This document analyzes the marketing campaign for the 2009 film Avatar, focusing on one movie poster and the movie trailer. The poster displays the face of one of the main characters, using blue skin to convey an alien feel while still appearing human-like. The font, colors, and layout are described and analyzed for how they appeal to sci-fi audiences. The trailer uses clips from various scenes paired with three different soundtrack tracks to represent different genres. It lists James Cameron as the director and his previous successful films to promote his involvement. The genre is identified as thriller based on the exciting and tense music used.

1. AvatarRelationship between Producers & Audiences Assessment

2. DELETE THIS SLIDE ONCE COMPLETE
• Choose a film and discuss its marketing campaign
• Choose a blockbuster film (potentially from a franchise) with widespread
appeal.
• Analyse at least one;
– Trailer
– Poster
– Interview
– Reference the film’s target audience
• Use https://yougov.co.uk/opi/profileslite#/ or work with your tutor to designate a target
audience.
– Reference reasons why they may have been constructed in such a way and
how the construction appeals to the audience.
• Trailer- content of the video clips, music, listing of stars/previous films/directors, genre
codes and conventions, relevance of release date, tone created etc
• Poster- content of images, colour, text/fonts, layout, listing of stars/previous
films/directors, tone created etc
• Interview- relevance of who its with, what time of day it might be broadcast, discussion
points, interviewers target audience etc

3. Poster• Content of images
• The poster displays a facial image of Neytiri one of the main characters in the
film. The face positioned with half their shown and half hidden. The face itself
is a human shaped face with large eyes, mouth and a flat nose. The bone
structure of the face is similar to a humans in that it has cheek bone and a
chin which is visible. The face has a few glowing dots which are spread up the
middle of the nose and underneath the eyes. I believe they have shown these
features to show the audience the film has creatures similar to humans which
could relate in different areas. This also appeals to sci-fi watchers and people
interested in extra terrestrial films. The poster gives of an large aura of the
unknown because it’s only showing a face giving the audience the
opportunity to imagine the rest. The eyes in this poster play a big roll into
catching the viewers eyes. Because the face is positioned head on the eyes
are always looking at the viewer (from all angles).
• Colour
• The poster itself consists of blue, green and black colours. The blue colour is
the skin colour of the Na’vi (the species in the film) giving them an alien feel
but with human look, this was done so we could understand their emotions
better. In the poster the blue colour resembles a sort of peaceful calm look.
Blue is known for being a fresh and calming colour so I believe it was used for
those reasons, showing that the Na’vi or alien species is friendly unlike other
films for example the poster for the film Alien, also directed by James
Cameron is a lot more menacing, unhealthy look. You can clearly tell the
genre difference between the two films just from the colour in the posters.
Avatar is a Thriller/Scifi/Fantasy and Alien is a Thriller/Scifi/horror.

4. Poster
• Text/fonts Showing the Movie Title, explains the director directed Titanic.
• For the title font of the post a font similar to Papyrus is used. Papyrus is a
default font that is included with any Microsoft office software that allows you
to type text. Because the title for avatar was created so similar to Papyrus SNL
(Saturday Night Live) create a short video about it staring Ryan Gosling on
YouTube, joking about how lazy the graphics designer is for the title work
stating that he didn’t design or create the font and that he opened up word,
typed avatar, highlighted it and then click Papyrus as the font from the drop
down selection of fonts. The Title displays the name of the movie letting people
know that read the poster the title of the movie if they decide to watch it. The
font for the title itself is very sci-fi like getting the attention of the sci-fi
audience a bit more than other films would.
• At the top of the poster it says “FROM THE DIRECTOR OF TITANIC”, this is here
as many people have seen the titanic and if they enjoyed it might get the idea
that this movie will be just as good. This is here to help promote the movie
using other films success.
• Layout
• The poster focuses on half a characters face from the movie. The face shown is one
of the two main characters in film. This only reveals to the audience the looks of a
human like being and doesn’t give very much information about the movie. Around
the face is blacked out and faded. The Avatar logo is positioned half in the black
and half on the face. Because the logo is bright and glowing it shows and contrasts
more with the black and blue.
Saturday Night Live. (2017). Papyrus - SNL. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ . Last accessed 12 Feb 2018.

5. Poster
• Listing of stars/previous films/directors
• Who is listed? In what order are they listed? Is there a significance to it?
• The poster lists 4 characters that are important to the film on the poster
starting with Zoe Saldana followed up by Sam Worthington Stephen Lang and
Sigourney Weaver. The two main characters Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington
are listed at the beginning of the text as they are the main characters in the
film. The Sigourney Weave is listed. Sigourney weaver stars in another James
Cameron film “Alien”. Which is there for promotional purposes. She's also a
relevant character in the film. Stephen Lang is listed after Stephen Lang, Zoe
Saldana and Sam Worthington at this time (2009) aren’t very well known in the
acting business which is another reason why Sigourney Weaver is listed with
James Cameron on the poster too. If the audience can’t recognise an actor in a
film sometimes this will deter them away from watching it as they prefer
watching actors they’ve already seen.
• Tone created
• The tone created in the poster is more of a serious/romantic feel. Sam
Worthington's face is shown on the right over the right side of Zoe Saldana’s
face. They have layered these faces to show who the main character of the film
is going to be (Sam Worthington) but have also shown letting the audience
know that she might not be human but Alien (Na’vi) and that both beings will
somehow meet or connect in the film somehow. Because there are planets in
the background with dinosaur shaped animals and alien beings. The film
definitely relates to the Sci-fi viewers. But appeal just from the two characters
in the poster the film gives off a romance feel.
Because the previous poster didn’t provide any listings or director names I’ve
decided to choose a different poster for this slide.

7. Trailer
• Content of the video clips
• In the trailer they showed a large range of clips throughout the whole
from beginning scenes all the way to ending scenes. They aren’t whole
scene’s but clips from scenes. Some of the clips are flashes panicle
moments in the film that would be super eye catching to the audience.
Showing scenes of a film is too long. Scenes usually end up a minute
long, some lasting to 3 minutes at max. The clips are grouped up into
small section where clips of the same genre will be shown for example
at the end of the trailer is when most of the action clips are shown.
• Because there is a wide range of clips through the trailer I believe it
appeals to all audiences. Showing different genres and emotions in the
same trailer will help appeal to the wider audience.
• Music
• There are three different tracks used in the film, each track represents
a different genre that is being shown. Dialogue and sound effects are
also included from each scene that play over the music. The music
used are soundtracks create by different musicians. The music appeals
to the thriller audience more than anything. The music brings emotion
to the trailer and helps get the viewer experience that emotion. There
is one track at the beginning which is used to create excitement and
give an adventurous feel. The song played in the middle of the trailer is
more serious music which is helps lead to the action clips that are
shown with a more action heavy feel. The final track is action based. It
focuses on intense fight clips and creates a thrilling feel.
20th Century Fox. (2009). Avatar |
Official Trailer (HD) | 20th Century
FOX. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PS
NL1qE6VY. Last accessed 12 Feb 2018.

8. Trailer• Listing of stars/previous films/directors
– Who/what is listed in the trailer? James Cameron the director is the
only person listed in the trailer. His previous movies are also listed in
this trailer “Terminator”, “Aliens” and “Titanic”. This is useful as they
are showing the audience previous films directed by James Cameron
that they might not have realised are. If a viewer watches the trailer
and see’s the movie is directed by James Cameron not knowing who
he is they might shrug shoulders and pass on the movie, but if they
have seen his previous films shown in the trailer and really enjoyed
them, they will instantly want to watch the film on it’s release.
Marketing wise this is used for the promotion of James Cameron’s
films and to extend his viewership to a wider range of viewers.
– Firstly in the trailer James Cameron is mentioned “From JAMES
CAMERON” shown on the right then it shows the movies he previously
made then again it reminds the audience that it’s written and directed
by James Cameron. This is significant as after the previous films have
been shown it will have the biggest impact on letting the audience
know who directed them.
– Is the absence of a list significant? (Not sure if this means the
opposite) – Need feedback on this
• Genre codes and conventions
– How do you identify the film trailer as part of a genre? I believe the
film trailer is thriller based genre wise. The reasoning behind this
decision is the trailer has thriller based soundtracks which are used to
create large amounts of tense and excitement for the film. Because
it’s paired with short clips of the scenery and action in the film this
paired with thriller based music creates a trailer that is designed to
excite and hype up the film before it’s released.
– Why would creating a genre in the trailer be useful? Creating a genre
in the trailer in this case helped the film build it’s fan base before it
was even released. Because the trailer was thriller based the hype
behind the film had news companies and different reporters standing
outside cinemas to get peoples reaction after watching the film.
20th Century Fox. (2009). Avatar |
Official Trailer (HD) | 20th Century
FOX. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PS
NL1qE6VY. Last accessed 12 Feb 2018.

9. Trailer
• Relevance of release date
• The release date is shown at the end of the trailer “December
18th” (2009), I believe they have done this to give it the most
clip time of the trailer. At the end of the trailer they are telling
you the date for the film which will be the first thing you
remember when you think of the trailer. So they are basically
using it as a to self promote the film through having people
remember the date at the end of the trailer.
• Release dates for movies are also altered towards holiday
seasons and such. For Avatar the release date is early winter
which is a good time to release a film as holidays begin
everyone’s getting ready for Christmas and it would be a good
time to watch a good film.
• Tone created
• The tone created in this the trailer is definitely serious, the
film trailer contains a large portion of actions shots and thriller
shots. It focuses on promoting it’s fantasy/action/thriller
based theme and does this by showing multiple clips which
will put the audience in different emotional states.
• Because the tone is serious and full of exciting and mind
blowing imagery the film definitely appeals to thriller seekers.
The music ties in with the clips super nicely.

11. Interview
• Relevance of who its with
– Who is interviewing?
– James Cameron is being interviewed by an interviewer from the Discovery (Discovery
Channel)
– What’s their fan base/target audience?
– Discovery’s target audience and fan base are people who are interested in nature,
culture and the planet. They are usually aged between 15-50. The majority of
Discovery’s content is on TV on their channel; discovery channel. They also have
content online which is similar to their TV channel but goes less in depth. 15-30 year
olds tend to use the internet which is why it appeals to that age group and 30-50 are
usually watching TV.
– What language do they use?
– The interviewer uses very formal language asking questions that will provide a large
amount of information for the viewer. He is asking questions that James Cameron is
comfortable with showing that he respects his knowledge on how he created the film.
– How are they dressed?
– The Interviewer is not shown in the interview
– Consider audience appeal
– The interviewer has asked questions that will provide information for the audience
that is easy to understand and gives them in site on how to film was created and what
devices and technology was used.
– Who is being interviewed?
– James Cameron is being interviewed in this video
– Why were they chosen over other actors/characters?
– James Cameron was chosen over other actors/characters because he is the director of
the film and will know more than anyone on how it was made and why certain things
were done certain ways.
– Consider audience appeal
– The audience will want to see what James Cameron has to say more than the actors
because he’s the man who made the film. He will give more information than anyone.
Some people consider him an auteur which is another appeal to the audience.
Discovery . (2010). Avatar: Interview
with James Cameron. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V
t-XCDjyDNs . Last accessed 23 Feb
2018.

12. Interview
• What time of day was it broadcast?
– What time was it on at?
– The interview was broadcast in the evening at 5:30 on discovery channel.
– Why may this be relevant?
– Broadcasting shows at different times of the day has an impact on it’s viewer
count. If the interview was to broadcast at mid day it would have less viewers
as people in school and work wouldn’t be able to watch, but because it was
broadcast at 5:30 kids and adults are usually home from school or work
depending on what profession you do increasing the view count.
– Consider target audience
– At 5:30 the target audience would definitely be kids and younger adults that
have finished school or work and want to sit down and watch an interviewer
about Avatar.
• Discussion points
– What topics are discussed?
– The interview is mainly focused on the technology used to create the film,
James Cameron explains how they developed the technology through
different projects and adapted it through experimentation. He explains how
he created his own special effects company just for the film which became
one of the top special effects companies in no time.
– Are they all film related?
– James Cameron talks about how he used the technology to create 3D effects
and incredible facial CGI using his own equipment he developed himself.
– Why would these topics be chosen?
– When watching a film like Avatar from a viewers point of view, it makes you
wonder how they made the film and what technology is used. So the
interview is based on giving information about how the film was created
instead of why particular scenes happened.
– Consider audience appeal
– Although this might not entertain some people it will definitely entertain
those that like to learn about what's behind a movie and what technology is
used to create it.
Discovery . (2010). Avatar:
Interview with James Cameron.
Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=Vt-XCDjyDNs . Last accessed
23 Feb 2018.

14. Marketing Strategy
• Discuss relevant notable information you have noticed regarding the marketing strategy of the film, e.g.;
– When the trailer was released (along with other trailers)
– The trailer was released in early November just before the winter holidays. This is a prime time for companies to release their
films as this will hype the film up just before the holidays. This is a good marketing strategy for film promotion as people can
have something to look forward to if they were say in school, when the school term finishes they can go see a box office film in
cinemas in 3D
– When the interview was broadcast
– The interview was broadcast on the Discovery Channel at 5:30pm GMT, this is a kids/young adult friendly time to broadcast on
TV as this age group is usually home at this time relaxing. This means that the interview will get a higher view count because it’s
target audience are home and watching TV.
– Any viral marketing
– Avatar created a Facebook, MySpace and Twitter just for it’s fans which had an overall follower count of 2 million fans. This was
seen as their least successful marketing method as not many people used MySpace or Twitters back in 2009. The age where TV
adverts were the best way to market a film.
– Merchandise/Franchising/Partnerships (McDonalds toys, product placement, etc.)
– McDonalds and 20th Century Fox partnered together to create a marketing campaign which was mutually advantages for both
sides. They designed a game called “Pandoraquest” which was placed on the McDonalds website where fans could interact with
the world where Avatar takes places, via high-resolution, 360-degree views.
– Placement of adverts
– Adverts were placed both physically and digitally around the world. On the internet YouTube, Facebook and other major
websites had short trailers or online posters which gave information about the movies release date or sneak peaks at footage of
the actual film. For TV adverts were placed on film/movie channels between different movies that were broadcasted, this is
helpful as it catches the eye of the film fanatics and sci-fi fans which would quickly spread work of a new film. Physically Avatar
was placed on billboards, inside leaflets and shown as posters in shop windows and more. Having both a physical and digital
advertisement scheme allows the film to capture both audiences, those that are always on digital devices and those that don’t
have time and spend most there down outside in the real world.