The amended version of the last essay question presentation 'Successful media products'. Complete with images and geekery!

1. “SUCCESSFUL MEDIA PRODUCTS DEPEND AS
MUCH UPON MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION TO
A SPECIFIC AUDIENCE AS THEY DO UPON GOOD
PRODUCTION PRACTICES.”
To what extent do you agree with this statement, within the media area you have
studied? (June 2011, past paper question)

2. INTRODUCTION
• In terms of the film industry, the practices of marketing and distribution are as
important as a film’s production practices. They are the factors which influence its
success either critically or commercially, and production companies decide which
process is important for their film. When a film is mainstream and popular, good
production practices, marketing and distribution are as important to the
expectations of audiences.

3. • Large film companies play a major role in the marketing and
distribution of several successful media products. One
example of this is the American media company Warner
Bros. Entertainment Inc. It has produced over 4413 films and
was founded in April 4, 1923. A division of parent company
Time Warner, its production practices are incredibly vast,
along with its marketing and distribution of blockbuster
films such as The Dark Knight Rises (in the Dark Knight
trilogy) and the Harry Potter film series. Since they were
based upon popular source material, these films became
well- remembered that they have attracted massive
audiences universally around the world. As in the case of
‘The Dark Knight Rises’, its integrated marketing campaigns,
online and physically, have contributed to its successful
distribution in the USA and beyond, outlining how their style
of film promotion has radically diversified over the years of a
new technological dawn.
Warner Bros. Pictures – A TimeWarner
Company

4. • Being a massive studio conglomerate, Warner Bros. is
able to market horizontally and vertically as well as
integrate with other subsidiaries. As they have their
own record label company, studios, TV channels and
shop (WB Store), WB is able to distribute easily
through these factors. Hans Zimmer’s Batman v
Superman soundtrack was released on WB’s own
record label WaterTower Music. Apart from this, viral
marketing is also utilised for some of its films to raise
universal audience awareness by releasing new
teasers and trailers periodically, as well as keeping
people up to date with newly unearthed technologies
and trends. That way, wider audiences expand as new
individuals are introduced to WB’s range of films by
integrated awareness.

5. RECORDED PICTURE COMPANY AND
HIGH-RISE
• However, in contrast to major multi-million dollar-making film
companies like WB, Recorded Picture Company uses different
marketing and distribution strategies. It is an independent director-
driven production company founded in 1974 by chairman Jeremy
Thomas, which has recently released the 2016 social science fiction
thriller film ‘High-Rise’. Teaming up with HanWay Films, Film4, and
Ingenious Media, the production company distributed the film
through StudioCanal. Even though the main cast included big
names like Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers), Sienna Miller (Burnt),
and Jeremy Irons (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), the film
was targeted towards a smaller niche audience because of its
sophisticated subject matter adapted from the J. G. Ballard book of
the same name. It was advertised more in newspapers, magazines
and on posters so not targeted as much towards a younger
audience. Producer Jeremy Thomas had developed the project in
the 2000s with different scriptwriters and directors attached. His
emphasis on the quality of script was important when it came to the
distribution of the film by StudioCanal. This major point in
production indicates that quality outweighs quantity, which
contrasts both Warner Bros. and RPC against one another.

6. BATMAN V SUPERMAN AND
BLOCKBUSTER FILMS
• Warner Bros. Pictures recently released ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice’, a good example of a tentpole movie to become hugely successful
commercially. With hugely famous names such as Ben Affleck (who plays
Batman), Henry Cavill (Superman) and director Zack Snyder, the film
already creates a huge tsunami of fans as the source material is based
upon two of America’s biggest superheroes created by DC Comics and
they also want to see it just for the actors involved. Batman v Superman
had a huge $165 million marketing effort to promote the film worldwide,
and the given budget was $250 million. The film used a heavy amount of
CGI to add to the expenses of production to make it seem realistic.
Compared to this powerhouse of a production, Wheatley’s High-Rise
(assumed to have a lower production budget) with a minimal amount of
CGI was filmed on location in the seaside town of Bangor, Country Down
instead of studio-built sets as used in the other superhero movie. This
shows that there is a clear rift between success and production of films as
there is no direct link between the two factors of the film industry,
regardless of the length of time it takes to produce a media product and
distribute it.

7. CONCLUSION
• Looking at the basis of Warner Bros. as a major conglomerate in the ‘big six’
group of studios, we can see that its vast array of films have been nominated
for more than 200 Academy Awards but have won just around 60 or so awards.
In juxtaposition to this, RPC’s High-Rise was only nominated for 4 awards, and
this does not affect the critical and commercial success of the film as awards
do for Warner Bros. Pictures. Even with a monumental marketing and
distribution effort for a massive blockbuster film like Batman v Superman, that
does not account for a positive critical response. Instead, it just generates new
wave after wave of audiences. Adequate production practices are what it takes
to make a film critically commercial to secure its universal success. Quality is a
factor that will cement a memorable film through the likes of High-Rise and
others (The Big Short is another example, where it has won the Academy
Award for Best Adapted Screenplay). As the quality of a film diminishes over
time, we can see that production is important because the audience of a film
that has left the cinema will decrease and nobody would want to watch a CGI-
effects-filled whirlwind of grim and loud action compared to a universally
recognised film with a dedicated fanbase and lasting success critically and
commercially. It, overall, outweighs the methods of marketing and distribution.