Marketing and Promotion – Brighton i

1. Marketing and Promotion – Brighton i Group 202 2 Jane Lawrance 61589

2. Promotion There are many ways to promote a film. As our film is an independent we don’t have the budget to make any extravagant investments in marketing and promotion and so are main, and most simple, ways of promotion will be a film poster and appearing on the cover of a film magazine. These are two of the most important aspects of marketing, without them we wouldn’t have simple ways of creating a buzz around our film. Brighton Rock (Rowan Joffe, 2010) played on place/ souvenir name and iconic locations to promote their film. Also by focusing on a popular era for Brighton they are able to draw in a variety of ages to see their film as many residents are aware of and like the Mods and Rockers phase Brighton went through and the films associated with this; Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam , 1979) and Tommy (Ken Russel, 1975). As well as the use of posters and magazines we are also looking into the use of social networks for marketing purposes. They provide us with the opportunity of free advertisement with a younger generation which will help us not only to reach out to students as an audience but allow the use of Web 2.0 to help spread word of mouth about ‘Brighton I’.

3. Key promotional product Our Trailer is our key promotional product, as an independent production we need to rely on the strength of our marketing and film to get us profit. Our trailer needs to be able to draw in an audience and keep them coming back. This is to allow our film to be sustainable. We want to release our trailer around October/ November this will give our film, as an independent a chance to trailer around some of the film festivals before being released as well as allowing us to reach out to an interested audience at the festivals we will hopefully be able to be noticed by award givers and maybe be recognised and nominated for some of those. Hopefully our film would be able to get into some of the more independent festivals such as; Raindance (UK) and Sundance (USA).

4. Posters and Magazines Posters and magazines are the fundamental base of any marketing campaign. Our poster and magazine should serve to help our film appeal to a wider audience other than just the Brighton/ London area. The posters we want to create should be central to Vera’s character; this should introduce our audience to a relatively conventional character and story line, hardworking detective caught up in a challenging case. By using Empire or Sight and Sound magazine we are appealing to the type of audience that want to learn more about independent films as well as enjoying mainstream Hollywood productions. In wanting to establish ourselves in these magazines we are reaching out to a diverse educated audience that will help to sell our film if they like it. The magazine cover, again we want to focus on Vera, should allow us to introduce actors and their characters to the scene. By making our actors more well-known we are able to establish a connection with the audience and they may want to see more films that the actor has been in. By mentioning director in the trailer we are able to establish knowledge of the films they have been in, if we incorporate the names of these films “Shake Me Down” and “Hollingbury Park” to our magazine cover we are allowing the audience the opportunity to explore the director’s career and other films they might be interested in.

5. Other Techniques Other more independent techniques of film promotion are: Having a gimmick! A unique selling point for our film to help draw in an audience and intrigue people to find out more about our films. Using short YouTube releases to appeal to a growing young generation of film enthusiasts, who can freely view our teasers at their will. This will help us to save money on TV trailers as we can spread our releases through social networking such as the share option on YouTube which allows the viewer to share on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. As well as this we can incorporate the use of Four Square to appeal to those who live in and around Brighton by adding in murder site messages on the beach, pier and in the lanes. Local promotion will help to create a busy word of mouth and allow our audience to socially interact with each other about the film.

6. Marketing Marketing is absolutely crucial to the success of the film. Normally marketing is handled through distribution companies. The cost of doing this often matches or exceeds the production cost!

7. “The Invisible Art” Distributers must CLEARLY identify who their target audience is and, after they know this, they need to find a way of marketing their product to every one of their ideal audience. How are they going to see the film if they don’t know when it is released? Film Production Film distribution Film exhibition

8. Box office The first weekend of any film covers a huge cost of the production. The hopes are that in this opening weekend the film will make its production costs helping the producer to break even and hopefully make a bit of profit. The three films that I have been researching had good opening weekends; • Brighton rock (2010) - £352, 815 (UK) • Snatch (2000) - £3,180,002 (UK) • Jackie Brown (1997) - £85, 244 (UK) Although Brighton Rock didn’t make as much money as the others it is closer to the sort of film we are making and, although it was a remake of the 1947 classic directed by John Boulting, we believe that this would be a good idea of the amount we hope to make in our opening weekend.

9. Release and Sustainability To sustain any product after release you need to access a variety of platforms. Our film, as an independent should be able to access many mainstream and low budget platforms. One idea on how to sustain our movies popularity would be to try and get it entered into some of the independent award shows, such as; Raindance and Sundance. Being recognised at these events or even just gathering an independent following will allow our film to become a recognised production and may well sustain its popularity with audiences.

10. Major Film Studios Major film studios normally have a lot of control over a lot of stages in the industry chain, so they have more of a budget for distribution, e.g. Warner Bros own their own production and distribution companies. Independent Film Studios Independent producers have to network and create links with distributors; they act as the middle man in order to help promote these films. Many independent films have UK Film Council Funding.

11. Licensing Distributers have to buy a “license” to sell the film (Film Acquisition). The distributors will only buy the license to sell the film is they feel the film is a viable idea and has stable backing. If an independent film has funding from the UK Film Council then they have stable backing so making an independent shouldn’t deter anyone from trying. The film’s value chain is its potential earning power through release. This involves the marketing such as Film posters and magazine covers. Through these mediums a company can tell whether an audience will buy into the film and therefore see its potential earnings.

12. The license to sell the film isn’t just to cinemas. The film is sold in many different ways, all of which earn it money. Mediums of sale include; • Home entertainment release • DVD / Blu-ray • Pay-per-view • Subscription TV • Free Air TV (A year after release)

13. Film Posters

14. Based on… famous book , established narrative and genre. Tagline: “Love. Murder. Revenge.” NOT on the poster well known story. Brighton Rock (2010, Rowan Joffe) USP: remake of a classic , set in a different era. Attracts the lovers of the Mods and Rockers. Names in bold adds emphasis Mention of famous actress to draw in an audience Info given : title Establishment of location Small mention of famous actor may draw in a audience bold font – mimics some of the book covers for Greene’s novel . The older film mimics others. From the producer of suggests no need to mention hem because the are famous, StudioCanel produced his film Night time, evil rising, darkness falls. Pinkie: menacing main character central to poster Not a protagonist too sinister for that , the Antagonist – breaks conventions of film poster Mrs Arnold (Ida) Running , red – in danger grown strong doesn’t look scared Brown hair corruptible Brown hair corruptible Black hair corrupt Red – dangerous powerful, blood ROSE: looking at pinkie, behind him, protected trapped wearing white, vulnerable. Orange – warm, safe. White/ cream innocent but corruptible Establishment of location Purple: passion but evil, poison, jealousy Dutch tilt used to create unease, sense of something not being right. Very dark pallet – danger night sordid. Bad.

15. Ideas we like from Brighton Rock; • Neo noir style • Main character central • Showing the sky behind them and maybe the pier for establishing location • Layout of the font above the characters. • MAYBE the Dutch tilt to give a feeling of unease.

16. Tagline: “Stealin’ stones and breakin’ bones”….sets up narrative and genre, crime caper/ heist. NOT on poster. Snatch(2000, Guy Ritchie) Establishing characters – everyone has their own style, individualism Info given: Title Font is clear and contrasting to the white background, snatch suggests a theft, taking something stealing etc. Brad Pitt is central with “dog” which suggests the dog is important to the story, other characters stand behind which suggests all of their world revolve around his story overall. High art style edit on the characters Very bright colours suggest a caper feel normally heist films use very dark pallets this suggests the crime may not be serious or if I is something will mess it up, they do not look professional. Imagery shows just the characters no surroundings which suggests the narrative is very character based. Lots of big names backs this up. USP American heist meets British crime caper American and British actors Lots of famous actors mentioned Film website link Rating (USA) Coming soon – to keep the audience engaged makes them want to know when it’s coming out a sense of anticipation Famous postmodern Director

17. Ideas we like from Snatch; • Use of centralising characters • High Art editing style • Release dates/ coming soon • Links to internet site for more info • Every character has their own style.

18. Jackie Brown (1997, Quentin Tarantino) Introduction of main character Tagline – long though breaking conventional short ones Two taglines Gun establishes character and narrative/ genre Money suggests crime Heavy violence suggested through many guns. Breaks gender and racial stereotypes and empowers the female protagonist Instead of a photo, a painted montage of the film and its characters Very stylised from Foxy Brown posters Pastiche of Blaxploitation films. Stylised font – borrowing from Foxy Brown Mention of famous postmodern director

19. Ideas we like from Jackie Brown; • Use of strong female protagonist • Centralisation of main character • Stylised font to era and genre

20. Film Magazines

21. Empire Adapting the cover for the film its promoting Normally an interview with the main actor The picture gives us a sense of genre for the film promoted, the main character. Always as the character in the film they pay, Robert Downey jr features heavily as Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes. Website links The main image should give the audience a sense of genre of the film and give us an idea of what type of person the character is; e.g. happy/sad, good/evil etc. Other film releases mentioned, contents of film The colours used in this convey and dark tone to the film suggesting fire and violence may be involved from the characters hand gesture and the flaming “Empire” at the top. Advise for the reader Suggestions of online exclusives The taglines are too draw in the audience, suggesting genre at times and tone of the movie and sometimes the film “you and whose golden army?” gives reference to Hell Boy 2 as well as suggesting there is a sense of cockiness in the character. Eluding to an exclusive to the magazine, offering a first look

22. Ideas we like from Empire; • Adapting the cover to fit the film • Offering exclusives about the film • Conveying a sense of genre • Introducing the character/ actor to the audience

23. Total film Red and black give it a rich feel. The world’s best suggests importance and quality Guest editors – personal touch, adds comedic effect “the Muppets” The picture gives us a sense of genre for the film promoted, the main character. Content eluded to “massive” and “biggest” give a sense of size and importance to the cover. Other film releases mentioned, contents of film Working with a famous brand “An unexpected Journey” with martin freeman’s face and the dark background suggests that the magazine is like an adventure – they are adapting the magazine to fit genre and narrative conventions of the up and coming film Exclusives to audience “world’s first Bilbo cover” Shiny gold letters and lines give the magazine an expensive feel and ties in with the image of the ring Other films mentioned Detail around the edge gives a Celtic sense – ties in with film. Other stars, from different films shown

24. Ideas we like from Total Film; • Use of words to suggest magnitude • Use rich colours to give an expensive feel • Adapt magazine to genre • Give sense of magazine content • Offer exclusives • Add detail to it to give a professional feel

25. Film Promotion What other types of marketing are there? • Viral Marketing - We could use viral marketing to market our film although it seems to work better with horror and dystopia associated with diseases. • To help introduce our actors to the business we could invest in some TV promotional interviews where they would be quizzed about their own opinions on the movie they have made. • Although our film is not the type to have merchandise, we could see merchandise which would help us to make money to support our film. • The Gimmick, our gimmick is to put chalk outlines around the cities we are released in, starting with Brighton with the words “#openyoureyes” inside them, this will encourage our audiences to search for our film independently. As well as this it should be relatively cost free with the permission of the council.