UNIT 26 - Distribution and Marketing Task

Distribution and Marketing Task

Film: Transformers

The film Transformers was a very known blockbuster film which was made in 2007. The film was directed by Micheal Bay. The film is about an ancient struggle between two cybertronian races, the heroic Autobots and the evil Deceptions, comes to earth, with a clue to the ultimate power held by a teenager.

Primary and Secondary Audiences

The target primary audience for this film in my opinion would be teenagers of the ages 15-19. I say this because this film is a sci-fi based film and mostly teens take an interest in this. the film being a Micheal Bay film contained a lot of explosions, fast cars/robots, guns etc. so it wouldn't really be of interest to any older ages. The producers would think that this audience group would bring the most success as most teenagers would pay to see this film. The secondary target audience would be in my opinion young adults from the ages 21-24. young adults of this age may be interested in this film as it features actors such as Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox. these actors can attract audiences from this age group as they are seen as wide icons in the film industry. This would mean that the film will get more attention and also means that it would be very successful as in present time mostly teenagers and young adults go to the cinema, so the film would be making a lot of money because of the target audiences.

Box Office Revenue

Every film made by a big production company or a very well known director has an estimate amount on how much it made at Box Office. Transformers made up to $319,246,193 at box office,
this shows the success of the film. It also made up to $70,502,38 on its opening weekend, again showing how successful the film was when released. There are many reasons as to why this film had such great success, this can vary from the people that were involved when making the film to the quality of acting within the film. Because of the amount of money the Transformers franchise made they were able to make more Transformer films. Again referring back to the success it had at box office audiences would expect it to have the same impact. this sets up an image for the film company.

Trailers

Trailers are used to publicise a certain movie to the audience. Trailers give sneak peaks of the film but do not reveal everything. This would intrigue the audience make them want to watch the film, by doing this companies are practically selling their production and will eventually be making money from it. If companies were to not make a trailer for their film then the movie wouldn't get as much publicity which leads to the company not making money. The trailer also tells audiences when the film will be released so they know when to go watch it. If a trailer came out the day the film was released it wouldn't get as much attention as it would compared to that if it was publicised before hand. So it is very important to have a trailer to inform the audience on what is to come. In the Transformers trailer there was a lot of action and cut scenes from various moments in the film. By seeing this it makes the audiences want to go and watch it. 

Social Media Impact

The impact if social media in present day plays a big role in getting attention and getting something to go viral. In terms of media, obviously the involvement being social media is very
useful in effect. Nowadays most of the society we live in today have a form of social media. This means that most people are connected with each other which also makes sharing easier for people to find out about productions. Friends for  example can communicate with each other and can spread the word and publicise it themselves to their friends. This is also a way of getting the production more known across to a wider audience. With Transformers and social media on twitter the hash tag #TFM (Transformer madness) was trending in first week it was publicised. because of this more people were able to find out about it.

Poster Effectiveness

In terms of films and movies posters are used to also publicise and spread the word of the film. Posters also get people to go and watch the film. For example if a child sees a poster which has a lot of colour showing a new animation that has just been released then they would ask their parents/carers to go and see the film. Posters are usually put in areas where everyone can see it such as tube stations or on buses going around the city. This is a way to get more people to go
and see the film. An example for a poster was the Transformers poster that was out around cities to get more attention. The contents of the poster contained the characters that will be featured in the film. It also had some of the action going on in the background. By making a poster like this it catches peoples eye and by it being seen everywhere, more and more people will know about it which could lead to them going to see it.

Merchandise

Of course any majorly successful film has to have a large fan base and fans of course love merchandise. Merchandise is also a part of what makes a really successful film. The merchandise bought by the audiences creates more money for the franchise. For example in Transformers action figures of the characters were put up on shelves in toy stores across the world, this meant that people were able to purchase them which went towards the entire Transformers franchise. This also brings a better connection with the audience and the film as a unit.


Press Junkets


 Press junkets is the films promotion which generally includes press releases, advertising campaigns, merchandising and media, and interviews with the key people involved with the making of the film, like actor and directors. This enables audiences to get a deeper view of the whole production settings and the behind the scenes action. If audiences are interested by the film they can find out more about it through these features. Many people who enjoy a film would want to know more about it, whether its interviews with the stars of the film or just the behind the scenes info audiences who love a film would always try and find out more about it. With Transformers there were various ways in how they done advertisements, merchandising, interviews etc. The behind the scenes were taken in up most interest as it took the production crew so much time to have the final masterpiece of one of the scenes which was the battleground scene. This scene was very expensive to shoot and set and took more than a couple times to get perfect. Thus would intrigue audiences who have seen the film or are yet to see it as they'll have an understanding of how much time and hard work has gone into the making of this film.