CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION 2

HOW DOES MY PROJECT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

In order to reach out to my target audience, I needed to discover who they were, what their media needs were and how I would reach them. I created this audience profile to help narrow down my necessary audience. 

I based my audience profile on the way big, popular brands identify their audiences. For example, I researched how Bauer Media - the biggest media company in the country -  NME and Sky defined audiences. This helped me profile my audience.

Kezia Williams, of Entertainment One UK, on the FutureLearn Film Distribution by the Film Distributors Association, speaks about how film distributors build a 'comp list' of comparable films that their target audience would enjoy. 

Kezia Williams highlights the importance of knowing your target audience. She asks questions like "what drives them to the cinema" and "what interests do they have". She also says distributors will compare data of films that are similar in their genre, selling points and story. I learnt from this and put together my own comp list, consisting of three films that I would regard to follow similar themes and that my target audience might also enjoy; Run, Halloween and The Night House. 

I created a visual collage to show all the marketing strategies for the most recent James Bond Film - No Time to Die. Big Budgets allow for a big range of distribution strategies, and this is shown through the advertising of this film. No Time to Die was promoted greatly, including the use of big posters in shops and on buses, the Official James Bond Website and Social Media platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter.

Social Media was one of the key features used to advertise No Time to Die. On Instagram, the 007 account has a massive 1.9M followers, so this was a quick, easy way to promote the film. Specifically paying social media platforms, such as twitter, to have your film advert shown is also a very affective way of marketing. 

My film is a low budget, independent film called Vendetta. I looked at how Mark Jenkins' film 'Bait' distributed was handled, being a low budget independent film itself. From Bait's film website, I learnt about the film festivals it was screened at, how it can be viewed, what its marketing materials were and it's USP.

Firstly, I looked at the ICO site, and some advice on how to get an independent film distributed by self-distribution. One idea I thought could be successful is pitching my film ideas to cinemas directly, and produce my own marketing materials such as images from my film, a film synopsis, film poster, social media, and website and a trailer with closed captions. On top of this, I could hire a PR company to invite the film press to write reviews. This would help my film a significant amount as it would get more attention through positive reviews. I would identify why my film is unique and what drives audiences to see it, following Mark Batey’s guidance. This would ensure I am able to advertise the most popular elements of the film, benefitting the views and sales of my film.