LO3 - Task 4: Distribution and advertising

LO3 Task 4:

Distribution:

Hello and welcome to another video. Today I will be discussing the advertising, distribution and promotion of the film that I am analysing, The Day After Tomorrow. I will also be talking about the technological convergence of the Internet and the films that we watch today.

Distribution is getting a product to an audience, in the case of The Day After Tomorrow this could be its DVD version. The aim of the distribution is to advertise and promote the main product; this could be in the form of an advert on a billboard, the trailer on TV or even one of the actors or actresses doing a TV or radio interview.

Technological convergence is where technologies come together and this provides new services for the audience, for example smartphones have ‘converged’ to have a phone, camera and the web all on one device. In terms of The Day After Tomorrow, its intended audience is mass-mainstream; this is an audience that can be found across the globe in international locations. The audience will be able to watch the films on various devices and services and thanks to our ever advancing technology, we can now use very few devices to access such a wide range of features. However, it hasn’t always been this easy; up until 2000 film reels had to be used in cinemas to display films but nowadays digital projectors are widely used in most cinemas across the world. The Day After Tomorrow was also sold on VHS back in 2004 when it was first released. Technology has converged to meet our growing needs for the latest form of entertainment.  

Online streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have revolutionised the way in which we can watch our favourite films and TV shows, including The Day After Tomorrow, either at home or on the go. Cinemas still allow us to view the most current and up to date blockbusters hitting the screens, the experience still draws in many film goers on a daily basis. If a viewer wasn’t able to watch my film at the cinema then there is always the option of buying the DVD from the shops to watch whenever they like. If the film is shown on TV then people can either watch it there and then or it will be available on catch up services such as ’5 on demand’ but this will only be available for a certain amount of time, usually thirty days. Nowadays there are even online stores such as iTunes and Google Play that will allow you to download an electronic copy of the film for your device. In conclusion, this gives the audience more access to a wider range of options which means there will be more profit for the film production company.

The film would have been premiered in a location such as London and even perhaps at a film festival like London’s. This is because at premieres such as London’s, it’s where all the ‘blockbuster’ films; the ones with big budgets and effects are shown.

Technological convergence has had its benefits on society, for example having all these separate pieces of technology on one device makes it a lot easier to socialise and interact with family and friends, it’s cheaper overall as to own all of these separate pieces of technology would cost a lot more than the average smartphone and there is less need for multiple devices.

When The Day After Tomorrow was first released in cinemas in the US on 28^th May 2004, in its first month of sales it made just over $170,000,000, however four months after this, less than $10,000,000 was brought in.  This shows the decline for the urge to see the film at the cinemas after it was originally released.  

Overall I would say that technology in terms of The Day After Tomorrow has advanced. The film can now be accessed on a wider range of platforms and the fact that you can watch a film without a need for a DVD player anymore shows how far it’s come in such a short space of time.

Advertising:

The Day After Tomorrow was promoted across many different platforms. The ways in which the film was advertised was very creative and innovating. An example of this is the billboard that was put in the sea in India to highlight the dangers of climate change shown in the film to the audience there. On the billboard was a picture of New York, the name of the film and the release date. The skyscrapers of New York were obviously overwhelmed with the water from the sea which makes the advert hard to miss and eye-catching.

The trailer for the film also gives a dramatic insight into what the film would be like to watch, using actual clips from scenes in the film to give a brief synopsis on the film itself. Even though the trailer was made in 2004, it looks as good as the ones that are made for films of the present day.

The way in which these bits of media are produced are old media but are produced in the style of new media. Billboards are a classic way of advertising but The Day After Tomorrow added a realistic twist by submerging the board in the element that wipes out a lot of the people in the film. Again even though the trailer was made using old CGI effects it still looks realistic to the features used in 2015 trailers.

In terms of the marketing having an impact on the revenue of the film, if the adverts were put in the correct places for a mass audience to view like on a busy highway road, then more people of a variety of ages and audiences would be likely to visualise and perhaps go and watch the film.

20^th Century Fox could have used cross promotion/synergy to help promote their film, The Day After Tomorrow. An example of this could be Sky showing a trailer of the film during an advert break or as an ‘exclusive’. As Sky and 20^th Century Fox are both owned by the same company, this would be an easy, affordable way to promote the film.

The ways in which the audience members could contribute to the promotion of the film are on review sites such as Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB. They could also write these reviews in terms of social media. Fans could tweet their friends on Twitter for example telling them how good the film is. The final example is writing a wiki page. Fans can help other fans by providing more information about the film on websites such as Wikipedia.