The document discusses the marketing and audience targeting of the 2013 film Iron Man 3. It notes that Iron Man 3 had a wide target audience of both genders and all ages since the film covered many genres. An extensive marketing campaign was conducted, including trailers, merchandise, posters on buses and billboards. The poster uses a large iconic image of Iron Man to represent the film and ensure recognition. Extensive research is also conducted before and after production to understand the target audience and get feedback to improve the film.

1. Iron Man 3
When producing a film the producers will think a lot about their target audience as a films target
audience affects the films popularity and success. This is why different audiences are targeted
depending on the film it is for. Then when they have chosen the type of audience they are going to
target they will bare them in mind when making all the other decisions involved such as release
dates and who will star in the film this helps because for example if the target audience are young
teenagers then statistics show that for this audience films are more popular and successful when
they come out during school holidays as that is when they have more time ad go to the cinema
more. So if that was the target audience it would be a good decision if the producer was to have the
film distributed during the school holidays and choose actors that are a similar age to them so that
they can relate more to them and stars increase the popularity of a film.
The 2013 film Iron Man 3 starring Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow directed by Shane Black,
produced by Kevin Fiege and distributed
by Walt Disney and Motion Pictures,
doesn’t really target a specific audience as
it has a very large audience range, as it is
suitable for both genders and for any age
range as their fans start from a young age
to an old age. The reason it doesn’t really
need to target a particular audience is due
it covering a lot of genres, there are
elements from most genres in this film
however I would say that the main ones
are action and fantasy.
Marvels “Iron Man 3” shows Tony Stark - Iron man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds.
When Stark finds his personal life has been destroyed at his enemy’s hands he begins a quest to find
all those responsible. This journey tests him every step of the wayStark is left to survive by his own
devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way
back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make
the suit or does the suit make the man?

2. Marketing is very important when bringing a film out to make sure everyone knows it is coming
out. Iron Man 3 had a huge marketing campaign. There’s the trailer for the film that has been
advertised quite a lot on television. The trailer is also shown at the cinema before films start, to
show what will be coming out soon. It has also been done through the web such as on file sharing
and social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as film advertisements will come up
at the side of the page. Another way this is done is by merchandise, Iron man have a lot of this, the
one I have seen the most of are the iron man t-shirts and jumpers. I have also seen lots of iron man
posters on sides of busses and phone boxes and billboards.
As iron man targets a wide audience range of men and women, old and young. The producers
have to make sure that they have things that at points will appeal to each of them. Like the poster
for example as it targets quite a young audience as well as an older
one, the producers of Iron Man need to ensure that there young
audience will see the poster and will straight away know what it
means.
I think that this poster definitely does that as it is very simple but
powerful. It has a picture of Iron Man so that it will instantly attract
there audience even the young ones so that they will know what it’s
for and that the film is coming out soon. So this poster uses anchorage
in the way I uses a large image of just Iron Man alone to portray and
represent what is being advertised as we can tell what this poster
means without even having to read the text because they have used
powerful imagery of somebody iconic to ensure he will be recognised
by everyone.
It is very crucial that research is carried out before a film goes into
production there are five types of production that they carry out, Primary Research, Secondary
Research, Quantative research, Qualitative research and Post-production research. Primary and
Secondary research are all part of the pre-production research. Primary research is new research;
this is when the producers carry out the research themselves to get the answers to specific
questions. Usually this will be done through questionnaires, surveys or interviews with small
individual groups. Secondary research makes use of information that is already there, this includes
published research such as books, reports and information available on the internet.
A time secondary research is used is for Location. For example if a film is being made in a foreign
country, it is important that they find out about their culture and beliefs to avoid any problems such
as, if they go to a country that have to pray at certain times of the day then they will have to leave so
they will have to look into this to make sure they don’t lose out on any money if they have to go in
the middle of shooting. They should also look at weather reports depending on what they want
when they are filming and they will have to do it on days where the weather is the same so that the
film doesn’t have any continuity errors. They should also take the time to find out about their target
audience, usually this is done through questionnaires and surveys as these are seen as very good
primary research techniques. They will ask about stars due to star theory because if they pick a star
that is popular with his target audience then it will make the film they are making more popular
overall. Other things they will want to find out about is what genres they prefer, the story and what

3. special effects they like if any. All this is done so that they can find out what they like to make sure
that they provide that for them. Most surveys they do, they will ask a question then provide a couple
of answers then the person completing the survey will circle the answer best suitable to them so
from this we will get our results as statistics, ratios, etc. and this is called quantative research. Then
sometimes with the questionnaires, questions are asked then spaces are left for the people to write
down their answers themselves this is called qualitative research as it gives the public the chance to
let the producers know their opinions and exactly what it is they want.
Then there is post production reseach, which is done after the film. When the first edit of the film
has been done a test screening will take place this is so the producers can find out what the
audience think of the film. They get people from the country the production company are from so if
it is a UK production company they will get members of the uk to be in their audience. They will get
100 people for the post production test screening, also known as an intimate screening, after this
they will be given a questionnaire where they will rate the film and give their opinions on what was
good, what was bad and how they think it could be made better. The target audience’s opinions are
very important as the are the people who will make the film a success so they will take the results
from the questionnaires and if they have to make improvements and change things they will re-edit
and re-shoot, even though this will cost them more money at the time, by making a better film they
will earn more money in the end. After all this has been done they will do a full scale post
production screening then they will be given a survey so they can get the audiences statisics. In this
survey they will ask questions mainly based around the marketting of the film like who was your
favourite star in the film? Etc. If hey liked the soundtrack the atrist will release a cd to promote the
film and most likely go in the charts. If their was a particular line in the film that stands out and was
popular amongst the audience then that will be printed on t-shirts and be put on sale alongst with
characters from the film that the audience responded well to, this will also be done on posters,
pictures, advertisements, etc.