A Field in England (Release Strategy)

1. A Field in England’s release was different to typical film releases as they had released the film in Cinema’s, on DVD’s, on TV, and on VoD, all simultaneously. This differs from traditional methods as distribution institutions normally release their films in the cinema’s first, and then on DVD’s and on TV several months (6 months) later.
   
2. The advantages of releasing the film on all the platforms on the same day were that it was able to reach all of their target audience and was available for everyone; it also generated a huge buzz on twitter which involved their fans stating that they would like to view the film in all the ways presented to them. Another advantage is that a small budget arthouse film such as this does not generate a wide interest; therefore the fans may lose interest, or forget about the film over time, so by allowing immediate DVD release, it is available instantly and their fans do not have to wait a long time. When you release the film on all platforms at the same time, you only need one marketing campaign, rather than separate ones at different times; this is cost effective and allows for a bigger budget to advertise their film to a wider audience.
   
3. There are also some disadvantages to this method as one platform may generate far more interest than the other platforms, causing a downfall in the other platform. Also, by releasing it on TV, people now have the ability to record what they want, which in turn allows the audience to gain a free access to the film rather than purchasing it and contributing to the film institution. There is a huge risk factor when attempting something different such as their distribution technique; this is because it has never been done in the UK before and by trying something new, it may repel their audience and other film distributors, rather than attract them.
   
4. A field in England would be aimed at people aged between 30 - 50  years old, and belong to the demographic groups of B, C1, and C2, and the psychographic group of succeeder; this is because they would be middle class and white, and they would choose products based on the very best, therefore arthouse would be the ideal type of films they watch as arthouse films are made as a piece of art.
   
5. In the future I do not think that all films will be released on all platforms simultaneously as big blockbuster films would prefer to show their films in the cinemas first, and then release them to the public as this would help them gain vast amounts of money and profit; also people would wait for DVD releases if the film is a large famous film, however, small low budget films may release their films on all platforms simultaneously as it has many advantages for them.

Ill Manors Facebook page

1. The Ill Manors page has 30,139 likes.
   
2. The top of the Ill Manors Facebook page is promoting the release of the DVD and Blu-ray copy.
   
3. These posts would appeal to the Ill Manors target audience:
   
   BRIT’s
   This links to the target audience as the majority of the target audience for Ill Manors would primarily be Plan B’s fanbase; and this post is  promoting that he is being nominated for two awards.
   
   Clash
   This links to the target audience as this is a post of an article which contains an interview of Plan B about whether a song can really change things
   
   Revolver Entertainment
   This links to the target audience as it allows the audience to win a free copy of Ill Manors and a variety of other films.
   
4. There is a link to the Ill Manors music video, which is an example of synergy as it promotes the music video further, and it promotes Plan B’s music. This helps promote the film as people who like his music would then go on to liking his film and would end up watching it.
   
   There is a post about Plan B being nominated for two BRIT awards for his album for Ill manors; this helps promote the film as it portrays to the audience that his music for his film is winning awards, and the film is a reflection of the music and therefore must be good.
   
5. On the Facebook page there are many user generated content post, such as:
   
   BFI Film Academy
   IMDB
   HMV Ill Manors Signing
   
6. On the Facebook page there is a variety of cross promotion of the DVD release and the soundtrack release.
   
   All Platforms
   DVD release
   Soundtrack release
   
7. The institution used the Facebook page to promote the film by posting a variety of different posts on the page and allowing the fans to interact with the institution. They also kept the fans up to date with any events or key dates.

Ill Manors (Print Platform)

Shortlist Interview:

The name of the company that had interviewed Plan B is called Shortlist. Therefore we can identify this as a type of print as Shortlist is a magazine company.
This article entertains its audience to some effect as the interview questions asked to Plan B gave an insight of his life to the audience.
This platform allows the audience to participate and contribute to this text as you are able to share the interview on your social network, and you can comment on the interview.
The codes/conventions that are apparent in the print interviews are the use of speech from the interviewee, and there is also some information at the end about the Ill Manors album, such as the release date.
To tell the story of Plan B’s production, narrative is used as the questions asked to Plan B led from the previous question, which creates a narrative of what happened.

The Guardian:

The Guardian is a newspaper company that has interviewed and written an article on Plan B; which makes it a print text, also, the images help show who the people they are writing about are and helps identify as a print text as well.
This article does not entirely entertain its audience as it mainly informs them of the film and who Plan B is, this is because The Guardian would not be associated with the type of target audience related to Ill Manors, and therefore it is used to inform the audience.
There is a comment section and the ability to share this interview via social media, which all allow the audience to contribute to Plan B and Ill Manors fame, and it also allows them to participate by commenting on what they think.
The codes/conventions that identify this as a print are the images, which show the audience who Plan B is, and show an image of his current production; and there is also the release date of the album at the end of the article.
Narrative is used as the article informs the audience of Plan B’s life from when he was a little kid and how he got to where he is now, it also tells the story of how Ill Manors and his other projects are working.

Print platform: advertising

1.       The key conventions that help identify the print text are the age ratings as they are shown 6 times in total on all sides of the DVD cover; another key convention is a short paragraph/summary of what the film is about is written on the back with little images of what the viewer would find in the film.

2.       There are many design features which help identify the ill manors brand, such as the gun which is portrayed in 4 images and is at the forefront of the front cover, which in turn shows the violent nature of the Ill Manors brand. The council estate in the background also helps identify the ill manors brand as the story is about people who are from council estate and the buildings are also curving around the main actor at the front to portray that people are trapped in this dark society which is a poor council estate.

3.       You can find examples of synergy as on the back cover it says ‘Featuring New Music By Plan B’, which is an example of synergy as it uses the music/album to help promote the film, and the film to help promote the music.

1.       The key conventions that help the viewer identify that it is a print text is the use of promoting that the film is available on Blu-ray, DVD, Download and is on-demand. Also the use of showing the social network site pages, also helps show that it is a print text as the whole purpose of a print text is to promote the film further and this print does just that.

2.       The design features are used all identify the ill manors brand as ill manors is a low budget film and relies significantly on the traditional advertising means such as word of mouth, which has worked successfully with ill manors. This is shown as 17 quotes, phrases, words, by media leaders are used to describe ill manors are shown on this poster.

3.       On this print text you cannot see any synergy being shown, as it is mainly based around and only on the film.

1.       The key conventions used to help the audience identify that this is a print text is the release date at the bottom right hand corner and the distribution company logo which is also shown.

2.       The design features which enable the audience to identify the brand of ill manors is the font of the writing as it is the same across all platforms, also as much as the title is consistent, so is Plan B’s stage name and real name, which also portrays that the brand of ill manors is significantly related to Plan B, therefore the audience then relate the brand to him.

3.       You cannot see any synergy being shown, as it is mainly based around and only on the film.

Learner Response (Mocks 2014)

Learner Response:

WWW:

·         Q2 +Q3 contain very good points but we now need that consistency across all questions.

EBI:

·         Its good you’re reading the text but don’t copy chunks of it down.

·         Audience Q is much weaker; have not said why.
   

Question 4

The ad appeals to a wide audience due to its visual and emotional impact it enforces on the audience.

This video has global appeal as it did not rely on language except for the slogan used; this was due to there being no dialogue in the ad which allowed people across the globe to understand what the ad was about and the use of no dialogue also helped create a visual impact on the audience.

The ad also attracts the audience effectively as there are no shocking/gory images which stick into the viewer’s head and disturb them; this then allows the audience to have no age limit, therefore the appeal is far larger, and this also helps with the different driving age limits across the world as they can also watch the ad.

Social network/sharing sites was pivotal in the ad’s success as groups which have been created such as ‘This ad should be on TV’ attracts many viewers and people globally, therefore this ad being a part of that group, helped propel its success further and lead to a wider audience.

The simplicity of the ad was also a key factor of attracting a wide audience as the setting was a house and was able to generalise an average family house to many people around the world, which then caused people to relate themselves to the family shown, and become emotionally moved.

Also, due to its original approach of portraying road safety by not using cars or objects that relate to road safety such as an actual seatbelt, then triggers more appeal from its audience as people tend to view products due to its originality, and because it is different due to it never being done before. This helps the audience then view it and become intrigued and moved by what they see, as it also uses the family and their home as a crash scene.