'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Online Marketing

As opposed to 'Kill Your Darlings', which is an independent film with a small budget, 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' is a Hollywood film, which has a huge budget, which gives it the ability to spend large amounts of money on the marketing of the film.

1. This is an example of above the line marketing and so the film company would have payed money in order to set up their own website for the release of the film. This would be targeted at the fans of the previous film in the franchise and also of 'The Lord of the Rings' and it is also a place in which online advertisement can refer people to, such as a trailer with a link to the website.

2. This is yet another example of above the line marketing: the company would pay for the edit of this official trailer, which is a useful tool for enticing many different people of many different parts of society. It would not just be limited to the tech-savvy members of society who have the ability to access the internet, but would also be released on television in order to promote the film release as much as possible.

3. This is an example of below the line marketing. It is from a newspaper in New Zealand which would promote the release of the newest film of a successful film franchise in order to spark their reader's interest. Promoting something which is well-known and has a large fan base would be likely to increase their own views. However, the use of an interview is a way of promoting their film in a cheaper manner.

'Kill Your Darlings' Online Marketing

The use of the internet in the below examples of marketing for 'Kill Your Darlings' is useful for marketing the film due to the fact that it is able to reach a wider, broader audience in a quicker amount of time, with the ability to go viral. The connected nature of the internet (synergy) means that the target audience have the ability to find out more about the product and consume in the way that suits them best.

1. From the Daily Express, an online newspaper article. It is an example of below the line marketing due to the fact that the film company has not paid for this article to occur in the newspapers. It is more likely that an independent film would rely upon below the line marketing and social media to promote their film due to a smaller budget. It is appealing to Harry Potter fans, using the reference to his iconic glasses.



2. From the 'Daily Mirror', an online tabloid newspaper website targeted at middle class people, mainly women, in their 20s and 30s. The use of audience participation is in order to make them feel more included in the marketing of the film. It is an example of below the line marketing: the 'Daily Mirror' writes articles on upcoming films in order to spark reader interest, so for its own benefit. It is attempting to reach the audience who would look for a more scandalous story.

3.This is an example of above the line marketing.The advertisement on the cineworld website is an example of a type of marketing which would be payed for by the company. This is specifically targeting those who may be looking for a film to go to see in their local cinema.

'Kill Your Darlings' Research

What is the UK release date?
6th December 2013

What institutions are behind the film's production and distribution?
Sony Pictures Classics
Lumiere
Future Film
Paris Filmes
The Works UK Distribution

What's the film's production budget?
Unavailable

What is the nationality of the film?
American, United States

What kind of production is it?
Independent film

Are there any connections with other films?
None

Who is the director?
John Krokidas

Are there any star names in the cast?

• Daniel Radcliffe
• Ben Foster
• Elizabeth Olsen
• Jennifer Jackson Leigh
• Jack Huston
• Dane DeHann
• Michael C. Hall

What is the film about?
Set in 1944 surrounding the death of a man called David Kammerer and how this brings together a group of poets.

Who will this film appeal to?
Fans of Daniel Radcliffe as well as fans of the Drama, Romance and Thriller genres.

'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Research

When is the UK release date?
Friday 13th December

What institutions are behind the film's production and distribution?
Warner Bros
Cocinsa
Forum Hungary

What is the film's production budget?
$250,000,000

What nationality is the film?
From the USA, American

Are there any connections with other films?
'The Hobbit' is a three-part prequel to the extremely famous 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, released between 2001 and 2003. The book was originally written by J.R.R Tolkien in the mid 20th Century. The three parts of 'The Hobbit' are:

1. 'An Unexpected Journey' (2012)
2. 'The Desolation of Smaug' (2013)
3. 'There and Back Again' (Expected in 2014)

Who is the director?
Peter Jackson

Are there any star names in the cast?

• Ian McKellen
• Martin Freeman
• Richard Armitage
• Banedict Cumberbatch
• Evangeline Lily
• Lee Pace
• Luke Evans
• Ken Stott
• James Nesbitt
• Orlando Bloom

What is the film about?
It is about a an unexpected hero, Bilbo Baggins (a hobbit), who is convinced to come out of his home in the Shire to become part of a quest to obtain gold and riches from a dragon's lair. Following the events of the previous film, Bilbo, Gandalf and their dwarf companions leave Carrok and carry on their journey to the riches.

Who will this film appeal to?
Lovers of the sci-fi and fantasy genres and those who were fans of 'The Lord of the Rings'

Marcus Markou visit

On Friday 8th November 2013, my media class was lucky enough to receive a talk from the director and writer of the successful independent film, 'Papadopoulos & Sons'

The Top 5 things I learnt from the lesson:

1. It is a line producer's job to work out the budgeting for films or television programmes. They do this by working out how much everything will cost and fitting it to the available budget, telling the director what they are unable to film. Marcus Markou hired a line director from successful television programmes as his only producer.
2. The two most flexible costs in the filming process are hiring actors and the renting of locations.
3. It is extremely likely that many films will not be given the opportunity to be shown in a cinema immediately. Instead, many films need to be successful in film festivals before they are given a contract in a cinema.
4. There are many different types of rights for a film, including the right to broadcast a film on free television.
5. When making a film there is the possibility to obtain money from companies who are willing to donate in order to avoid large taxes. However, Marcus did not use this. Instead, he relied on the money he was generating from his own business to make the film.

Papadopoulos & Sons

"Papadopoulos & Sons" is an independent comedy drama written by Marcus Markou about a Greek-Cypriot millionaire, Harry Papadopoulos, who reluctantly returns to working in the abandoned fish and chip shop which he owned with his brother, Spiros.

Writer/Director: Marcus Markou
Producer: Sara Butler
Executive Producer: Andrew Markou
Director of Photography: James Friend
Editor: Sebastian Morrison
Casting Director: Anji Carroll
Production Designer: Julian Fullalove
Composer: Stephen Warbeck

"Papadopoulos & Sons" was mainly self-promoted and was self-distributed by Marcus Markou in the UK through Cineworld.

The film was set in London and so the crew found a street with two empty shops to use at the chip shop and the kebab shop in the film in South London in Morden and took the lease on them. The office scenes were filmed in Central London, the mansion was in Croyden and the Papadopoulos factory was sat in a Greek food factory in East London.

On June 27 2013, the film was released in 70 cinemas in Germany, titled "Papadopoulos & Söhne", and it had a tally of 23 850 admissions in the first week of screening.

Much of the marketing for "Papadopoulos & Sons" was achieved using social networking websites including youtube, facebook and twitter. The trailer for the film was released at the end of April 2012 and in under 48 hours of the release (on 25th April 2012), the trailer had received 1,000 views.

Festivals
"Papadopoulos & Sons" has been in various film festivals:

• The Dinard British FIlm Festival (France)
• The Palm Springs International Film Festival (USA)
• The Seattle Film Festival (USA)
• The Thessaloniki Film Festival (Greece)

It has received the Michael Cacoyannis Audience Award int he Thessaloniki Film Festival and had been screened at the European Parliament in November 2012

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Sweded Project

Over the past 2 weeks, I have been making a sweded version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rating 12) with the members of my group: Yssy, Abi, Chrystal and myself. The release date for this swede is 25th October 2013 at 3:45 and it is a competition to see which swede gains the most views, likes and comments on youtube overt the half term.

For the marketing side of this competition, we decided to promote our swede using a series of methods: facebook, twitter, a poster and a bloopers trailer.

Harry Potter Sweded Facebook Page

Harry Potter Sweded Twitter Account

THE ACTUAL SWEDE WILL GO LIVE ON THIS LINK AT 3:45

CLICK TO WATCH

I believe that we successfully showed the events of the film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in approximately four minutes. However, we were unfortunately forced to remove some of the scenes which we had originally planned from the final film due to the fact that we were faced with time constraints both in filming and when editing and so we had to remove some of the more humorous scenes that were not essential for the story line.

I felt that we worked well as a group and maintained a professional approach to the task for the majority of the time and managed to stay well within the deadline for the film release. However, I feel we felt limited by the 4 minute constraint on the time for the actual sweded film.

If we were to complete this task again, I would still like to swede a Harry Potter film. However, I would plan the shots with more care and have back-ups in order to save time when filming.