Film Promotion

Film promotion is a method of promotion used in the film industry in order to market a new production by enhancing publicity of a new production created by a film studio. Film studios may invest in expensive advertising campaigns to heighten awareness of a film and maximise film revenue early on in the release cycle. The most commonly used method of advertisement is through the production of trailers. Trailers are very important in the production of the film as they are instantly accessible to all movie-goers, as they are displayed at the beginning of a major film either at a cinema, or at the beginning of a DVD or Blu-ray disc. Trailers are hugely useful towards heightening the appeal of a production as they provide the viewer with the best possible experience of what to expect from the film, without watching the film itself. In a trailer, excerpts from a film are shown in a condensed manner for duration of around 2 and half minutes. This is most probably the most successful type of promotional technique as this method of film promotion is in the form of an audio-visual medium; this is the most useful insight into a film for people who have no previous knowledge of the production in question. It is also notable that the type of trailer for a future film is strategically accompanied with a major film of the same genre. For example, a film company may decide to display a trailer for a new, up and coming thriller film, with another thriller production in order to appeal to their target audience; people who enjoy watching thriller films, this is likely to heighten the popularity of certain films even further.
Another key technique of film promotion is the utilisation of film posters. Modern film posters consist of photographs taken from the film, accompanied by the title of the production, in addition, the name of the director or ‘stars’ that have participated in the creation of the film may be included, in order to appeal to a fan of previous work they have participated in. In certain cases a tagline is included to provide an insight into the tone or premise of the film. For example, in a comedy film, the tag line may consist of a witty remark or joke, a typical convention of the comedy genre, and something that is relevant towards the film. Movie posters are often displayed either inside of cinemas or on the outside of a cinema, to make the advertisement of the trailer easily accessible to film fans. Standees are often displayed in major cinemas in accompaniment with the film posters. Standees are large self-standing structures, usually taking form as a character for the film.
Film distributors may invest funds into television and radio also. It is estimated the Hollywood distributors invest over $4,000,000,000 a year into paid television advertising, which may consist of 30 second television advertisements. Funds may also go into product placement also. Television adverts are hugely successful, as it takes form as an audio-visual medium, whilst being very accessible to a very wide range of people. Film distributors may also invest in product placement, which is a technique which ensures that a film may either be mentioned in another television show in dialogue, or in the form of an on set poster. In addition to this, extended placement may occur, in which extended exposure is provided of the film on entertainment shows, such as popular UK chat shows (The Jonathan Ross Show), or news programmes such as ITN. Exposure may be provided on these shows to the film itself (by showing clips of the film), the stars in the film, or even the director. Film distributors may also utilise the internet in order to promote films. Viral marketing campaigns could be used on the internet in order to promote the film. A notable viral campaign was for ‘The Dark Knight’, a ‘marquee blockbuster’ which was released in 2008, in 2007 a website was produced in which the main tagline for the film was established, “Why so serious?” Also, the website contained a pixelated image, which was de-pixelated with every email sent by fans, the image revealed the release date for the film. This is a clever method of heightening appeal for a film.
In addition to television and the internet being used as a tool for film promotion, paid advertisement may be included in newspapers and magazines. Cross promotion may occur in the original novelisation of a film (e.g. Lord of the Rings); with a new cover jacket displaying the fact the novel has been made into a motion picture. Merchandising is also used as a tool for film promotion with paid co-branding, or co-advertising the film with another product (e.g. Aston Martin and 007). Promotional give-aways are often considered, most commonly with children’s movies (The Rugrats Movie) with special cups, toys and film themed options at fast food chains such as Burger King. Quite often promotional tours are conducted for high scale releases, in which the actors, directors and producers appear for television, radio or magazine interviews, with clips or outtakes from the film being displayed in accompaniment with the interview.
Before large production companies actually set about releasing a ‘marquee’ film, the distributors of the film conduct several types of audience research beforehand. It is estimated that over $1 is spent on audience research alone. Smaller ‘indie’ film producers have a much lower budget than larger ones; so as a result, no audience research is conducted by these companies. Large production companies will carry out seven distinct types of audience research beforehand. Firstly, the film distributor will conduct positioning studies, comparing them to releases at a similar time, this is to see how the film will fare financially, to see if there is much competition from other releases. Film distributors also proceed with test screenings of finished or nearly finished films that they have done. In addition to this, they test audience response to advertising materials. Six weeks before the film is released, tracking studies are conducted of audience awareness of the film. Exit surveys are also produced, which aim to question film goers of their demographic makeup and effectiveness of marketing. The film distributors also go about testing the title of the production in the early stages, with them recording the response to various different titles. Also, concept testing will occur in the developmental phase of a film, even before the film is produced.