniel (James Bond).
Belvadeir vodka.
Royal Dolton Oriment

11. Nicole Melia
Scalextrics 007
007 pen
Watch
Daniel Craig was involved in many promotional interviews to get promote Spectre, he went
on chat show Ellen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMLQKvyLjRU and Graham Norton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW_wfXT_BG8 , in these interviews they discuss their
favourite parts, injuries, clips of the film and they discuss the theme of the film. These
interviews help promote spectre to a wider target audience and also will entise an audience
to go and watch the film.
In my opinion the producers of spectre advertised the film very well, the whole of the
marketing campagin was very sucessful and even though the film already had a readymade
audience they have tried to entise a younger audience by using the merchandise and using
web 2.0.
Zoolander 2
To show how different films will have different marketing campaigns due to the different
target audiences and the different themes and genre of the film I am also going to anaylse
Zoolander 2 (2016).

12. Nicole Melia
On this first poster as you can see all of the main charaters of the film are very direct towards
the audience looking into your eyes, this makes the poster more direct towards the audience.
The people starring in this film are all well known sucessful actors, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson,
Will Ferrell, Penelope Cruz and Kristen Wiig. These actors will have a fan base anyway so this
will encourage them to watch the film because they enjoy Ben Stillers films, males may watch
this because they find Penelope Cruz attractive. Either way it brings a wider audience to
watch the film. As this is Zoolander no.2, they will already have a ready made audience from
the first film, So by looking at the charaters you will recongnise faces from the first film.

13. Nicole Melia
In conparision to this poster it just focuses on the two main chararters within the film, Ben
Stliller and Owen Wilson. The first thing that catches your eye is the ‘pout’. From watchinh
the film you will know that this is Zoolanders special face he knows that his fans love him for.
This will then attract the ready made audience to come and watch the film. As you can see
Ben Stiller is in all black where as Owen Wilson is in all white. This uses colour symbolism to
show the contrast between both charaters as they don’t like each other within the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41lCm7FQs8Q This is the first Zoolander trailer I
watched. I feel as though this trailer promotes the film well, it relates back to the first
Zoolander which would also make the audience go and buy or watch the first film. It tells you
background information about the main charater ‘Derek Zoolander’ playedby Ben Stiller so
you understand what the storyline is about. Zoolander 2 have used celebrity endorsment to
advertise this film as it has so many famous actors in as it says in the film, Ben stiller, Owen
Wilson, Will Ferrell and Penelope Cruz.

14. Nicole Melia
As as well as the people that the film is starring you see recognisable faces such as Joe Jonas
and Justin Bieber.
This straight away attracts a new target audience (mainly teenage girls) who will come and
watch the film because of these celebritys being in the film. The trailer ends with Owen
Wilson throwing different objects at Ben Stillers face and Ben Stiller is trying to stop them
with his magical ‘look and pout’, which relates back to Zoolander 1. This leaves it on a
cliffhanger making your wonder has he lost his magic look? and if hes going to get it back.
The second trailer I looked at was the teaser trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpT0lFallyk It doesn’t give you any information on the

15. Nicole Melia
storyline of the film its simply just for advertising Zoolander 2. Its simple and plain and easy
to understand, it has stephen Hawking talking all the way though it and until the end you
have no idea what this trailer is trying to promote untill you see Ben Stiller.
It then has Stephen Hawking and Ben Stiller discussing the title, which is humourous.
Because of this the trailer is really memorable and would most probably get people talking
about the new film.
As Zoolander revolves a lot around fashion and being a celebrity obviosuly the film was
advertised on magazines such as Vouge and Bazaar.
The target audience of these magazines are also who the film would relate to so not only is it
advertising the magazines its giving the audience information about the new Zoolandedr

16. Nicole Melia
film. It wasn’t just promoted in the UK but it was also promoted In Greece, the magazine
Esquire Mag also had a front page article on the new film.
This again widens the target audience and doesn’t just promote the film to just the english
culture.
Zoolander also had its own offical webiste, http://www.zoolander.com/ where you could find
out anything you wanted to know about the new film. It had games such as ‘spot the
difference’, links to their twitter and facebook and pictures with the link from the instagram.
By having interactive games to match the storyline of the film this is also a way of advertising
the film. ‘Which designer are you?’, ‘How well do you know Zoolander?’ and ‘Todd, wheres
my goddam latte?’ you will only understand these games and quizs if you’ve watched the
films, therefore it encourages the audiendce to watch them. Looking into the review websites
such as Rotten Tomaoes, Zoolander 2 was rated very poorly and the average rating was
4.5/10. There was 182 reviews counted and only 43 of them was possative the rest were
‘rotten’. The Guardian’s headline to Zoolander 2’s review was ‘Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson
are so lukewarm right now’. Many reviews explain how they were disapointed in the sequel
and was expecting the film to be much better. This is an example of how review websites are
good for the public, they can give feedback and share there opinion on the whole film.
Helping people who are unsure about watching the film to watch it. But this is also a bad
thing as it can make people not go and watch the film because of all the bad reviews, even
though everybody has different opinions.
As I said above Zoolander have an offical website but it also used web 2.0 to advertise the
film, Facebook https://en-gb.facebook.com/ZoolanderMovie/ , Twitter
https://twitter.com/zoolandermovie?lang=en-gband Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/zoolander/ . Web 2.0 is such a possative feature in the media
industry and is a cheap way of advertising especially when most social networking sites are
free.

17. Nicole Melia
As the film already had a ready made audience this helped promote the film on web2.0 even
easer. Especisally as Zooland has over one million followers on Instagram from all different
countrys. As you can see the Facebook and Twitter pages are very similar, by using the same
pictures this makes the posters much more rememorable.
Paramount Pictures who are the production and distrubution company of the Zoolander film
have their own offical merchandice store online.

18. Nicole Melia
As you can see down the side is categorises all of the different merchandise it has from
Apparel to Drinkware to Accessories. It targets all ages such as junior, kids, mens, unisex and
women. Below is an example of all of the product types that are being sold from cups,
clothing and phone cases.
The cast of Zoolander 2 all have done an interview that was posted on Hollywood.com,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B1nHlY7uss , The cast are all explaining who there
charater is and who they are in the film. This is a really good quick interview as it shows clips
of the film and then has the actor and actress explaining it. The cast did interviews on many
different shows all around the world, UK, USA and Australia. This is making a bigger audience
world wide which helps the film be advertised everywhere, which means more money for the
film.
Personally I didn’t enjoy the film as much as I hoped and word of mouth a lot of people had
the same opinion.

19. Nicole Melia