The Mortal Instruments
The target audience for this film saga are adolescent fantasy fans, aspirers. This film has done well at marketing because there is already a huge fantasy fan base out there which relates to these films, and that is the twilight saga fan base. this series of films is very closely related to twilight in that we have a character who is introduced into this whole new world that they never knew existed. This may open the doors for mainstreamers as well, as they may like the fact that the narrative is very similar, but the difference in plot and backstory is enough to make the film unique and different to twilight. The gender of the fans is mixed with this film. We know this because to keep the male audience interested we have fighting; weapons; mythical creatures and attractive women, and for the female audience they use attractive men and a love story.
Marketing
http://mysticalvampirevixens.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/29819_387361528007260_1432152376_n.jpg
This poster has two tag lines, 'there is a world hidden within our own' and 'worlds will collide'. These are very effective tag lines as they're short, and they make the audience interested in finding out about this 'other world'. The setting is of the New York sky line, and above it is the unmistakeable rune symbol from the film backed onto a sky of dark clouds, and the rune looks as if its made up of entities. This image will appeal to the sci-fi and fantasy audience. I think that the most suitable psychographic label for this type of poster would be an explorer. I think this because the film is full of new ideas and shows a very different sort of adventure, Which is the sort of things an explorer looks for. The producers have used artists popular in the teenage market for their soundtracks. This is a very good way of marketing the film because now they're drawing in the fans of these artists, which is making them more money, as all these teenage fans will buy the songs because they like the person singing them. The producers have used two different artists to try and extent the fan base even further. The film was also advertised in magazines, telling people what the film's about, when its released, and gives people a bit of back story about the cast and crew. This is a good way to hook people in because the more they find out about the film, the more they want to go and watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc4CiTvQ-YE
This trailer is very clever because it includes lots of different aesthetics which will appeal to a lot of varying audiences.The voice over used in this trailer is a little creepy, but it makes you interested in what is being said. The use of scary looking props, and the excessive use f darkness will draw in the gothic audience. There are a lot of special effects used throughout this film, mainly of magic and mythical creatures, which in turn will draw in the fantasy audience. The use of attractive actors/actresses makes both genders instantly be interested in the film, even they don't like the genre of film or don't understand the narrative, they'll still go and see it because they want to see the actors/actresses. Teenagers will want to go and se this film based on the trailer because for one, most of the cast is quite young, and two, young people are very much involved in the film i.e. the club/party scenes. It also appeals to young aspirers because they'll want to be like the cast and will aspire to be like them, as they're attractive and cool.
Competitions are a great way to entice people and draw in young aspirers as they love materialistic things and for them to fully enjoy the film, they have to have all the collectables and replicas to make them feel part of the film. We also buy merchandise when we really enjoy films, and what were actually doing is subconsciously promoting the film without even realising by walking around wearing things like t-shirts with the symbols and/or characters on them. This is a very clever marketing technique by introducing the film to audiences that may not know about it, therefore widening their audience and creating more money for themselves.
Releasing merchandise for the fan base is always a great way to make more money, because if they follow the film, they will buy it. Most of the marketing techniques that film producers use is aimed at aspirers, because they know that they can make easy money off them by releasing things for them to buy so that they can show that they follow the film.
Comparison
I think the best film i could use to compare to the Mortal Instruments would be Twilight. First of all, the trailers are very similar. We have soft, erie music playing at the beginning leading into fast paced, triumphant music, and we see the two main characters meeting each other, falling in love, being intimate etc. Also both trailers use montages towards the end, flashing through the action scenes. This is very effective in getting the audience exited and interested about the films because you're overwhelmed with all this action in such a short extent of time.
These two posters are very similar, we see half of the characters profiles looking very sinister. The images have also clearly been manipulated to make both characters look better. They both have short tag lines but they're completely different, the twilight tag line just says 'forever' which doesn't really tell us anything and seems a little pointless in my opinion because you want it to either tell you something about the narrative, or the character. On the other hand, the tag lines on the MI poster tell you about the character, and give the audience a little bit of knowledge about them.
Marketing
http://mysticalvampirevixens.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/29819_387361528007260_1432152376_n.jpg
This poster has two tag lines, 'there is a world hidden within our own' and 'worlds will collide'. These are very effective tag lines as they're short, and they make the audience interested in finding out about this 'other world'. The setting is of the New York sky line, and above it is the unmistakeable rune symbol from the film backed onto a sky of dark clouds, and the rune looks as if its made up of entities. This image will appeal to the sci-fi and fantasy audience. I think that the most suitable psychographic label for this type of poster would be an explorer. I think this because the film is full of new ideas and shows a very different sort of adventure, Which is the sort of things an explorer looks for. The producers have used artists popular in the teenage market for their soundtracks. This is a very good way of marketing the film because now they're drawing in the fans of these artists, which is making them more money, as all these teenage fans will buy the songs because they like the person singing them. The producers have used two different artists to try and extent the fan base even further. The film was also advertised in magazines, telling people what the film's about, when its released, and gives people a bit of back story about the cast and crew. This is a good way to hook people in because the more they find out about the film, the more they want to go and watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc4CiTvQ-YE
This trailer is very clever because it includes lots of different aesthetics which will appeal to a lot of varying audiences.The voice over used in this trailer is a little creepy, but it makes you interested in what is being said. The use of scary looking props, and the excessive use f darkness will draw in the gothic audience. There are a lot of special effects used throughout this film, mainly of magic and mythical creatures, which in turn will draw in the fantasy audience. The use of attractive actors/actresses makes both genders instantly be interested in the film, even they don't like the genre of film or don't understand the narrative, they'll still go and see it because they want to see the actors/actresses. Teenagers will want to go and se this film based on the trailer because for one, most of the cast is quite young, and two, young people are very much involved in the film i.e. the club/party scenes. It also appeals to young aspirers because they'll want to be like the cast and will aspire to be like them, as they're attractive and cool.
Competitions are a great way to entice people and draw in young aspirers as they love materialistic things and for them to fully enjoy the film, they have to have all the collectables and replicas to make them feel part of the film. We also buy merchandise when we really enjoy films, and what were actually doing is subconsciously promoting the film without even realising by walking around wearing things like t-shirts with the symbols and/or characters on them. This is a very clever marketing technique by introducing the film to audiences that may not know about it, therefore widening their audience and creating more money for themselves.
Releasing merchandise for the fan base is always a great way to make more money, because if they follow the film, they will buy it. Most of the marketing techniques that film producers use is aimed at aspirers, because they know that they can make easy money off them by releasing things for them to buy so that they can show that they follow the film.
Comparison
I think the best film i could use to compare to the Mortal Instruments would be Twilight. First of all, the trailers are very similar. We have soft, erie music playing at the beginning leading into fast paced, triumphant music, and we see the two main characters meeting each other, falling in love, being intimate etc. Also both trailers use montages towards the end, flashing through the action scenes. This is very effective in getting the audience exited and interested about the films because you're overwhelmed with all this action in such a short extent of time.
These two posters are very similar, we see half of the characters profiles looking very sinister. The images have also clearly been manipulated to make both characters look better. They both have short tag lines but they're completely different, the twilight tag line just says 'forever' which doesn't really tell us anything and seems a little pointless in my opinion because you want it to either tell you something about the narrative, or the character. On the other hand, the tag lines on the MI poster tell you about the character, and give the audience a little bit of knowledge about them.
They have used similar teqniques because they've been proven to be successful in the past, and the producers know that they'll draw people in and also they'll sell.
Review
Imdb-'This is a movie made for more then just teenage girls and soccer mom's. It's has real action, solid acting, good cinematography, and dwells more on the storyline then romance.
Having never read the Mortal Instruments books, I was a little leery of seeing the movie and being totally lost. My fears were unfounded as the first hour of the show does a solid job of laying out the storyline. The first hour did seem a little long for me, but was well worth it and necessary as it made the last hour understandable and fly by with its non-stop action. This is nothing like what I was expecting after having to endure the twilight films with their horrible acting and cheesy cinematography. As well as multiple one-hit wonders of werewolf/vampire/demon shows that have come out since. This show had legitimate effects, great action scenes, and some really good acting performances. Here's my breakdown:
Effects: From the beginning this film proves it's a step above with cinematography and effects. The demons were gruesome, scary, and awesome! When supposed humans turn to demons, this is done very well. One questionable effect towards the beginning of the show was easily forgotten due to the many excellent effects during the whole show.
Action: Having seen Jamie Campbell Bower on the red carpets just moments before seeing the show, I had serious worries about him being able to pull off a believable action figure due to his skinny frame. Oddly, it was the action scenes where I enjoyed his acting the best and believed he was the main man. On the whole, the fight scenes were very engaging, particularly the ending sequences. There were two times though, I wished they had made the fight scenes a little longer to show more of a struggle to overcome.
Acting: This is where I was most pleasantly surprised. Lily Collins and Robert Sheehan stole the show in terms of solid, believable performances. Jamie did a convincing job and exceeded my expectations, but did fall a little short at subtle times as his skinny frame could not be overcome in the shot. His attempt to be seen as tough when his stature said otherwise caught me at times. I felt like all the performers were engaging though, with the exception of the role of Magnus. I'm not sure if it was his acting or the role they put him in, but it just didn't seem to fit the character he could/should have been. Readers may feel differently here, I was just confused if he was intended to be a tough guy or a joke.
Storyline: Understandably they had to lay the foundation of the storyline, which for the first hour they did. There was a lot of information to take in the first hour and honestly I began to doubt how they were going to take this load of info and tie it all together by the end. I was amazed at how well they did it! The last hour flew by as they did an excellent job of tying in each element and doing it with very compelling drama.
Overall I'd give the movie a B+. Solid acting and action stood out and will make a very satisfying experience for any non-reader who watches the show.'
Fan Forum Responses
-'I've not read the books (they're on my list, but I keep running across other things to read), but nevertheless went and saw the film tonight with my parents and quite enjoyed it.'
-'Personally I thought they could have cut down the Valentine fight a bit. It seemed to go on forever. I've seen a lot of comments about that. (Their is another thing they changed, as well that plays an important part in future books)
However, I do like the fact it seemed to be more action-packed compared to some of the other YA Books.'
-'I know their was a lot of backlash against Jamie (Jace) when he was first casted, but most of the audience seems to like him now. But people generally like different actors to play certain characters especially for book (and comic book) adaptions. This isn't first time I've seen it, and I'm sure it wouldn't be last.'
Fandom
Fandom is the community that surrounds the book/TV show/film in question. People involved in these fandom communities are usually fan fiction writers, artists, poets, and cosplays. Fan art is a popular way to express fandom with this film/book series. The main focus of the fans is drawing the runes used throughout the film. I see these runes as the iconic symbol of the film and is what most people will think of when they hear about 'The Mortal Instruments'. The runes are either drawn on their own or on the characters.
Fans like these films because they're full of action, drama, excitement etc. The narrative is really interesting which is key, and when you watch, you feel immersed in the film, meaning that fans will keep coming back for more. Fans are also a really big part of the production of the films. By this. Mean that the fans will be included in the cutting or changing of films by reviewing rough versions of the films, and then giving feedback on anything that could be improved, and/or what they think would impact on the marketing of the films. Another big changer of the film industry was the launch of YouTube. This opened up an easy new way of film makers to publish their films to a worldwide audience, and also for fan bases to comment and review films, which can either be very good, or very bad for the film makers. This is because these fan bases are so powerful that they can change people's minds about certain films by how they have reviewed them, so if these films weren't great, and a huge fan base started writing poor reviews, audiences would be going into these films with low expectations and a bad mindset, and intern making them write bad reviews, or the first reviews might change peoples minds about going to see the films in the first place.
Was the Film Successful?
Although the film has generated quite a fan base, and almost all the reviews on it are positive, it only earned $81m worldwide which is known as a box office failure. whats interesting about this is that most box office failures almost never get a sequel, yet the movie producers behind the first mortal instruments film are planning on making the second of Cassandra Clare's book series, 'city of ashes' and hopefully continuing to make each book into a motion picture.
Was the Film Successful?
Although the film has generated quite a fan base, and almost all the reviews on it are positive, it only earned $81m worldwide which is known as a box office failure. whats interesting about this is that most box office failures almost never get a sequel, yet the movie producers behind the first mortal instruments film are planning on making the second of Cassandra Clare's book series, 'city of ashes' and hopefully continuing to make each book into a motion picture.
Unit 26 assignment 3
ReplyDeleteElliott,
Find a few more examples of other techniques the film producers used to market the films., magazines, press junkets, soundtracks etc. And then make sure you explain if you think these things were good at selling the film to audiences, You need to prove how successful the film was. You need to go into detail about what fandom is, and why it is important for film producers to create a fan base for their films. You need to find out ways, other than fan art, they have shown their love for it by doing some more internet research about the fans explaining why you think they have engaged so much with this film..