Tracking: The Marketing of Case Studies 3 & 4

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (Case Study 3)

• Newspaper article: The Independent
• Below the line marketing
• Readership is predominantly educated middle class people
• It's valuable because it is easily accessible, it has a direct reach to specific people, it has the connectivity trait therefore readers have the ability to comment, like and share (audience involvement) - offering their opinions and boosting the marketing
• Competition: Win a Trip to New Zealand
• Above the line marketing - the trip's expenses and promotion by Odeon Cinema are paid for by Warner Bros.
• This may appeal to many people: families, young adults, adults, travellers
• It's valuable because it is includes audience involvement, audience can be entertained, but it is valuable for the film because to enter the competition they must prebook their tickets at the Odeon Cinema
• Benefiting Odeon Cinema, the film and the winners of the holiday
• Trailer Release from Warner Bros: Full Teaser Trailer
• Above the line marketing - The film was paid for to produce the footage for the trailer and the editors were paid
• This will appeal to families, adults, teenagers, action movie-lovers and essentially anyone who is interested in watching the film
• The advantage of this marketing technique is that it has infinite shareable potential, direct reach to specific people and it's connectivity through shares, likes and comments

Some other examples I found were:

• The Daily Mail
• Orlando Bloom reprises his role as arrow-shooting Legolas in the new Hobbit trailer The Desolation of Smaug
• The Metro
• "Thranduil fears bad times in new The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug TV spot"
• Cinema Blend
• Behind-The-Scenes Hobbit Images of Benedict Cumberbatch
• DigitalSpy
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is darker, says Peter Jackson

Kill Your Darlings (Case Study 4)

• Newspaper Article: The Mirror Online
• Below the line
• Appeals to tabloid readers, gossip-lovers of low intellect - This is obvious through the fact that the writer focused on the subject of Daniel Radcliffe kissing another man
• It's valuable because it is easily accessible, it has a direct reach to specific people, it has the connectivity trait therefore readers have the ability to comment, like and share (audience involvement) - offering their opinions and boosting the marketing
• Trailer Release from Sony Pictures Classics: Full Trailer
• Above the line
• It reaches anyone who is interested in seeing the movie, romance/drama/biography film lovers or anyone who sees the link to the video
• The advantage of this marketing technique is that it has infinite shareable potential, direct reach to specific people and it's connectivity through shares, likes and comments
• Poster Release: Originally Sony Pictures Classics, but there was an article published on Empire
• Above the line (to create the poster) but below the line for the publishing of the Empire article
• Potentially anyone who sees the poster. This all depends on where (and if) it is placed outside of the Internet
• This is a valuable platform of marketing because it gets the word out quickly so information can spread through word of mouth and sharing of the image through social media sites

Some other examples I found were:

• The Daily Mail 
• "Daniel Radcliffe on how the director of his new film Kill Your Darlings helped him through his gay sex scenes"
• "Fans swarm Daniel Radcliffe at the screening of his new film Kill Your Darlings at BFI Film Festival"
• The Telegraph
• Kill Your Darlings, Venice Film Festival, Review

Kill Your Darlings (Case Study 4): Research

1. UK Release Date: 6th December 2013
2. Institutions behind the film's production and distribution: Producers: Killer Films, Benaroya Pictures and Outpost Studios. Distributors: The Works UK Distribution, Sony Pictures, Future Film, Lumiere and Paris Filmes
3. Production Budget: N/A
4. Nationality: American
5. Type of production: Low budget, independent film
6. Connections with other films: None
7. Director: John Krokidas (first directorial feature film)
8. Star actors: Daniel Radcliffe (as Allen Ginsberg), Dane DeHaan (as Lucien Carr), Michael C. Hall (as David Kammerer), Ben Foster (as William Burroughs), Jack Huston (as Jack Kerouac), Elizabeth Olsen (as Edie Parker)
9. The film's plot: "A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Herouac and William Burroughs." - IMDb 
10. The film's audience: This film is aimed more at adults who enjoy drama, romance and biographies, this is evidence that the film is skewed more towards women rather than men.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Case Study 3): Research

1. UK Release Date: 13th December 2013
   
2. Institutions behind the film's production and distribution: Producers: MGM, New Line Cinema and WingNut Films. Distributors: Warner Bros, Cocinsa and Forum Hungary.
3. Production Budget: $250,000,000 and funded by MGM and New Line Cinema
4. Nationality: American
5. Type of production: Large Budget, Hollywood Blockbuster production
6. Connections with other films: The second part to a three-part film series, starting with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and concluding with The Hobbit: There and Back Again. All three films together act as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, also directed by Peter Jackson.
7. Director: Peter Jackson
8. Star actors: Benedict Cumberbatch (as Smaug/ The Necromancer), Evangeline Lilly (as Tauriel), Richard Armitage (as Thorin), Orlando Bloom (as Legolas), Hugo Weaving (as Elrond), Ian MacKellen (as Gandalf), Martin Freeman (as Bilbo)
9. The film's plot: "The dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. Bilbo Baggins is in possession of a mysterious and magical ring." - IMDb
10. The film's audience: Fantasy film lovers of all ages. There is action and violence which would appeal more to adults and teenagers and then some childish humour for younger viewers. However, only true LOTR fans amongst the young, children audience would sit through this 3 hour film, otherwise it would be a dull experience for them.

Papadopoulos & Sons (Case Study 2): Director Q&A

Marcus Markou, the director of Papadopoulos & Sons, came into school to give us a question and answer session about the journey in the making of his first feature film.
These were the top five main points I felt I had learnt from the discussion:

1) Marcus drew specific aspects from his own life, in the past, and from his Greek heritage throughout the film. James Papadoupoulos, in the film, wanted to discontinue his Law Degree at university even though his father was against it. This mirrors the director's life at that age who (in reality) realised he then wanted to learn drama, then going onto pursue the film industry.

2) Marcus had to distribute money accordingly, due to his tight budget. During pre-production, he hired a Line Producer (Sarah Butler), who would read the script and work out the budget for individual shots. If a shot was thought to be too expensive to film, it would get cut from the script. Marcus also persuaded actors to join the cast because they loved the script, as opposed to large amounts of money. Stephen Dillane (Harry Papadopoulos) even had Game of Thrones postpone the shooting schedule back a week for the one-off opportunity to act in a film with his son, Frank Dillane, who would be playing father and son.

3) We learnt about Marcus' clever marketing techniques to reduce the cost. He took the free and easy path of social media, with sites like Twitter and Facebook it was simple to voice his film to potentially anyone. This platform of marketing gained about 15,000 likes. This was more cost-effective than a TV commercial or a poster on a bus, on top of that it probably would have reached the about same amount of public attention.

4) Marcus was a believer that this type of work was less of a job and he saw it as something more enjoyable, which is why he did not care too much for a profit for the film, he was interested in breaking-even and benefiting from the whole experience. As an example of this, on the first day he tried his best to avoid the typical hierarchy of the industry taking over, by placing himself at the level of the actors, the equipment team, the extras etc. This would give the whole cast and crew a sense of family and togetherness, which was the perfect atmosphere for a family film like Papadopoulos & Sons.

5) When marketing the film and deciding on a specific audience, Marcus said none came to mind. He believed that it would appeal generally to families as well as individual viewers of all ages due to the multi-generational cast. Furthermore he discovered that the appeal of the Greek community across the UK to be astoundingly large. To follow this, Marcus took it upon himself to contact as many Greek churches as possible on in the UK, making them aware of the independent film's release. In addition to this, he used Twitter to directly tweet any UK fish and chip shops (particularly in London) to ask 'if they had the chance to see a film about a fish and chip shop, would they?', in most cases the answer was yes.

Papadopoulos & Sons (Case Study 2): Research

Written and directed by independent filmmaker Marcus Markou, Papadopoulos & Sons is a British comedy-drama, shot entirely in London.

The plot is based around the main character Harry losing everything within his 'super rich lifestyle' after a financial crisis hits. He and his family pack and leave, to follow with Harry reluctantly reuniting with his brother to bring their old chip shop back to life. The family come to terms with their new life and begin to appreciate it.

Marketing

The marketing campaign has many platforms:

• Poster
• Theatrical Trailer
• Official Website
• Social Media
• Facebook Page
• Twitter Page
• Youtube Page
• With teaser videos, interviews and the soundtrack playlist

Distribution

This indie film was self-distributed and self-promoted by Marcus Markou's own company: 'Double M Films'. It was screened in several film festivals, including:

• The Dinard British Film Festival (France)
• The Palm Springs International Film Festival (USA)
• The Seattle Film Festival
• The Thessaloniki Film Festival (Greece)
• Where it received the Michael Cacoyannis Audience Award in November 2012
• One month later in December 2012, the film was released in cinemas all over Greece
• Four months later, in April 2013, it was then released in Ireland and the UK

In June 2013, the film was released in 70 cinemas in Germany and achieved the impressive tally approximately 24,000 admissions in the opening weekend.

Critical Reception

The film received a large amount of reviews in the UK, such as:

• The Guardian
• The Telegraph
• Contact Music

All rating them a 3 stars out of 5. Other critics, like:

• Total Film
• Female First

Both described the film as "feel-good" and emphasising the film's "charm and heart".

Lastly Papdopoulos & Sons recieved:

• 82% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
• And a 6.2 out of 10 on IMDb