Strategy

My main advertisement method for our film would be a television trailer. I would use this method because it can capture the film plot, genre, actors and main producers quickly and to many people at the same time. Television is very popular so running an advert guarantees it will be seen by thousands of people in just one advert.  This would get the film noticed and known within seconds on a widespread scale. Most main films are advertised this way because people who like to be entertained by watching TV programmes or films will be watching. You can take the best parts of the film to summarise the idea of it in a nutshell so the audience will be intrigued, however does not give a lot away and so they want to go and see it fully at the cinema. It also is good for giving details such as when it is out, actors names, the title and reviews.

The trailer can be shown at regular TV commercial breaks, but would most ideally be best shown in the evening around 8pm onward. At this time, the watershed age restrictions can come off and more adult television is broadcasted. Viewers at this time are more likely to be 16+ and therefore would capture our target audience's attention more so than if played during the day.

 I have found from research that having a significant image of the film displayed in areas where 16+ year olds may be located will increase it's popularity. Putting a large poster that can capture the essence of the film in one professional photo in places like bus stops outside collages, universities and work offices would ensure many people see it every day. Advertising in places with lots of people at once, such as public transport in buses, trains, train stations or airports would also be good as people will see it even very quickly. It will plant the idea in their head that, assuming the poster looks intriguing, they will want to go and see it.

A Film advertisement in a public train underground station.

Another good strategy would be to introduce clips of it on the internet. As our target audience is 16-30 years old, at this age most people access the internet frequently. The clip would be seen mainly by people under this target audience. Posting it on other movie sites would also be certain to get people interested in film watching. If I could get it by buying a clip time for a website that specialises in action thriller horror films, that would specifically target the right audience as most of these genre films are 16+ anyway and certainly target people interested in the genre. The only limitation of this is that people that would view it on movie hosting websites may not go to the cinema as they can watch it online instead.  Viewers can get more detail on the film by clicking a link that will direct them to cinema box office timetables, where their local cinema is, and more details about the film such as actors and reviews.

A Short clip of a film trailer on the internet

Reviews are known as the most efficient way of marketing. People take other peoples opinions on films very importantly. If a film gets a bad review it will be very damaging to the films reputation: if a company can get a popular, well known media company to give it a good review, people will be more convinced to see it.

I will ask some of the main reviewers such as "The guardian" and "The daily Mail" who's opinions are very valued by their readers. Of course, the opinion of whoever works at reviewing films at these companies will differ from each individual of the audience, but will generally affect the popularity of the film depending on the reviwer's verdict.

An internet film review 

From researching various film distributors, I have found that 'Sony Pictures' is the largest distributor with a market share at 18%, and a box office gross of £216.7 million in 2012. They have released some of the top earning action films such as 'Skyfall,' 'The amazing spider man' and 'men in black 3.' These are all largely popular and so the film distributor company will have earn a lot from these showcases. If they were to distribute my film it would give our film producers a large profit because it would be more popular on a worldwide, large company distributor. This is the aim for film producers as they want their film to do well.

From this website article, I have learnt that negative reviews impact a films popularity much more than positive ones. Although there is a correlation, particularly in an 8-week period of box office revenue, negative reviews 'diminish' over time to become more consistent as it only harms a films popularity during the first week of the film's run.

I want to make sure my film gets a good review particularly during the first week, or else it will harm the films gross income.