Avengers Case Study

1. Film Media in Context

How does the industry promote the film to audiences using:
Print?
- Posters/Billboards
- DVD packaging
- Magazine articles

Broadcast?
- TV interviews
- Chat Shows
- Trailers
- Radio interviews

E-Media?
- Official website
- Social Network sites

What are the key issues and changes taking place in each platform?
- Print media is not globally accessible like e-media is.
- Some people may not have access to internet but can see TV broadcasts.
- Print is more expensive than e-media to produce.
- Can create UCG using e-media.
- E-media allows for a large wide audience attraction (allows for global marketing and appeal).

How is each platform responding and adapting to these issues and changes?
- Print doesn’t appeal much to younger audiences.
- Change in technologies allows more for people to get involved.
- People may not have time to watch TV live therefore they can record programmes or watch the on demand.

  

2. How are texts in the 3 Platforms
constructed?

How is the film promoted through?

Print:
- Billboards
- Posters
- Magazine articles (film magazines)
- DVD packaging

Broadcast:
- TV trailers
- Chat shows
- Live red carpet even

E-media:
- Social network sites (Twitter & Facebook)
- Official website
- Prizes and competitions (free tickets)

How is the film being promoted across the 3 platforms?
Similarities
- Same title design
- Iron man is at the forefront.

Differences
- e-media is better at reaching audiences as it has a more global reach.
- e- media also allows for the film to be promoted more further and allows for more information, details, images, etc. to be published and accessible to audiences.

3. How do audiences access
 the text across the 3 platforms?

Who are the films target audience? And how do you know?

The target audience for Avengers Assemble are those who are aged between 5 -35.

How is the film promoted to its target audience through?

Print:
- Magazines
- Posters/Billboards
Broadcast:
- TV chat shows
- Interviews
- TV Trailers
- News (e news)
E-media:
- Websites
- Social Network sites

What type of audience does the platform reach?
Print reaches audiences such as Marvel fanatics and comic readers as they are available globally but not in as much quantity as other media platforms. Reaches a more aspirer audience.
Broadcast reaches internationally as interviews and premieres were held across the world and allowed for a wide range of publicism in many countries. Reaches the more mainstream audience.
E-media reaches every single audience in the world as the internet is easily accessible and used around the world. It also allows younger generations to reach the film as young people use the internet more than other ages.

Does this platform allow audiences to participate or interact with the film? How?
Social network sites allow audiences to interact with the film as they allow the audience to comment and communicate with the film. They could share their opinions and views and can enter competitions.

Do audiences play a role in the construction or creation of any film’s promotion or material?
Some younger audiences play a vital role in the construction of the film’s promotion materials such as young kids who want to dress up as the film characters, have costumes and toys available in the Disney store for them.

4. How are representations
 constructed across the 3 platforms?

How are characters/stars in the film represented?

Iron Man is represented as a main character in the print as he is at the forefront of main film posters.
The lead female is represented as strong, brave, and smart; which is an alternative representation of females.

What values and ideologies are communicated within these representations?
There are more men on the front cover and in the film; this suggests Mulvey’s male gaze, and that the female characters are there simply for the male viewers to look at.
Berger's theory is also shown in the film; 'men act and women appear'. We can see this as There is only one lead female character, compared to 6 lead male characters.
There is a dominant ideology of men as they are shown as strong and brave.

5. What Institutional issues
are raised in the case study?

Who are the key institutions involved in promoting the film and how are they involved?
- Disney helped distribute the film worldwide and helped sign a deal with Lego to create superhero toys.
- Hershey chocolate company created unique competitions and posters, t-shirts, comic cons.
- Dr Pepper created a limited edition can and an online game.
- Empire magazines YouTube channel had interviews with cast.
- Acura; built cars for the film.
- Harley Davidson.
- Visa.
- JADS – to promote character based fragrances.

Has the internet piracy impacted on the construction/distribution of the film/DVD?
Internet piracy did have an impact on the distribution on the film as there were 8,110,000 downloads which meant it was the fourth most pirated film ever.

Magazine

Front Cover

Double Page Spread

What is in my Case Study

My case study includes details of the institutions that were involved in promoting the film and the different techniques and methods that the institutions used.
It also contains the similarities and differences of the film over the three media platforms.
Representations are shown in the case study of the film actors and characters.

How audiences can access the film texts across the three platforms is included and who the films audiences are .

Zaid's Case Study

1.         Zaid
2.        Django Unchained
3.     Print and broadcast platforms are covered.
4.         Print examples:
   
   
   
5.  Broadcast examples:https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GrsJDy8VjZk
6.  E-media examples: N/A
7. The print contains the name of the director as a key text.
8.   I could include screenshots of key information of Wikipedia and attach it to my case study.

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.