Film Facts

The Hobbit - Battle of the Five Armies

Distributed by: Warner Bros
Production Companies: New Line Cinema, MGM, Wingnut Films
Filmed in 48 FPS
Previous films feature on UK Netflix
$250 Million Budget
BO Takings of $955.1 Million (Just shy of expected billion)
Teaser trailer released July 28th attached to Guardians of the Galaxy
Main Trailer 6th of November released with Interstellar and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Game company A-Lim added characters such as legolas, bilbo, and gandalf
Lego - Video games and toys
Normal DVD release 20th of Aprl
DVD release coming November this year which is an extended version of the film (Brave Fonteir)
Premiere London Leister Square on 1st December 2014

Opened in theatres 11th December New Zealand, 12th UK, 17th US

Ill Manors

Distributed by: Revolver entertainment (Kildhulthood, Adulthood)
Production Companies: Film London Microwave, BBC Films, Aimimage
Soundtrack: Plan B was No 1 in UK charts
Inexperienced Actors for low budget
Trailer exclusive given to Guardian Website
£100,000 Budget
£453,570 Box office takings
Plan B did tour of last album to get funds towards the film (The defamation of strickland Banks)
15-25 target audience but struggled because of given 18 rating
BBC radio 1 extra was big target
Niche market targeting
Released on 6th June to 191 cinema's in UK and Ireland
Premiere 30th may 2012 at Leister Square
DVD 8th October

Cross Media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences. To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your chosen media area?

The film industry is dominated by multi-media and multi national conglomerates which dominate the market by using highly funded above the line promotional strategies.

The media giant warner bro’s using their cross media connections to create a marketing campaign to promote their film to audiences all over the world and to wide audiences. For example one of their most recent releases being The Hobbit – Battle of the Five Armies, which was released on the 12^th of December 2014 in the UK.  Being released at this time is a very strategic move to as this will be shown over Christmas where many people will be able to go to the cinema. Being a big blockbuster film The Hobbit will dominate holiday sales in the film industry and will punish other films released at the same time and will also block other films to be able to be screened due to the high demand and amount of screens in cinemas, which would have been dedicated to The Hobbit. Using synergy to promote the film global singer Ed Sheeran released a song for The Hobbit franchise, which is named “I See Fire” to promote the film and to introduce a new audience of Ed Sheeran fans to promote the film. This is a good example of why synergy is a very important aspect of promoting a film to your audience, using a famous soundtrack will also advertise the film to new audiences who maybe usually wouldn’t be interested in a film of this genre. The first teaser trailer for the film was released on the 28^th of July being attached to films in the cinema such as Guardians of the Galaxy, this film was released in the UK summer holidays so The Hobbit was guaranteed to receive huge amounts of publicity. The second trailer for the film was released on the 6^th of November which was the full main trailer which was attached to Interstellar and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 which was also two very big blockbuster films which were predicted to be two highly successful and publicised films which would increase the hype and word of mouth for The Hobbit.

Warner Bro’s using their good relationship with Lego who have previously came together to create toys and video games they have also done this for the hobbit also. Creating Lego video games for game consoles such as the Xbox One and the PS4 with an already built reputation on previous Lego video games this excelled in the gaming industry and also advertised the story too new audiences. Due to media convergence of the adaptation and grown in technology new consoles have been released and this may lead to people staying at home and rather game then going to the cinema, so the release of a game from The Hobbit and Lego would come at a financial benefit due to the revenue from the game sales and from the attracting the people who have played the game which would encourage them to go to the cinema and see The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies. This all contributed towards the final $951 million box office takings which The Hobbit has received. Using their current connections with Netflix with the first two hobbit films featured on the UK Netflix it is predicted that The Battle of the Five armies will also appear on Netflix, Netflix is growing and is dominating the online film streaming market and due to the high quality films and the versatile devices you are able to use the service on. By putting the two films on Netflix before the third was released this is a great way to attract people into the cinema’s to see the third due to the large audience who owns a Netflix account, this will also encourage more people to sign up to Netflix ultimately ending up in more profit for both of the companies.

Another form of synergy which Warner Bro’s used to advertise The Hobbit Battle of the Five armies to the New Zealand audience was used wellington based football club to have a specially designed Hobbit kit for them to play in to promote the film to the people watching on the TV and people to see at the football game, especially with the film being filmed in New Zealand this was an easy audience to target.  Air New Zealand also introduced “The airline to middle earth” liveries on their planes to promote the film and to encourage people to travel to New Zealand to come to see the places where The Hobbit has been filmed. Both of these marketing strategies will be recognized as they will be seen all over the world and attract audiences, this will attract people for not only the film but for the airline also. Social media and blogging was also big for The Hobbit using Twitter and Facebook as below the line marketing to promote the film to wide audiences. Especially how social media has developed in recent years with many people joining every day and becoming available on almost every electronical device, with many people liking The Hobbit page on Facebook and people retweeting tweets on twitter for more people to see, The Hobbit will be aiming to get many likes on pages and retweets as they can so more people will become known of the film. Peter Jackson also had his own personalised blog where hobbit fans would check constantly looking for updates and teasers for the upcoming film, he would also interact with his audience and mention small teasers about the film.

The film industry will use synergy and cross media convergence to aim to make their films the most highly publicised films currently out on the market. Using examples from The Hobbit I have been able to demonstrate how huge media conglomerates such as Warner Bros will use different techniques with Media convergence and synergy to get people into the cinema’s to see their film to ultimately make the film a financial success. 

Section B Film – What Significance does the development of digital technologies have for media institutions and audiences?

The film industry is constantly being introduced to new ways their audiences are able to view their films and how they are actually filmed.  I will be comparing high budget and low budget films to show the development of technology and how it has affected both.

All institutions will use the power of current technology to create a build up of excitement for their upcoming films. There is very basic technology such as social media and websites; this is the pre production of the film that the producers will gradually build up the buzz for the upcoming film. The Hobbit for an example the main director Peter Jackson has his own blog where he will most post announcements about the film to his fans to create an excitement for the film. Will always usually announce the making of the film around a year before it is released as an early press release to start to create the buzz for the film especially if it is a sequel and already has a good reputation such as The Hobbit. Low budget films such as 127 hours and Ill Manors will create social media accounts to create a buzz for the film but will struggle because of the lack of the publicity but with actors such as James Franco and Plan B there fans will follow the updates of the film.

The actual technologies that are used during the production of the film are usually very budget dependant, you will find the big 6 will use special effects when others small institutions in the film industry will not be able to afford as many. The Hobbit was filmed throughout at 48FPS throughout the whole film that came at a very costly expense being a very high frame rate, this is the first series of film that have a released a film world wide to film at such a high film rate. Where as the other small budget films would not be able to afford. To release their films at such a high frame rate with this standard of technology. Also 3D cameras were used in the making of The Hobbit but it then makes the film available to be seen in 3D which may increase the final take in the box office but 3D has not been as popular as first expected. Institutions can also reach different audiences and give their fans more interactivity by releasing apps and trailers for the production. Low budget films are not able to produce as many different viral apps and interactive games as the high budget films are able to, for an example The Hobbit was able to create games on its website and also join partnership with the Lego Company to create The Lego Hobbit game and actual pieces of Hobbit Lego whilst looking at lower budget films such as Ill Manors no games or apps were produced. 

Distribution has become even more significant with the change in technology how they now market the film and to attract people into the cinema to see their film. As previously spoken about social media accounts would be set up on twitter and Facebook to advertise the film more towards the younger generation, getting there film page shared or tweets retweeted is now a great way towards advertisement of a film. Two trailers were released for The Hobbit one as a teaser then a full main trailer was released to create a buzz for the film the same as for 127 hours also releasing 2 trailers for the film in the same standard. Whilst Ill Manors only released one main trailer showing the financial divide between the 3 films that how due to funding available Ill Manors is not able to create the same buzz for a film as a blockbuster standard film such as The Hobbit franchise. For The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies this was premiered in London’s Leicester Square on the 1^st of December then first released in public cinemas on the 11^th of December in New Zealand and the 12^th in Great Britain then later released in USA then worldwide. The Hobbit involving with Lego to create video games and to promote their film to possibly a slighter different audience they designed a unique Hobbit football kit for a wellington based football team, which was worn during a game just after the release of the film. The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies game was also released for Apple and Android on phones and tablets which is a free purchase to promote the film in a 3D fight to save middle earth this shows the true funding and the power of a blockbuster film.

The online film legal streaming services are becoming a good market to introduce the film into with them becoming very popular such as Netflix, Love Film etc.… DVD’s, Blu-ray’s and downloads are also now popular with previous cinemagoers having all the technology at home to receive the same experience that you would at a cinema. This has encouraged film makers to adapt to the current technology, The Hobbit franchise currently has the first two films available on Netflix and expecting the landing of The Battle of the Five Armies on Netflix in the next coming months. All three of these films are all available on iTunes, which is now the normal for films being released. The latest development of new technology has played a massive part of the amount of money that is now going into the film industry, with films now being able to view on many different platforms using different software, which now many small films such as Ill Manors will be targeting online streaming websites to keep money coming into the film.

With the continuing development of new technology it also brings many positives and negatives with it. It brings new range of entertainment to be able to view the films at home and at the cinema giving you a more realistic experience. But with other technologies adapting at the same time piracy is a very big issue resulting in less profits, audiences may rather stay at home and play video games then go to the cinema. Many factors will depend on in the development of technology is a positive or a negative for the film industry.

Cabin in the Woods and The Tortoise in Love

With both of these small films having a very small budget getting people to watch the film is very important to them. These two films demonstrate two very impressive marketing campaigns which allowed the films to be watched by worldwide audiences.

The tortoise in love comes across as a very special film using a very small budget receiving grants towards it also to make up every penny they could even using half of the production team as part of the cast of the film they were still able to pick up many awards of the film just for something that was put together in a small village in a very basic setting they were able to make a very successful film in the small budget film category. This was an extremely small budget film that barely touched the half a million budget mark.

The cabin in the woods marketing campaign was very well done as this is what made the amount of people to go watch the film. With viral videos being put on youtube of popular incidents that were previous viral videos being adapted and edited to promote the cab in the woods. One of these was a cheerleader who in a previous viral video falls the clip was edited so that she would fall into a force field which would promote the cabin in the woods movie. Cabin in the woods is also a low budget film but not to the extent of the Tortoise in Love. Using a very cheap adaption of a viral video is a great way to market the film as this day and age where social media is used by the younger audience which they will also be aiming at they are simply able to target their audience with a viral video which will easily advertise and encourage teens to go see the cabin in the woods just from the video.

I believe that the low budget films have more of a special feel then the films that the big 6 produce they really try to get across to their audience by doing specific marketing campaigns which are very important to the low budget films as this is how they obtain their audience to go and view the films and they do not have money to be able to advertise on prime time television and in the cinema before a big blockbuster. Using social media and the internet they are able to target their audience just as cabin in the woods has just by editing and simple cheerleading video which then advertised the film and made many people to watch it.