"Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production" to what extent do you agree with this statement?
The success of a media product highly depends on the genre of film, how the audience are being targeted and what they want from it. For example the big Hollywood films like Michael Bay's "Transformers" trilogy will heavily rely on marketing and distribution as the film itself is watched for the excitement and explosions opposed to the storyline. Therefore each film of the trilogy can have a remotely similar and predictable storyline yet conglomerates like Odeon will want to release them as they know it will draw in several target audiences; a primary audience of teenagers predominantly boys who will like the explosions and the actions scenes, a secondary audience of who ever goes to watch it with them whether it is girlfriends of parents, and finally an older audience who remember the transformer figurines. The first of the trilogy will have also generated fans who will feel a necessity to see the other films in the series.
Moreover the release date of the film is crucial as it needs to be convenient for the established primary audience, therefore it's likely to be released during school holidays, being either Summer or a half term.
'Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon' (Michael Bay, 2011) got particularly bad reviews from critics but due to it's successful marketing due to horizontal integration and a wide range of synergy it generated a positive word of mouth buzz. Some of the synergetic features used were figurines in "Happy Meals" from the conglomerate company McDonald's. As well as online games, fan pages on social networking sites and even character blogs on 'Twitter'; this allowed the audience to generate a connection with the characters. By the distributor creating this relationship it highlights how they play a key role in making the success of the film especially if the film gets negative reviews!
On the other hand the hereditary British drama 'The Kings Speech' (Tom Hooper, 2011) written by David Seidler relied heavily on it's iconic storyline as it wasn't a film for thrill seekers. The film was produced by the UK film council (their last ever film) with the help of Bedlam Productions; (which was the companies first ever major production). Most of the films budget was spent during the production stages. This conforms to the stereotype of British made films as they tend to put more into a storyline opposed to throwing money at distribution. However the money wasn't wasted. Due to 'The Kings Speech' being set in the mid 1900's the design period was a struggle as they needed the setting to look as realistic as possible. What with London today being so modernised it was hard to find locations.
Moreover the film took a further precaution of shooting scenes on a wide lens film camera opposed to a digital. This was done as shots tended to looked older. It also meant when filming a close up on a character enough of the location could still fit in to the shot to give further feeling in the scene.
To ensure the audience got as much as possible from the film writer David Seidler included quotes from Lionel Logues journals from when he helped the King. By casting Colin Firth further hereditary was added to the film as he is an iconic British actor. However his co-stars Geoffrey Rush and Helen Bonham-Carter also provided a secondary Target Audience as they will have their own fan group.
Distribution was fairly low budget compared to that of Hollywood standard. The marketing relied heavily on the campaign featuring posters seen almost everywhere including; bus stops, billboards, the underground, magazines and online advertising. These are effectively a type of synergy for the film.
The film was first screened at America's Telluride film festival on the 6th of October as well as screenings at Toronto's film festival. The King's Speech main premiere was in London on the 22nd of October at the iconic Leicester Square generating an exciting word of mouth as the stars were going to be there. The films release dates were crucial as the help get some positive criticisms it needed to be noticed at the Oscars hence why it was released in Oscar season. This again highlights how marketing and distribution is crucial when it comes to a films success as they have control over release dates.
The film was incredibly successful in it's exhibition period making £3.5 million on its opening weekend and overall grossing nearly $270million, This was due to the fact that it was screened in 730 cinemas across the UK alone. This helps to further prove that distribution and marketing isn't everything and that production can have a big impact on a films success rate as the Kings Speech campaign wasn't very big.
However this does depend souly on the film. Using a majority of the budget during the production stage will only be beneficial if it has as engaging story line for the audience. High budget films like Transformer are screened globally as they're easy to follow and don't need the audience to think about what is happening. They're commonly straightforward linear narratives. This is why when it comes to releasing them the date is likely to be in the school holidays as opposed award season as it's better for the target audience.
In conclusion I think that at the moment there is a relative balance on the importance of the distribution and production phases in relation to the success of a film. However I do think that the genre of film and what the audience want from it is also key to how much of the films budget is to be spent on each phase. Although in the future I believe that distribution will become the more reliable source of increasing a films success rate what with the range of technical convergence which is accessible now it'll allow the film to be seen everywhere and encourage audience interaction. I think it's possible that dramas and meaningful films will be overtaken by action packed easy watch films as they're cheaper to make. Especially given the current state of the world's economy.
