Film Distribution, Marketing, Publicity and Promotion Key Terms
360 degree, saturated marketing campaign –a campaign that covers every possible format in as many territories as possible and is extensive.
Auteur - a Director who has a particular signature to their films, i.e. Stanley Kubrick or Alfred Hitchcock.
BBFC - The British Board of Film Classification: the British film regulatory board.
Binary Opposites - a narrative technique- 2 polar opposites which are used to create conflict in a film.
Buzz - hype created about a film through publicity online and in the press.
Convergence - the use of different mediums, i.e. comic books, publishing, TV and Film to create a world outside just the film which in turn helps advertising.
Copy - text on a poster (or in an article).
Demographic profile - analysing audience in a quantitative manner, mainly consider gender (Male/ Female), age (ranges i.e. 5-12), socio-economic class (ABC1C2DE) and ethnicity.
Distribution company – the company in charge of getting the film released. Major conglomerates tend to have their own distribution arms, some of the important art house distributors in the UK include Memento, Eureka and Tartan.
Enigmatic images - images which raise questions (or ‘enigmas’) for the audience, increasing intrigue.
Film buyer - an employee of a Distribution company who is responsible for finding films with profitable potential, they usually search at film festivals.
Film festivals - major publicity events, filmmakers can enter their films into film festivals across the world in the hope of winning awards and attracting distribution. Some films at festivals will already have distribution, but are hoping for awards in order to boost profit.
Genre - a way of categorising film, this is a very useful tool for distributors as it helps them to produce sale forecasts.
Independent industry - all films produced outside of the Hollywood conglomerate system.
MPAA - The Motion Picture Association of America is the America equivalent to the BBFC.
Online distribution - distributing a film via the internet, either for free on media sharing websites or an official website or through channels such as Itunes or Love Film as a downloadable product.
Pre-existing property - something a film is based on, it could be a novel, another film, a comic book or even a theme park ride (as Pirates of the Caribbean was).
Premier - a major media event when the film is shown to the public for the first time, this will generally occur in a major central cinema such as in Leicester Square, London.
Press junket – a day when journalists are invited to meet and interview key cast and crew from the film. The cast will speak to each journalist for a set time, i.e. 30 minutes before the next is invited in.
Press pack - a document which gives journalists key information about the film, i.e. cast and crew, 10 frequently asked questions and a synopsis.
Press screening - a screening exclusively for journalists and reviewers before the Premier to encourage early reviews of the film.
Promotion - any advertising which involves competitions or involves the film being advertised through other products.
Psychographic profiles (Young and Rubicam’s 4Cs) – a qualitative way to analyse audiences, Young and Rubicam identified seven types of people in the world: Succeeders, Aspirers, Reformers, Explorers, Mainstreamers, Strugglers and the Resigned.
Publicity - press coverage of the film, this could take the form of TV or print interviews, articles or documentaries about the making of…
Sales agent - a person employed by the production company to help raise awareness of the film and to attract a distributor.
Sister company - under the umbrella of a conglomerate organisation a production company will have access to ‘sister’ companies such as distributors also owned by the conglomerate (who we can consider as the ‘parent’ company).
Special effects - the use of technology to create effects that are impossible in our real world or to enhance images.
Studio productions - any production made in Hollywood.
Synergy - simply when the sum of the profit of 2 products working together equals more than the sum of profit if they were standing alone (1+1= more than 2). For example a computer game about a boy wizard or a film about a boy wizard will not do as well if they existed as separate products, compared to the Harry Potter computer game and film.
Tagline - a brief, enigmatic statement which sells the film, normally seen on posters, trailers and online advertising.
Target audience - the key audience that the distributors are aiming their campaign at.
Teaser campaign - the early marketing campaign which leaves audiences asking questions and wanting more.
USP (Unique selling point) - the aspect that makes the film different from others, the main selling point to push in the campaign.
Viral marketing - interactive, online marketing. This usually refers to something beyond just a standard website.
Zeitgeist - the ‘thing’ of the time.
Marketing - all print, online, audio-visual advertising created for the film.
Viki Walden | Sunday August 28, 2011
Viki Walden | Sunday August 28, 2011
